Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / 9/11 & Mayor of La Vista

Transcript

9/11 & Mayor of La Vista · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothert. Peyton Heilach, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here today. Good morning, Peyton.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene.
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  Speaker 1: And we are guaranteed human, correct?
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  Speaker 2: Always.
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  Speaker 1: Always. Thank you for being with us today. We want
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  Speaker 1: to hear from you. We want to get your feedback.
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  Speaker 1: We want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Really,
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  Speaker 1: anything goes. City, state, national, the world. Plenty to talk
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: about today. And, of course, we always will have some
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  Speaker 1: great guests. We have a great guest today. But you're
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  Speaker 1: going to hear plenty of opinions from me, too. But
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  Speaker 1: it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
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  Speaker 1: You can send your emails to comment at kfab.com. You
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  Speaker 1: can call us at 402-558-1110. Or you can leave us
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: a recorded message on the talkback mic, and we'll play
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: it on the air. And we are very happy that
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  Speaker 1: you are with us today. Very, very solemn day for
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  Speaker 1: many Americans. Peyton, when this happened, 9-11, with the Twin
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  Speaker 1: Towers in New York City, In 2001, you weren't born yet,
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  Speaker 1: were you?
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  Speaker 2: No, I was not.
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  Speaker 3: I know.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, just think. I mean, just think about it.
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  Speaker 1: And now as you are watching clips from what happened
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  Speaker 1: back then, I mean, I'm sure it's just as real
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  Speaker 1: to you as anybody else that was here the day
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  Speaker 1: it happened. I think everybody remembers exactly what they were doing,
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  Speaker 1: exactly what they thought, how they felt. Our country was
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  Speaker 1: at war, and we were being attacked. And I stayed
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  Speaker 1: up late last night until about— after midnight watching older
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  Speaker 1: documentaries on it. It's just good to remember everything that
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  Speaker 1: happened then and everything that happened at Ground Zero. You know, Peyton,
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  Speaker 1: I was in New York City with a girlfriend of mine.
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  Speaker 1: We used to do a girl trip on the weekends.
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  Speaker 1: And Shirley, it's my friend Shirley as she's listening. Her
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  Speaker 1: husband was an Omaha police officer, Shirley Dimitri. But anyway,
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  Speaker 1: we would go on girls trips on the weekend to
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  Speaker 1: New York City. And all we would do is shop, eat,
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  Speaker 1: and go to Broadway Place. And we went to New
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  Speaker 1: York City not that long after that. This happened. I mean,
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  Speaker 1: we went in the summertime, but still, it was in
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  Speaker 1: the springtime, but still, there were construction fences around Ground Zero.
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  Speaker 1: There's still a lot of rubble in there. They were
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  Speaker 1: working at cleaning it up. And it was just amazing
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  Speaker 1: to walk around that whole block and imagine what had
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  Speaker 1: been there and what had happened and how close the
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  Speaker 1: buildings across the street were, too. It was really amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I need to go back. I have not been to
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  Speaker 1: the memorial since it's been open. But guess who's here today?
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  Speaker 1: another mayor. We've had a lot of mayor reviews lately,
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  Speaker 1: and I love doing this, but Mayor Doug Kending from
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  Speaker 1: La Vista is here. Good morning.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Jean. How are you?
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  Speaker 1: I am really good.
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  Speaker 2: Thank you.
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  Speaker 1: And he came with his official La Vista t-shirt on today.
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  Speaker 1: There you go. You look very mayor-ish.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm up in my city.
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  Speaker 1: Mayoral today. La Vista. La Vista is in Sarpy County.
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  Speaker 1: You've got a population of about 17,000?
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  Speaker 3: And last census, we were 17, and then our ETJ
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  Speaker 3: almost doubles that, so potential to be 35 or so.
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  Speaker 1: And I really want to dug on here because there
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  Speaker 1: is a lot going on in La Vista right now.
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  Speaker 1: La Vista, I think we all know where it is.
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  Speaker 1: It has Ralston to the north, Papillion to the south,
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  Speaker 1: Bellevue to the east, and I'd say to the west, I-80.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: That's about it. You have been busy in Sarpy County
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  Speaker 1: serving the city. I read a little bit about you
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  Speaker 1: last night. Since 1994 in a variety of positions, I
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  Speaker 1: did not remember that you were on the Parks and
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  Speaker 1: Rec's advisory board. You were on the city council. Well,
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  Speaker 1: and I was too. And that gave you a really
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  Speaker 1: good view of what goes on in the city. But
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  Speaker 1: you were first appointed, weren't you? You were first appointed
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  Speaker 1: mayor in 2005. Elected in 2008. Let me tell you this, folks.
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  Speaker 1: He was reelected in 2012, right?
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  Speaker 2: 2016, 2020, 2024.
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  Speaker 1: And you are now serving through 2028. Man, that is
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  Speaker 1: a long-serving mayor. It is, and never expected when I
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  Speaker 1: got into community service that it would take me this
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  Speaker 1: many years to serve.
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  Speaker 2: To being able to give back.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's right. And you must be doing something good
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  Speaker 1: because from experience, you know, people, even though you're doing
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  Speaker 1: something really good, and this is part of, I think,
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  Speaker 1: when I lost my last race, is people just, at
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  Speaker 1: least in Omaha, they get tired of you after a while.
