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Nebraska Is on Fire… and Omaha Can’t Fix Its Roads · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: Speaking of on fire and not trying to make it humorous,
0:03
Speaker 1: but we have some major, major fires out in western Nebraska.
0:08
Speaker 1: I know we've talked about it before, probably more than
0:11
Speaker 1: seven hundred thousand acres and do you know that is
0:13
Speaker 1: more than the total burned in the US and twenty
0:16
Speaker 1: twenty five. I mean, this is a major fire of
0:20
Speaker 1: the FEDS. And Omaha fire came in Saturday and Sunday,
0:23
Speaker 1: Wednesday through Saturday. It was just being handled with volunteers.
0:28
Speaker 1: But I want to talk about Omaha firefighters there. And
0:30
Speaker 1: this morning we have Omaha Fire Chief Chief Kathy Bossman
0:34
Speaker 1: on to talk about that. Good morning, Chief, how are you?
0:37
Speaker 2: Good morning, I'm great, Thank you good good.
0:40
Speaker 3: Well.
0:40
Speaker 1: You know, what I really wanted the listeners to understand
0:44
Speaker 1: is when we deploy firefighters for emergencies, and we do
0:48
Speaker 1: have an emergency response team, and I want you to
0:50
Speaker 1: talk a little bit about that, but what the process
0:53
Speaker 1: really is now we have been we have responded before
0:56
Speaker 1: when there's been disasters, natural disasters, tornadoes to other states
1:00
Speaker 1: and other cities. I'm not sure I recall ever being
1:04
Speaker 1: deployed to fight fires. But what exactly can you explain
1:08
Speaker 1: the process is who calls you, who arranges for our
1:12
Speaker 1: teams to respond, Who decides how many go I want
1:17
Speaker 1: you to just talk about the process and then talk
1:19
Speaker 1: about who's out there now from Omaha.
1:22
Speaker 3: Yeah, thank you. So we we were notified Saturday mornings
1:27
Speaker 3: that the Governor's office was going to be requesting resources
1:31
Speaker 3: from the Omaha area. And really this deployment came about
1:36
Speaker 3: somewhat unusual circumstances because I had a conversation with the mayor.
1:41
Speaker 3: We were actually downtown lining up for the Saint Patrick's
1:44
Speaker 3: Day brade Saturday morning, and the mayor had indicated the
1:47
Speaker 3: Governor's Office is going to reach out. He put me
1:50
Speaker 3: in contact directly with Governor Pillen, who was stepping onto
1:53
Speaker 3: a helicopter to go look at the fire damage. And
1:57
Speaker 3: the Governor essentially said, hey, we need help, We need
1:59
Speaker 3: help Omaha. And Mayor Ewing was incredibly supportive from the
2:04
Speaker 3: very beginning and said, you know, this is an easy Yes,
2:07
Speaker 3: we want to send resources. So we worked immediately on
2:11
Speaker 3: putting our team together. It was myself and my fire
2:14
Speaker 3: management team working in partnership, honestly with the Lincoln Fire
2:19
Speaker 3: Department because they also had a request for resources, and
2:22
Speaker 3: we determined what resources we could reasonably send and the
2:25
Speaker 3: number of personnel, so we built that team. We have
2:29
Speaker 3: eight Obaha firefighters out deployed in western Nebraska right now
2:33
Speaker 3: at the Moral Fire. And they took with them an
2:37
Speaker 3: Engine company brush truck which can go off road into
2:41
Speaker 3: the field, and they also took a water tender which
2:43
Speaker 3: carries three thousand gallons of water. And they're there for
2:48
Speaker 3: what we anticipated to be a seven day deployment and
2:52
Speaker 3: they plugged in immediately to the incidant management team's program
2:57
Speaker 3: and planned for extinguishment. And honestly, they're smart. They know
3:02
Speaker 3: that Omaha firefighters are experienced at structural firefighting. We are
3:07
Speaker 3: not as experienced at fighting a wildfire, certainly not a
3:10
Speaker 3: fire this historic in size. So initially our personnel were
3:16
Speaker 3: tasked with protecting a town, a community, people's homes, their businesses,
3:21
Speaker 3: and monitoring fire scenes. They were asked to go out
3:24
Speaker 3: and investigate and get the status of different fires in
3:28
Speaker 3: different areas. They've they've been very busy. It's been strenuous
3:33
Speaker 3: work for them, but they're happy to be out there
3:37
Speaker 3: and provide some relief for the volunteer departments who could
3:41
Speaker 3: have been working for twenty four or forty eight hours straight.
