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Comments were flowing today · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stothard. Peyton Hilock, my producer,
0:03
Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning, Peyton.
0:05
Speaker 2: Good morning to you Gene.
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Speaker 3: You just came flying in here, but you always make
0:09
Speaker 3: it on time always.
0:10
Speaker 2: Yeah.
0:11
Speaker 1: Well, thank you all for being with us today, and
0:13
Speaker 1: we want to hear from you. We want to get
0:15
Speaker 1: your feedback and hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, really
0:19
Speaker 1: anything goes city, state, national, or the world. And we
0:23
Speaker 1: will have some great guests. Now, last week we had
0:25
Speaker 1: quite a few guests. We had Wednesday, Thursday, Friday guests
0:28
Speaker 1: and a few people said, hey, this is supposed to
0:31
Speaker 1: be a comment line. We haven't had a big chance
0:33
Speaker 1: to comment this week, so this is your chance today.
0:36
Speaker 1: But you're going to hear plenty of comments and opinions
0:39
Speaker 1: from me too. But it is your chance to speak
0:42
Speaker 1: up and sound off. And you can send your emails
0:45
Speaker 1: to comment at cafab dot com or you can call
0:47
Speaker 1: us at four oh two five five eight eleven ten.
0:50
Speaker 1: We are happy that you are with us, and you
0:53
Speaker 1: know we mentioned this last week, Peyton.
0:54
Speaker 3: I think the guests we had on to me.
0:57
Speaker 1: They're very informative and we always have such a variety
1:00
Speaker 1: We had Mayor Shudeck, who is the new mayor over
1:03
Speaker 1: in Council Bluffs. We had Mary Jane Trumper who was
1:06
Speaker 1: the chair of the State GOP. And then we had
1:09
Speaker 1: Lauren Sensek, who is the CEO of Metro Transit. So
1:12
Speaker 1: just a variety of different guests just for your information.
1:16
Speaker 1: But please do call in and please do comment, and
1:19
Speaker 1: we will get you on the air. If we don't
1:21
Speaker 1: get you on the same day because there's a guest,
1:23
Speaker 1: we will get you on the air eventually because we
1:26
Speaker 1: want to hear what you have to say. But we
1:28
Speaker 1: hope you enjoy the guests that we have been having
1:31
Speaker 1: on the show too. So Peyton World Cup Soccer. Whenever
1:35
Speaker 1: there's a game on and I'm at home, I'm always
1:38
Speaker 1: texting Peyton saying are you watching this?
1:39
Speaker 3: Are you watching this?
1:40
Speaker 1: But England beat Norway, Argentina beat Switzerland, and so now
1:45
Speaker 1: we have England versus Argentina and that is going to
1:49
Speaker 1: be on July fifteenth.
1:51
Speaker 3: It's like, that's like the Falcons War.
1:54
Speaker 1: Remember the Falcons War in I believe it was nineteen
1:57
Speaker 1: eighty nineteen eighty two.
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Speaker 3: There was a wolf.
2:00
Speaker 1: It was an undeclared war, but it was between the
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Speaker 1: United Kingdom and Argentina, and it was over two British
2:07
Speaker 1: overseas territories. Now there's a little history for you. So
2:11
Speaker 1: maybe this is just like the Falcon War again between
2:14
Speaker 1: the two. But how exciting now you can say it? Now,
2:17
Speaker 1: who are you rooting for with that battle?
2:20
Speaker 2: I'm gonna say I'm rooting for England.
2:21
Speaker 4: Really, yeah, Argentina won last World Cup in twenty twenty two.
2:27
Speaker 2: I want to see something different happen. I'd love to
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Speaker 2: see England.
2:30
Speaker 1: Well, I'll be darn you stump me because I thought
2:33
Speaker 1: for sure you were gonna say Argentina because I know
2:36
Speaker 1: you like Messi and he's so do he's so fun
2:38
Speaker 1: to watch. But my goodness, those games. And then we
2:41
Speaker 1: got France versus Spain on July fourteenth, so that's where
2:45
Speaker 1: we are right now. Still exciting games. And I still
2:48
Speaker 1: don't you Peyton love hearing what people from other countries
2:53
Speaker 1: say about the United States. I'd still get such a
2:56
Speaker 1: kick out of it. They love it here.
2:57
Speaker 2: It's the best.
2:58
Speaker 1: They love BUCkies, they love that we have you can
3:01
Speaker 1: buy a gallon of ranch dressing. I just love the
3:04
Speaker 1: stuff that they are saying. I think it's it's so
3:07
Speaker 1: refreshing to hear that. But we're gonna have a good
3:10
Speaker 1: guest this week too, and I want to tease it
3:12
Speaker 1: a little because I think people want to listen. Guess
3:15
Speaker 1: who's going to be our guest on Thursday, Tom Becca.
3:20
Speaker 1: And I know all of you that are loyal Kfab listeners,
3:24
Speaker 1: remember Tom Becka in the afternoon. We always used to
3:26
Speaker 1: make fun of him by going who whoa, which he
3:29
Speaker 1: would do and and I I saw him last evening,
3:33
Speaker 1: talk to him for a while, and he's gonna be
3:35
Speaker 1: on the show, and we're gonna have a lot of fun.
3:37
Speaker 1: In fact, he'll even stay on and take some comments
3:41
Speaker 1: with us. So I think bring an old Tom back
3:43
Speaker 1: into the studio will be a lot of fun. But
3:47
Speaker 1: we'll have some lineup of some other guests coming up
3:49
Speaker 1: this week too. But having said that, did you have
3:52
Speaker 1: a good weekend, Peyton?
3:53
Speaker 2: I did. I had a pretty good weekend. Yeah. It
3:55
Speaker 2: was hot, it was hot.
3:57
Speaker 3: It was very hot.
3:58
Speaker 1: On Friday night, I did go to a retirement party
4:01
Speaker 1: for Scott Gray, who was one of our deputy police
4:04
Speaker 1: chiefs that is retiring.
4:05
Speaker 3: That was out in Elcorn.
4:07
Speaker 1: Got to talk to a lot of my old friends
4:09
Speaker 1: with the Omaha Police Department. A lot of police officers
4:12
Speaker 1: were out there. There were a lot from the State Patrol,
4:15
Speaker 1: from our you know, our helicopter, our air unit, there
4:19
Speaker 1: were a lot, there were some from the FBI. There
4:21
Speaker 1: was all sorts of law enforcement that were people that
4:24
Speaker 1: I worked with and knew, and that was really fun.
4:26
Speaker 1: And congratulations to Scott Gray. He did a great job
4:29
Speaker 1: with the Omaha Police Department and he's moving along along
4:32
Speaker 1: to the state to have a really great job with
4:35
Speaker 1: the State of Nebraska. So good for him. And let's see,
4:39
Speaker 1: last night I talked about this on the air. We
4:42
Speaker 1: talked about it on Friday too. Joe Sacho came and
4:46
Speaker 1: talked about an event that the Free Speech Society was
4:49
Speaker 1: putting on in the Jean Lehei Mal last evening.
