Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / State of the City Breakdown

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State of the City Breakdown · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your current host of the Comment Line that's
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Speaker 1: ten to eleven every day Monday through Friday, and we
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Speaker 1: really want to hear back from you. We want to
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Speaker 1: get your feedback, We want to get your comments, concerns, questions, complaints,
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Speaker 1: really anything goes, whether it's state, city, national, the world
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Speaker 1: and of course the street car and we will have
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Speaker 1: a lot of guests and plenty opinion for me. If
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Speaker 1: you want to call in, you can call us at
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Speaker 1: four two five five eight eleven ten, or you can
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Speaker 1: email us at comment at kfab dot com. You know, Peyton,
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Speaker 1: I was just listening to Rosie and Scott talk about
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Speaker 1: Mac talk about coach McDermott retiring, and I just got
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Speaker 1: to tell you one little story about them. Quite a
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Speaker 1: few years ago. There's a tradition at the Press Club
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Speaker 1: that you get your face on the barroom floor to
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Speaker 1: be honored. And there was a time that both Mac
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Speaker 1: and Doug McDermott together had their face in the barroom
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Speaker 1: floor and they asked me to roast them, and I did,
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Speaker 1: and I swear it was the first time in my
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Speaker 1: life that I looked small. Those are two tall glasses
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Speaker 1: a lotter right there. Yes, they really are and I'm
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Speaker 1: pretty tall. I mean I've always been close to six
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Speaker 1: feet tall that people that have never seen me in person,
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Speaker 1: I'm kind of shrinking now. I'm barely five foot ten.
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Speaker 1: I'm like the incredible shrinking woman. But those two guys
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Speaker 1: are big guys, and it was really fun roasting him.
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Speaker 2: But I still have a couple of pictures of.
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Speaker 1: Me and them, and I did look pretty tiny next
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Speaker 1: to them. The other thing is is Brian Kulkbrenner came
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Speaker 1: into my office along with Baylor Sireman, along with Father Hendrickson.
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Speaker 1: They brought me a basketball and he and Kolkbrenner am
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Speaker 1: I saying that right Kulkbrenner, It's the first time somebody
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Speaker 1: had to duck to get in the office, to get
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Speaker 1: in my office with I mean, he is really tall,
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Speaker 1: so tall, and he has giant hands too. I shook
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Speaker 1: his hands and he has no wonder he can palm
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Speaker 1: a basketball. But we have a lot to talk about today,
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Speaker 1: and I want to get started because Mayor John Ewing
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Speaker 1: gave his first Date of the City address on Friday.
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Speaker 2: I listened to it.
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Speaker 1: I gave twelve State of the City, and you know,
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Speaker 1: I'm going to talk about it. I'm going to talk
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Speaker 1: about some different parts of it, and I want to
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Speaker 1: hear your feedback and we'll open it up afterwards. Of course,
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Speaker 1: you can give us feedback on anything or ask questions
2:15
Speaker 1: about anything, but i'd like to hear what you thought
2:17
Speaker 1: about the state of the city. There was an article
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Speaker 1: in the World Herald about it. But I will say
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Speaker 1: this to start out with state of the cities are
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Speaker 1: supposed to be about the mayor's accomplishments, where we are
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Speaker 1: now and where we are going. And before I say
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Speaker 1: anything about the state of the city, I want to
2:32
Speaker 1: say something about leadership. There's a lot of characteristics that
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Speaker 1: a leader needs to have, and I've talked about that
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Speaker 1: a lot over the past twelve years, and I think
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Speaker 1: one that is so important is integrity. I mean, everybody
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Speaker 1: wants their elected officials to be honest, and that's what
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Speaker 1: integrity really means. But of course we want our elected
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Speaker 1: officials to be honest, that's human nature. But honesty also
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Speaker 1: means not taking credit when credit is not do And
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Speaker 1: here's what I want to talk about today. Maryor Ewing
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Speaker 1: campaigned for five months, brutally criticized me and just about
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Speaker 1: everything that me and my administration were doing from roads
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Speaker 1: to police, affordable housing, parks to potholes and sinkholes. And
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Speaker 1: now it's business as usual and they're doing things just
3:21
Speaker 1: as my administration was doing it.
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Speaker 2: I will say this, I did not. I listened.
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Speaker 1: I had a lot of people listening, and with the
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Speaker 1: exception of a few things, he talked about a few promotions,
3:34
Speaker 1: a few new positions, some task forces and surveys. He
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Speaker 1: was doing a little bit about five million dollars to
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Speaker 1: the parks if the city could match it. Besides that,
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Speaker 1: I will be honest with the listeners, I did not
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Speaker 1: hear one new initiative that Mayor Ewing initiative initiated. Almost
3:54
Speaker 1: everything he talked about was already underway, and it was
3:58
Speaker 1: underway by what I did and what my administration did.
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Speaker 1: So let's talk about some of that and then let's
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Speaker 1: get some feedback. First of all, the parks. He brought
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Speaker 1: up that that is one of his big priorities this year,
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Speaker 1: and again I have always I want to start out
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Speaker 1: with saying my priorities were the same for twelve years.
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Speaker 1: Number One, my priority was public safety, and that is
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Speaker 1: government's number one responsibility is keeping the citizens safe. Second
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Speaker 1: was managing and creating, developing the city budget and keeping
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Speaker 1: taxes as low as we can. Third was economic development,
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Speaker 1: and the fourth was improving the taxpayer experience. So those
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Speaker 1: are mine. Marry Ewing's priorities are number one affordable housing,
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Speaker 1: then economic development, homelessness, parks, poverty elimination, plan risk and
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Speaker 1: resilience which is climate, and roads in infrastructure. So his
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Speaker 1: are quite different than mine. But if you notice that
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Speaker 1: public safety and keeping taxes low in city budget is
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Speaker 1: not one of the priorities, which is a concern parks.