3:44
Speaker 1: Now, when they're deployed for an emergency like that, who
3:48
Speaker 1: supervises them? I mean, do you keep in contact with them?
3:51
Speaker 1: Or do they have someone else in that city that
3:54
Speaker 1: are the area that they are are working. Do they
3:57
Speaker 1: have someone else that they report to and get instruct from.
4:00
Speaker 1: How does that work?
4:03
Speaker 3: They We do keep in contact with them, but they
4:06
Speaker 3: are assigned to a team. Right now, there's a complex
4:10
Speaker 3: incident management team from the Rocky Mountain Region overseeing the
4:14
Speaker 3: entire incident. So they are plugged into that system and
4:18
Speaker 3: they have an immediate supervisor that they report to, and
4:21
Speaker 3: so essentially we release them to go work for that
4:24
Speaker 3: team during this emergency incident.
4:27
Speaker 1: Now, if they need them to stay longer, you said
4:29
Speaker 1: it's a seven day deployment. If they need them to
4:31
Speaker 1: stay longer, is that considered?
4:35
Speaker 3: It can be considered. Right now, we're working under Governor
4:38
Speaker 3: Flun's Emergency Fund planned, and that plan outlines a seven
4:43
Speaker 3: day deployment. There is potential for a short extension of that.
4:48
Speaker 3: If they were going to be extended beyond that, we
4:50
Speaker 3: would likely look at sending fresh crews.
4:54
Speaker 1: Well, we certainly hope for their safety out there, but
4:57
Speaker 1: talk a little bit. Also, is this one of the
4:59
Speaker 1: first that you can remember that we actually deployed an
5:02
Speaker 1: emergency team to fight a fire? Because, like I said before,
5:06
Speaker 1: and you can talk about this, I know that we've
5:08
Speaker 1: deployed them as a result of some storm, some floods,
5:12
Speaker 1: some tornadoes to other cities and other states. Have we
5:16
Speaker 1: ever done this before to fight a fire?
5:19
Speaker 3: You know? In my twenty nine years with the Fire Department, no,
5:22
Speaker 3: I do not recall sending any Omaha fire resources to
5:27
Speaker 3: go fight a wildfire, certainly not one of this size.
5:30
Speaker 3: We have deployed within the Washington, Douglas Starpy County area,
5:36
Speaker 3: and we sent personnel left summer to Fremont when they
5:40
Speaker 3: had the plant explosion, But we really have not in
5:43
Speaker 3: my recollection ever sent cruise, you know, three three and
5:46
Speaker 3: a half hours away to fight a wildfire. It is
5:51
Speaker 3: different as you had mentioned our USAR team. We have
5:54
Speaker 3: numerous members on the Fire Department who are part of
5:56
Speaker 3: Nebraska's Task Force one, and they do deploy across the
5:59
Speaker 3: country or natural disasters, not typically wildfires. But those deployments
6:05
Speaker 3: are different because they are federally mandated. When there is
6:08
Speaker 3: a federal decoration of an emergency. In this particular case,
6:12
Speaker 3: the request came at the state level looking for assets
6:16
Speaker 3: within the state of Nebraska. Okay, slightly different deployment.
6:21
Speaker 1: Now, you did say that we sent equipment out there.
