Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Mike Flood and Papillion Mayor Candidate

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Mike Flood and Papillion Mayor Candidate · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: I'm very happy to welcome Congressman Mike Flood to the
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Speaker 1: show this morning. Congressman, good morning.
0:05
Speaker 2: Good morning. Sounds like the weather's not very good out there.
0:08
Speaker 2: What do you have today?
0:09
Speaker 1: It's okay, it's just a little rain out there, you know,
0:13
Speaker 1: April showers, you know what they say. It's okay. I
0:16
Speaker 1: assume you're in DC, Yes, we do. I assume you're
0:18
Speaker 1: in DC. I am okay. Well, let me just just
0:23
Speaker 1: give a little background of Mike Flood. Boy. I've known
0:25
Speaker 1: you for a long time, but you've had a great career.
0:29
Speaker 1: You're an attorney, you're a businessman, you're a politician. You
0:33
Speaker 1: have been a congressman for Nebraska first Congressional District since
0:38
Speaker 1: twenty twenty two, I believe. And you serve two terms
0:42
Speaker 1: in the Nebraska Legislature, and you served as a speaker.
0:45
Speaker 1: And you are also into radio, aren't you. You started
0:49
Speaker 1: out in Norfolk. I heard that.
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Speaker 2: Look at you. You you're a radio girl. Now, this
0:54
Speaker 2: is pretty cool.
0:55
Speaker 1: Who would ever know this would happen? Right?
0:59
Speaker 2: But it's fun over nights in Nebraska City. I mean,
1:01
Speaker 2: I can get you. I can get you a prime
1:03
Speaker 2: job overnight, and.
1:04
Speaker 1: I might need it. But you know what, I was
1:07
Speaker 1: reading a little bit about you this weekend. It actually
1:09
Speaker 1: said you are known for a while as side show
1:12
Speaker 1: Mike at the Norfolk radio station in high school.
1:16
Speaker 2: That's pretty funny, now, Actually that was I was. I
1:20
Speaker 2: was on the radio out in South Bend, Indiana after
1:22
Speaker 2: I finished college, and I was on a country radio
1:25
Speaker 2: show that was in northern Indiana and southern Michigan. And
1:29
Speaker 2: it was a great job. My dad said, we didn't
1:32
Speaker 2: mortgage the house to send you to college. To get
1:34
Speaker 2: shot out of cannon. Get back here and get to
1:36
Speaker 2: go to law school.
1:37
Speaker 1: Yeah, get a job, kid, right. So when you said
1:40
Speaker 1: North Bend, so you went to undergrad at Notre Dame, correct, Yeah, yeah,
1:45
Speaker 1: and then you went to law school. I don't even
1:47
Speaker 1: know where you went to live. Lincoln and Lincoln. Okay,
1:50
Speaker 1: Well again, welcome to the show. I've got so much
1:53
Speaker 1: to talk to you about this morning. But first of all,
1:56
Speaker 1: I want to ask you about the White House correspondence dinner,
1:59
Speaker 1: because you were there kind of. I know the details
2:03
Speaker 1: are still emerging, but you know, I think one thing
2:06
Speaker 1: is very clear, and that's political violence in this country
2:10
Speaker 1: is rising. So I would love to hear your take
2:14
Speaker 1: on you were there, tell us what happened, Tell walk
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Speaker 1: us through Saturday night.
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Speaker 2: So I got an invite from c SPAN. Sam Feist
2:22
Speaker 2: is the CEO of c SPAN, and I've been working
2:24
Speaker 2: with them to get them carriage on like YouTube and
2:27
Speaker 2: on Hulu so that they can have a viable operation,
2:31
Speaker 2: and so I was really looking forward to this. It's
2:33
Speaker 2: a mix of you know, the White House press pool,
2:36
Speaker 2: the folks that cover Congress, members of Congress, the administration,
2:40
Speaker 2: the President, the Vice president, and quite frankly, our country
2:43
Speaker 2: needs this. We need everybody in a room having fun
2:46
Speaker 2: with each other, poking at each other, you know, getting
2:48
Speaker 2: a laugh and just letting loose a little of the
2:51
Speaker 2: energy out here. So I was really looking forward to it.
2:53
Speaker 2: I almost always go back ton't do Nebraska on the weekends,
2:58
Speaker 2: but I decided to stay out here so I could
3:02
Speaker 2: go to this. My wife and kids are in Norfolk,
3:05
Speaker 2: and my Mandy was going to a hospital fundraiser up
3:08
Speaker 2: there over the weekend, and so I came in. There's
3:12
Speaker 2: different rings of securities. So the first ring of securities
3:16
Speaker 2: really like two blocks from the Washington Hilton, and there
3:19
Speaker 2: were tons of protesters there yelling vile things anti Semitic slurs,
3:25
Speaker 2: pro Palestine effort. Everything was just kind of raucous. But
3:29
Speaker 2: that really didn't shock me. I would expect there would
3:32
Speaker 2: be a protest like that, but it was, you know,
3:34
Speaker 2: there was pretty loud and there were a lot of police.
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Speaker 2: There was all controlled from their end. And then you
3:38
Speaker 2: go you walk into the Hilton and you have to
3:40
Speaker 2: show your ticket, which I had my ticket, and then
3:43
Speaker 2: I went down a set of stairs to where they
3:45
Speaker 2: had the magnetometers, and there were tons of secret service
3:48
Speaker 2: in there. And ironically, this part of Washington Adams Morgan
3:53
Speaker 2: is the same area that the Nebraska National Guard are
3:56
Speaker 2: assigned to protect and to enforce laws to assist police.
4:01
Speaker 2: So there were Nebraska National Guard in the area. We
4:05
Speaker 2: saw them later in the night and I went through
4:07
Speaker 2: the magnetometer, I went to the reception. I came in there.