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Speaker 3: It was four to nine pm.
4:54
Speaker 1: I was there at the whole the whole focus of this,
5:00
Speaker 1: the Free Speech Society. It started with rit Galusha, who
5:03
Speaker 1: was a professor at UNO, and he basically recognized, as
5:08
Speaker 1: we all do, that there is so much vitriol and
5:12
Speaker 1: conflict going on between political parties right now. You hear
5:15
Speaker 1: it every day, you read it every day. It's everywhere
5:18
Speaker 1: that he decided to have a group together just to
5:21
Speaker 1: basically talk about our similarities, to talk about how we
5:26
Speaker 1: can actually get along and get things done in our communities.
5:31
Speaker 1: He also wanted to celebrate America's two hundred and fiftieth,
5:34
Speaker 1: but he also wanted to talk about the celebration for
5:40
Speaker 1: Omaha too and for our birthday also, so it was
5:45
Speaker 1: it was fun. We did have. There was a mayor
5:49
Speaker 1: a proclamation that was written. They wanted all living mayors
5:54
Speaker 1: to sign it, which we did. Signing was Ewing, Stothard, Subtle,
5:59
Speaker 1: Fahib PJ. Morgan, who read and who actually came last
6:03
Speaker 1: night was Hal Dob PJ. Morgan, myself and Jim Subtle.
6:08
Speaker 1: They said Ewing did decline to come to the event
6:10
Speaker 1: last night, but we got on stage, we read the
6:13
Speaker 1: proclamation and it was just to basically celebrate what we
6:17
Speaker 1: have in this country. So it was a nice event.
6:20
Speaker 1: They had live music, they had all sorts of stuff
6:22
Speaker 1: going on there. But it was hot, and I think
6:25
Speaker 1: that their attendance wasn't as much as they really wanted
6:30
Speaker 1: to have. But it was still a nice event. And
6:34
Speaker 1: they did have a statement for America's two hundred and
6:36
Speaker 1: fiftieth that was signed by senator or secretary. He was
6:40
Speaker 1: a senator to Secretary Chuck Hale and then Senator Bob Carey.
6:44
Speaker 3: So it was fun.
6:45
Speaker 1: There was quite a few people out there and it
6:50
Speaker 1: had a good cause. I think it really had a
6:52
Speaker 1: good cause. Now what I do find with this group,
6:55
Speaker 1: but I just have to say free speech society. It's
6:57
Speaker 1: supposed to be about how we all can get along together.
7:00
Speaker 1: It was not a partisan event at all. There was
7:02
Speaker 1: no political speeches or statements. But my experience with them,
7:06
Speaker 1: they did hold a debate one Saturday morning right before
7:09
Speaker 1: the general election between me and Ewing, and I did
7:12
Speaker 1: feel when I left that debate. And I've done so
7:14
Speaker 1: many debates, I mean, I'm not sensitive about debates at all.
7:17
Speaker 1: I like doing them because you know, when you're the mayor,
7:20
Speaker 1: you figure, you know, you got to know more than
7:22
Speaker 1: the other end your challengers because you've been in that
7:24
Speaker 1: position for a while. But I did find it to
7:27
Speaker 1: be rather I don't know, I think it was a
7:30
Speaker 1: bit unfair. I think it was pretty confrontational towards me.
7:33
Speaker 1: And nobody was asking Ewing at the time, just John
7:37
Speaker 1: Ewing at the time, you know, to explain any of
7:40
Speaker 1: his answers or to follow up on any of his answers,
7:43
Speaker 1: and it kind of it was one of those debates
7:45
Speaker 1: that I was in that that I left feeling, hmm,
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Speaker 1: this wasn't quite fair. So I hope that group continues,
7:52
Speaker 1: and I hope that group continues to be nonpartisan and
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Speaker 1: talk about really good things that we could achieve together.
7:59
Speaker 2: Amazing, Gene.
8:00
Speaker 4: We do have some comments going on here on the
8:02
Speaker 4: phone lines for zero two, five, five, eight eleven ten,
8:06
Speaker 4: or email us comment at kfab dot com. We're going
8:09
Speaker 4: to Jason now you are live on the CAFA B
8:12
Speaker 4: comment line with Jean's author.
8:16
Speaker 5: Hello, Gene, how's it going good?
8:19
Speaker 1: It's hot out there, but I love hot weather, so
8:21
Speaker 1: things are going good.
8:24
Speaker 5: Well, I miss here that you were the best most
8:26
Speaker 5: attractive mayor that we had in Omaha and pretty easy
8:29
Speaker 5: on the eyes.
8:30
Speaker 3: Now, well, is the bar kind of low on that one.
8:36
Speaker 1: Since I was since I am the only female that
8:39
Speaker 1: has ever been mayor.
8:40
Speaker 3: But thanks for the compliment.
8:42
Speaker 2: Thanks.
8:42
Speaker 5: Well, my question is I live up in Ramble Ridge
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Speaker 5: and I was wondering, okay, the construction that we have
8:51
Speaker 5: to do every summer on Port Street from one hundred
8:54
Speaker 5: and second up to one hundred and twentyth Is it
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Speaker 5: true that that has to be done that I bought
9:03
Speaker 5: my house in two thousand and three when that construction
9:06
Speaker 5: started from a certain construction company that will no longer
9:10
Speaker 5: get city contracts anymore for three And is it because
9:15
Speaker 5: the underlayment was so bad or something they did to
9:19
Speaker 5: cut corners that it would cost to much money to
9:22
Speaker 5: rip it all up and just rede it again the
9:24
Speaker 5: right way today or these days, or just I mean, yeah,
9:29
Speaker 5: I'm not one of these that complaints about poddles, because
9:31
Speaker 5: I'm not a dingbat that gets flow profile rims and
9:35
Speaker 5: expects my tires to be perfect every year. But I'm
9:39
Speaker 5: but just the construction I always forget. You can't turn
9:42
Speaker 5: left off there for a mile? Okay, I get that,
9:45
Speaker 5: not a big deal, not in a rush, you know,
9:47
Speaker 5: But can you explain that to.
9:49
Speaker 6: Me a little?
9:50
Speaker 1: You know that that would have to refresh my memory
9:53
Speaker 1: a bit on that section of Fort Street. What happened
9:56
Speaker 1: there that you know when you said that it was
9:59
Speaker 1: done by construction company or some roads are done by
10:02
Speaker 1: construction companies that are no longer allowed to bid. I'm
10:05
Speaker 1: a little confused on that one, because on all of
10:08
Speaker 1: our road projects, we do bid them out. We usually
10:11
Speaker 1: bid them out in packages, and we take the lowest bid.