6:23
Speaker 1: I heard you say we sent our water tender out there,
6:26
Speaker 1: and that's usually kept out West Omaha. But we did
6:29
Speaker 1: send other trucks and other equipment out there.
6:32
Speaker 3: We did. We sent an engine company, the same ones
6:35
Speaker 3: that fight building fires in Omaha. We sent an engine,
6:38
Speaker 3: We sent a brush truck which can go off road
6:42
Speaker 3: and manage grass buyers. So we sent those resources. But
6:46
Speaker 3: we do have a reserve engine in service here in Omaha,
6:50
Speaker 3: so our service level was not reduced because of this deployment.
6:55
Speaker 2: Okay.
6:56
Speaker 3: And we also have been in contact with the Douglas
6:58
Speaker 3: County Fire departments to let them know, Hey, one of
7:00
Speaker 3: our brush trucks and one of our water tenders is
7:03
Speaker 3: deployed out west, so if there were an emergency in Omaha,
7:07
Speaker 3: we would certainly have coverage here.
7:10
Speaker 2: Okay.
7:10
Speaker 1: And you mentioned one of the vehicles that you sent
7:12
Speaker 1: is the one that we used to fight building fires.
7:14
Speaker 1: Is that what people would normally call a ladder truck.
7:18
Speaker 3: Nope, it was it a fire engine with a water
7:21
Speaker 3: hose or I'm sorry, water tank and hose on it.
7:23
Speaker 3: So a fire engine, a brush truck, and a water
7:26
Speaker 3: tender are all deployed at the Moral fire, which right
7:29
Speaker 3: now appears to be about eighteen percent contained.
7:32
Speaker 1: And have you talked to any of the firefighters that
7:35
Speaker 1: are out there since Saturday? I've been in.
7:38
Speaker 3: Communication with them, mostly via text message. They said they
7:41
Speaker 3: are being well cared for, they're eating well. The first
7:44
Speaker 3: couple of nights they were able to stay in a
7:47
Speaker 3: hotel room. Last night that changed and they are now
7:50
Speaker 3: sleeping on cots in tents. So it is not glamorous work,
7:55
Speaker 3: very strenuous work, both mentally and physically. But we're pleased
7:59
Speaker 3: to be able to help support in any way that
8:01
Speaker 3: we can.
8:03
Speaker 1: Well. I think we couldn't be any prouder of them
8:05
Speaker 1: being out there, and we obviously know it's a dangerous job.
8:09
Speaker 1: It's a risky job, but they're out there to help.
8:12
Speaker 1: And I said the other day, when Omaha Fire is
8:15
Speaker 1: called to help, we're there and we want to respond,
8:18
Speaker 1: and we have done that. Name some of the other
8:21
Speaker 1: cities that we have responded to with our emergency response team.
8:25
Speaker 1: I know, we went down to New Orleans, so that
8:27
Speaker 1: was as a result of a flood. I believe our
8:29
Speaker 1: to Tornado. Do you recall some of the instances that
8:33
Speaker 1: we were deployed.
8:35
Speaker 3: Yes, so we in twenty twenty five went down to
8:37
Speaker 3: Texas with their major flooding that they had excuse me,
8:41
Speaker 3: in Florida in twenty twenty four, we went to Florida
8:43
Speaker 3: following a couple of different hurricanes. We've really been across
8:47
Speaker 3: the country, but mainly to the South. I would say,
8:50
Speaker 3: for different hurricanes or other natural disasters, a lot of
8:53
Speaker 3: flooding events.
8:55
Speaker 1: Okay, and now while I got you, well, I have
8:57
Speaker 1: you here. I thought we'd talk about a couple more
8:59
Speaker 1: things because I always said the job of a mayor
9:02
Speaker 1: is to make sure the mayor does the city budget.