4:10
Speaker 2: I counted maybe ten or twelve of my colleagues from
4:13
Speaker 2: the house that were sitting with us. At my table,
4:16
Speaker 2: we had the folks from c SPAN, we had the
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Speaker 2: folks from YouTube, we had the acting Secretary of Labor,
4:20
Speaker 2: and at the table next to us, we had the
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Speaker 2: Secretary of the Army, and you know, just all around
4:26
Speaker 2: the Majority leader was there, the Majority Whip, just all
4:29
Speaker 2: sorts of people and we had a great conversation. The
4:33
Speaker 2: President came in, they did the Star spangled banner, they
4:36
Speaker 2: presented the colors. It was they had a military band
4:40
Speaker 2: behind the President on the stage. It sounded awesome. And
4:44
Speaker 2: then the chief White House correspondent for CBS, she kind
4:48
Speaker 2: of kicked off the evening. She said, enjoy your meal,
4:51
Speaker 2: and we started having salad, and we're having a great
4:54
Speaker 2: conversation at the table, and all of a sudden, I
4:57
Speaker 2: heard what sounded like a bunch of plates break. You know,
5:00
Speaker 2: you and I have been to literally thousands of dinners
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Speaker 2: where somebody, you know, drops the plates and they crash
5:08
Speaker 2: and you feel terrible for the wait staff, and that's
5:10
Speaker 2: what I thought it was. And it was a lot
5:13
Speaker 2: of plates breaking. So I kind of looked around, and
5:15
Speaker 2: then all of a sudden, my left eye caught the
5:19
Speaker 2: Secret Service rushing the President and the Vice president. They
5:23
Speaker 2: violently ripped the Vice President out of his seat and
5:26
Speaker 2: took him off to the right, and then I think
5:28
Speaker 2: Malania she got under the table more or less, and
5:33
Speaker 2: they were moving President Trump. He was trying to grab
5:35
Speaker 2: for her and either he tripped or something. But you know,
5:38
Speaker 2: when he went down, I was like, oh my god,
5:39
Speaker 2: I just watched something horrific here. But no, then he
5:42
Speaker 2: got back up and he rushed off the stage. Turns
5:45
Speaker 2: out that those plates breaking were actually gunshots. Everybody around,
5:50
Speaker 2: everybody in the place started yelling, get down, get down,
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Speaker 2: get down, get down. At my table, the leg of
5:56
Speaker 2: the table I was at was right underneath me, so
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Speaker 2: I couldn't even get down under the table. But all
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Speaker 2: the other people at my table were hiding like under
6:04
Speaker 2: the dining table. And I didn't even see it. But
6:07
Speaker 2: they came and whisked away the Labor Secretary. I didn't
6:10
Speaker 2: even see him go. The Secretary of the Army. He
6:13
Speaker 2: had a bunch of playing ghost guys come. What was
6:16
Speaker 2: the most surreal. And I was sitting up at this
6:19
Speaker 2: time because there was there was nowhere really for me
6:21
Speaker 2: to go. And I was sitting up and I was
6:23
Speaker 2: watching Secret Service officers. They were literally jumping table to
6:28
Speaker 2: table because they couldn't run on the ground because there
6:31
Speaker 2: were bodies of everybody that were you know, sheltering in
6:34
Speaker 2: place or hiding or whatever, and they were like jumping
6:37
Speaker 2: table to table. And then these fully armed full fatigues,
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Speaker 2: assault rifle guys with helmets, they're on the stage, they're
6:44
Speaker 2: pointing their guns out kind of tore the crowd, but
6:47
Speaker 2: they had they had those flashlights at the end of it,
6:49
Speaker 2: so if they if they were waving in your area,
6:53
Speaker 2: you almost blinded. But at that point everybody was like
6:57
Speaker 2: you didn't know what was going on. When you figured
7:00
Speaker 2: out that was gunshots and how close they were, it
7:02
Speaker 2: was surreal. And actually I remember sitting there while this
7:07
Speaker 2: was all going on, and I thought, this is terrible
7:11
Speaker 2: for our country. And I also thought, you know, I've
7:13
Speaker 2: been looking forward to this. We've been looking forward to this.
7:16
Speaker 2: We need this as a country. Everybody was unified, everybody
7:19
Speaker 2: was there, everybody was dressed up, everybody was ready to
7:21
Speaker 2: celebrate America but also use humor to bring people together.
7:25
Speaker 2: And then for some nutjob to do this and to
7:28
Speaker 2: tear that opportunity down. I just thought, this is this
7:32
Speaker 2: is this is We're better than this as Americans. And
7:35
Speaker 2: then shortly after that, you know, they they came back
7:39
Speaker 2: out and said they were going to resume the program.
7:41
Speaker 2: Deb Fisher and I kind of found each other. She
7:43
Speaker 2: was like four tables back. I said, Deb they're not
7:45
Speaker 2: gonna there. They are not going to restart the program.
7:49
Speaker 2: There's a crime scene there, all these people got taken out,
7:52
Speaker 2: there's traffic jams or helicopters. So I just, I just
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Speaker 2: I left at that time, and deb was sticking it out.
7:59
Speaker 2: She thought they were going to come back, but they
8:00
Speaker 2: ultimately said that they were going to reschedule it, which
8:04
Speaker 2: was the right decision. But what a what a bad
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Speaker 2: thing for our country?
8:08
Speaker 1: Absolutely, and like I said in the beginning, the political
8:11
Speaker 1: violence in this country is getting worse. This would be
8:14
Speaker 1: I don't know if they considered this yet an assassination
8:17
Speaker 1: attempt on the president, but I mean, if I'm assuming
8:20
Speaker 1: that's what the goal was, this would be the third attempt.
8:24
Speaker 1: And it just makes you wonder, you know where we're
8:27
Speaker 1: going with all of this. It becomes almost dangerous to
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Speaker 1: be an elected official anymore, no matter what you are,
8:33
Speaker 1: no matter what. But you know all of our social media, Congressman,
8:37
Speaker 1: you know that the people are evaluating the situation. Who
8:41
Speaker 1: weren't there people from all over the country saying things
8:44
Speaker 1: like lack of security, lack of appropriate response. It doesn't
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Speaker 1: sound that way from what you just described. It sounded
8:51
Speaker 1: like The response was rapid and appropriate, and there was
8:55
Speaker 1: security all around the entire area, and they acted as
8:58
Speaker 1: quickly as they could. I guess the big question is
9:00
Speaker 1: is how did the guy get there and get there
9:03
Speaker 1: with his knives and his guns? And they are explaining
9:06
Speaker 1: that as the details emerged, that he was in the
9:09
Speaker 1: hotel and somehow he was able to get there. So
9:13
Speaker 1: I guess the point is, no matter how strong and
9:16
Speaker 1: how secure you have security, these things can happen. And
9:22
Speaker 1: it's really I agree with you, it's really just a shame.
9:25
Speaker 1: It seems like that that term mega right now has
9:28
Speaker 1: turned into something that the politicians use as a dirty word.
9:33
Speaker 1: And in the very very beginning, it was just to
9:36
Speaker 1: bring America back to just what you are saying, just
9:39
Speaker 1: bring it back to where to where we need to
9:41
Speaker 1: be helping each other, doing what's right for the country,
9:44
Speaker 1: working together. And I'm sure you'll never forget that Saturday
9:49
Speaker 1: night for sure.
9:51
Speaker 2: Now, well, you've been to a Rita for so long.