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Speaker 1: It is a priority to him and it was to
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Speaker 1: me too. You have to keep in mind that when
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Speaker 1: COVID hit and we got all of the COVID money
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Speaker 1: from the federal government, I did put ten million additional
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Speaker 1: dollars into parks. I'd increased the park's budget when I
5:19
Speaker 1: was mayor, and I worked with philanthropy a lot, which
5:23
Speaker 1: he mentioned working with philanthropy, but I worked with them
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Speaker 1: a lot with our park system. The mayor mentioned some
5:31
Speaker 1: improvements at Miller, Cunningham, Levi, Carter. Those three are in
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Speaker 1: North Omaha. All of those improvements were already underway, all
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Speaker 1: of them. Miller Park was Cunningham, it became under it's
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Speaker 1: a city park, but under private authority, not authority, but
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Speaker 1: private management in twenty nineteen.
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Speaker 2: This has been going on since then.
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Speaker 1: Levi Carter when he talked about a new facility there
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Speaker 1: and talked about what it is indoor and outdoor, that
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Speaker 1: was already under construction with my administration, Tranquility, he brought
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Speaker 1: up and talked about getting a lot of soccer and
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Speaker 1: doing soccer tournaments at Tranquility that was already underway. The
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Speaker 1: design was underway, the partnerships were developed, so those things
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Speaker 1: were already underway. I do He only mentioned Tranquility out west,
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Speaker 1: like I said, the rest were in North Omaha, But
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Speaker 1: say what about South Omaha? What about Manden Park? What
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Speaker 1: about Lynch Park? And talking about I am working with philanthropy,
6:34
Speaker 1: he did mention that five million dollars was promised to
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Speaker 1: the City of Omaha by Philanthropy for the parks if
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Speaker 1: the city of Omaha could match it. So he didn't
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Speaker 1: go into saying will the City of Omaha match it?
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Speaker 1: But I have to remind people just look at the
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Speaker 1: Riverfront Parks. We were working with Philanthropy for years and
6:54
Speaker 1: years and years with the Riverfront Parks. Four hundred million
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Speaker 1: of private money went into the Jean Lahi mal Heartland
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Speaker 1: of America Park in Lewis and Clark Landing. So this
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Speaker 1: is something we were doing. Look at the luminarium down
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Speaker 1: on the on the riverfront there on the landing. The
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Speaker 1: luminarium is totally privately funded on city city property. So
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Speaker 1: those are things that we already had underway. I want
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Speaker 1: to point that out, and I think that's important for
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Speaker 1: people to understand and to consider. When hearing what the
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Speaker 1: mayor was saying, I know that there was He did
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Speaker 1: say that we have more transformation potential than we ever have,
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Speaker 1: and it's more than plugging a maintenance hole.
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Speaker 2: What does that mean?
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Speaker 1: I have no idea, because again, when you talk about
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Speaker 1: these parks that he was talking about under construction, are
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Speaker 1: the plans these were already way underway. I will point
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Speaker 1: out with the parks, there is no park director right now.
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Speaker 1: I went through a national search. I hired a new
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Speaker 1: parks director, Matt Kalsovich. I thought he did a fantastic job.
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Speaker 1: Before that, I had hired Brooke Bench, who, by the way,
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Speaker 1: in twenty twenty went over to help manage and be
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Speaker 1: the executive director of the Lake Cunningham Development Trust. They
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Speaker 1: were great parks directors. But my parks director that after
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Speaker 1: I did a national search, was fired about four weeks
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Speaker 1: after Mary Ewing took office. They said he resigned, but
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Speaker 1: he was given the option to resign. They already did
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Speaker 1: one national search. Mary Ewing reported, we're going to do
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Speaker 1: a national search and we'll have a new parks director.
8:39
Speaker 1: They already did a national search and they didn't pick anybody,
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Speaker 1: so they don't have a parks director as of yet.
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Speaker 1: One thing that I did commission and was already underway
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Speaker 1: is a new parks master Plan. And I think that
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Speaker 1: that was very, very important because we do have two
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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six parks in the City of Omaha,
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Speaker 1: fifty six. Some are big, some are smaller, but that's
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Speaker 1: a lot of parks. And when we did the movement
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Speaker 1: to go forward with redoing our city master Plan, or
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Speaker 1: Mary Ewing addressed it as the comprehensive Plan, I asked
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Speaker 1: the Parks Department to also do a city Parks master Plan,
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Speaker 1: and that was underway and Matt Kalsafitch was doing that plan.
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Speaker 1: So I think that's important to point out. Two all
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Speaker 1: that was was already underway.
9:28
Speaker 2: Can I ask you a follow up here.
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Speaker 3: I've gotten quite a few emails and phone calls since
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Speaker 3: we've had the comment line open about why hasn't there
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Speaker 3: been a new parks director? And people have given their example, Oh,
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Speaker 3: I live next to this park, and they're absolutely this
9:40
Speaker 3: is happening. Do you need a parks director? How long
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Speaker 3: does it take? And is ten months now approaching with
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Speaker 3: no parks director? Is that an issue? Is that approaching
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Speaker 3: critical time?
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Speaker 1: It definitely is an issue because we're heading towards summer,
9:53
Speaker 1: We're heading towards when the swimming pool's open, when we
9:56
Speaker 1: have all of the camps like Humble. Everybody wants Humble.
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Speaker 1: He does have an acting parks director, and that is
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Speaker 1: the same man that has been there a long time
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Speaker 1: that I had it as an acting parks director. But
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Speaker 1: you definitely need a parks director two hundred and fifty
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Speaker 1: six Parks in Omaha. He was developing the new park's
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Speaker 1: master plan. You need somebody that is in charge. You
10:19
Speaker 1: need somebody that is going to do and develop the budget,
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Speaker 1: to manage the budget, to be able to prioritize where
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Speaker 1: the city is going. And I think it's vitally important
10:29
Speaker 1: as we're coming into the summer. So it was announced
10:32
Speaker 1: that we will be doing a national search and we
10:35
Speaker 1: will have a new parks director. But I want to
10:37
Speaker 1: remind people that this administration subtle, I mean I said subtle.
10:42
Speaker 1: Ewing's administration already did one national search and didn't find somebody.
10:47
Speaker 1: So it is really important that we move forward with
10:49
Speaker 1: that with the parks. And obviously is what I said
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Speaker 1: about with using the Riverfront Parks as an example. We
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Speaker 1: have been working with philanthropy for years to and because
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Speaker 1: philanthropy thinks our parks and our park system are good.