9:06
Speaker 1: I even did the twenty twenty six budget which we're
9:08
Speaker 1: operating under now because I was assuming I might be
9:11
Speaker 1: mayor again. But I had that balance to the penny
9:13
Speaker 1: before I left. But the mayor's job is to fund
9:16
Speaker 1: each department, including the part at the fire department, so
9:19
Speaker 1: that they can have the funds to hire the people
9:23
Speaker 1: they need and have the resources and the equipment they
9:25
Speaker 1: need to do the job. And then the mayor's job
9:28
Speaker 1: is to hire the best chief they can. I was
9:31
Speaker 1: going to say he or she can and let them
9:33
Speaker 1: run their own department. Now, one thing that you and
9:36
Speaker 1: I worked on is their equipment. We were in the
9:40
Speaker 1: past buying fire trucks, fire engines who are which are
9:43
Speaker 1: very expensive with bonds, with city bonds, and when you
9:46
Speaker 1: buy them with city bonds, you want them to last
9:49
Speaker 1: at least fifteen years. Well, those things are run into
9:53
Speaker 1: the ground and we realize that those things needed to
9:56
Speaker 1: be replaced way before fifteen years, so we can up
10:00
Speaker 1: with a new plan. And our new plan was our
10:02
Speaker 1: goal was that all our frontline equipment would be replaced
10:06
Speaker 1: about every seven or eight years, and we were going
10:08
Speaker 1: to use cash out of the general fund. So and
10:11
Speaker 1: in the beginning that was about if I recall right,
10:14
Speaker 1: it was going to cost the city about twenty nine
10:16
Speaker 1: million per year. Is that we were going to budget
10:20
Speaker 1: so that we every seven to eight years can replace
10:23
Speaker 1: all our front line equipment. Now I know the cost
10:27
Speaker 1: has gone up. It's much more than twenty nine million
10:30
Speaker 1: now it's probably close to forty forty two million. And
10:32
Speaker 1: we had to stretch it out to about every ten years.
10:35
Speaker 1: But can you talk a little bit about the importance
10:38
Speaker 1: of that too. And also we made the decision to
10:41
Speaker 1: go to one vendor so that hopefully I believe it
10:44
Speaker 1: was McQueen, Am I correct?
10:46
Speaker 4: Correct?
10:46
Speaker 1: Yeah, okay, one vendor, so that all the trucks would
10:49
Speaker 1: be manufactured by one vendor. Talk a little bit if
10:53
Speaker 1: you could, while I have you here about the importance
10:55
Speaker 1: of that with our vehicles and with our equipment.
10:59
Speaker 3: Certainly. Yeah, we are about five years into our ten
11:02
Speaker 3: year fleet replacement plan, which allows us, like you mentioned,
11:06
Speaker 3: to replace our vehicles and keep them in top shape
11:11
Speaker 3: so that we can provide the highest level of service
11:13
Speaker 3: to the community. We replace on a designated schedule our
11:18
Speaker 3: fire trucks, our fire engines, and our medic units each year,
11:22
Speaker 3: and we schedule that and we work it into the
11:25
Speaker 3: budget each year, and it's planned out years in advance,
11:29
Speaker 3: and we do follow closely. The cost of fire apparatus,
11:33
Speaker 3: as you said, it has gone up, but we have
11:36
Speaker 3: a great team in place who you know, spects out
11:39
Speaker 3: all of those rigs and they keep the cost as
11:42
Speaker 3: low as possible. We want to be fiscally responsible with
11:45
Speaker 3: the funds that are set aside to purchase those apparatus.
11:49
Speaker 3: But it's been beneficial to the department, and I think
11:52
Speaker 3: to the citizens and the community as a whole right.
11:55
Speaker 1: And you know, I think that's another point I wanted
11:59
Speaker 1: to make. It's so important that we do things like this,
12:03
Speaker 1: But it just gives an example to the listeners how
12:06
Speaker 1: cost increase in that general fund budget every year and
12:09
Speaker 1: how hard it is really to manage a city budget.