9:54
Speaker 2: You understand how things have changed in the last twenty
9:57
Speaker 2: years and the way people treat each other. What's really
9:59
Speaker 2: has it really has a chilling effect is you know
10:02
Speaker 2: you know this as well as I do we try
10:04
Speaker 2: to get good people to run for office. You try
10:06
Speaker 2: to talk people into running for the legislature or the
10:08
Speaker 2: school board or the city council or mayor or governor
10:10
Speaker 2: or whatever. And good people see this and they don't
10:13
Speaker 2: want any part of it. Their spouse says no, their
10:15
Speaker 2: family says no, it's bad for their business or whatever
10:19
Speaker 2: it may be. And the reality is, we aren't going
10:22
Speaker 2: to get the best people in public office if we
10:24
Speaker 2: can't find a way to shill this political violence down.
10:28
Speaker 2: Because and I think it's even worse for women. You know,
10:30
Speaker 2: the members of Congress that I talk to, the vile
10:33
Speaker 2: things that are said to them, you probably experienced this.
10:36
Speaker 2: I mean, the things people say, especially to women elected officials.
10:40
Speaker 2: I mean, that's a terrible low.
10:42
Speaker 1: Oh from what it is. And I've experienced it myself.
10:45
Speaker 1: The first time I ran in twenty thirteen, my race
10:47
Speaker 1: made national news because of the vulgar things that were
10:51
Speaker 1: said about me because of my gender. But that's the
10:54
Speaker 1: way it is. You know, it used to be what
10:56
Speaker 1: I used to talk a lot to women about why
10:58
Speaker 1: they there's not a many women that run for political
11:01
Speaker 1: offices men, And it used to be the main reason
11:04
Speaker 1: would be well, I'm afraid I won't win. Well, you're
11:06
Speaker 1: not gonna win unless you run. But now it's all
11:09
Speaker 1: of those other things. It's I'm afraid to run. I'm
11:12
Speaker 1: afraid of what is happening in this country. So you
11:15
Speaker 1: were there, you experienced it. Thank god that you and
11:18
Speaker 1: everybody there are okay and no one was really hurt.
11:21
Speaker 1: But it'll be very interesting as the story evolves about
11:24
Speaker 1: this who this shooter was and why he did what
11:26
Speaker 1: he did. But we could talk about this all day,
11:29
Speaker 1: Thank goodness, you're okay, Let's jump into what's going on
11:33
Speaker 1: in the Mid East if we can. I mean, there's
11:35
Speaker 1: a lot to talk about. But the president canceled the
11:38
Speaker 1: envoy trips to Pakistan. Does this mean that the peace
11:41
Speaker 1: prospects are set back? In your opinion? Are the peace
11:44
Speaker 1: talks stalled? Just talk a little bit about where you
11:48
Speaker 1: think we are right now. I know Israel Netanyahu just
11:53
Speaker 1: ordered the troops to attack Hesbola again in Lebanon, so
11:57
Speaker 1: there's still a lot going on. Speak a little bit
11:59
Speaker 1: about if you could, and let let Nebraskans know what,
12:02
Speaker 1: in your opinion, what's going on there and and where
12:06
Speaker 1: we're heading right now?
12:09
Speaker 2: You know, I ran into a British citizen a few
12:10
Speaker 2: weeks ago who was one of the inspector Nuclear Inspectors
12:14
Speaker 2: for the United Nations, you know, fifteen years ago. The
12:18
Speaker 2: Iranians have a practice where they just delay. They delay,
12:21
Speaker 2: they delay, they drag things out, They take one step forward,
12:25
Speaker 2: two steps backward. I think President Trump's done with it.
12:27
Speaker 2: He says, We're not going to stick somebody in a
12:29
Speaker 2: plane to go nineteen hours and have nothing happen. These people,
12:33
Speaker 2: and he also said, we don't even know who's in charge.
12:35
Speaker 2: I believe that the problem with Iran, in my opinion,
12:39
Speaker 2: is look what we took out. We took out their
12:42
Speaker 2: supreme leader. All right, next one comes in, next one
12:45
Speaker 2: comes I mean, these people are signing up saying, yeah,
12:48
Speaker 2: I'm ready to die for my country. I'm ready to
12:50
Speaker 2: die in our quest to bring death to America. You know,
12:55
Speaker 2: we're not dealing with a nation state that is like,
12:58
Speaker 2: you know, a foreign that we're used to dealing with.
13:01
Speaker 2: We're dealing with martyrs who are or have a religious bend.
13:05
Speaker 2: They hate America, they want to end to Israel. They're
13:08
Speaker 2: the largest sponsor of terror in the world. And we
13:11
Speaker 2: finally have a president that says no more, We're not
13:13
Speaker 2: messing around. We're going to go in there. You're going
13:15
Speaker 2: to do this, or there's going to be no peace.
13:17
Speaker 2: And I support the President's actions. I think we will
13:23
Speaker 2: be better for it in the long run. It is
13:25
Speaker 2: certainly not something I think any America wants to have
13:27
Speaker 2: to deal with. But how many years have we been
13:30
Speaker 2: dealing with a country that's off its rocker wants to
13:33
Speaker 2: get a bomb, And by the way, when they get
13:35
Speaker 2: the bomb, they're going to use the bomb. They're going
13:38
Speaker 2: to get into somebody's hands that could put something in
13:40
Speaker 2: the United States or send it to Israel or wherever. Listen,
13:44
Speaker 2: if they're willing to do this and sign up for
13:46
Speaker 2: leadership after one ring of leaders gets killed, they are
13:51
Speaker 2: that dangerous they need to be dealt with.
13:53
Speaker 1: And what baffles me too. And I agree with everything
13:56
Speaker 1: you're saying. I'm sure most people do. But what baffles me,
13:59
Speaker 1: especially a lot of the Democrats in Congress are saying,
14:02
Speaker 1: we demand when you're going to be out, when you're
14:04
Speaker 1: what are you going to pull out? We need to
14:05
Speaker 1: know and you pull out when the job is done.
14:08
Speaker 1: I mean, correct, right right.
14:12
Speaker 2: And here's the thing, like We've seen what happens when
14:15
Speaker 2: you do a deal with the Uranians, who are right
14:16
Speaker 2: back in the same spot we always are. They're right
14:19
Speaker 2: back to killing Americans. They're right back to bowing death
14:22
Speaker 2: to America. You know, if I could do anything, I'd
14:25
Speaker 2: love to see in Iran pre nineteen seventy nine, you know,
14:28
Speaker 2: where women were allowed to just like exist in a
14:32
Speaker 2: comfortable way, where the society was a pro democratic, was
14:35
Speaker 2: friendly with the West. We're a long ways from that,
14:38
Speaker 2: and I don't know that that's not our mission right now.
14:40
Speaker 2: Our mission is to make sure they don't have the
14:41
Speaker 2: short range ability to deliver bombs with a payload, and
14:46
Speaker 2: to make sure they don't have a nuclear weapon. But
14:48
Speaker 2: we're dealing with people that are, you know, the largest
14:52
Speaker 2: sponsor of terrorism in the world.