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Speaker 1: So anyway, that's probably enough about the parks, except he
11:09
Speaker 1: mentioned that there would be a consultant that would be hired,
11:13
Speaker 1: and that also was initiated by my administration, that parks consultant.
11:19
Speaker 1: I was already interviewed by it a year ago, by
11:21
Speaker 1: the park's consultant, so that was already underway. So I
11:25
Speaker 1: want to make sure people understand that now I want
11:28
Speaker 1: to move up onto public safety. He didn't mention it
11:32
Speaker 1: hardly at all. I mean, he didn't talk about where
11:35
Speaker 1: we are as far as public safety crime statistics. These
11:38
Speaker 1: are things people want to know. Public safety, Fire and
11:42
Speaker 1: police are two thirds of our city budget. They are very,
11:46
Speaker 1: very important. The one thing that he did say is
11:49
Speaker 1: he said that we have a class going on now
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Speaker 1: of recruits. That we have more applicants than we have
11:55
Speaker 1: had in years, and that is good. I mean, I
11:58
Speaker 1: think that is great. But I think it's because of
12:01
Speaker 1: the initiatives that we already had underway that I worked
12:06
Speaker 1: with the police with and the chief with that was
12:09
Speaker 1: approved by the city council over a year ago. And
12:13
Speaker 1: the one thing that people need to be reminded of too,
12:16
Speaker 1: is when we had this great decrease in the number
12:20
Speaker 1: of applicants, it wasn't because of the mayor. It was
12:24
Speaker 1: because of what was happening in twenty twenty. It was
12:28
Speaker 1: George Floyd and it was COVID, and it happened all
12:31
Speaker 1: over the country. Those that wanted to go into law
12:33
Speaker 1: enforcement said, hey, forget it, don't want to do it.
12:37
Speaker 1: Remember when we were having the protest here in Omaha
12:39
Speaker 1: and the riots, and they were riots. When it turns
12:42
Speaker 1: into violence and it turns into breaking the law, and
12:45
Speaker 1: so I had to deal with that. So we have
12:48
Speaker 1: been working to come up with new initiatives to make
12:53
Speaker 1: it more attractive to be an Omaha police officer, and
12:57
Speaker 1: I believe they're working so great, but that includes increased salary,
13:02
Speaker 1: That includes increased entry level. My initiative was to make
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Speaker 1: sure that the Omaha Police Department was paid at least
13:11
Speaker 1: five percent more than any law enforcement agency in Nebraska.
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Speaker 1: I did approve year round applications. Now that's okay, the
13:21
Speaker 1: year round applications, but it really I think people think
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Speaker 1: that year round applications mean we will be having more
13:27
Speaker 1: recruit classes or more academy classes, and it really doesn't
13:31
Speaker 1: mean that at all, because it takes twenty two weeks
13:35
Speaker 1: to go through the police Academy for regulars, ten weeks
13:39
Speaker 1: for laterals. Those are already law enforcement in other agencies
13:43
Speaker 1: in Nebraska. So all together, it takes about nine months
13:48
Speaker 1: from the start of the academy for them to be
13:51
Speaker 1: officers because then there's fifteen weeks of field training too.
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Speaker 1: So to say we will we have a lot more applicants,
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Speaker 1: and they had about nine hundred applicants for the January class,
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Speaker 1: which I'm thrilled with. But to say we will be
14:06
Speaker 1: fully staffed by the end of the year, which was
14:08
Speaker 1: said possible but really not probable because of the time
14:13
Speaker 1: that it takes. We usually can't get in more than
14:16
Speaker 1: two classes Academy of classes a year, and that's with
14:19
Speaker 1: them being full as they can.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 1: The January class started, they had forty one regulars in
14:25
Speaker 1: that class. I think a few dropped out. They're about
14:28
Speaker 1: down to thirty seven.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 1: Right now we have eight hundred thirteen police officers. We
14:35
Speaker 1: are budgeted for nine hundred and six, so right now,
14:39
Speaker 1: that means we're still down ninety three. We get that
14:42
Speaker 1: class done, that'll get us up to eight fifty. Okay,
14:45
Speaker 1: keep in mind we're budgeted for nine oh six, but
14:48
Speaker 1: we're going to have retirees too. We'll have retirees this summer.
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Speaker 1: That's going to bring us down again. And so you
14:54
Speaker 1: got to understand that. It's kind of you know that
14:57
Speaker 1: you have a class, you try to get them up
14:59
Speaker 1: to full strength, but with retirees and resignations, it always
15:03
Speaker 1: goes down again. So I am thrilled that there are
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Speaker 1: around nine hundred applicants. I think it's because of a
15:10
Speaker 1: lot of the initiatives that we started. But to say
15:14
Speaker 1: that we will be fully staffed by the end of
15:16
Speaker 1: the year, we're probably going to have to go into
15:18
Speaker 1: next year to do that the mayor did make a
15:21
Speaker 1: statement to that the fire department will be fully staffed
15:26
Speaker 1: the fire department, and it got a lot of applause.
15:28
Speaker 1: The fire department has been fully staffed. In fact, the
15:32
Speaker 1: last class that we had that I was responsible for,
15:35
Speaker 1: we took into consideration the retirees that were going to
15:38
Speaker 1: happen in the summer and we overstaffed them. So fire
15:42
Speaker 1: has never really had a problem with applicants either it
15:45
Speaker 1: was police. So to say that fire is full, it
15:48
Speaker 1: will be fully staffed, like there has been something a
15:51
Speaker 1: new initiative or something new done is kind of misleading
15:55
Speaker 1: because we already have been fully staffed with fire. Once again,
16:01
Speaker 1: I want to say these things were talked about, but
16:03
Speaker 1: I think it's important to say don't take credit where
16:07
Speaker 1: credit is not due. I'm thrilled with the results of
16:10
Speaker 1: what's going on. But let's talk about a few other
16:13
Speaker 1: things that he did mention. He did talk about homelessness,
16:16
Speaker 1: and he talked about that he is going to take
16:19
Speaker 1: a deeper, more holistic look at homelessness, and I will say,
16:24
Speaker 1: so did we. I mean that was something when I
16:27
Speaker 1: hired the first homeless service coordinator, I helped develop the
16:31
Speaker 1: job description brought her on. She was so busy. We
16:34
Speaker 1: let her hire an assistant, Kirk. They are doing a
16:37
Speaker 1: fabulous job and they are out there in the community
16:40
Speaker 1: working with our community outreach agencies all the time. The
16:44
Speaker 1: last State of the City that I had, I featured
16:48
Speaker 1: her and talked about what she was doing, and featured
16:51
Speaker 1: a lot of the homeless outreach that we have presently
16:54
Speaker 1: in Omaha. So that is something that again, if the
16:58
Speaker 1: number of unshell altered or going down, I'm happy with that,
17:03
Speaker 1: but I think it has a lot to do with
17:05
Speaker 1: the initiatives that were already underway. Affordable housing is another
17:10
Speaker 1: area that he brought up once again, We already had
17:13
Speaker 1: the Planning Department create what we called a happ Plan HAAP,
17:19
Speaker 1: and that's Housing Affordable Action Plan, and we already had that.