12:13
Speaker 1: The city budget is huge, and I did the city
12:16
Speaker 1: budget for twelve years when I was mayor, and to
12:18
Speaker 1: handle it, and when you have expenses that are needed
12:22
Speaker 1: like something like this. An additional forty million dollars a
12:25
Speaker 1: year is going into replacing these trucks, which I wanted
12:28
Speaker 1: to do. You wanted to do, and it's important, but
12:31
Speaker 1: it's it's the mayor's priorities. And when you feel like
12:35
Speaker 1: this is a priority, then you figure out a way
12:38
Speaker 1: to work it into the budget and also to do
12:41
Speaker 1: it in what my priority was without raising taxes when
12:45
Speaker 1: I became mayor. I have to just bring this up.
12:47
Speaker 1: It was in twenty thirteen the fire budget, and I
12:50
Speaker 1: had to look this up to make sure I was right.
12:52
Speaker 1: The fire budget was eighty two million in twenty thirteen.
12:56
Speaker 1: The twenty twenty six budget, the fire budget is one
12:59
Speaker 1: hundred and forty one million. I mean, that's almost a
13:02
Speaker 1: sixty million dollar increase in the fire budget. So that
13:06
Speaker 1: just shows again how important fire department, police department, our
13:11
Speaker 1: first responders are, and how important public safety is to
13:15
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha. When it's that important figuring out
13:19
Speaker 1: how to budget that is something that every mayor should
13:22
Speaker 1: make a priority, I think, and you all benefit from it,
13:26
Speaker 1: and I hope everybody realizes that that is just something
13:29
Speaker 1: really really important that we have to do with every
13:31
Speaker 1: city department, but especially those that are our first responders,
13:35
Speaker 1: with fire and police. Fire and police are about two
13:37
Speaker 1: thirds of the entire city budget. Now that's a lot
13:41
Speaker 1: when you think of all the other departments, planning and
13:44
Speaker 1: libraries in all excuse me, all the other city departments.
13:48
Speaker 1: But it just shows how important first responders are.
13:52
Speaker 3: You agree, I absolutely agree, yes, and thank you. And
13:56
Speaker 3: we do recognize the fire department does significant budget from
14:03
Speaker 3: the city, the overall city budget, and you're very appreciative
14:05
Speaker 3: of that. We try to be as responsible as we
14:09
Speaker 3: possibly can with all of those funds, and.
14:11
Speaker 1: You do, and I have to say, I have to
14:13
Speaker 1: praise you a little bit too. Kathy Bossman is our
14:16
Speaker 1: Omaha fire chief right now. She is the first woman
14:19
Speaker 1: that has ever led that department. I was able to
14:23
Speaker 1: appoint you to that position, and you've just done an
14:26
Speaker 1: outstanding job. And I want to thank you for the
14:28
Speaker 1: job you've done. And I want to thank the entire
14:30
Speaker 1: Omaha Fire Department. You know, the Fire Union Local three
14:33
Speaker 1: eight five and I seem to butt heads all the time,
14:36
Speaker 1: but I love the Omaha Fire Department. The men and
14:38
Speaker 1: women of the fire Department do a fantastic job and
14:41
Speaker 1: I want to give kudos to every one of them.
14:44
Speaker 3: Thank you, Maren. If I can add one thing real fast,
14:47
Speaker 3: we are getting ready to start an application cycle. If
14:50
Speaker 3: you have listeners out there that are interested in becoming
14:52
Speaker 3: an Omaha firefighter March thirtieth, as men and we are
14:55
Speaker 3: going to start accepting applications so they can follow us
14:58
Speaker 3: on social media on our web page to get more information.
15:02
Speaker 1: And I'm glad you brought that up because it's a
15:04
Speaker 1: great job. There's great benefits, great healthcare benefits. They're still
15:08
Speaker 1: on a pension, and so if you are interested, men
15:12
Speaker 1: and women, what a great career it is. To be
15:15
Speaker 1: an Omaha firefighter. So thanks for being on this morning.