14:54
Speaker 1: And in your opinion, is there no longer a nuclear
14:57
Speaker 1: program in Iran? I mean, have we succeeded of what
15:00
Speaker 1: we know?
15:02
Speaker 2: Well? I continue to hear the public reports that there's
15:07
Speaker 2: you know, material that's buried. Listen, they've been at this
15:09
Speaker 2: for a long time. They've probably got contingency plans. On
15:13
Speaker 2: contingency plans, you know, I don't know exactly how we're
15:19
Speaker 2: going to be able to say that they are rendered
15:22
Speaker 2: incapable of getting a nuclear weapon. I know that every
15:25
Speaker 2: single day General Caine, our Joint Chooster staff, everybody that's
15:29
Speaker 2: their mission. And I imagine here in the month of April,
15:34
Speaker 2: well in the month of May, we're going to get
15:36
Speaker 2: a classified briefing about where we are in a status
15:39
Speaker 2: because there's going to have to be a supplemental appropriation.
15:42
Speaker 2: And I'm at with zend If we can't even fund
15:46
Speaker 2: ICE and CBP, how are we going to get the
15:49
Speaker 2: money to our troops? And the Democrats have shown no
15:52
Speaker 2: willingness to work with us on this stuff.
15:55
Speaker 1: Do you think we can ever really achieve peace and
15:57
Speaker 1: stability in the Middle East? I mean, that's our hope.
16:02
Speaker 2: It's a million dollar question. You know, look at look
16:05
Speaker 2: at what President Trump has done. Uh since he's been
16:09
Speaker 2: in office. Uh where is Hamas? Has billah never been weaker?
16:15
Speaker 3: Uh?
16:15
Speaker 2: I mean, uh, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, you know,
16:20
Speaker 2: he's he has moved the needle in that direction. And uh,
16:25
Speaker 2: there there are countries there that you know, are buying
16:28
Speaker 2: into what the President's pushing. And so I think we
16:31
Speaker 2: have a president that's willing to act and to make
16:33
Speaker 2: tough decisions and and to uh, you know, fight for
16:37
Speaker 2: a long term piece. That isn't us writing or ran checks.
16:41
Speaker 2: I mean a President Obama gave them hundreds of millions
16:44
Speaker 2: of dollars and that was that was their plan. And
16:46
Speaker 2: they used that what to kill Americans. Uh, they use
16:49
Speaker 2: that to go against our own interests. So you can't
16:52
Speaker 2: write these people at check.
16:53
Speaker 1: I'm gonna move to another subject real quick because there's
16:55
Speaker 1: a couple more things I wanted to ask you about, Congressman.
16:58
Speaker 1: But the the It's fight, which is the Foreign Intelligence
17:02
Speaker 1: Surveillance Act. It's very interesting to me just to remind
17:06
Speaker 1: people what that was. It was of nineteen seventy eight,
17:09
Speaker 1: and the reauthorization is going to be voted on that
17:12
Speaker 1: this week. And that stands for the Foreign Intelligent Surveillance Act.
17:16
Speaker 1: And that was a law that established procedures for a
17:18
Speaker 1: surveillance and collection of foreign intelligence on domestic soil. There
17:23
Speaker 1: was always the question been was it is it been misused?
17:28
Speaker 1: And it was enacted way back in the response to
17:31
Speaker 1: revelations of widespread privacy violations by President Nixon. So that
17:36
Speaker 1: is going to be voted on this week. Tell us
17:38
Speaker 1: a little bit about that. I think it's so interesting
17:41
Speaker 1: what that act and it's a court basically, So talk
17:44
Speaker 1: a little bit about that and let us know what's
17:46
Speaker 1: going on with that.
17:48
Speaker 2: Well, if you are an al Qaeda operative operating in
17:52
Speaker 2: Syria and you are emailing back and forth with a
17:55
Speaker 2: person in the United States, you should not be surprised
17:59
Speaker 2: if you find out that we're in the al Qaeda
18:02
Speaker 2: operatives email and their text teams and their phone call.
18:06
Speaker 2: They have no expectation of privacy. And if you're emailing
18:10
Speaker 2: back and forth with a person in the United States
18:13
Speaker 2: and we can see the operatives email, we can see
18:16
Speaker 2: what he's doing over there in Syria, and we see
18:19
Speaker 2: your name pop up a number of times, not the
18:23
Speaker 2: message from you or but your name, then they can
18:27
Speaker 2: use that to get a warrant. Listen, we remodeled this
18:31
Speaker 2: last year with fifty six reforms. The system was broken,
18:35
Speaker 2: it was being abused. We got to the bottom of it.
18:38
Speaker 2: It was being abused against President Trump. President Trump has
18:42
Speaker 2: been clear he wants a clean reauthorization. Seventy five percent
18:47
Speaker 2: of the intelligence he gets comes from the Section seven
18:51
Speaker 2: zero two FAIZA efforts, and we have this Brewing. You know,
18:58
Speaker 2: some Democrats, some Republican they want this warrant requirement, which
19:02
Speaker 2: we already have a warn't required. If you're a US
19:04
Speaker 2: person and you're on US soil, you're gonna have to
19:06
Speaker 2: get a warm but you have no expectation of privacy
19:09
Speaker 2: if we're in the operatives email box in Syria. So
19:15
Speaker 2: I'm all for making sure that we protect American's Fourth
19:19
Speaker 2: Amendment rights surge and seizure, but we also have to
19:22
Speaker 2: do things like protect the country. And I think there
19:25
Speaker 2: will be blood on our hands if we don't get
19:28
Speaker 2: this reauthorized. So that the CIA, the National Intelligence folks,
19:34
Speaker 2: the Defense Department, the Department of War, FBI, all those
19:39
Speaker 2: agencies they need this in their counter terrorism efforts.
19:42
Speaker 1: All right, and we're with Congressman Mike Flood right now.
19:45
Speaker 1: One quick question. You are running for re election. Tell
19:49
Speaker 1: us what the folks in Nebraska need to know.
19:53
Speaker 2: Well, they need to know that, you know, just like
19:56
Speaker 2: I did in the legislature, I'm trying to move up
19:58
Speaker 2: the ranks. I run the second lak largest caucus of
20:00
Speaker 2: Republicans called the Main Street Caucus. I've grown it from
20:03
Speaker 2: fifty congresspeople to eighty nine members of Congress. We meet
20:07
Speaker 2: once a week. It puts me at the table with
20:09
Speaker 2: the Speaker, the President, all the leaders of the House
20:13
Speaker 2: of Representatives, and sometimes the Senate. I also have a
20:15
Speaker 2: gabble and the Chairman of the Housing and Insurance Committee.