17:24
Speaker 1: We already had that in place. We are already working
17:27
Speaker 1: on ways that we can encourage more affordable housing. We
17:31
Speaker 1: already had a great partner with Front Porch Development. He
17:35
Speaker 1: did mention something that was different, and that was he
17:38
Speaker 1: said he had secured forty million in streetcar bonds to
17:43
Speaker 1: use towards affordable housing. But we had talked over and
17:47
Speaker 1: over about with the streetcar. It was going to generate
17:52
Speaker 1: enough revenue that there would be enough revenue in economic
17:56
Speaker 1: development to not only pay for the construction of the
17:59
Speaker 1: streetcar but also go to affordable housing. So this additional
18:04
Speaker 1: forty that came in from Lows year, that's great that
18:07
Speaker 1: they agreed to do that. That's kind of putting them
18:09
Speaker 1: ahead of time. But to use streetcar bonds was already
18:14
Speaker 1: part of the plan, and so you know, we're glad
18:16
Speaker 1: that that is happening. We do need some more affordable housing,
18:21
Speaker 1: but the amount that is going into it is is
18:26
Speaker 1: minimal compared to what we really need.
18:29
Speaker 2: Did you have a question? You're looking at it like
18:30
Speaker 2: you had a question.
18:31
Speaker 3: Is this is we're getting into a lot of good
18:33
Speaker 3: things here. We're getting a couple of phone calls coming in.
18:36
Speaker 3: I think we're going to head a break here, okay, and.
18:39
Speaker 1: Then I have just a couple more points they want
18:41
Speaker 1: to take, and then I'd really like.
18:42
Speaker 2: To open it.
18:43
Speaker 3: What are some things? Give us some bullet points of
18:44
Speaker 3: some things you're interested in talking about.
18:46
Speaker 1: Well, one thing I wanted to mention is this poverty
18:48
Speaker 1: elimination plan he did bring up, and you know that
18:51
Speaker 1: is state law. We had to have a plan for it.
18:55
Speaker 1: Can you eliminate poverty? You cannot. I mean, it's nice
18:59
Speaker 1: to have a plan, it's nice to have goals. But
19:01
Speaker 1: some of the things he mentioned early childhood education increased, GEDs,
19:06
Speaker 1: talked about high school students all vitally important. Because I'm
19:10
Speaker 1: an old school board member for Millard, I understand how
19:13
Speaker 1: important all that is. But should the City of Omaha
19:16
Speaker 1: be involved in that and be talking about perhaps the
19:20
Speaker 1: Omaha taxpayers paying for that when we have our school districts,
19:25
Speaker 1: we have their elected boards. And if you look at
19:28
Speaker 1: your taxes, folks, sixty two percent of your property taxes
19:31
Speaker 1: goes to the schools. So is that something that the
19:35
Speaker 1: City of Omaha should be engaged in or should we
19:37
Speaker 1: just really work on good partnerships with the school districts
19:41
Speaker 1: to see how we can help. And I really do
19:43
Speaker 1: want to talk about Rose. I'm going to talk about
19:45
Speaker 1: that a little bit more before we start taking calls.
19:50
Speaker 1: I think there was a real missed opportunity not to
19:52
Speaker 1: talk about LB eleven sixty five, and that is how
19:56
Speaker 1: the city is our will respond to recent reports of
19:59
Speaker 1: falling by as for is jobs and businesses, So those
20:03
Speaker 1: are really really important too, and just lastly, real quickly,
20:08
Speaker 1: he did bring up that he's going to have some interaction.
20:13
Speaker 1: He wants to hear back from the citizens. So he's
20:15
Speaker 1: going to have the chance for the Omahans to interact
20:19
Speaker 1: and let them know their opinion. And he talked about
20:23
Speaker 1: postcards and surveys. Keep in mind, what about town halls.
20:28
Speaker 1: I did over seventy two town halls when I was mayor.
20:31
Speaker 1: There's nothing better than having people just come in and
20:33
Speaker 1: asking you questions. And also, if interaction with the citizens
20:38
Speaker 1: is so important, why is the official city Facebook page
20:44
Speaker 1: not allowing comments.
20:46
Speaker 3: This is the KFAB comment line with your host of
20:49
Speaker 3: the show, Jean Stothard. My name is Peyton high Lock,
20:51
Speaker 3: producer or the show, and Geen, I'm gonna ask you
20:54
Speaker 3: one question here about the streetcar, and we'll let you
20:56
Speaker 3: continue with your state of the city. This one comes
21:00
Speaker 3: from Nancy and she had a question for you. She said,
21:03
Speaker 3: my question has to do with the street car and
21:05
Speaker 3: the Mutual of Omaha. Is it true that Mutual of
21:08
Speaker 3: Omaha would leave the city if the streetcar did not
21:12
Speaker 3: get underway?
21:13
Speaker 1: No, that was a rumor, But you know I started
21:17
Speaker 1: talking to Mutual years ago about expanding their campus or
21:23
Speaker 1: improving their campus, and they were looking at different areas
21:27
Speaker 1: in Omaha. They were looking at their current campus whether
21:30
Speaker 1: they needed to redo that, they were looking at areas
21:33
Speaker 1: out west, they were looking all over. Now, Mutual of
21:37
Speaker 1: Omaha could leave if they wanted, They could be anywhere
21:41
Speaker 1: they're you know, a huge, huge, Fortune five hundred company.