15:17
Speaker 1: I really appreciate it. And if you talk to anybody
15:19
Speaker 1: out in western Nebraska or mid of Nebraska that is
15:24
Speaker 1: dealing with the fires right now, tell them thank you.
15:26
Speaker 2: For all of us.
15:28
Speaker 3: I absolutely will thank you, thank you for having me on.
15:30
Speaker 2: Thanks Chief. All right.
15:34
Speaker 1: That was fire Chief Kathy Bossman, and she has done
15:38
Speaker 1: just such a great job. And like I said, it
15:40
Speaker 1: was a real thrill appointing the first woman, and she
15:43
Speaker 1: has done an excellent job. Her husband is an Omaha
15:46
Speaker 1: police officer, Mike, and so they are serving the community
15:49
Speaker 1: and great public servants. And again thanks to the Omaha
15:53
Speaker 1: Fire Department for being out there. So Peyton's here with me.
15:57
Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning, how are you today.
15:59
Speaker 2: I'm doing really good.
16:00
Speaker 1: Scott just escaped now. I listened to him earlier on
16:04
Speaker 1: his show.
16:04
Speaker 2: I had to.
16:05
Speaker 1: I was driving in here, so I was forced to
16:07
Speaker 1: listen to it, and he was saying he was trying
16:09
Speaker 1: to wean me of him. He was weaning me of him,
16:13
Speaker 1: and I wanted to tell him, after four days of
16:16
Speaker 1: doing this show, he wants to wean me already. But
16:19
Speaker 1: I guess I'm ready for it. I was, you know
16:21
Speaker 1: what I was. If he was still here, I was
16:23
Speaker 1: going to ask him on the air, after do you
16:25
Speaker 1: think that you could be mayor of Omaha after four
16:28
Speaker 1: days without any help at all? I was going to
16:30
Speaker 1: see what he's going to say to that. I probably
16:32
Speaker 1: shouldn't ask him because he'd probably say, yeah, I could
16:34
Speaker 1: do it, but I know he couldn't. So but we're
16:37
Speaker 1: gonna do okay in here today.
16:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm getting worked in here a little bit. You know.
16:40
Speaker 2: I do the afternoon show with Chris, we know, really great,
16:44
Speaker 2: and now we get to do this in the mornings.
16:45
Speaker 2: I know, what a tremendous experience.
16:47
Speaker 1: And it's fun because this show is set up to
16:49
Speaker 1: hear your comments and what your concerns are the audience.
16:54
Speaker 2: You know.
16:54
Speaker 1: The one criticism I used to always get our city
16:58
Speaker 1: attorney when I became mayor was Paul Kratz. He might
17:00
Speaker 1: be listening right now, but he always used to tell
17:03
Speaker 1: me I talk too much. And so I saw him
17:05
Speaker 1: the other day and he goes, I love your show,
17:07
Speaker 1: but you talk too much. But you know, it's a
17:09
Speaker 1: talk show, Paul, it's a talk show. It's a talk show,
17:11
Speaker 1: and you're the host. But We do want to hear
17:14
Speaker 1: what your concerns are and what what what your feedback.
17:18
Speaker 1: We want to hear your comments, your concerns, your complaints.
17:21
Speaker 1: Really anything goes and it goes with if you have
17:25
Speaker 1: issues with the city, with the state, with national, the world,
17:28
Speaker 1: or the streetcar. I'm willing to talk about the streetcar
17:31
Speaker 1: whenever you want to. And of course you're going to
17:34
Speaker 1: hear plenty of opinions from me too. So it's really
17:37
Speaker 1: fun to do this show. But it's a chance for
17:39
Speaker 1: people and our listeners to speak up and sound off.
17:42
Speaker 2: We want you to send.
17:42
Speaker 1: Your emails to kfab or comment at kfab dot com,
17:47
Speaker 1: or you can call it four O two five five
17:49
Speaker 1: five eleven.