10:16
Speaker 1: But the city charter requires that the city council take
10:22
Speaker 1: the lowest and best bid on contracts. Now, that can
10:26
Speaker 1: be a little confusing because lowest is very objective, but
10:30
Speaker 1: best is very subjective. So they can take we could
10:35
Speaker 1: get a whole bid package back and they can have
10:37
Speaker 1: a low bid is this company. But then they look
10:40
Speaker 1: and they could see that that company's performance wasn't that
10:43
Speaker 1: good in the past, and they could say, but that's
10:46
Speaker 1: not the best, and then they could go up to
10:48
Speaker 1: the next lowest. Whenever they do that, they tend to
10:51
Speaker 1: get sued over it too, because the construction company that
10:55
Speaker 1: was the lowest bid would say, hey, wait a minute,
10:57
Speaker 1: wait a minute, I was the lowest, and they would
10:59
Speaker 1: have to go through proving why they didn't choose the
11:03
Speaker 1: lowest bid. Now, I don't remember that one, and I
11:06
Speaker 1: don't remember who bid on that one. One company I
11:09
Speaker 1: will say that used to bid on a lot of
11:11
Speaker 1: cities contracts that did a great job and got a
11:14
Speaker 1: lot of contracts awarded to them was Swain Construction. But
11:19
Speaker 1: Greg Armstrong that was the owner him and his wife
11:23
Speaker 1: and the company was named after his wife's last name.
11:26
Speaker 1: He passed away, and I don't really see Swain out
11:30
Speaker 1: there right now doing too many projects. Are bidding on
11:33
Speaker 1: Omaha projects as much as they used to, if they're
11:36
Speaker 1: bidding at all. I know they got into some concrete
11:39
Speaker 1: recycling too, And so there's still a lot of Omaha
11:43
Speaker 1: companies that bid on our contracts that do really really
11:45
Speaker 1: good work. Like I said, like Hawkins, like Vana, There's
11:49
Speaker 1: all sorts of companies that are out there within this
11:53
Speaker 1: area that bid on city contracts. I don't know exactly
11:55
Speaker 1: what happened on Fort Street, you know, I would have
11:58
Speaker 1: to do a little review and refresh my memory on
12:00
Speaker 1: that and why there. It seems like it's under continuous construction.
12:05
Speaker 1: But usually if there is a project that a company
12:08
Speaker 1: bids on, they win the bid, they do the construction,
12:12
Speaker 1: and if there's a failure and whatever that construction was,
12:16
Speaker 1: then that company that got the bid needs to come
12:19
Speaker 1: back and fix it. The city would demand it. And
12:21
Speaker 1: that's anything from the concrete, you know, being laid down
12:26
Speaker 1: at the wrong temperature. It's they test every single city project.
12:30
Speaker 1: They test the concrete and they make sure that it
12:34
Speaker 1: is the right mixture that the city demands. You know,
12:38
Speaker 1: I'll bring this up many I've brought it up before,
12:40
Speaker 1: but current Mayor Ewing has said during the campaign that
12:45
Speaker 1: our problem in Omaha is we were using the wrong
12:48
Speaker 1: recipe is the word he used, and he was going
12:50
Speaker 1: to come up with a new recipe. Well, there wasn't
12:53
Speaker 1: anything wrong with the recipe at all. That was just
12:56
Speaker 1: kind of a bunch of campaign comments there promises to
13:02
Speaker 1: get elected, because you know, we go through that recipe
13:05
Speaker 1: about every two years. We have experts that go through
13:09
Speaker 1: that recipe, and the City of Omaha determines what the
13:11
Speaker 1: recipe is, and every company uses it, and so it's
13:15
Speaker 1: not that a new mayor is going to come up
13:17
Speaker 1: with something new and great. So I would have to
13:19
Speaker 1: go back and see what goes on. I will say
13:22
Speaker 1: this there. I've been to Europe. I don't know how
13:25
Speaker 1: many of you have been, and it seems like in
13:27
Speaker 1: certain areas of Europe their streets last better longer. Are
13:32
Speaker 1: they using a different kind of mixture, a different kind
13:34
Speaker 1: of composite perhaps, However, it's all a balance between what
13:39
Speaker 1: you can afford, and you know, you can probably get
13:41
Speaker 1: some sort of composite down on our roads. That would
13:45
Speaker 1: last one hundred years. But could you afford it? And
13:48
Speaker 1: would you have to raise everybody's taxes to do it?
13:51
Speaker 1: And in the long run would it be worth it.
13:52
Speaker 1: I don't know, because people don't want their taxes raised up.
13:55
Speaker 1: You know, usually for a road, you know the depth
13:59
Speaker 1: of the concrete we use, you know, they they determined
14:03
Speaker 1: how deep they want it, if they wanted four inches
14:05
Speaker 1: or five inches. You know, you can be like the
14:08
Speaker 1: Audubawn and have it twenty seven inches. Our runway and
14:11
Speaker 1: have it twenty inches, it'll lasts a lot longer. But
14:14
Speaker 1: it's a matter of well, how much it's gonna cost.
14:16
Speaker 1: So I'm gonna look up.
14:17
Speaker 3: I'm gonna do.
14:18
Speaker 1: A little research on Ford Street and see what the
14:20
Speaker 1: problem is. And I'm gonna look and see who did
14:22
Speaker 1: that construction originally. And I'm gonna get back with you
14:24
Speaker 1: on that one.
14:25
Speaker 4: That's an easy one that we can bring back up tomorrow.
14:27
Speaker 4: Thank you so much for the phone call, Jason. I
14:30
Speaker 4: got an email here comment at kfab dot com. Terry says,
14:35
Speaker 4: my question is simple.
14:37
Speaker 2: Hopefully I hope.
14:39
Speaker 4: I live in Bellevue, but I'm a business owner in
14:42
Speaker 4: Douglas County. The problem I have is that elections in Omaha,
14:47
Speaker 4: which do greatly affect my business, I have no say.
14:53
Speaker 4: Is there any way that I could have a say
14:55
Speaker 4: in that? Nope, that's my answer right now. You know
14:59
Speaker 4: in I get this a lot when I was running
15:02
Speaker 4: for election two, and that is to vote for the
15:06
Speaker 4: mayor of Omaha and the city council, you have to
15:09
Speaker 4: live in the city of Omaha. You can't even live
15:11
Speaker 4: in Douglas County out of city limits. And you know,
15:15
Speaker 4: if you live out of the City of Omaha city
15:17
Speaker 4: limits in Douglas County and your address is still Omaha,
15:21
Speaker 4: people would.
15:21
Speaker 1: Say, well, wait a minute, I live in Omaha. I
15:23
Speaker 1: want to vote for the mayor and the city council members.