20:19
Speaker 2: I just passed in the House bipartisan housing legislation to
20:23
Speaker 2: make it easier for cities like Omahon to use the
20:26
Speaker 2: federal money that you get to build homes. And I
20:28
Speaker 2: got three hundred and ninety votes out of four hundred
20:30
Speaker 2: and thirty five and only nine no votes. So I
20:34
Speaker 2: can do things on a bipartisan basis. I work to
20:37
Speaker 2: solve problems and I'm less about rhetoric. Went to bat
20:41
Speaker 2: last year for the National Weather Service and got them
20:43
Speaker 2: the staffing to make sure that we are getting the
20:47
Speaker 2: information to people. So I like to consider myself a
20:50
Speaker 2: workhorse more than a show horse. But you know your
20:54
Speaker 2: continued people's continued support of me will help me deliver
20:57
Speaker 2: good things.
20:57
Speaker 1: For Nebraska IMS and Mike fled District one in Nebraska.
21:02
Speaker 1: Keep up the good work, good luck with your campaign,
21:05
Speaker 1: and stay safe there in Washington, d C. Thank you
21:08
Speaker 1: so much for being here today.
21:10
Speaker 2: Good talking to you. Mayor thank you thank you.
21:12
Speaker 1: That was Congressman Mike Flood from Congressional District one in Nebraska.
21:17
Speaker 1: And we are going to get to your questions and
21:20
Speaker 1: your calls in just a few minutes. But I do
21:22
Speaker 1: have another guest this morning. We're full of guests this morning.
21:25
Speaker 1: Becky Hok is here today. Becky is running for the
21:28
Speaker 1: mayor of Papillion. She is a teacher in Papellion and
21:32
Speaker 1: she is on the city council currently. She was appointed
21:35
Speaker 1: in May of twenty twenty five. Becky, good morning, Good
21:38
Speaker 1: morning to you. And you served on about twenty five
21:41
Speaker 1: years on the Planning Commission, which I love. I love
21:45
Speaker 1: the planning department in the city of Omaha. I said,
21:48
Speaker 1: I used to make fun of them all the time.
21:49
Speaker 1: Sam planners just plan and plan and plan and plan
21:52
Speaker 1: when you got to get something done. But they always say,
21:54
Speaker 1: we have to plan to get things done. But I
21:56
Speaker 1: wanted to bring you on this morning so you could
21:58
Speaker 1: talk a bit about you know, we talk about Omaha
22:01
Speaker 1: a lot, that all of our surrounding communities are so
22:03
Speaker 1: important too. And I work with Mayor David Black for
22:06
Speaker 1: quite a while when I was mayor of Omaha. He
22:08
Speaker 1: is not running again. I believe there's about six candidates,
22:12
Speaker 1: Am I correct?
22:13
Speaker 3: There are indeed?
22:13
Speaker 1: Okay, So why don't you tell us who you are
22:16
Speaker 1: and just tell us why you want to be the
22:18
Speaker 1: mayor of Papillion.
22:20
Speaker 3: Well, I'm a lifetime Papillion resident, born and raised, or
22:24
Speaker 3: would have been born if Midlands had been opened quite
22:26
Speaker 3: early enough.
22:28
Speaker 1: So I've lived in Papellion.
22:29
Speaker 3: Over fifty years and the community and its people are
22:33
Speaker 3: my life. I want to continue my tradition of service
22:38
Speaker 3: to the community. I want to guide Papillion's growth. I
22:42
Speaker 3: want to make sure that it is affordable for young
22:46
Speaker 3: families to make Papillion home, for retirees to be able
22:50
Speaker 3: to retire in Papillion. We hear a lot about retirees
22:53
Speaker 3: who have to leave the community because they can't downsize
22:56
Speaker 3: in our own town, the town that they've called home
22:59
Speaker 3: for lifetime. And I want to make sure that we
23:03
Speaker 3: are preserving Papillion. One of the best things about Papillion
23:07
Speaker 3: is that it is a hometown too many, and it's
23:09
Speaker 3: an adopted hometown too many, and universally people will say
23:13
Speaker 3: Papillion just feels like home. It's our motto, and that
23:18
Speaker 3: is something that has to be curated and preserved and
23:21
Speaker 3: protected with selective development and growth. We're not going to
23:26
Speaker 3: stop growth. It's coming. Papillion is such a desirable place
23:31
Speaker 3: to live that people seek it out, and so we
23:33
Speaker 3: just have to make sure that we are doing intentionally
23:36
Speaker 3: the things that keep Papillion feeling like home while preserving
23:41
Speaker 3: a nice low tax levee, while maintaining our roads and
23:44
Speaker 3: infrastructure and our public security.
23:46
Speaker 1: And you know, I always say that that growth is good.
23:50
Speaker 1: There will be a lot of people that will say, well,
23:52
Speaker 1: I don't want this community to grow. I like it
23:55
Speaker 1: just like it is. Growth is not good. But a
23:57
Speaker 1: phrase I use all the time is communities never see
24:00
Speaker 1: and still they are either growing and moving forward or
24:03
Speaker 1: they are declining and falling behind, exactly. And that's what
24:06
Speaker 1: you want. You're not going to stay stagnant because when
24:09
Speaker 1: you do, if you don't grow, then your property values
24:12
Speaker 1: go down, the taxes go up, and people tend to
24:15
Speaker 1: move out. So that growth is a good thing. It's
24:18
Speaker 1: just you have to manage that growth, exactly. But when
24:21
Speaker 1: you are growing, you're broadening your tax base, and that's
24:24
Speaker 1: the one way that you're going to decrease taxes and
24:27
Speaker 1: keep them low. So talk about what are the number one, two,
24:31
Speaker 1: and three things that you hear from constituents in Papillion
24:34
Speaker 1: that are the things that are the biggest concern to them.
24:37
Speaker 1: Is it taxes? Is it their property taxes?
24:40
Speaker 3: Taxes are always a top issue for papilionites. We have
24:43
Speaker 3: a fantastic school district and that composes a lot of
24:47
Speaker 3: our tax levey as Papillion residents and for folks outside
24:51
Speaker 3: of the city who are in the district. The city
24:54
Speaker 3: itself actually has the lowest tax levee of any surrounding
24:57
Speaker 3: community and it's been going down historically because of that
25:02
Speaker 3: growth and.
25:02
Speaker 1: The increasing and that's a good thing, very much so.
25:06
Speaker 1: So you're hearing taxes is an issue. Public safety is
25:10
Speaker 1: really I mean, you want to keep the community safe,
25:12
Speaker 1: but it's really not a big high crime area.