17:50
Speaker 2: Ten four O two five five eight eleven ten by
17:53
Speaker 2: five eight commentkfab dot com. We also have the radio
17:56
Speaker 2: talkback mic on the iHeartRadio app thirty seconds. You can
18:01
Speaker 2: send your question and we'll play it on the air.
18:03
Speaker 2: And this has been great fun. I think it's a
18:05
Speaker 2: lot of fun. And I like the questions too, because
18:08
Speaker 2: I always said, after twelve years of being mayor, I
18:10
Speaker 2: should be able to answer these questions. Hopefully I can.
18:14
Speaker 1: One gentleman called in yesterday and ask was asking about
18:17
Speaker 1: the roads, and he asked, why, after we spend all
18:19
Speaker 1: this money fixing the roads, do he turn around and
18:22
Speaker 1: tear it up. And he brought up one hundred and
18:24
Speaker 1: sixty eighth Street between Center and Q that was about
18:27
Speaker 1: a forty eight million dollar project that was just completed.
18:30
Speaker 1: And you know, I usually drive that stretch at least
18:33
Speaker 1: once or twice a week, so I was curious. I
18:35
Speaker 1: had to look into it, and I did find out.
18:38
Speaker 1: I hope he's listening again today. But there is one
18:41
Speaker 1: intersection with a big spool out there, and actually what
18:44
Speaker 1: they are doing is some utility work in the neighborhood.
18:47
Speaker 1: They are not tearing up the street.
18:49
Speaker 2: Again.
18:50
Speaker 1: I was a little worried when he said that because
18:52
Speaker 1: that was a big project. But yeah, that's utility work
18:55
Speaker 1: in the neighborhood. Hopefully the street is holding up just fine.
18:59
Speaker 1: And most of our streets do they do. The people
19:02
Speaker 1: that we hire that win the bids to do these
19:04
Speaker 1: streets do a great job. So so do we have
19:08
Speaker 1: any calls or emails already that we want to take
19:11
Speaker 1: This morning? We had a tremendous interview here for the
19:13
Speaker 1: first half an hour. We're gonna go to a quick break.
19:16
Speaker 1: We're gonna take some of your calls. We're gonna check
19:18
Speaker 1: the email at comment at kfab dot com. Radio talk
19:21
Speaker 1: back Mike, and we'll come back a little bit more
19:23
Speaker 1: about the roads and even I got a fun question
19:26
Speaker 1: to ask you that we haven't talked about yet and
19:28
Speaker 1: it'll be interesting, So be sure to reach out to us.
19:32
Speaker 2: We'll get in contact. And we got the Fox News
19:34
Speaker 2: coming up next. Were listening to the KFAB Comment Line
19:37
Speaker 2: with your host Gene Stothart. I'm your producer Peyton Hilock.
19:42
Speaker 2: Welcome to the show. We got a couple callers on
19:44
Speaker 2: the line, we got some good emails coming in, so
19:47
Speaker 2: let's get to Winston. We have Winston on the phone here. Winston,
19:52
Speaker 2: thank You're on news radio eleven to ten KFAB with
19:54
Speaker 2: Jean Stouth.
19:56
Speaker 4: Good morning, Jean, really enjoy the show.
19:58
Speaker 2: Good morning, Thanks for coming in.
20:01
Speaker 4: So could you kind of explain to everybody in the
20:04
Speaker 4: Omaha area about patching the potholes and are they using
20:09
Speaker 4: newer technology, will the stuff last longer? Kind of just
20:13
Speaker 4: give us your overview of that.
20:16
Speaker 1: You know, I said, thanks for asking that. I said
20:18
Speaker 1: the other day that a snowstorm during especially during rush
20:23
Speaker 1: hour is every mayor's nightmare. But I will tell you
20:26
Speaker 1: every mayor's nightmare has potholes too, because they're so weather related.