21:45
Speaker 1: But I felt very very strongly that a Fortune five
21:48
Speaker 1: hundred company skyscraper belonged downtown to enhance our skyline. That's
21:54
Speaker 1: where they were really needed. And so I did work
21:57
Speaker 1: with them on securing that site where the deal Clark
22:00
Speaker 1: Library was. We basically did a landswap because they were
22:03
Speaker 1: going to build on the old U. They were looking
22:05
Speaker 1: at building on the old UP site, which is that
22:08
Speaker 1: vacant block that's across the street from Union Pacific now.
22:12
Speaker 1: But I really felt like they needed to be there.
22:15
Speaker 1: They would have a hard time Mutual of Omaha building
22:18
Speaker 1: on a one block with four thousand employees like they
22:22
Speaker 1: have without the streetcar right now, that garage and if
22:27
Speaker 1: people have to drive around downtown. I was just down
22:29
Speaker 1: there this weekend twice. But the first fourteen floors of
22:35
Speaker 1: that new skyscraper is parking first fourteen floors, and that's
22:41
Speaker 1: a twenty two hundred car garage.
22:43
Speaker 2: It's huge.
22:44
Speaker 1: After it is built, the city is going to buy it,
22:47
Speaker 1: operate it, and manage it. It'll cost the city about
22:51
Speaker 1: one hundred million dollars to buy that garage. But the
22:55
Speaker 1: city then will operate and manage it, and they will
22:57
Speaker 1: be able to use it evenings and weekends for events
23:00
Speaker 1: downtown too. The city builds garages and manages them because
23:06
Speaker 1: we can cash flow them, so we can pay the
23:09
Speaker 1: bonds that we use to build the garage with the
23:12
Speaker 1: revenue that they produce. And so that's why the city
23:15
Speaker 1: has quite a few parking garages. We have two underway
23:18
Speaker 1: right now too. We built one in the Blackstone, for example,
23:21
Speaker 1: because we cash flow them. But Mutual of Omaha could
23:24
Speaker 1: not build on that spot where the Dale Clark Library was,
23:28
Speaker 1: which is a perfect spot without the streetcar. They couldn't
23:32
Speaker 1: have done it because their employees, like I said, are
23:34
Speaker 1: four twenty two hundred car garage. Not all employees are
23:37
Speaker 1: going to be there at the same time, but it
23:39
Speaker 1: allows them a lot more flexibility. I never heard that
23:43
Speaker 1: they would leave Omaha if we didn't build a streetcar. Actually,
23:45
Speaker 1: the agreement with Mutual in the streetcar said that the
23:48
Speaker 1: city would have a good faith effort, and that's the
23:54
Speaker 1: words that we're used bringing the streetcar around where the
23:57
Speaker 1: new Mutual tower is. It's pretty amazing to be downtown.
24:01
Speaker 1: I think I've told you. I know a lot of
24:03
Speaker 1: people complain about downtown and about the construction. I think
24:07
Speaker 1: I told you I was meeting a friend of mine
24:10
Speaker 1: downtown for lunch not long ago, and I ended up
24:13
Speaker 1: in Iowa because I mean, the construction is confusing and
24:17
Speaker 1: I was downtown every day.
24:19
Speaker 3: So how many people are saying, take that gene, how
24:22
Speaker 3: does it feel now?
24:23
Speaker 1: I know, I know what it feels like, but it
24:25
Speaker 1: is confusing, but it will be fantastic when it's up
24:29
Speaker 1: and running.
24:29
Speaker 2: By the way, I saw Bob Dylan downtown on Saturday night.
24:32
Speaker 2: That was pretty cool. Good show. Yeah, it was pretty cool,
24:35
Speaker 2: very good.
24:35
Speaker 3: Okay, Well, here we go in light of the state
24:38
Speaker 3: of the city on Friday, and you know this little
24:41
Speaker 3: streetcar comment that we had. Let's let's get to this
24:43
Speaker 3: one real quick.
24:44
Speaker 2: Okay.
24:46
Speaker 3: I don't have a name for you here, but here
24:47
Speaker 3: we go. This is a talkback Mike on the iHeartRadio
24:50
Speaker 3: app or you can give us a call four a year, two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten,
24:53
Speaker 3: or email us at comment at kfab dot com.
24:58
Speaker 4: Hey, just feedback. We're not going to keep listening to
25:02
Speaker 4: the gene stotheart. I should have been elected show. Let's
25:08
Speaker 4: move on. Quit bad quit badgering the administration the elections over.
25:13
Speaker 4: You lost because of the streetcar. That's why I didn't
25:17
Speaker 4: vote for you. You're a good mayor, but I don't
25:19
Speaker 4: want a streetcar. Now, let's move on and talk about
25:22
Speaker 4: other things. Recites Omaha City politics.
25:27
Speaker 1: We can talk about anything. We're just taking the calls
25:30
Speaker 1: and the emails as they come. And I said, anything
25:32
Speaker 1: goes and you know fair enough, the streetcar, you are right,
25:37
Speaker 1: is one of the reasons that people didn't vote for me.
25:40
Speaker 1: And I will own that. I said all the time,
25:42
Speaker 1: I will own the streetcar. There was a lot of
25:45
Speaker 1: thought that went into it. It was recommended by the
25:48
Speaker 1: Urban Core Committee that came out of the chamber, but
25:51
Speaker 1: I'm the one that pushed it along and I'm the
25:53
Speaker 1: one that sent it to the City Council for approval.
25:57
Speaker 1: So I will own that. But it's not the only reason,
26:00
Speaker 1: you know. I will say that there's a lot that
26:02
Speaker 1: went into me not winning my fourth term. I did
26:05
Speaker 1: win three, but not winning my fourth term. It had
26:08
Speaker 1: a lot to do with low voter turnout twenty eight
26:12
Speaker 1: percent voter turnout for the general election of the City of
26:15
Speaker 1: Omah and all the council members. It had a lot
26:17
Speaker 1: to do. There's something called voter fatigue, and people say, well,
26:21
Speaker 1: you're doing a good job, but move on. Let's get
26:23
Speaker 1: somebody else to give them a try. Definitely, because I'm
26:27
Speaker 1: a Republican and a blue dot city that had a
26:30
Speaker 1: lot to do with it. The Democrats were engaged in
26:34
Speaker 1: energetic and the Republicans frankly stayed at home. And that
26:38
Speaker 1: concerns me about the twenty twenty sixth election. And I
26:41
Speaker 1: will say this publicly, Trump derangement syndrome was out there,
26:46
Speaker 1: and because I was a Republican, that was out there
26:49
Speaker 1: and that added to it too. But you know, I'm
26:53
Speaker 1: not here doing this show to say I should be elected.