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  Speaker 1: They're like, oh, gosh, her again. She's done a pretty
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  Speaker 1: good job, but, you know, give somebody else a chance.
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  Speaker 1: They don't seem to be getting tired of you, Doug.
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  Speaker 2: Right. Not yet.
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  Speaker 3: But you've always got to be able to– you got
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  Speaker 3: to be honest with people. You know that, Jane, and
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  Speaker 3: you were. But you're right when you say that sometimes
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  Speaker 3: they just want to change and stuff. They haven't asked
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  Speaker 3: for that yet.
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  Speaker 2: But you know what? If they do– That's okay. We
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  Speaker 2: serve at the will of the people, as you know.
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  Speaker 1: That's true. And elections have consequences. And, I mean, with
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  Speaker 1: the one I lost, I never questioned it. You know,
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  Speaker 1: it was a fair election. I lost. That's all there
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  Speaker 1: is to it.
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  Speaker 4: You know.
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  Speaker 1: And who cares who comes in second place? People only
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  Speaker 1: care who comes in first place. But you're very active.
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  Speaker 1: I know we both served on the MAPA board, which
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  Speaker 1: is Metro Area Planning Authority. We both serve with the
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  Speaker 1: League of Municipalities. You keep busy not only in La Vista,
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  Speaker 1: but you know what's going on all over the state.
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  Speaker 1: And we've stayed active in those organizations that mayors from
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  Speaker 1: all over the state stay in because a lot of
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  Speaker 1: the issues going on in Lincoln that they talk about
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  Speaker 1: every year really affects us locally.
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  Speaker 2: Well, without a doubt.
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  Speaker 3: And we've been very active and had a great partnership
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  Speaker 3: with Omaha on dealing with legislative issues. And I'm still
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  Speaker 3: involved in that. We want to make sure that we
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  Speaker 3: maintain our local control. But at the same time, we
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  Speaker 3: do have a tax problem in the state of Nebraska.
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  Speaker 3: And I won't just say property tax because it's a
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  Speaker 3: tax problem.
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  Speaker 2: It is.
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  Speaker 3: And if we can be at the table to help
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  Speaker 3: solve that, we are trying to do that.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, I wrote a few notes down, and
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  Speaker 1: you are known for being a real proponent of local control.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, that is one thing that I think people
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  Speaker 1: know you for and that you worked hard on that
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  Speaker 1: in the legislature to maintain that. And, you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: so important that we stay in tune with what's going
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  Speaker 1: on down there. You know, I asked the governor this
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  Speaker 1: the other day. He was here in the studio because
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  Speaker 1: I had to answer this question many, many times. I
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  Speaker 1: lowered the levy when I was mayor, and the levy
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  Speaker 1: is set locally. I lowered it five times. He has
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  Speaker 1: a commercial out saying– I've lowered your property taxes 20%.
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  Speaker 1: But people are saying, well, wait a minute, Mayor Stothert.
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  Speaker 1: Wait a minute, Governor. My taxes didn't go down when
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  Speaker 1: you lowered the levy. Mine didn't go down when you
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  Speaker 1: say 20% down. What's the deal?
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  Speaker 3: Well, with valuations averaging somewhere to 6% to 8%, if
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  Speaker 3: we cut a penny amid a levy, It gets eaten
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  Speaker 3: up by the valuation.
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  Speaker 1: It certainly does. And I always try to point out
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  Speaker 1: even Omaha, the small percentage of that total property tax
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  Speaker 1: bill that actually goes to the city, the largest amount
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  Speaker 1: in Omaha, in fact, it's 62% goes to the public schools.
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  Speaker 2: Correct.
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  Speaker 1: And so we lower the levy as mayor. We got
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  Speaker 1: our city council to lower it and we lowered a
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  Speaker 1: penny or so. It's going in the right direction. That's
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  Speaker 1: what I always tried to find out or to point
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  Speaker 1: out to people. If you're lowering it, say, a percentage
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  Speaker 1: point or two, and they'll say, well, that's not enough.
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  Speaker 1: And you say, well, you'd sure get mad if I
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  Speaker 1: raised it a percent or two. So you have to
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  Speaker 1: go in the right direction. But talk about what people
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  Speaker 1: say in La Vista. What are the main issues in
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  Speaker 1: La Vista? Because you do have a very safe city.
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  Speaker 1: There's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 3: Public safety is definitely a highlight. We've got a top-rated police.
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  Speaker 3: When we merged with the Papillion Fire District, That was
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  Speaker 3: probably one of the highlights since I've been around for
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  Speaker 3: 20 plus years. Saved our taxpayers well over a million
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  Speaker 3: dollars a year doing that. But at the same time,
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  Speaker 3: it increased our services. We've got a great road system,
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  Speaker 3: even though 84th Street is torn up right now. But obviously,
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  Speaker 3: the amount of money that people are paying for taxes
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  Speaker 3: is the biggest worry.
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  Speaker 2: Amongst our homeowners.
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  Speaker 3: And You mentioned the school district, that they are 60
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  Speaker 3: to 70 percent of the tax bill. But Nebraska is
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  Speaker 3: still on the low end of supporting public schools. And
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  Speaker 3: then when I talk about a tax issue, you've got
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  Speaker 3: to think about all the sales tax exemptions. You've got
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  Speaker 3: to think about the state incentives. Roughly in the last
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  Speaker 3: 18 years, the state has incentivized about $ 15 million of
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  Speaker 3: local dollars to their state incentive program.