25:16
Speaker 3: It is not because Pavilion has been proactive about maintaining
25:19
Speaker 3: a very high quality, dedicated, professional police force. We're going
25:24
Speaker 3: to be wrapping up a renovation and expansion of our
25:27
Speaker 3: police station this summer and that is a build for
25:32
Speaker 3: the future. In speaking with Chief Witted, he was telling
25:36
Speaker 3: me that he doesn't see us having to develop different
25:40
Speaker 3: precincts and put out remote stations throughout the community because
25:44
Speaker 3: we have truly purpose built a facility to grow with
25:49
Speaker 3: the city.
25:50
Speaker 1: And then talk a bit about economic development too, because
25:53
Speaker 1: that was always like my third biggest priority the whole
25:56
Speaker 1: time I was mayor. Economic development is so important, but
26:01
Speaker 1: you have to do it correctly, You have to have
26:03
Speaker 1: a plan. Just talk about the growth in Papillion. What
26:06
Speaker 1: you see happening.
26:08
Speaker 3: Well, growth in Papillion is driven by the desirability of
26:12
Speaker 3: the community as well as our access to Interstate eighty
26:17
Speaker 3: and the centrality of the Omaha metro area. And with
26:22
Speaker 3: the approval of the interchange that's going to go in
26:25
Speaker 3: on one hundred and ninety second on I eighty, we're
26:28
Speaker 3: going to see another significant push of development. And I
26:32
Speaker 3: think we've done a good job so far of keeping
26:35
Speaker 3: that industrial growth and that transportation based growth out to
26:40
Speaker 3: the west along the I eighty corridor. But the folks
26:43
Speaker 3: who work at those businesses, the folks who are employed
26:46
Speaker 3: in the supporting industries for the transportation based sorts of enterprises,
26:52
Speaker 3: those folks need places to live and they're seeking Papilion
26:56
Speaker 3: as a community to live in. And so what we
26:58
Speaker 3: have to do is we have to make sure that
27:01
Speaker 3: our roads are developed in order to handle the traffic
27:04
Speaker 3: that more people inevitably bring. We don't want to become
27:08
Speaker 3: just a mess of traffic jams in Papillion. It's never
27:11
Speaker 3: been that way and it shouldn't become that way. So
27:14
Speaker 3: we've been very forward thinking in our roads plan. We've
27:17
Speaker 3: got some major projects kicking off here yet this year,
27:21
Speaker 3: and then in the next couple of years, we're going
27:24
Speaker 3: to be revamping Cornhusker or sixth Street through Papilion East West,
27:29
Speaker 3: widening that up, easing a little congestion there. We're renovating
27:36
Speaker 3: ninetieth Street, connecting one of our core neighborhoods two three
27:41
Speaker 3: seventy and making that a safer place. It's adjacent to
27:45
Speaker 3: a school. We want to make sure that traffic stays
27:48
Speaker 3: slow and calm and safe for the students and the
27:51
Speaker 3: developing neighborhoods alongside.
27:54
Speaker 1: And you are a teacher right now, a high school teacher.
27:57
Speaker 1: What do you teach?
27:58
Speaker 3: I teach the me the academy for the Papilion Livistic
28:01
Speaker 3: Community Schools.
28:02
Speaker 1: Are you going to teach me a few things here today?
28:04
Speaker 1: Maybe this is a new gig for me, but you know,
28:08
Speaker 1: God bless the teachers. I tell you, I don't think
28:11
Speaker 1: that there would be a harder job in the entire
28:14
Speaker 1: country than being a teacher during COVID, except maybe being there.
28:18
Speaker 1: But I mean because I was, But being a teacher
28:21
Speaker 1: during COVID, what I mean, Holy cow, that was so
28:24
Speaker 1: difficult for students, for distance learning, for dealing with the
28:29
Speaker 1: whole mass versus no mass versus the I mean, it's
28:33
Speaker 1: so so difficult. And did you experience that was a
28:36
Speaker 1: It was a challenge, wasn't it. Oh?
28:38
Speaker 3: Yes, it was. It was devastating to us as educators.
28:42
Speaker 3: We know that it was devastating to the students and
28:45
Speaker 3: the families in our entire nation. We're still living in
28:49
Speaker 3: the collective post trauma of COVID.
28:52
Speaker 1: Absolutely, it's just.
28:53
Speaker 3: A constant, constant grow, constant growth into understanding what we've
29:01
Speaker 3: been through and how to come back to an equilibrium
29:06
Speaker 3: where students are again comfortable speaking their minds being heard
29:11
Speaker 3: because in that remote learning, you were invisible and students
29:17
Speaker 3: got very used to that. And I am focused on
29:21
Speaker 3: making sure that students feel heard and seen and feel
29:26
Speaker 3: comfortable being heard and seen, because those students now are
29:30
Speaker 3: our future voters and citizens, and if they feel like
29:34
Speaker 3: they can't be heard, then we're going to lose that
29:36
Speaker 3: element of our participative democracy.
29:39
Speaker 1: Well, you know, as a former three term school board
29:41
Speaker 1: member myself, I was with Millard, but I know how
29:45
Speaker 1: important the public schools are in this area and how
29:47
Speaker 1: important teachers are. So I want to wish you good luck.
29:50
Speaker 1: Any last message to your constituents, Well, Papilion.
29:55
Speaker 3: I love you, I am one of you, I will
29:57
Speaker 3: always be one of you, and I want to be
30:00
Speaker 3: your mayor to guide us through this pivotal moment in
30:04
Speaker 3: Papillion's history. We're going to create a community that will
30:08
Speaker 3: host families and friends and lifestyles for the next generation,
30:14
Speaker 3: and we need to do it together.
30:15
Speaker 1: Well, thank you. Becky Coke, as teacher from Papillion is
30:19
Speaker 1: running for the mayor. She's currently on the city council.
30:22
Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being with us today. We
30:24
Speaker 1: really appreciate you coming in. Thank you both so much
30:26
Speaker 1: for having me you bet, thanks great guests this morning.
30:29
Speaker 1: I really I could have talked to Congressman Flood for
30:32
Speaker 1: another two hours. He is very informative about things going on.
30:36
Speaker 1: And you know, Washington, d C. Is crazy town right now,
30:40
Speaker 1: so lots of other questions I had. I would love
30:42
Speaker 1: to ask him. But thank you Congressman for being on,
30:44
Speaker 1: and Becky Hoke, thanks for being on too. And you know,
30:48
Speaker 1: before we start taking some calls, I have one. I
30:51
Speaker 1: always have a follow up. I have to have a
30:53
Speaker 1: follow up on things that we talked about a few
30:56
Speaker 1: days before. This one was on Friday. But they're back
30:59
Speaker 1: to Skyline, back out in Elcorn again. I've got We've
31:02
Speaker 1: had so many comments and calls about it. But the
31:05
Speaker 1: one thing I had to bring up to day is
31:07
Speaker 1: there was one gentleman that called and he was quite
31:11
Speaker 1: angry and upset about Skyline. But one of the things
31:14
Speaker 1: he did say was that on the ballot question on
31:19
Speaker 1: the two thousand, on the on the twenty twenty ballot
31:26
Speaker 1: question for the bond issue for the roads, he said
31:31
Speaker 1: that it was listed that their streets would be repaired.