26:56
Speaker 1: I've spent twelve years as mayor and four in the
26:58
Speaker 1: city council. I do know a lot about city government.
27:01
Speaker 1: You asked me a question about the city, whether it
27:04
Speaker 1: be the budget, the fire, the police, the parks, the planning, Department,
27:08
Speaker 1: the libraries. I'm sure I could answer it, or I
27:11
Speaker 1: could get you the answers. But you know, I have
27:13
Speaker 1: no regrets. I really don't. I have no regrets of
27:17
Speaker 1: serving three terms, and really, now that the election is over,
27:21
Speaker 1: I am good as can be. I tell people, retirement's
27:24
Speaker 1: the best job I've ever had. And so it's not
27:27
Speaker 1: that I'm saying to people you should have elected me.
27:30
Speaker 1: I'm just saying, let's hold the current mayor accountable. Let's
27:35
Speaker 1: hold him accountable for what he promised, and let's hold
27:38
Speaker 1: him accountable for what he's saying. That's all I'm asking
27:41
Speaker 1: because they did it with me well, and.
27:43
Speaker 3: Quite frankly, there's nobody more qualified to talk about it
27:46
Speaker 3: than you. I mean, you know it better than anyone else.
27:48
Speaker 3: You've been in that seat. You understand, and it's current,
27:51
Speaker 3: it's relevant. It happened on Friday. This is the time
27:54
Speaker 3: to talk about it exactly.
27:55
Speaker 1: But you know, you want to talk about the legislature.
27:58
Speaker 1: What's going on so important for this d to Nebraska.
28:00
Speaker 1: They have to add that budget in by Friday. I'm
28:03
Speaker 1: happy to talk about that. I'm happy to talk about
28:05
Speaker 1: things in the world like the what happened at LaGuardia
28:09
Speaker 1: last night. Unbelievable. And I'm happy to talk about what's
28:13
Speaker 1: going on in the Middle East. I had Don Bacon
28:15
Speaker 1: on the other day. He's so informative and talking about
28:18
Speaker 1: what's going on in the Middle East and is there
28:20
Speaker 1: a chance to have peace our stability there. So I'm
28:23
Speaker 1: open to anything. It's not just sour Grape's. Oh shoot,
28:27
Speaker 1: Jean's not mayor anymore. You know, you get over that
28:29
Speaker 1: really really quickly, you really do, and you got to
28:32
Speaker 1: move on. I lost a race in twenty two thousand
28:35
Speaker 1: and six for the legislature. I lost this one. The
28:38
Speaker 1: other races that I've been in I've won. I've been
28:41
Speaker 1: elected for twenty seven years. I've loved him all really.
28:44
Speaker 1: I've loved being on the Millard School Board. I loved
28:47
Speaker 1: being on the city Council. I love being mayor. So
28:50
Speaker 1: I don't have any regrets. And I'm not saying you
28:52
Speaker 1: should have voted for me. I'm so sad. I just
28:54
Speaker 1: think there's a lot of things that went into it.
28:56
Speaker 1: But hold your mayor accountable.
28:58
Speaker 3: That's what I'm asking to go to the phone lines
29:01
Speaker 3: now four zero, two, five, five, eight eleven ten. This
29:04
Speaker 3: call comes from Brad Brad you're on the KFAB comment
29:08
Speaker 3: line with Jean Stoutht.
29:10
Speaker 5: I'm Adam Mayor. I've always supported you. I'm surprised that
29:15
Speaker 5: you endorsed the liberal Democrat John Frederickson in District twenty.
29:20
Speaker 5: Could you please give me your reasoning behind that. I'm
29:22
Speaker 5: talked him about property tax. It seems like some many senator.
29:27
Speaker 5: He's at the beck and call of the Teachers' Union,
29:30
Speaker 5: so I don't think he's going to help on property tax.
29:32
Speaker 5: Thank you.
29:33
Speaker 2: Sure I can answer that.
29:34
Speaker 1: And you know John fredericson number one endorsed me and
29:38
Speaker 1: supported me when I was running for mayor, and that
29:43
Speaker 1: he went on a limb for me for that. I
29:46
Speaker 1: will say this, of all of the Omaha legislators that
29:51
Speaker 1: represent Omaha that I needed to be working with when
29:55
Speaker 1: I was mayor, I would say John Frederickson was one
29:59
Speaker 1: of the most responsive to what I had questions or
30:04
Speaker 1: I had issues with what was going on in the legislature.
30:07
Speaker 1: He was very concerned about Omaha. He was always available
30:11
Speaker 1: to me more so than almost anybody else when I
30:14
Speaker 1: had questions, and so he came out and he endorsed me.
30:18
Speaker 1: He said he supported me and he asked me at
30:21
Speaker 1: that time, he said, if I run again, would you
30:25
Speaker 1: support me too? And I said, you have been a
30:27
Speaker 1: good friend to me and to the city of Omaha.
30:30
Speaker 1: Not knowing who else was going to be running, so
30:33
Speaker 1: I told him I would, and so yes, I did,
30:37
Speaker 1: And I just did it because again, I think that
30:40
Speaker 1: he has done.
30:41
Speaker 2: A lot for Omaha.
30:42
Speaker 1: And you know, we may be different on a lot
30:44
Speaker 1: of subjects, we may have different opinions on a lot
30:47
Speaker 1: of subjects, but he really cares about Omaha. He's available
30:51
Speaker 1: and he listens. And so the other candidate, the Republican
30:55
Speaker 1: candidate in District twenty, I have not met him. I'm
30:58
Speaker 1: going to. He called me the other day, left a voicemail.