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  Speaker 2: Well, you give me.
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  Speaker 3: That $ 15 million back, I'll lower the mill levy by
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  Speaker 3: 10 cents tomorrow.
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  Speaker 1: You know, Mayor Kendig, when the governor was in here
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  Speaker 1: the other day, he said he was a big proponent
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  Speaker 1: of the state. having not control over the school districts,
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  Speaker 1: but of funding the school districts. You and I know
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: how complicated that school state aid formula is, Artiosa. When
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: I was on the Millard School Board a long, long,
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  Speaker 1: long time ago, like 25, 27 years ago, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it was about 50-50, local property taxes, state aid. Then
• 9:48
  Speaker 1: the state said, no, no, we want you to rely
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  Speaker 1: more on local property tax and pulled back their funding.
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  Speaker 1: It is so hard to understand, in my opinion, on
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  Speaker 1: my little brain, to understand that teosis formula that they
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  Speaker 1: use on how schools are funded. Tell us, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: tell us your school districts. Well, it's Papillion-LaVista.
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  Speaker 2: Papillion-LaVista. Right.
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  Speaker 3: Again, top-ranked school district. I think one reason people moved
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  Speaker 3: to Sarpy County, one of the first things they look
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  Speaker 3: at is the quality of schools and And they do
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  Speaker 3: a good job. But in my opinion, the state should
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: not take over the complete administration of the school system.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: And I'm going to be very blunt. They've got their
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: own problems that they can't fix. Budget-wise, yes. It's hard
• 10:37
  Speaker 3: to throw a rock from inside when you live in
• 10:40
  Speaker 3: a glass house. And we need to maintain the local control.
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  Speaker 3: But we've got to be a partnership and not fighting
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  Speaker 3: with the state on how we continue to move forward.
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  Speaker 3: That's just not the school system. That's economic development. That's
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  Speaker 3: everything that we fund. A lot of people, and I
• 11:02
  Speaker 3: know that you know this, but the state put a
• 11:04
  Speaker 3: cap on our mill levy back in the 80s, and
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  Speaker 3: we're going to supplement from state money to fund our cities.
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  Speaker 3: But when the state got in trouble, the first thing
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  Speaker 3: they did is they took our money away. So We
• 11:19
  Speaker 3: get no state aid other than some highway allocation money.
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  Speaker 3: We do rely, but in the city of La Vista,
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: we've tried to diversify that tax base with hotel occupation.
• 11:31
  Speaker 3: With restaurant tax, I know your favorite subject.
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: Sure.
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  Speaker 3: And we've tried to bring in more commercial. We're landlocked
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  Speaker 3: as a city. We can't rely upon property taxes because
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: we are driving people out.
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  Speaker 2: Of their homes. But it's a variety of reasons for that.
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  Speaker 1: Absolutely. And, you know, I mean, it's so important that
• 11:52
  Speaker 1: we stay with good relationships with our legislators because there
• 11:56
  Speaker 1: is an Omaha legislator. I'm not going to mention her name,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: but she wrote an op-ed a while back. And it said,
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: you know, here's why the cities are the big problems.
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: And in this op-ed she wrote, she said, here's how
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha basically does their budget. They sit down.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: They decide how much money they need. They look at
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: how much money they have. And then they go to
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: the state and ask for the rest. And I thought,
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  Speaker 1: we haven't had state aid from the state for the
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  Speaker 1: cities yet. In ages, in decades. And this is a
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  Speaker 1: legislator that didn't know that.
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  Speaker 3: Well, and I won't mention her name either, but her
• 12:33
  Speaker 3: famous quote was, well, let's just pass it and we'll
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: fix it later.
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  Speaker 1: Dangerous words.
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  Speaker 3: And she was around when they cut the income tax
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  Speaker 3: at too big of a rate, and they knew that
• 12:46
  Speaker 3: it could help move the state into the red, and
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: they did it anyway. And to be honest, that's not
• 12:53
  Speaker 3: good politics because, honest to gosh, You've got to make
• 12:57
  Speaker 3: decisions based for the generation after us and I'm sorry.
• 13:01
  Speaker 3: I won't mince words. I don't think she did. She
• 13:05
  Speaker 3: wanted– things to look good for what she did while
• 13:08
  Speaker 3: she was there and didn't worry about the future. And
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: that's why the state's looking at a billion-dollar deficit.
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a real concern to all of us. Now,
• 13:17
  Speaker 1: when you were talking, you just mentioned there's a lot
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: that has to go into managing a city, and you
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: brought up economic development. And that's one thing I really
• 13:27
  Speaker 1: wanted to talk about with La Vista because you guys
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: are just brilliant. booming down there. What do you think
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: was the catalyst for all of this? I mean, Cabela's
• 13:36
  Speaker 1: built down there. You have the hotel. Then you have
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: the new Costco, which my husband goes to constantly, loves that.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: And then everything around there is just growing. Talk about
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: the development down there. And that 84th Street corridor, too.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: It seems like it's City Ventures that bought a lot
• 13:59
  Speaker 1: of that property.