15:26
Speaker 1: You can't, and that is by law. The only thing
15:29
Speaker 1: that you could do to have a voice would be
15:32
Speaker 1: to move into Omaha. Because, yes, a lot that Omaha
15:35
Speaker 1: does do affects Bellevue, it affects Douglas County, it affects
15:40
Speaker 1: Sarpee County. You know, if you go on the south
15:43
Speaker 1: side of Harrison, that area is still called Millard. Those
15:49
Speaker 1: kids that live in that area go to the Millard
15:51
Speaker 1: Public schools. The address is Omaha, but they don't vote
15:55
Speaker 1: in city elections because that's Sarpee County and you can't
15:59
Speaker 1: cross lines either, so it gets a little confusing. You know,
16:03
Speaker 1: one of the last public schools that Millard built, which
16:08
Speaker 1: is Ronald Reagan, the address is Gretnath. Figure that out,
16:13
Speaker 1: So you know, it's a little bit confusing, but it's
16:16
Speaker 1: just the way the law is. If you are going
16:18
Speaker 1: to vote in Omaha elections, you have to live within
16:21
Speaker 1: the city boundaries of Omaha, and I understand it does
16:25
Speaker 1: affect the surrounding communities that no, you have to live here,
16:29
Speaker 1: and that's why when we annexed. You know, I'm a
16:32
Speaker 1: big believer in annexation, a big believer in it. And
16:36
Speaker 1: people would say, well, I moved here because I didn't
16:41
Speaker 1: want to ever be in the city of Omaha.
16:42
Speaker 3: I wanted to be out of the cety limits.
16:44
Speaker 1: And I would always say, but now you get to
16:45
Speaker 1: vote because now that the City of Omaha will annex you,
16:49
Speaker 1: and you can do that unilaterally in the City of
16:52
Speaker 1: Omaha by law. And it's one of the few, if
16:55
Speaker 1: not the only. It used to be the only state
16:57
Speaker 1: in the United States that can annex without a vote
17:00
Speaker 1: to the people. Almost in every other state, to annex
17:04
Speaker 1: an area into the city limits, you have to have
17:06
Speaker 1: the people vote, and in the state of Nebraska you
17:09
Speaker 1: don't have to. The mayor can unilaterally annex with the
17:12
Speaker 1: vote of the city council. Approval of the city council.
17:16
Speaker 1: And you know that used to be other mayors. If
17:19
Speaker 1: I would have meetings with other mayors, we would be
17:21
Speaker 1: the envy of other mayors because they would say, Oh,
17:25
Speaker 1: my gosh, I can't do that. Let me give you
17:27
Speaker 1: an example of my real home in Saint Louis, where
17:30
Speaker 1: I really live, where I really drive here every morning
17:32
Speaker 1: for six hours and then I drive home at night.
17:35
Speaker 1: We're kidding, but we're just going to go on with
17:37
Speaker 1: that one, since that's been a joke for many, many
17:39
Speaker 1: years now. But Saint Louis is a prime example. Do
17:43
Speaker 1: you know Omaha is bigger than the city of Saint
17:45
Speaker 1: Louis now, I mean it is rotting in the core.
17:48
Speaker 1: There is no doubt the city of Saint Louis now
17:51
Speaker 1: has less than three hundred thousand people in the city proper.
17:55
Speaker 1: Everybody's moving out into the county. And when the city
17:59
Speaker 1: wanted to annect to move the city and grow the
18:01
Speaker 1: city out into the county. It had to go to
18:04
Speaker 1: vote and people said, no, thanks, I don't want any
18:06
Speaker 1: of that. And so there is Saint Louis County and
18:09
Speaker 1: there is Saint Louis City and they have different forms
18:12
Speaker 1: of government and they cannot annex and would they like
18:15
Speaker 1: to be Like Omaha, I like annexation because it allows
18:20
Speaker 1: the city to grow. And you've got to keep this
18:23
Speaker 1: in mind. If you want your taxes lower and you
18:25
Speaker 1: want to sustain it, you want the taxes to stay lower,
18:29
Speaker 1: you broaden your tax base. And that's how you broaden
18:31
Speaker 1: your tax base by bringing more people, more property tax,
18:35
Speaker 1: more sales tax into the city. And that's why I
18:37
Speaker 1: believe so much in it. Plus, if you get annexed
18:40
Speaker 1: by the city, then you get free snow removal, free
18:44
Speaker 1: ice removal, free trash pickup. But a lot of people
18:47
Speaker 1: would say, we'll maintain your parks, will maintain your roads.
18:50
Speaker 1: A lot of people have objections to that, and they
18:52
Speaker 1: will say, but I like doing it myself.
18:54
Speaker 3: I like my private trash or I.
18:56
Speaker 1: Like to for us to do our own snow removal
19:00
Speaker 1: can but the city's going to do it too.
19:02
Speaker 3: Once you're annexed.
19:03
Speaker 2: I got a call from Max here. He is on
19:05
Speaker 2: the line.
19:06
Speaker 4: He has a little bit of information for you about
19:09
Speaker 4: Fort Street construction. Max, thanks for calling. You are live
19:13
Speaker 4: with Jeans Tuther here on KFAB.
19:15
Speaker 3: Good morning, Thank you, Good.
19:17
Speaker 6: Morning, Jean. My deal is that I know the contractor
19:23
Speaker 6: that did that fourth Street It was Scott weak Course
19:27
Speaker 6: okay out of Waterloo Valley, and his workmanship was pretty
19:35
Speaker 6: pathetic on that job. And that's basically all I got.
19:40
Speaker 6: Do you have any questions?
19:41
Speaker 3: Okay, no, thank you for that.
19:43
Speaker 1: I'm still going to follow up on when that construction
19:46
Speaker 1: was done and what the problem is, and Public Works
19:49
Speaker 1: will be able to tell me that. So I'm going
19:51
Speaker 1: to get back and explain a little bit more. But
19:53
Speaker 1: thanks for that information.
19:55
Speaker 2: Wrapping up this first segment here, Hey.
19:57
Speaker 1: That reminded me I've got a Max story. We got
20:00
Speaker 1: go ahead because this caller's name was Max. Max is
20:03
Speaker 1: my six year old grandson that I love to talk about.
20:06
Speaker 1: And just a little background on Max because I watch
20:09
Speaker 1: him about once a week and he is so precocious,
20:12
Speaker 1: but he does have some behavior problems. And Max goes
20:16
Speaker 1: to a special education classroom at Ronald Reagan in Millar
20:22
Speaker 1: Public schools. It's like kindergarten, first second grade, and they
20:25
Speaker 1: have done wonders with him, they really have. They keep
20:29
Speaker 1: him on a short leash, but he has just really
20:32
Speaker 1: really changed in how he behaves. He has a short
20:36
Speaker 1: fuse and if he gets mad or something, he blows up.
20:39
Speaker 1: But that's kind of Max's background. But he still is
20:42
Speaker 1: so funny and I get such a good kick, a
20:44
Speaker 1: big kick out of him. And he's his language is
20:47
Speaker 1: unbelievable for a six year old.