31:02
Speaker 1: I didn't want to call him this weekend. One of
31:05
Speaker 1: my best friends is helping with his campaign, and so
31:08
Speaker 1: I'm very much open to talking to him too. The
31:11
Speaker 1: one thing that I always did and I will continue
31:14
Speaker 1: to do, is if I endorse one candidate for a position,
31:19
Speaker 1: I will never come out and trash or criticize the
31:23
Speaker 1: other candidate. I will just give him an endorsement or
31:27
Speaker 1: a support to say you've done a good job, and
31:30
Speaker 1: that's it for me. I'm not going to come out
31:32
Speaker 1: and criticize any other candidate. So yes, I did. I
31:35
Speaker 1: did tell him that, but I did tell it. Leave
31:37
Speaker 1: Matt because he has been very helpful to me.
31:40
Speaker 3: Before we finish up with your state of the city dissection,
31:44
Speaker 3: let's go to Dave here on the phone lines. Dave,
31:46
Speaker 3: you're on with Geen Stouth here on the KFAB comment line.
31:50
Speaker 6: Thanks a lot, Gene. I appreciate all your service that
31:52
Speaker 6: you've done in the past. The one thing about the
31:55
Speaker 6: parks that I really noticed was I was happy to
31:59
Speaker 6: go the Ford Memorials. I had never been there. I'm
32:03
Speaker 6: sixty two years old, and I noticed how bad shaped
32:08
Speaker 6: the areas and it needs painting. The inscriptions of the
32:12
Speaker 6: governors or old the mayors aren't updated. It's really a
32:18
Speaker 6: park that I think a presidential park. You know, we're
32:22
Speaker 6: lucky enough to have that in Omaha. I just think
32:26
Speaker 6: it needs some tender, loving care. I want to hear
32:29
Speaker 6: your thoughts on it.
32:31
Speaker 1: I couldn't agree with you more. And you know, we
32:33
Speaker 1: got quite a few complaints about that. I remember one
32:35
Speaker 1: time the American flag that was flying out front was
32:38
Speaker 1: ripped into and somebody sent me a picture and I'm like,
32:41
Speaker 1: oh my goodness, this cannot be so once again that
32:46
Speaker 1: because it is basically like a you know, a dedication
32:50
Speaker 1: to a former president, I think it needs a lot
32:53
Speaker 1: of special attention. And that's one of the reasons again
32:57
Speaker 1: I will I will repeat myself, but we have two
32:59
Speaker 1: hundred fifty six parks in Omaha, and that one is included.
33:03
Speaker 1: We needed a plan to prioritize. You can't address them
33:07
Speaker 1: all in a year, but we needed a plan to
33:09
Speaker 1: prioritize that should be prioritized. And that's why we're redoing
33:14
Speaker 1: the city's park master Plan. But I couldn't agree with
33:17
Speaker 1: you more. But there's a lot of parks that need
33:20
Speaker 1: new equipment, new playground equipment. It was brought up this morning.
33:24
Speaker 1: I think Scott talked about Crier is going to be closing.
33:28
Speaker 1: They're changing a lot of the old, old swimming pools
33:31
Speaker 1: that need millions of dollars worth of work into splash
33:34
Speaker 1: ground splash pads because the maintenance is so low for
33:38
Speaker 1: those and the liability is so low for those. And
33:41
Speaker 1: so you know, it's not only the parks. Taste care
33:44
Speaker 1: of the parks, the swimming pools, the community centers, the
33:49
Speaker 1: golf courses, you know, we have four nines and four
33:53
Speaker 1: eighteen golf courses in the city of Omaha. It was
33:57
Speaker 1: Mayor Subtle that changed them into an enterprise. And now
34:01
Speaker 1: all the money that those golf courses makes goes back
34:04
Speaker 1: into the golf courses for maintenance and improvements. So all
34:08
Speaker 1: of those are things that we have been working on.
34:10
Speaker 1: But I agree with you about Ford. It's not in
34:14
Speaker 1: good shape and it really needs a lot of attention.
34:17
Speaker 3: One thing that as we look towards the state of
34:19
Speaker 3: the city, one thing on Mayor Ewing's priority list was homelessness.
34:26
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
34:27
Speaker 2: Yes?
34:28
Speaker 3: Yeah, And so I have an email here from Randy
34:31
Speaker 3: and it says, let's consider something real. Are any of
34:34
Speaker 3: the Omaha schools teaching these kids how to properly fill
34:37
Speaker 3: out a job application? People who have job acquisition skills
34:41
Speaker 3: are far less likely to be homeless.
34:45
Speaker 1: That's true. That's true. Absolutely, it's true. But when you
34:48
Speaker 1: really understand homelessness, I mean you're talking about two different groups.
34:53
Speaker 1: You are talking about sheltered and you're talking about unsheltered.
34:56
Speaker 1: The unsheltered is what's giving getting a lot of a
35:00
Speaker 1: tension lately because of the encampments. There is a reason
35:04
Speaker 1: why there are people that are unsheltered when we have shelters,
35:08
Speaker 1: A lot of them don't want to go into the
35:10
Speaker 1: shelter because they don't want to follow the rules in
35:13
Speaker 1: the shelter. There are some for instance, with animals with
35:17
Speaker 1: dogs and cats and that they don't allow and shelters.
35:21
Speaker 1: And then there's that issue of what is going on
35:25
Speaker 1: mentally with these folks, and a lot of them not
35:27
Speaker 1: only have mental issues, they have physical issues. In fact,
35:32
Speaker 1: the shelters will tell you so many of these unsheltered
35:34
Speaker 1: have more physical issues than they do mental issues. And
35:39
Speaker 1: so that again is why I wanted a homeless service coordinator.
35:43
Speaker 1: I wanted somebody that was in the Mayor's office that
35:46
Speaker 1: reported directly to the mayor to work with all of
35:49
Speaker 1: our outreach and street outreach that we have.
35:52
Speaker 2: You know, I still.
35:53
Speaker 1: Call our homeless service coordinator when I go to that
35:57
Speaker 1: target at one hundred and twentieth in l all the time.
36:00
Speaker 1: And if you got I think if anybody goes there
36:02
Speaker 1: like I do. There's a little tiny street between I
36:06
Speaker 1: Street and EL Street. It's right by where Starbucks is
36:09
Speaker 1: and home depots on the other side. That's not a
36:12
Speaker 1: city street. There is a little tiny medium there and
36:15
Speaker 1: there is an person there all the time.