• 14:00
  Speaker 2: It's City Ventures.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: It's Placemaker now. They've had a reorganization. But obviously the
• 14:05
  Speaker 3: Astro Music Theater has brought a lot of people into
• 14:10
  Speaker 3: our city, which means then that they're eating at our restaurants.
• 14:14
  Speaker 3: They're going to our shops and things like that. They've
• 14:18
  Speaker 3: got a 5,000-plus concert coming this weekend.
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: But as far as.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: Southport– And where is that concert venue located?
• 14:25
  Speaker 3: Right on 84th Street, right in the heart of our city.
• 14:28
  Speaker 3: So it's been a great addition to the city. And
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: because of that, businesses are starting to sprout up around
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: there because of that.
• 14:39
  Speaker 1: Your planning department must stay very, very busy.
• 14:42
  Speaker 2: They do. We've got a good planning department.
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: But we had a vision for Southport out on the interstate.
• 14:47
  Speaker 3: We didn't want it to be a cookie-cutter shopping center.
• 14:52
  Speaker 3: We wanted to be a destination area. We didn't want
• 14:56
  Speaker 3: a ton of franchises out there. We wanted a place
• 14:59
  Speaker 3: that people had to go or wanted to go and
• 15:03
  Speaker 3: didn't have to drive by six or seven other places
• 15:06
  Speaker 3: just like it to get there. So Cabela's, Costco, we've
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: got Smash Park. Slick City is building in construction right now.
• 15:16
  Speaker 3: Another family entertainment center, the only one in Omaha.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: Got to give.
• 15:22
  Speaker 3: Credit to my predecessor, Mayor Anderson, because 30 to 35
• 15:27
  Speaker 3: years ago, he fought the state for the Harrison and
• 15:30
  Speaker 3: Giles Street interchange.
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  Speaker 2: There you go.
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  Speaker 3: And I'd like to take a lot of the credit
• 15:34
  Speaker 3: for economic development. But to be honest, it's about location.
• 15:38
  Speaker 3: And we are centrally located. The Hotel Conference Center in Cabela's.
• 15:43
  Speaker 3: That made us part of Omaha Metro. La Vista used
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: to be a trip for Omaha people.
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: That's right.
• 15:49
  Speaker 3: And now we're considered part of Omaha Metro. And without
• 15:53
  Speaker 3: the big dot on the map, which was Omaha. We
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: wouldn't be as successful as we are, but we bring
• 15:59
  Speaker 3: good things to the table too.
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: And when that convention center opened, boy, I mean that
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: just opened up a lot of development around that area.
• 16:06
  Speaker 1: What about single-family homes, apartments, townhouses? I think that that
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: area that City Ventures purchased is around Giles, right?
• 16:17
  Speaker 2: Right between Giles and Harrison.
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  Speaker 1: About 96 and Giles, that area. Talk about what the
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: need is for residential units there and for single-family homes, too.
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  Speaker 3: So LaVis is landlocked, and we don't have any more
• 16:30
  Speaker 3: single-family residential left in our city. So we have shifted
• 16:37
  Speaker 3: to a higher-density type formula, which includes some traditional apartments,
• 16:44
  Speaker 3: but also with townhomes to give people– a choice in
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: how they want to live. Sagebrook built at 96th and Giles.
• 16:53
  Speaker 3: It's exactly that type of a development. Out in Southport,
• 16:59
  Speaker 3: where Slick City is going, we're going to allow some
• 17:03
  Speaker 3: traditional apartments with townhomes. So we've got a good mix
• 17:09
  Speaker 3: of single family apartments and senior living. That was a
• 17:13
  Speaker 3: focus of ours a number of years ago. So We've
• 17:18
  Speaker 3: got that mostly down in the 72nd Harrison area. But
• 17:23
  Speaker 3: we want people to stay here from the time they're
• 17:26
  Speaker 3: a little baby until they're seniors.
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: And do you have the same issue in Papillion? I
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: know we did in Omaha that people would say, why
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: are you building all these apartments and townhouses? You're building
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: too many. The minute that developer would open them up,
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: they'd fill up.
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: They're completely filled up, and you did refer to Papillion
• 17:44
  Speaker 3: instead of La Vista, but that's okay, Jean. You were
• 17:48
  Speaker 3: mayor of Council Bluffs.
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: Yeah, by my tongue there.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: We're good, we're good.
• 17:52
  Speaker 1: You know what I meant.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: I know what you meant.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: You have a shirt that says La Vista all over
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: the front of it. How could I goof up on that?
• 18:00
  Speaker 2: You're exactly right.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: The apartments, we do have quite a few apartments, but
• 18:06
  Speaker 3: as soon as they open up, they fill up. And,
• 18:09
  Speaker 3: you know, that kind of goes to affordable housing. And
• 18:14
  Speaker 3: when you talk about affordable housing and a starter home
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: is $ 250, 000, $ 280, 000 to build, that's not affordable housing. For
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: many people, no, it is not. And that's kind of
• 18:23
  Speaker 3: the average. It is for a smaller home anymore. So
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: the new generation is looking at apartments because they are
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: more affordable and their priorities in life are a little
• 18:37
  Speaker 3: bit different than yours and mine. And so, yeah, apartments
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: is still an option for the younger generation to live
• 18:46
  Speaker 3: and the seniors. I've looked at them as I get older.