31:36
Speaker 1: And he said it was on the ballot question, and
31:39
Speaker 1: since it was on the ballot question, that's the reason
31:42
Speaker 1: they voted for it. And then he said that because
31:45
Speaker 1: we voted for it and we're not getting any money
31:47
Speaker 1: for it, we won our money back and we have
31:49
Speaker 1: our tax dollars back. Well, I looked up the ballot
31:52
Speaker 1: question from the twenty twenty two hundred million or two yeah,
31:56
Speaker 1: two hundred million dollar street transportation bond issue, and I
32:00
Speaker 1: want to read it on the air, because it says,
32:02
Speaker 1: shall the City of Omaha be authorized to issue and
32:05
Speaker 1: sell General Obligation bonds in the amount of two hundred
32:09
Speaker 1: million dollars for the purpose of providing funds for payment
32:13
Speaker 1: of the cost of streets, including neighborhoods and collectors and
32:17
Speaker 1: arterial streets in all seven City council districts and bridges.
32:22
Speaker 1: The appropriate cost to the taxpayers of the City of Omaha,
32:25
Speaker 1: if this proposal is approved to be two hundred million
32:29
Speaker 1: dollars plus interests payable on said bonds, to be paid
32:32
Speaker 1: from the fund for the principal and interest payment on
32:34
Speaker 1: the indebtedness of the City of Omaha. Yes or no?
32:38
Speaker 1: Can you read that again please? It was not listed
32:42
Speaker 1: that Skyline Ranches roads would be resurfaced or improved. It
32:48
Speaker 1: was not. It said it said neighborhood streets and arterials,
32:52
Speaker 1: and it says collector streets, and it says in all
32:55
Speaker 1: seven city council districts. So it does not say that.
32:59
Speaker 1: Also when he said, because our street is not getting fixed,
33:04
Speaker 1: can we have our taxes back? First of all, if
33:06
Speaker 1: you're talking about property taxes, your property taxes just doesn't
33:10
Speaker 1: pay for the street in front of your house. Your
33:12
Speaker 1: property taxes pays for the fire department, the police department,
33:15
Speaker 1: the planning department, the swimming pools, the golf courses, the libraries,
33:19
Speaker 1: the community centers, all of those things. And if you're
33:22
Speaker 1: just talking about the wheel tax again, the wheel tax,
33:25
Speaker 1: you do not pay your approximate fifty dollars a year
33:29
Speaker 1: for a car for just the road in front of
33:31
Speaker 1: your house. The reason that the wheel tax was first
33:34
Speaker 1: imposed in nineteen seventeen and never meant to be just temporary,
33:39
Speaker 1: was that you drive on the streets of Omaha, so
33:42
Speaker 1: you contribute to the wear and tear on all of
33:45
Speaker 1: the streets, not just the street in front of your house.
33:48
Speaker 1: And so I'm sure those people that live along Skyline
33:50
Speaker 1: don't just drive their cars on the street in front
33:53
Speaker 1: of their house, but they drive all over Omaha, and
33:55
Speaker 1: that's the purpose of the wheel tax.
33:56
Speaker 4: Well, Gene, thank you for looking into that. We had
33:59
Speaker 4: a few questions about this last week, and you did
34:01
Speaker 4: your homework over the weekend, So thank you for contributing
34:04
Speaker 4: I have a question for you here. This came in
34:06
Speaker 4: the email inbox comment at kfab dot com. You asked
34:10
Speaker 4: a question about COVID a few minutes ago before the break,
34:14
Speaker 4: and it says, Gene, do you have any regrets about
34:16
Speaker 4: your handling of COVID. I still remember the freak out
34:20
Speaker 4: over playgrounds. I still remember you buying into a lot
34:23
Speaker 4: of the bs. You were, however, the most accessible person
34:28
Speaker 4: out there. Whether I agreed or disagreed, you were more
34:31
Speaker 4: honest than most. Any regrets that you had during COVID
34:34
Speaker 4: about how you handled it about the situations, I really don't.
34:39
Speaker 1: I mean, it was such a challenge because number one,
34:44
Speaker 1: nobody knew what was going to happen. And I really
34:46
Speaker 1: do think my background as a nurse and a critical
34:49
Speaker 1: care nurse really helped a lot to understand what was
34:53
Speaker 1: going on. I've worked with the infectious disease at the
34:55
Speaker 1: med Center. I worked with doctor Oddie Porr, which was
34:58
Speaker 1: our director of public health, Doctor Pohorr and I did
35:01
Speaker 1: over thirty press conferences during COVID to keep the public informed,
35:07
Speaker 1: and you know, we were learning something new every single day.
35:10
Speaker 1: I felt like I had to make some really tough
35:13
Speaker 1: decisions and I was very unpopular for some of those
35:17
Speaker 1: decisions that we had made. But the first estimates we
35:21
Speaker 1: had through our finance department was because of COVID, we
35:25
Speaker 1: were going to suffer a loss of about seventy five
35:28
Speaker 1: million dollars in sales tax. And this was the budget
35:31
Speaker 1: that we were in. Can you imagine trying to work
35:34
Speaker 1: through a budget that you're going to be seventy five
35:36
Speaker 1: million dollars short. Well, actually, when it was all said
35:40
Speaker 1: and done, it wasn't that much. It was around forty million,
35:42
Speaker 1: and we ended the year with a surplus. But it
35:45
Speaker 1: was because I had to make a lot of decisions
35:47
Speaker 1: and I closed down swimming pools. I closed down some playgrounds,
35:51
Speaker 1: we had to wipe them down. I closed down community centers, library,
35:55
Speaker 1: I mean, there were so many things that we had
35:58
Speaker 1: to close down for this of what we thought was safety,
36:02
Speaker 1: because we just didn't know what was going to be happening.
36:05
Speaker 1: I was really criticized when I left the golf courses open.
36:09
Speaker 1: You know, we have four ninees and four eighteens. We
36:12
Speaker 1: took the carts away, but I thought it's outdoor and
36:15
Speaker 1: it could give people a chance to just get out
36:17
Speaker 1: and do something and get some exercise. But people said
36:20
Speaker 1: that I left the golf courses open because only rich
36:23
Speaker 1: people play golf. Well that's not true. I mean you
36:26
Speaker 1: and I play golf, right, Peyton, I mean neither one
36:28
Speaker 1: of us are are rich.
36:30
Speaker 4: But no speak for yourself.
36:31
Speaker 1: I know I'm telling you the truth here, but I
36:34
Speaker 1: but I thought it was a good way to keep
36:37
Speaker 1: something open that people could get out and enjoy some recreation.