20:49
Speaker 3: He's very smart.
20:50
Speaker 1: But anyway, his older brother, Raymond, who is my older grandson,
20:54
Speaker 1: he is a has been at camp all week, sleepover camp.
20:58
Speaker 1: Did you ever go to a sleepover camp? He's been
21:00
Speaker 1: at Camp Kataki, which is out by Ashland. He was
21:03
Speaker 1: there for a full week, a sleepover camp. So I
21:06
Speaker 1: picked up Max from day camp last week and I said, Max,
21:11
Speaker 1: what's it like with your brother being gone all week?
21:13
Speaker 1: And he looked at me and he goes, Grandma, it's
21:15
Speaker 1: been paradise. I couldn't believe he said that. I go paradise.
21:20
Speaker 1: He goes, it's paradise with him gone. And I said,
21:22
Speaker 1: you know, Max, I bet your Raymond's going to say
21:25
Speaker 1: it's been paradise being gone. But this kid's language is
21:29
Speaker 1: so funny. So there's a little Max story, Max who
21:31
Speaker 1: just called in. You reminded me of my grandson.
21:33
Speaker 2: Max.
21:34
Speaker 3: Peyton and I are.
21:35
Speaker 1: Back, and you know, here's something else I wanted to
21:37
Speaker 1: bring up. And I really want your opinions on these things,
21:41
Speaker 1: the people that are listening today, because it's your show too.
21:45
Speaker 1: It's what it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
21:48
Speaker 1: And if I'm talking about something you don't like, well
21:51
Speaker 1: wait till the next day. We'll be talking about something else.
21:54
Speaker 1: But in the World Herald this morning, there's a story
21:56
Speaker 1: that Omaha Mayor John Ewing heads to Harvard to a
22:00
Speaker 1: leadership program to focus on the homelessness, and he said,
22:05
Speaker 1: this is going to help the city reduce homelessness. And
22:08
Speaker 1: so he's one of forty six mayors that was chosen
22:13
Speaker 1: for this class at Bloomberg's Harvard City Leadership Initiative. It says,
22:19
Speaker 1: and it talks about they're going to talk about homelessness.
22:23
Speaker 1: And here's something that did get me though, Peyton. I
22:26
Speaker 1: read in here there is a quote from Mayor Ewing
22:30
Speaker 1: and he says, quote, I am a firm believer that
22:33
Speaker 1: you are either moving forward or you are falling behind.
22:37
Speaker 1: And I want to as a mayor have Omaha continually
22:40
Speaker 1: moving forward and being on the cutting edge.
22:43
Speaker 3: Where have we.
22:44
Speaker 1: Heard that phrase before? And you know, I gave a
22:48
Speaker 1: streetcar presentation with Steve Jensen to at least seven thousand people,
22:53
Speaker 1: and with it was a PowerPoint and the very first
22:57
Speaker 1: slide that I gave to all of those people, I
23:00
Speaker 1: always say, cities never stand still. They are either growing
23:04
Speaker 1: and moving forward or they are declining and falling behind.
23:07
Speaker 3: Hmm.
23:07
Speaker 1: Interesting. So that is a phrase that I use a
23:11
Speaker 1: lot when I was mayor. I used it for every
23:13
Speaker 1: single streetcar presentation we did. And now he's a firm
23:17
Speaker 1: believer that you are either moving forward or you are
23:20
Speaker 1: falling behind. Interesting, but I'm glad he agrees with me
23:24
Speaker 1: and what my team did. But anyway, that's what is
23:28
Speaker 1: part of this story with the World Herald this morning.
23:31
Speaker 1: And he says that the city and this training, this
23:34
Speaker 1: training will help the city study homelessness programs and adapt
23:38
Speaker 1: one for Omaha. Interestingly enough, going with him is his
23:43
Speaker 1: communication director and Jacqueline Morrison, who was a Deputy chief
23:50
Speaker 1: of Staff for Economic Development. Then he promoted her to
23:53
Speaker 1: the executive deputy chief of Staff. Then he promoted her
23:57
Speaker 1: to doing something with philanthropy, which I didn't that was
24:00
Speaker 1: a new title. And now he's promoted her to be
24:03
Speaker 1: the interim Parks Director and she is the one that
24:06
Speaker 1: is going on this trip, where as the Homeless Service Coordinator,
24:11
Speaker 1: Tamra Dwyer is not. I find this quite interesting. You
24:15
Speaker 1: would think that the homeless Service coordinator would be one
24:18
Speaker 1: that would go on this trip as well.
24:21
Speaker 3: So I question that.
24:22
Speaker 1: Now. The first online edition, which I read every morning,
24:25
Speaker 1: of the World Herald because you all know there's no
24:27
Speaker 1: print copy on Monday, so I read it. It did
24:30
Speaker 1: say in the article too that where this is another
24:34
Speaker 1: Omaha World Herald, little jab here, but I have to
24:37
Speaker 1: do it. It says while Ewing is in New York
24:39
Speaker 1: City Council president will serve as the acting mayor and
24:44
Speaker 1: that will be Pete Festerson. Pete Festerson is not the
24:48
Speaker 1: president of the city council. Danny Bagley was is the
24:51
Speaker 1: president of the city council. So they got that wrong,
24:56
Speaker 1: and so I sent a note to the World Herald
24:58
Speaker 1: and just said pe Festerson is not the city council president,
25:02
Speaker 1: Danny Begley is and they said, well, we pulled it
25:05
Speaker 1: off the city's web page and they haven't updated it yet. Okay,
25:08
Speaker 1: this has been about a year now that Danny Begley
25:11
Speaker 1: has been the president of the City Council. So City
25:15
Speaker 1: of Omaha, get on it and update your web page.
25:19
Speaker 1: But I find it very interesting that Aaron Grace, the
25:23
Speaker 1: chief of staff for Communication and Jacqueline Morrison and they
25:27
Speaker 1: lift her now lists her as director of Transformation in
25:30
Speaker 1: Strategic Partnerships, which she is also intram Parks director. I'm
25:35
Speaker 1: confused that is going on this trip with him now.
25:40
Speaker 1: They do mention in this Omaha World Herald article that
25:45
Speaker 1: this was one of seven task force that Mayor Ewing
25:49
Speaker 1: announced within the first three or several months of being mayor.
25:53
Speaker 1: And he created seven new task force and homelessness was one,
25:59
Speaker 1: Afforded and affordable housing was another, Climate was another, and
26:05
Speaker 1: then he had poverty, Parks, infrastructure, and economic development. So
26:11
Speaker 1: it would be interesting to me and I questioned why
26:13
Speaker 1: the media wouldn't come back and say, Okay, you announced
26:17
Speaker 1: all these task force within the first few months. It's
26:20
Speaker 1: been a year that you've been mayor. Now give us
26:22
Speaker 1: a report on all seven of these task force. Tell
26:26
Speaker 1: us where you are since you had somebody in charge
26:29
Speaker 1: of all these different task force, and tell us what
26:31
Speaker 1: you have done in the past year. Hold your mayor
26:35
Speaker 1: accountable what have you done on all these different task
26:38
Speaker 1: force instead of just attending another meeting to learn more.