• 18:50
  Speaker 3: You don't have to do the maintenance. You don't have
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: to do You know, a number of things. But we
• 18:56
  Speaker 3: do try to balance and offer a cross-section of development.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: And, you know, I know a couple developers, and I'll
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: just say this because they came to me when I
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: was mayor, and they said, I'm so tired of dealing
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: with all the red tape with the city of Omaha.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: I'm going to start building down in La Vista.
• 19:15
  Speaker 3: Well, that's good. Now they're saying the same thing about us.
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: Well, that always happens. I know that happens. But we
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: want to be able to build affordable housing, but we
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: also– recognize that building houses gets more and more and
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: more expensive and harder and harder with the regulations that
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: we have. There's always something with the electrical and the electricians.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: There's something always with the plumbers about the types of
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: pipes they use. And it seems like a lot of
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: our building codes are cumbersome.
• 19:49
  Speaker 2: They do.
• 19:50
  Speaker 3: Are. We want to make sure that safe homes are
• 19:52
  Speaker 3: built because that's really a responsibility.
• 19:55
  Speaker 2: We have as elected.
• 19:57
  Speaker 3: But because of all the codes and the red tape
• 20:00
  Speaker 3: and everything, and there's actually legislation that will be presented
• 20:05
  Speaker 3: next year to start streamlining that and making it because
• 20:09
  Speaker 3: Some developers are saying that the red tape is adding
• 20:12
  Speaker 3: 15% to 18% to the cost.
• 20:15
  Speaker 2: Of that home. For sure. And we've got to get
• 20:18
  Speaker 2: rid of that.
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: And they always come back and will say it's about safety. Okay,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: but there's just, I mean, you have safe houses and
• 20:24
  Speaker 1: then you could have ultra safe houses, but those ultra
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: safe houses cost you a lot of money. So tell
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: us what's up next. What's up and coming in La Vista?
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: What do we need to know about?
• 20:35
  Speaker 3: What do we need to know about? Well, I'm... Always
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: looking at the finances. I want to make sure that
• 20:42
  Speaker 3: we give our citizens a great city with nice amenities,
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: nice roads, programs for the toddlers to the seniors. But
• 20:53
  Speaker 3: we're responsible because it's their money that we're spending. We
• 20:58
  Speaker 3: will continue to diversify that tax base. We've got some
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: new development coming. I can't share some of it today.
• 21:05
  Speaker 3: But I did mention Slick City. We've got the residence
• 21:08
  Speaker 3: in that's going to be building in Southport. That gives
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: us over 800 hotel rooms in that little.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: Quarter of a mile area.
• 21:16
  Speaker 3: That generates last year $ 1. 2 million, which is the same
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: as $ 0. 04 mill levy. So if we can continue to
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: diversify our tax base, We can leave more of the
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: money in our.
• 21:30
  Speaker 2: Citizens' pockets. Absolutely.
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: Occupation tax, hotel tax, it's my favorite tax because 99
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: percent of it is paid by a non-LAVISA resident. So
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: we continue to try. We'll continue to work with the state.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: And we'll continue to provide the top service that we
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: can to our citizens.
• 21:50
  Speaker 2: It's pretty simple.
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: And that's the thing with sales tax too that I
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: found you got to keep on reminding people is when
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: you have a hotel-motel tax, you have a restaurant tax.
• 22:00
  Speaker 1: A lot of that is paid for by out-of-town guests
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: that come in here. So it's not just Omaha residents
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: that are doing that. And what did you say that
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: one penny of your mill love?
• 22:12
  Speaker 3: We're about $ 266, 000 one penny generates. So whatever we can
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: do to offset that, be it sales tax, hotel occupation tax, yeah,
• 22:25
  Speaker 3: that leaves money in our pocket. I've got a council member,
• 22:27
  Speaker 3: and he says, you know, We've only got so many
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: wallets that we can reach into.
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: That's true.
• 22:33
  Speaker 2: And we've got to make sure that we remember that.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: You know, one penny of levy in the Omaha City
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: budget is $ 5. 8 million.
• 22:42
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: And so when you try to drop, and I've explained
• 22:45
  Speaker 1: this many times, when you drop the levy one penny,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: which doesn't make that much difference, you're taking $ 5. 8 million
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: out of that budget. Mayor Doug Hending from Lizavista, I
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: want to really thank you. I kind of wanted to
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: get into a little bit more about an event we
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: went to the other day. But we're going to talk
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: about that after our break. I really appreciate you being here.
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: And keep up the good work in La Vista. I mean,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: I never hear anything negative about La Vista. I just hear, man,
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: it's booming. It's run well. It's safe. And people like
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: going down there. You know, I live pretty much just
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: a little bit north of Harrison. And so everybody knows
• 23:20
  Speaker 1: when we work on Harrison, that's the division between Sarpy
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: and Douglas. And if we work on Harrison, Omaha plays
• 23:27
  Speaker 1: for half. Well, Vista pays for half. People don't realize that.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: We've got a great partnership. Yes, we do.
• 23:33
  Speaker 3: If you don't mind, in my closing, we are commemorating
• 23:36
  Speaker 3: September 11th, the day. I want to thank all the
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: first responders and what they did. That day will stick
• 23:43
  Speaker 3: with me forever because you don't forget where you were.