36:18
Speaker 3: We all have one in mind, right, we always have. Oh,
36:21
Speaker 3: there's always going to be somebody there.
36:22
Speaker 1: And if you see it, call you know, I called
36:25
Speaker 1: directly our homeless Service coordinator because I know it and
36:27
Speaker 1: I think she's done Tamra done such a great job.
36:30
Speaker 1: But call the Mayor's hotline four four four five five
36:32
Speaker 1: five y five and report it and they'll send somebody
36:35
Speaker 1: out there. And so you know, these things are ongoing.
36:38
Speaker 1: If we if there was a way to eliminate homelessness,
36:42
Speaker 1: we would be on it. But there are homeless in
36:45
Speaker 1: every single city. But like I said, some just don't
36:49
Speaker 1: want to go into shelters because they have other issues.
36:53
Speaker 1: And then they have rights we have to admit, I mean,
36:55
Speaker 1: we have to understand, not admit, understand that they have rights.
37:00
Speaker 1: And you know, unless if they're on public property, unless
37:03
Speaker 1: they are obstructing like a sidewalk downtown, they have rights too.
37:08
Speaker 1: And so you got to keep that all in mind
37:10
Speaker 1: when you're talking about are homeless. But I said, if
37:13
Speaker 1: it was something that we felt like we could do
37:16
Speaker 1: to eliminate it, we certainly would do. But you're always
37:19
Speaker 1: going to have those that choose to be homeless for
37:22
Speaker 1: whatever reason. The state of the city to address was
37:25
Speaker 1: given by Mary Ewing on Friday. I felt like it
37:27
Speaker 1: was important to talk about it today. I'm giving you
37:30
Speaker 1: my take of it. These are my opinions. I'm giving
37:33
Speaker 1: you the facts, and I want you to know it's
37:36
Speaker 1: up to you to make your decision about what you
37:38
Speaker 1: think about the current administration. I'm not trying to say
37:42
Speaker 1: that I still am sour grapes about not winning this race.
37:46
Speaker 1: I'm saying, here are the facts. They are the facts,
37:49
Speaker 1: and then you make up your own mind. Alls I'm
37:51
Speaker 1: asking is that you hold your mayor accountable. And with that,
37:55
Speaker 1: I wanted to bring up the roads, and that's something
37:58
Speaker 1: I could talk about for probably the entire higher hour.
38:01
Speaker 2: But in the campaign I.
38:02
Speaker 1: Had heard over and over and over John Ewings saying,
38:07
Speaker 1: and to a lot of people that were very interested
38:10
Speaker 1: in this, that the problem with our roads is the
38:12
Speaker 1: he would use the word is the recipe for our
38:15
Speaker 1: concrete And he was saying, I will come up with
38:18
Speaker 1: a different recipe to make it more durable. I heard
38:20
Speaker 1: it myself. I was there with him, so asking what
38:24
Speaker 1: is your new recipe? What are you doing to make
38:27
Speaker 1: the worlds more durable? The facts are that every several
38:31
Speaker 1: years the Public Works Department works with a group of experts, scientists,
38:37
Speaker 1: leaders and universities, suppliers, users of concrete and they come
38:42
Speaker 1: up with any new mix of concrete that could be
38:47
Speaker 1: more durable, and then it is going It goes to
38:50
Speaker 1: the city Council and the city council approves it. It
38:53
Speaker 1: was approved just about a year and a half before
38:56
Speaker 1: by the city Council a new recipe that but apparently
39:01
Speaker 1: John Euing wasn't aware of at the time, so he
39:03
Speaker 1: kept on talking about a new recipe. I would like
39:06
Speaker 1: to ask what that new recipe is. Keep in mind
39:09
Speaker 1: as far as snow and ice, to very critical about
39:11
Speaker 1: our snow and ice removal. You know, we have a
39:15
Speaker 1: great plan the Public Works Department as far as snow
39:18
Speaker 1: and ice. It won a national award in twenty nineteen.
39:23
Speaker 1: We budget or I budgeted in my budget over nine
39:27
Speaker 1: million dollars a year for snow and ice removal. And
39:30
Speaker 1: so with snow and ice, it's easy to complain, but
39:33
Speaker 1: you are really you have a great plan, You hire
39:35
Speaker 1: great people in the Public Works Department, and then you
39:38
Speaker 1: are at the mercy of mother nature. And you know
39:40
Speaker 1: what mother nature usually wins. So you know that the
39:44
Speaker 1: roads are something we could talk about a lot, but
39:47
Speaker 1: it's important to know that this recipe that was talked
39:50
Speaker 1: about a lot, it's addressed about every two years by experts.
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Speaker 3: Real quick, here, Gene, we've got about a minute left.
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Speaker 3: With the a new library going up on seventy second
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Speaker 3: in Dodge, can you give us just a little insight
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Speaker 3: about the decision made on that one in the location.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, and that was excuse me, that was a lot
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Speaker 1: of philanthropy involved in that. That's about one hundred and
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Speaker 1: fifty eight million dollar building that the city put in
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Speaker 1: twenty and the rest with philanthropy, it was private money.
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Speaker 1: It will be a city library and it will be
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Speaker 1: managed by the city and it will have city employees
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Speaker 1: in there. It is a public library and it's going
40:28
Speaker 1: to be opening soon.
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Speaker 2: And if you haven't seen it, you have to go
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Speaker 2: through it.
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Speaker 1: It looks beautiful, does It's magnificent And it's better inside
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Speaker 1: than outside. I mean outside it has this sleek glass look,
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Speaker 1: but is it beautiful. And it is going to be
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Speaker 1: a model for libraries I think all over the country.
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Speaker 1: It's great, and we should be proud we have that
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Speaker 1: right there at seventy second Dodge.
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Speaker 3: This is the KFAB comment Line. Your host of the show,
40:52
Speaker 3: Jean Stothard. I'm your producer, Peyton Hilock. Always reach out
40:56
Speaker 3: to us at comment at kfab dot com and we
40:59
Speaker 3: will see you guys tomorrow right here on news radio
41:01
Speaker 3: eleven ten k fa B.