26:42
Speaker 1: I thought when I appointed Tamra Dwyer as the homeless
26:46
Speaker 1: Service Coordinator, she was the perfect person to do it.
26:49
Speaker 1: And I wanted to remind people that we had over
26:52
Speaker 1: one hundred applicants for that position, and I thought she
26:55
Speaker 1: did a tremendous job and her role was exactly what
26:58
Speaker 1: her title was. She's a home less service coordinator. There's
27:01
Speaker 1: a lot of street outreach, a lot of groups in
27:03
Speaker 1: the community, whether it's about addiction, whether it's about mental health,
27:07
Speaker 1: whether it's about you know, like I said, street homelessness,
27:11
Speaker 1: whatever it is. That she was to coordinate all of
27:15
Speaker 1: those services and work directly with the mayor and the
27:18
Speaker 1: Mayor's office so that the city can be working with
27:20
Speaker 1: those services. And she's been very successful. People love working
27:23
Speaker 1: with her. I still text her all the time. I
27:26
Speaker 1: text her this weekend because I saw an encampment by
27:29
Speaker 1: the target I go to on el Street, and she
27:32
Speaker 1: responded immediately said I'm going to go down there and
27:35
Speaker 1: talk to the guy right now. So you know, I
27:37
Speaker 1: don't know all the details about this. Perhaps she was busy,
27:41
Speaker 1: but you would think, boy, she would be the person
27:44
Speaker 1: that would go to a Harvard run leadership program to
27:49
Speaker 1: focus on homelessness in New York City and an interim
27:53
Speaker 1: parks director.
27:54
Speaker 2: Absolutely.
27:55
Speaker 4: You know, I was thinking, Okay, well, there's homelessness that
27:59
Speaker 4: goes on inside the parks too, so maybe that could
28:02
Speaker 4: be a connecting factor. But at the same time, you're
28:06
Speaker 4: not taking your homeless director right.
28:08
Speaker 1: And like I said, I don't know the reason why.
28:10
Speaker 1: There could be a very good reason to be a
28:12
Speaker 1: conflict of life conflict. Absolutely. However, let's clarify that what
28:17
Speaker 1: you just said. There's homelessness in parks, not a lot,
28:20
Speaker 1: because the parks have hours. It's six am until eleven pm,
28:25
Speaker 1: and then those parks are closed.
28:27
Speaker 3: Everybody out. You're out, I'm out.
28:30
Speaker 1: Anybody that thinks they're setting up an encampment is out.
28:33
Speaker 1: So you don't see encampments in our city parks because
28:36
Speaker 1: it closes. And so I mean there might be somebody,
28:40
Speaker 1: there might be numerous people that go in there and
28:42
Speaker 1: sleep all night. That there's not people patrolling all two
28:45
Speaker 1: hundred and fifty six parks every night, but they're not
28:49
Speaker 1: there for long and they don't set an encampment up
28:52
Speaker 1: in a city park because.
28:55
Speaker 3: They have hours.
28:56
Speaker 1: And keep in mind, when we talk about homelessness, there
28:59
Speaker 1: is there are sheltered and there are unsheltered, and you
29:03
Speaker 1: got to make a big difference between the two. Because
29:06
Speaker 1: we have shelters in Omaha. We have put a lot
29:09
Speaker 1: of money into the shelters the city has when.
29:11
Speaker 3: They redid.
29:14
Speaker 1: Some of our shelters that we have in Omaha. I'm
29:17
Speaker 1: blanking out. Why am I blanking out on the name?
29:19
Speaker 1: I just said some of our shelters the Santa Francis House.
29:23
Speaker 1: I don't know why I didn't remember that, but the
29:25
Speaker 1: city put in money when that was completely redone a
29:28
Speaker 1: new building. We tend to have more unsheltered go into
29:32
Speaker 1: the shelters during the winter when it's extremely cold, but
29:35
Speaker 1: there are some that do not want to go into shelters,
29:38
Speaker 1: and the shelters are offered to them. And so people
29:41
Speaker 1: will say I see more homeless than I used to.
29:43
Speaker 1: People will say I see less, but they're still out
29:46
Speaker 1: there and they're still unsheltered. Most of the unsheltered are unsheltered. Well,
29:50
Speaker 1: there's several reasons. In some are because of addiction problems,
29:55
Speaker 1: because a lot of the shelters won't take somebody that's high.
30:00
Speaker 1: A lot of them are they have animals and pets
30:02
Speaker 1: and they want to stay with them and the shelters
30:04
Speaker 1: won't allow pets. A lot of it. There's a mental
30:08
Speaker 1: illness issue a lot of them. Some of them have
30:10
Speaker 1: families in Omaha, but they don't want to live with
30:14
Speaker 1: the families. Some don't want to follow the rules of
30:18
Speaker 1: a shelter too. And when Mayor Shudeck was on the
30:21
Speaker 1: other day, homelessness is an issue for her to on
30:24
Speaker 1: Council Bluffs and I did mention I think that this
30:27
Speaker 1: is interesting, is HUD every year does account in time
30:30
Speaker 1: on our homeless. They actually go out there and count
30:33
Speaker 1: people where they know are in you know, in the
30:37
Speaker 1: shelter and also that are in other areas that are
30:40
Speaker 1: unsheltered within the City of Omaha, name in encampments and
30:44
Speaker 1: the last one they did when I was still in office,
30:47
Speaker 1: and it's done in January. They always ask the last
30:51
Speaker 1: known address of that person that is unsheltered, and the
30:55
Speaker 1: majority on the last one that was done said council
30:58
Speaker 1: bluffs and so they come back and forth across the river.
31:02
Speaker 1: And so that's just something to keep in mind. But
31:04
Speaker 1: that is something that the City of Omaha has been
31:06
Speaker 1: working with for years. I know we can always get better,
31:11
Speaker 1: but it's still an issue, and it's an ongoing issue,
31:14
Speaker 1: and I think we'll never eliminate it. I lived in Seattle,
31:17
Speaker 1: Washington in the late seventies and early eighties. You weren't
31:22
Speaker 1: even born yet.
31:23
Speaker 2: It seems like a time to be in Seattle.
31:26
Speaker 3: No, but there was.
31:28
Speaker 1: If you know Seattle, there's Pioneer Square right down on
31:31
Speaker 1: the where the Puget Sound is right downtown is Pioneer Square.
31:34
Speaker 1: There were homeless down there. Then Seattle was known for
31:39
Speaker 1: their homeless population in Pioneer Square. This was in the
31:42
Speaker 1: late seventies, early eighties. They still have it, and it's
31:45
Speaker 1: getting worse all the time. So to say that the
31:48
Speaker 1: city is failing because we can't eliminate it, it's very
31:52
Speaker 1: difficult to eliminate it.