• 23:45
  Speaker 1: No, you don't. And hopefully you never will. But I
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: was– like I said, I've been watching the TV all
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: morning and stayed up late. I'm going to talk a
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: little bit later about the event we were both at
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: the other day and talk about what the speaker had
• 23:58
  Speaker 1: to say because it was pretty amazing. So Doug Kendig,
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: mayor of La Vista, thank you so much for being
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: here today.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: Thanks, Jean. I appreciate it.
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: All right.
• 24:07
  Speaker 2: You bet.
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: Jean Stother, the host of the show. My name is
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: Peyton Highlock. And Gene, I just wanted to bring up
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: an email that I got. Comment at KFAB.com or the
• 24:16
  Speaker 5: phone lines 402-558-1110. Greg says, one of the saddest things
• 24:23
  Speaker 5: is that young people will never know how it felt
• 24:26
  Speaker 5: before 9-11. We can tell them all about it, but
• 24:30
  Speaker 5: they will never know the feeling. And just my comment
• 24:35
  Speaker 5: to this really quick. Because you're one of those.
• 24:38
  Speaker 2: Right.
• 24:38
  Speaker 5: I am one of those. I was born about 18
• 24:41
  Speaker 5: months before 9-11. And when I was in eighth grade,
• 24:45
  Speaker 5: we took a school trip to New York City. And
• 24:49
  Speaker 5: a bunch of middle schoolers running around New York City
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: is quite a task and a lot of emotions going on.
• 24:57
  Speaker 5: We took part and we went in the 9-11 Memorial
• 25:01
  Speaker 5: and Museum. And my point about us being eighth graders
• 25:05
  Speaker 5: is we're a bunch of middle schoolers running around. We're
• 25:07
  Speaker 5: kind of cuckoo crazy. We don't know how to act.
• 25:09
  Speaker 5: We're changing. The energy and the demeanor of all of
• 25:14
  Speaker 5: us when we were in this museum was somber, quiet,
• 25:20
  Speaker 5: no laughs and giggles, no jokes.
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: It still gets to you. I mean, no matter if
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: you didn't experience it, it's like when you go to
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: the Holocaust Museum. Many of us didn't experience or weren't
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: alive during the Holocaust. But you walk in those museums
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: and you see what really happened, whether it's by pictures
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: or notes, pictures of people. I mean, it just still–
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: it gets to you. I remember the first time I
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: was in the Holocaust Museum, there were people sitting on
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: the floor just sobbing. They just couldn't take it by
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: what they were seeing and pictures they were seeing. And
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: I think it's the same thing with the 9-11 Museum.
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: When I was there, and I mentioned this earlier, and
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: by the way, I want to thank Mayor Doug Kendig.
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: He does such a great job in La Vista. Anybody
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: that's been mayor that long has done a really good job.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: But I was there when there was still a lot
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: of rubble. They were still cleaning it up. They had
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: a construction fence around the site, and they had a
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: little makeshift museum that they actually just had, you know,
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: pictures that little kids were drawing and notes that people
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: were writing taped, literally taped to the wall. And even
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: that was pretty amazing. I mean, you just, you can't
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: conceive what it was like that day because it was,
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: nobody knew what was going to happen next. And, you know,
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: there was today, I was watching it on the television
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: this morning and they're having the ceremony and And there
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: are people that are reading every single name of every
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: life lost. And there was a remark made by a
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: man that was killed named Tom Strada and his wife, Terry,
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: his widow, Terry. She said this today, and I wrote
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: it down because she is now the national chair of
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: the 9-11 Families United. And she says, you are missed
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: more with each year that passes, but how can it
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: be 25 years later and we still have no justice
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: for the role that Saudi Arabia played in your murder.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: And I think that really got to a lot of people.
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: And that is true. Now, did we get Osama bin Laden? Yes,
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: we did. And, you know, they think many of those
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: that orchestrated it are now in Guantanamo in prison, which
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: is down, of course. by Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. There's
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: a detention, a U.S. military detention prison down there. And
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: we know the story about Osama bin Laden. There's a
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: lot out there. But, boy, I mean, that thing was
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: so orchestrated. If you remember, the first plane went into
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: the first tower about, it was 845, and then.
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: The South Tower was hit at 9.03. I mean, this
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: was just orchestrated like you can't believe. I mean, it
• 28:17
  Speaker 1: was about, you know, 18 minutes later. And then at 9.37,
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the American Airlines Flight 77 that hit the Pentagon. And
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: then at 10.03, the United Flight 93 hit is the
• 28:33
  Speaker 1: one that crashed in a field near shanksville pennsylvania so
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: boom boom boom boom boom four planes uh... we knew
• 28:42
  Speaker 1: we were under attack uh... al-qaeda declared war against the
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: united states we knew that the terrorists were in this
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: country And it was such a scary time. And the
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: one thing I did remember is I was home that
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: day and I walked out in the front yard just
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: to take a little break from watching the television. And
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: I hear a rumble above me and I look up
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: above me and saw Air Force One coming in. And
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that's when they were bringing George W. to STRATCOM. And
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: I think there's a nice, really good article on the
• 29:17
  Speaker 1: front page of the World Herald today about the time
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: that George W. Bush spent at the base here at STRATCOM.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: And then this, Peyton, I read every day, the Wall
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: Street Journal, I bring it in with me. But boy,
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: their cover story today, I'm going to go home and
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: read the whole thing because it's the front page and
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: it has the shadow of the towers. And then it
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: has the Wall Street Journal, their headlines of the day after.