36:41
Speaker 1: I did get a group of community members together from
36:45
Speaker 1: all aspects of the community to advise me on what
36:49
Speaker 1: was going on in the community and what they thought
36:51
Speaker 1: the needs really were in the community. I was worried
36:54
Speaker 1: about jobs, I was worried about housing. I was worried
36:57
Speaker 1: about people dying. I mean, it was if anything kept
37:01
Speaker 1: me awake at night. It was all during COVID. It was.
37:04
Speaker 1: But it to say, do I have any regrets and
37:07
Speaker 1: how I handled it, our decisions that I made. I
37:10
Speaker 1: don't know what the caller means about. I bought into
37:14
Speaker 1: a lot of the stuff because there was I mean,
37:17
Speaker 1: surely a difference of opinion about masks versus not mask. Absolutely,
37:21
Speaker 1: I was not for the mask mandate in the city
37:24
Speaker 1: of Omaha. That decision was made by the public Health
37:28
Speaker 1: director without my knowledge, and then she let me know
37:31
Speaker 1: after she announced it. So you know, there was a
37:34
Speaker 1: lot going on at the time. But Omaha did make
37:37
Speaker 1: it through COVID better than a lot of American cities,
37:40
Speaker 1: especially financially, and we did in that year with the
37:44
Speaker 1: surplus of money. So it was a lot of hard decisions.
37:47
Speaker 1: But boy, I hope we don't have to go through
37:49
Speaker 1: that again.
37:50
Speaker 4: Yes, I agree, And obviously hindsight is twenty twenty, so
37:52
Speaker 4: there's things that we know now that we didn't know
37:55
Speaker 4: in that moment. It was very scary and it's.
37:59
Speaker 1: Oh, it was different, per It was very scary and
38:02
Speaker 1: just really not knowing how all of this was going
38:05
Speaker 1: to end. It was quite frightening. So, you know, I
38:09
Speaker 1: went to work every day. There were protesters out in
38:12
Speaker 1: front of under where my office was, the Mayor's office.
38:16
Speaker 1: There's a plaza between the City Hall and the Hall
38:19
Speaker 1: of Justice, and there were protesters out there every day
38:22
Speaker 1: protesting one thing or another, mostly the mask. And so
38:27
Speaker 1: it was a really really hard time and a lot
38:29
Speaker 1: of people had difference of opinion. Being a school board
38:32
Speaker 1: member and a teacher during that time was unbelievably challenging
38:37
Speaker 1: and stressful. So a lot of people had to make
38:40
Speaker 1: a lot of decisions for what they thought was best
38:42
Speaker 1: for the community. But luckily we came out of it
38:45
Speaker 1: pretty unscathed. And then we got a lot of federal money.
38:47
Speaker 1: I have to bring that up, lots and lots of
38:49
Speaker 1: federal money that we got for COVID, and then we
38:53
Speaker 1: had to make the decisions where that money was going
38:56
Speaker 1: to go. And you know, one of the areas that
38:58
Speaker 1: got the most money was our parts. We gave about
39:00
Speaker 1: twelve million dollars a COVID money to the parks and
39:03
Speaker 1: so you know, that was that was something that we
39:05
Speaker 1: really had to work with and to get those funds
39:08
Speaker 1: and then to disperse them appropriately where they needed where
39:12
Speaker 1: they were needed the most. Absolutely.
39:15
Speaker 4: I have another email from you for you here comment
39:17
Speaker 4: at kfab dot com. This one comes from John. He
39:20
Speaker 4: asked a lot of good questions, gives a lot of context,
39:22
Speaker 4: but I'll just give you the meat and potatoes. My
39:25
Speaker 4: question is regarding quote red light runners end quote and
39:29
Speaker 4: what can be done about the issue in Omaha. Gives
39:32
Speaker 4: an example his partner involved in a crash going sixty plus.
39:37
Speaker 4: What is OPD doing about this? Do they ever sit
39:40
Speaker 4: and monitor intersections.
39:41
Speaker 1: Yes. And let me tell you John, that there's two
39:45
Speaker 1: reasons why most accidents occur. Number one is speeding and
39:48
Speaker 1: number two is red light runners. That's just a fact
39:51
Speaker 1: the way it is. You know. The one thing that
39:54
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha has done we created that Vision zero,
39:58
Speaker 1: and Vision zero is is basically to eliminate traffic deaths
40:05
Speaker 1: by looking at different things that we can do to
40:09
Speaker 1: help drivers drive, you know, more safely, basically. And that
40:13
Speaker 1: sounds like a lofty goals to say, eliminate traffic desk,
40:16
Speaker 1: But how how can you settle for saying we want
40:19
Speaker 1: to have just ten traffic desks, you know, So our
40:22
Speaker 1: goal was to eliminate it. The one thing with red
40:25
Speaker 1: light runners is that Vision zero supports, and so does
40:30
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha, and so do a lot of
40:31
Speaker 1: communities around the country. And I'm going to say something
40:35
Speaker 1: that a lot of people are going to cringe, but
40:37
Speaker 1: it's roundabouts and roundabouts eliminate both of those issues. Roundabouts
40:42
Speaker 1: eliminate the speeding and they eliminate red light runners because
40:45
Speaker 1: you don't need the signals there and people just tend
40:49
Speaker 1: to slow down to go around the roundabouts. And there
40:52
Speaker 1: are some people that just are so against them, but
40:55
Speaker 1: they are effective and they work. And yes, if you
40:58
Speaker 1: do have an area that yet you see a lot
41:02
Speaker 1: of red light running, OPD will monitor that intersection for you.
41:06
Speaker 1: You could call your council member for your district, or
41:09
Speaker 1: you can call the mayor's hotline for that and say
41:12
Speaker 1: there's an area of particular need to have the OPD
41:16
Speaker 1: out there, and they will monitor it very closely for you.
41:19
Speaker 4: Chris Baker is somewhere punching the air thinking about roundabouts. Well,
41:23
Speaker 4: those are just his favorite.
41:24
Speaker 1: Chris Baker and I are going to have a fight
41:26
Speaker 1: over roundabouts. But they are effective and they show that
41:28
Speaker 1: they are effective throughout the country. And they always say, well,
41:32
Speaker 1: we don't think that the fire trucks and police trucks
41:34
Speaker 1: will get through there. They'll go right over those roundabouts
41:37
Speaker 1: if they have to. But boy, a lot of things
41:40
Speaker 1: going on today, a lot of questions, a lot of
41:42
Speaker 1: two guests that were great today. I'm Jeene Stothert. Thank
41:45
Speaker 1: you so much for spending this time with us, Thanks
41:47
Speaker 1: for listening. And this is eleven ten kfab