31:54
Speaker 2: Very interesting gene.
31:56
Speaker 4: I have a question here that comes from Sharon, maybe
31:59
Speaker 4: not as such a question, just something to acknowledge She says,
32:04
Speaker 4: I live in Sarpy County, approximately one hundred and twenty
32:07
Speaker 4: eighth and Harrison. Our house backs up to Harrison on
32:12
Speaker 4: a corner, and there are frequent accidents at that intersection.
32:18
Speaker 4: I called nine one one, and they want to know
32:20
Speaker 4: if it's the Douglas County side or the Sarpee County side.
32:23
Speaker 4: We live in unincorporated Sarpy County, but we are zoned
32:26
Speaker 4: by La Vista mm hm. And then she goes on
32:28
Speaker 4: to say, I spend a dangerous amount of time explaining
32:31
Speaker 4: to the operators who needs to get sent out there,
32:33
Speaker 4: which side of the street it's on this and that
32:35
Speaker 4: it's that.
32:36
Speaker 1: She's exactly right, though, and I mentioned that a little
32:39
Speaker 1: bit earlier, because south of Harrison is the Douglas County
32:43
Speaker 1: Sarpy County line. And if we do work on Harrison itself,
32:47
Speaker 1: the north side of Harrison is paid for by the
32:49
Speaker 1: City of Omaha. The south side of Harrison is paid
32:52
Speaker 1: for by Sarpy County. It's very interesting how that goes.
32:56
Speaker 2: With the can you venmol me the other half piece?
32:59
Speaker 1: Really all that area. I know exactly what she's talking about.
33:03
Speaker 1: I had a lot of friends that lived there when
33:05
Speaker 1: my kids were in school in that area, and that
33:07
Speaker 1: is Sarpy County, but the address is Omaha, and that's
33:11
Speaker 1: why it does get confusing. I always tell people, if
33:15
Speaker 1: they have a particular area that they are concerned with,
33:18
Speaker 1: call their city council member. However, she doesn't, she's not
33:22
Speaker 1: represented by Omaha City Council there.
33:24
Speaker 3: So I would say that that.
33:26
Speaker 1: I would say, again nine to one one is more
33:29
Speaker 1: for emergencies, but I would say, you know that that
33:33
Speaker 1: intersection should be controlled by both Omaha Police and by
33:37
Speaker 1: Sarpy County. By La Vista there, and so I would
33:41
Speaker 1: say I know that intersection because I kind of go
33:44
Speaker 1: that back way a lot to get on the interstate
33:47
Speaker 1: to get on I eight, and I miss or missed
33:49
Speaker 1: that mess by my house, which is about on L
33:52
Speaker 1: Street where L Street and Q Street and I Street
33:55
Speaker 1: and all that merges onto the interstate, and there's always
33:58
Speaker 1: a bottleneck there. But let you know what, Sarah, I'm
34:02
Speaker 1: gonna I'm gonna look into that one myself.
34:04
Speaker 4: Sharon Sharon Shannon, And here's here she goes. Given a
34:06
Speaker 4: little bit further, we've also asked for a traffic light there.
34:10
Speaker 4: Several studies have been done and we have been told
34:12
Speaker 4: that they don't know who would be responsible for paying
34:14
Speaker 4: for it. Sarpy County La Vista, Douglas County, Omaha.
34:18
Speaker 3: They could figure that one out. Let me.
34:21
Speaker 1: You know what, I'm going to get back with you
34:22
Speaker 1: on this one too, because this is some place that
34:24
Speaker 1: I can absolutely I could look into it for you
34:28
Speaker 1: a little bit and see what is the best way
34:29
Speaker 1: to go. So Sharon, listen, in tomorrow, I'm gonna have
34:32
Speaker 1: an answer for you.
34:33
Speaker 2: I do.
34:33
Speaker 4: I do have a good caller for you. This is
34:36
Speaker 4: Shona Shonah. Thank you so much for holding for me.
34:38
Speaker 4: You are now live with Gene Stauthart here on eleven
34:41
Speaker 4: ten kfab.
34:43
Speaker 3: Perfect Hello, good morning, good morning.
34:47
Speaker 7: So I've an Elkhorn resident and I was here when
34:50
Speaker 7: all the hufbloo went on about Elkhorn being annexed. And
34:53
Speaker 7: I have no problem with that. But what I did
34:55
Speaker 7: a problem with is I feel like sixato two two
34:57
Speaker 7: s to stay one three zero are huge. He's part
35:00
Speaker 7: of the tax base of what was brought into Omaha.
35:05
Speaker 7: And I live in Chapel Hill. I know you've heard
35:07
Speaker 7: this before, but our roads are horrible and we have
35:09
Speaker 7: a park there that since I've been there. I don't
35:12
Speaker 7: think any improvements have been made, so residents are looking
35:15
Speaker 7: I don't have young kids that it doesn't affect me,
35:17
Speaker 7: but I have friends that do. So I'm looking at
35:20
Speaker 7: splash pads being put out at different places, and there's
35:23
Speaker 7: nothing that's being done really with the park again Elbourne
35:27
Speaker 7: and Chapel Hill, and I know residents have written some
35:29
Speaker 7: bricker harding and he said, yes, I'll look at that,
35:31
Speaker 7: but there's been really no improvements and it's kind of
35:34
Speaker 7: unsafe in some ways because it hasn't been updated or
35:37
Speaker 7: maintained very well.