• 29:48
  Speaker 1: It's September 12th. And they have the front page on
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the front page today on September 12th and talks about
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: how terrorists destroy World Trade Center, hit the Pentagon. In
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: a raid with hijacked jets. I think everybody just was
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: in disbelief. But I will never forget it. Now, I
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: mentioned that both Mayor Kindig and I were at an
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: event the other day. It was on September 9th. I
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: was downtown, and it was the annual First Responder Foundation
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: 9-11 Luncheon of Honor. and we were all sitting together.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: There was a table of all of the mayors, the
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: old mayors, except the current mayor. And there was, I
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: was there. I sat next to Jim Suttle. We talked
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: the whole time, had a great time talking to him.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: Hal Dobb was there. Mayor Kendig was there. Mayor Grosser
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: was there. You know, it was really nice to sit
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: there with all of these mayors and reminisce a little
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: bit about what happened that day and what we did
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: that day. But their keynote speaker, was a man, his
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: name was Will Jimeno, and he was a retired Port
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: Authority police officer, and he was one of the last
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: survivors that was rescued from the rubble at the World
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: Trade Center following the terrorist attacks. He was trapped beneath
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: the collapsed towers. He was there, in there, trying to
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: get in and trying to save people's life. But he
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: was trapped with a lot of his buddies for over
• 31:15
  Speaker 1: 13 hours under the concrete and the rubble. And he
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: said there was a little ray of light that him...
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and his friend next to him could see. And he
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: said his friend had a gun and he was trying
• 31:27
  Speaker 1: to shoot the gun through the little opening of light,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: hoping somebody would hear them. He endured unimaginable physical and
• 31:37
  Speaker 1: emotional challenges before being rescued. Can you imagine being under
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: that concrete for 13 hours? And His story was later
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: portrayed in a film called The World Trade Center, but
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: he shared a really powerful message. I mean, I think
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: everybody in that whole, it was held down at the
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: Hilton and it was a packed room. They were just
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: silent to listen to his message of resilience, hope, service.
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: He really inspired the audience to honor those that were
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: lost and then to support the first responders now and
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: recognize the extraordinary strength of the human spirit and how
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: we live on. But he walks with a limp. One
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: of his legs was crushed, but he was saved. After
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: 13 hours, him and one of his friends, the rest
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: of his friends died under there. And he said what
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: was amazing is when they finally got him out and
• 32:35
  Speaker 1: his friend out and they took him to the emergency room,
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: put him in a medic unit, took him to the
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: emergency room, I think at Bellevue, And he said when
• 32:43
  Speaker 1: he went in there, he expected it to be mayhem.
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: And he said the doctors and the nurses were just
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: standing around. And he said, he asked them, where's everybody else?
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: And they said, sir, you're the only two. You're the
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: only two that have survived. And he said it just
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: really got him then how lucky he was and how
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: meaningful life is and how things can obviously change in
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: a flash. 3,000 lives lost that day. I remembered President
• 33:14
  Speaker 1: George W. standing on top of the rubble with a
• 33:16
  Speaker 1: little microphone type thing. And I remember when he said
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: terrorist attacks can shake the foundations of our biggest buildings,
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: but they cannot touch us. the foundation of America. And
• 33:30
  Speaker 1: I'll always remember when he said that. So boy, what
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: a day it was. And I think we all will
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: remember it. But another thing that I, for that day
• 33:40
  Speaker 1: that we went down to the first responders, like I said,
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: the room was packed, but a old friend of mine
• 33:47
  Speaker 1: came up to me that works down at, off at
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: Air Force Base now at the base. And he said, hey,
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: would you like to meet the new commander? And I
• 33:55
  Speaker 1: knew General Cotton when I was mayor, who was the
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: commander down there. And I said, sure, I haven't met
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: the new commander. So we walked over and it was somebody.
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: I looked at him and I said, I know you.
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: And he said, well, I know you. And his name
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: is Colonel Aaron Gray. He's the new commander of the
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: 55th Wing at Office Air Force Base. And I met
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: him at the Jazz Festival at Midtown Crossing several years ago.
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: And he has a call name of A-Rod. And he
• 34:26
  Speaker 1: worked under Don Bacon when Don Bacon was in Tucson
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: and when Don Bacon was here and Don Bacon was
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: a commander. What a great guy. And I'd like to
• 34:34
  Speaker 1: see one of these days, I hope I can get
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: Colonel Gray. to come on here. He's a pilot. And
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: I think it would be great to talk to him
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: about what is going on at the base. But, you know,
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: they can control about everything going on in the world here,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: right here in Bellevue. And so I think that would
• 34:51
  Speaker 1: be great. But what a great commander we have now.
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: He's a colonel now, Colonel Aaron T.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: Gray.
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure Colonel Gray will be a general before long.
• 35:01
  Speaker 1: But that's what we got here. And we're lucky that
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: we have it. Gene Stothert in the KFAB comment line
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: returns next.