35:39
Speaker 1: I appreciate your call, and you know, golly, here we
35:42
Speaker 1: go again. I just I will go back to number
35:48
Speaker 1: one to contact your city council member what you did
35:51
Speaker 1: and you said they will look into it. I know
35:54
Speaker 1: what you were saying about the roads, and I'll go
35:57
Speaker 1: back to when I was running for re election. That
36:01
Speaker 1: is one thing that I think got John Ewing a
36:04
Speaker 1: lot of votes out in Elkhorn and they did not
36:07
Speaker 1: vote for me out there anymore, which they used to
36:11
Speaker 1: heavily because he was promising to get all of their
36:14
Speaker 1: roads done at no cost to them, and then once
36:18
Speaker 1: he was elected, said no, can do. We can't do that,
36:21
Speaker 1: you know. The current policy is what we have to
36:23
Speaker 1: stick with, which is something that always I think aggravates
36:27
Speaker 1: people when they feel like they were promised something to
36:30
Speaker 1: get a vote and they knew good and well that
36:33
Speaker 1: they couldn't do it, and so you know, you just
36:37
Speaker 1: got to since I have no control over it anymore,
36:41
Speaker 1: you know, I think that there are things that can
36:44
Speaker 1: be done and looked at. I think that all parks
36:48
Speaker 1: within the city of Omaha should be treated fairly. Again,
36:53
Speaker 1: we have two hundred and fifty six parks. I've said
36:55
Speaker 1: that over and over and over again. And the one reason,
36:58
Speaker 1: the main reason that I wanted the parks director who
37:02
Speaker 1: was terminated to do a parks master plan is so
37:06
Speaker 1: that we could look at every one of them and
37:09
Speaker 1: prioritize what needed to be done to get them up
37:13
Speaker 1: to grade to where they need to be and how
37:15
Speaker 1: much money we needed to do it. Because I felt
37:18
Speaker 1: very strongly that the Omaha Parks Department, you know, they
37:22
Speaker 1: one of the reasons that they frowned upon the past Kalsovich,
37:28
Speaker 1: who was the parks director under me, one of the
37:30
Speaker 1: parks directors, they said, well, he was over budget a
37:33
Speaker 1: lot I didn't think he was over budget. I thought
37:35
Speaker 1: the Parks department was underfunded. You know, there's a difference
37:39
Speaker 1: with that, and I really felt like that he needed
37:42
Speaker 1: to present do a master plan for our parks so
37:45
Speaker 1: we could prioritize, determine how much money needed to go
37:48
Speaker 1: into the park's budget, and then work on that to
37:51
Speaker 1: get it done. Now, Mary Ewing is going to be
37:54
Speaker 1: doing his budget speech, I believe, coming up really soon.
37:58
Speaker 1: I believe if I have This is just off the
38:01
Speaker 1: top of my head here, but it seems like it
38:03
Speaker 1: is on the twenty Yeah, I think it's on the
38:05
Speaker 1: twenty first, so it would be a week from tomorrow
38:08
Speaker 1: is when he is supposed to give his budget speech.
38:11
Speaker 1: And you know when there was the article in the
38:13
Speaker 1: World Herald that said Jacqueline Morrison from the Mayor's Office
38:18
Speaker 1: was being appointed Entram Parks director. She was quoted at
38:22
Speaker 1: saying it was important to have somebody in that role
38:24
Speaker 1: because they were starting the budget process for twenty seven.
38:28
Speaker 1: If they're just starting it now, folks, we're in trouble
38:31
Speaker 1: because it takes five six months to do the city
38:33
Speaker 1: budget and that should be done. If he's doing the
38:36
Speaker 1: presentation next week, so we're going to see, you know,
38:40
Speaker 1: what they're doing with that park's budget. We're going to
38:42
Speaker 1: see what they do with that master plan. Because the
38:44
Speaker 1: master plan should be done. It was practically done last summer,
38:48
Speaker 1: and so let's see what's going on with these parks.
38:51
Speaker 1: But that's the whole reason we needed a master plan.
38:54
Speaker 1: You just can't Will and Nelly go say well, this
38:56
Speaker 1: park needs this. How much do we need for this?
38:58
Speaker 1: And how much do we need for that. They all
39:01
Speaker 1: needed to be treated equally and they need to prioritize
39:04
Speaker 1: which ones need the work the most and get it done.
39:06
Speaker 1: If you say, Shannah that it is it is, I
39:11
Speaker 1: think you use the word it could be unsafe. I mean,
39:13
Speaker 1: this is a real issue, and you know, the roads
39:16
Speaker 1: are an issue, the parks are an issue too, and
39:19
Speaker 1: so I think these are things that you're going to
39:22
Speaker 1: have to, you know, pound on a little bit more
39:24
Speaker 1: the current administration and say what is your plan. Next Tuesday,
39:28
Speaker 1: the twenty first, tune in because Mayor Ewing it would
39:32
Speaker 1: it's usually the same time I would give it. The
39:34
Speaker 1: City council meetings are at two pm. It's televised live.
39:39
Speaker 1: You can go online. You could watch it and see
39:41
Speaker 1: what his presentation for the twenty twenty seven budget is.
39:44
Speaker 2: That's very interesting.
39:45
Speaker 4: And just to finish up the show here on Mayor
39:48
Speaker 4: Ewing one more time, I have Keith on the line
39:51
Speaker 4: that would like to learn more about this Homeless and
39:54
Speaker 4: Leadership Seminar convention. Keith, thanks for holding for me. You're
39:59
Speaker 4: live if you're on eleven to ten kfab with Jean's author.
40:03
Speaker 8: Yeah, I'm wondering who's running the I'm wondering who's running
40:06
Speaker 8: the thing because if they have somebody from California or another,
40:12
Speaker 8: I hate to say, a democratic run city that has
40:16
Speaker 8: a large homeless population, then there's no reason for him
40:21
Speaker 8: to even go there because he's not going to learn
40:24
Speaker 8: anything hopefully new that you know, won't make our population work.
40:29
Speaker 1: You know, I'm so glad you said that, because I
40:32
Speaker 1: know Mary Ewing does attend in the last year quite
40:35
Speaker 1: a few of these meetings with the US Conference of
40:37
Speaker 1: Mayor in the National League of Cities, those are two
40:40
Speaker 1: organizations that have meetings of mayors. I hardly went to
40:46
Speaker 1: any of them because of exactly what you just said.
40:49
Speaker 1: The bigger one usually had the one that had the
40:53
Speaker 1: bigger cities involved in it. That's the National League of
40:56
Speaker 1: Cities or the US Conference of Mayors. I'm getting them confused,
40:58
Speaker 1: but anyway, one.
40:59
Speaker 3: Or the other. They were all these big cities.
41:03
Speaker 1: You know, almost the thirty eighth largest city in the country,
41:06
Speaker 1: so if you take the top fifty, they were much
41:08
Speaker 1: bigger cities. They leaned much more liberal. There wasn't anything
41:12
Speaker 1: that I could learn from them. And then the smaller
41:16
Speaker 1: group was of small, much smaller cities that everything they
41:21
Speaker 1: would come up with, We've already done.
41:23
Speaker 3: And so I never went to those meetings. I did
41:26
Speaker 3: not find.
41:27
Speaker 1: Them helpful at all. I spoke at one in Washington,
41:30
Speaker 1: DC one time and thought, this is it. I'm wasting
41:34
Speaker 1: my money, my time, I'm wasted in the city's money.
41:36
Speaker 1: There's no reason for me to go because what are
41:38
Speaker 1: you going to learn? And to your point, a lot
41:41
Speaker 1: of these bigger cities take take New York, take La
41:45
Speaker 1: take San Francisco. Their homeless situation. Seattle is out of
41:50
Speaker 1: control and ours is not. So I'm glad you brought
41:53
Speaker 1: that up because those meetings to me, were worthless. But
41:57
Speaker 1: that is it for us today. Thank you, Thank you
42:00
Speaker 1: for spending this hour with us, and thanks for listening.
42:02
Speaker 1: We'd love for you to join us again tomorrow. I
42:05
Speaker 1: am Jean Stothard and this is eleven ten kfab