• 35:09
  Speaker 4: Mayor Stothert, just wanted to share my experience. I was
• 35:12
  Speaker 4: 16 years old on 9-11. I was angry that night
• 35:17
  Speaker 4: at football practice. So I called the recruiter. I then
• 35:21
  Speaker 4: served a 20-year career in the Nebraska National Guard. I
• 35:25
  Speaker 4: still work for the National Guard. I retired and I've
• 35:27
  Speaker 4: written two books about my military service. So that day
• 35:31
  Speaker 4: is still impacting me every day.
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: And that was with our talkback, Mike. So thank you
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: so much for that. And, you know, I still I
• 35:39
  Speaker 1: keep on reading things about it just to remind me
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: of that day. And I wrote a few quotes down
• 35:46
  Speaker 1: that I read. And one of them is from a
• 35:50
  Speaker 1: woman named Sandy Dahl. And her husband was one of
• 35:54
  Speaker 1: the pilots there. in the Shanksville, Pennsylvania, when that plane crashed.
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: And she said, if we learn nothing else from this tragedy,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: we learn that life is short and there is no
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: time for hate. I really like that one. And, you know,
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: President Obama said, even the smallest act of service, simplest
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: act of kindness is a way to honor who we lost.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: And then another person said, you can be sure that
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: the American spirit will prevail over over this tragedy. So
• 36:25
  Speaker 1: many thoughtful things that people were saying, and people still
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: continue to say, to remember that day and the lives
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: that are lost. And, you know, there's so many stories
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: that are saying Al Qaeda had, they said, they actually
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: came out and said that there is going to be
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: another attack on the United States that will dwarf 9-11.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: And I mean to think about that and to think
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: about what our military and what our intelligence has done.
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: to prevent something like that from happening. There is a
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: lot of documentaries out there. I'm sure they're playing a
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: lot now that you could watch too. And some of
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: those I'm sure we've all have seen before. But there's
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: a rather new one out and it's called Turning Point
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: Generation 9-11 and it's playing on Netflix. And I heard,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: I'm going to watch it tonight. I heard it's really,
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: really good, but that's a new one that is out
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: this year. So recommend that. So, Peyton, what else do
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: we got here today?
• 37:27
  Speaker 5: Yes, Gene, I got a comment or two from earlier
• 37:31
  Speaker 5: in the show with Mayor Kindig of La Vista. And
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: this one comes in from Doug and it says, Gene,
• 37:38
  Speaker 5: I'm sure your guest loves the fact Omaha couldn't annex them. LaVista, Bellevue,
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: and Papillion are so blessed that Omaha can't annex them,
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: and their mayor is surviving because he didn't spend money
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: on the streetcar. Oh, okay, whatever about the streetcar.
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: When that streetcar is up and running, you all are
• 37:56
  Speaker 1: going to say, Gene, you are right. I'm probably going
• 37:59
  Speaker 1: to be long gone, but it's going to be fine.
• 38:02
  Speaker 1: The other thing is, yeah, you know, I was never,
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: ever one– that would want to annex a freestanding community.
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: I remember people asked me, do you want to annex Ralston? No,
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: I did not. You can't annex over county lines either.
• 38:21
  Speaker 1: So La Vista is in Sarpy County, so you can't
• 38:24
  Speaker 1: do it. But that's nothing I was ever interested in.
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: I remember one time the mayor of Bennington called the
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: hotline and said, could you ask the mayor if she's
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: going to Annex Bennington. No, this was nothing I was
• 38:36
  Speaker 1: ever interested in. I was interested in annexing SIDs. in
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: unincorporated areas to be part of the city of Omaha.
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: And if you recall, Elkhorn was annexed by Mike Fahey.
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: So that was not anything Gene Stothert did either. But
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: you guys are going to bite your tongue about that
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: streetcar once it's up and running. I think you're going
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: to like it. And then one of these days, somebody's
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: going to go, I wonder who pushed this streetcar because
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: they were thinking the right way. I keep telling myself
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: that anyway. One cool fact that I.
• 39:11
  Speaker 5: Looked up yesterday before this interview with Mayor Kendig of
• 39:14
  Speaker 5: La Vista. The city of La Vista is officially Nebraska's
• 39:19
  Speaker 5: youngest incorporated city being founded in February of 1960. No kidding.
• 39:28
  Speaker 1: A little fun nugget of information.
• 39:29
  Speaker 5: There.
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: I didn't know that. Well, you know, also think about this, folks.
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: The city of Omaha is right under 500,000. So we're
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: the largest city in the state of Nebraska. We're the
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: 39th largest city in the country. Think about the size
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: of other cities in Nebraska, though, that La Vista has
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: a population of right around 17,000, okay? Omaha, 500,000. La Vista, 17,000.
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: But La Vista is the 12th largest city in Nebraska.
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: How do you like that? Oh, there you go, matching
• 40:01
  Speaker 1: me facts for facts there. I know, and I got
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: plenty of those in my little brain today. But thank
• 40:07
  Speaker 1: you all for spending this time with us today. Like
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: I said, I know a lot of us are watching
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: television trying to remind ourselves of what happened 25 years
• 40:17
  Speaker 1: ago today in New York City. But we'd love for
• 40:20
  Speaker 1: you to join us again on Monday. We'll have plenty
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: to talk about. Thanks for being with us today. I'm
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: Jean Stothert, and this is 1110 KFAB.