20:32
Speaker 1: And the issue we had in Omaha is we had
20:35
Speaker 1: so many in my is how I look at it,
20:40
Speaker 1: because our streets were so overfun are underfoot, excuse me,
20:44
Speaker 1: for so so many years, and so the streets were
20:46
Speaker 1: just deteriorating, which makes potholes happen. How potholes happen is,
20:51
Speaker 1: you know, the water gets under the pavement when the
20:53
Speaker 1: pavement is cracked, and then in Omaha we have this
20:57
Speaker 1: freeze faw cycle that happens. The water under the surface,
21:01
Speaker 1: it freezes and then it thaws and freezes and thaws,
21:04
Speaker 1: and then a pothole is created. You know, in the
21:07
Speaker 1: new Luminarium, the new Museum Science Museum that's down on
21:11
Speaker 1: the waterfront, there's a whole display about the city of Omaha.
21:16
Speaker 1: They have a picture of our Assistant Public Works to
21:19
Speaker 1: Director Austin Rouser explaining the science between about a pothole.
21:24
Speaker 1: But they are very, very very weather related. Now, what
21:27
Speaker 1: we do in the City of Omaha is we have
21:30
Speaker 1: in the past there is only one asphalt plant and
21:34
Speaker 1: it usually doesn't fire up until about April, where they
21:38
Speaker 1: could use hot asphalt. Hot asphalt will hold better to
21:42
Speaker 1: patch up a pothole, but usually it didn't open up
21:45
Speaker 1: until April, and so if a big event happened to
21:48
Speaker 1: say in November, December or January February, we were out there.
21:53
Speaker 1: Our crews were out there using what we call a
21:55
Speaker 1: cold patch, and they just didn't last. But the only
21:58
Speaker 1: reason we did it is we are trying to prevent
22:01
Speaker 1: people from ruining their cars by hitting a pothole. So
22:04
Speaker 1: that was very temporary. An asphalt patch, when we could
22:08
Speaker 1: use the hot asphalt, will last a lot longer, but
22:11
Speaker 1: it's not permanent either. The solution is to resurface the
22:16
Speaker 1: roads and make sure the roads are in better shape.
22:19
Speaker 1: There really isn't any magic material, you know, they've talked
22:23
Speaker 1: about different types of material, different composites and material. There's
22:28
Speaker 1: a lot, there's some work being done in Europe about
22:32
Speaker 1: different types of material. But then you increase the expense
22:36
Speaker 1: and the cost of doing the potholes immensely, And like
22:39
Speaker 1: I said, my goal was always to get back and
22:43
Speaker 1: really resurface these roads, and so you don't have that
22:46
Speaker 1: condition happening over and over. I drive EL Street almost
22:50
Speaker 1: ten times a day from about one hundred and twentieth
22:53
Speaker 1: all the way out west. L Street is a mess
22:56
Speaker 1: right now. It's cracked, it has potholes. But the thing
23:00
Speaker 1: that I want people to understand is L Street is
23:03
Speaker 1: a state road. Now, Omaha is responsible for the maintenance.
23:08
Speaker 1: So we plow it and we will do the potholes.
23:11
Speaker 1: But to permanently resurface EL Street, I wouldn't want the
23:14
Speaker 1: City of Omaha taxpayers paying for it, because that's the
23:17
Speaker 1: state's responsibility. And so when they say to me, when
23:20
Speaker 1: they said to me when I was mayor, why don't
23:21
Speaker 1: you do L Street, it's because it's a state road.
23:24
Speaker 1: And there are a lot of state roads within the
23:26
Speaker 1: City of Omaha that the states are responsible for. You know,
23:29
Speaker 1: the state is responsible for the interstates. The state is
23:32
Speaker 1: responsible for the bridges. For example, there's six bridges over
23:35
Speaker 1: six's eighty. Those are the state bridges. So you've got
23:38
Speaker 1: to keep that in mind when you talk about who's
23:40
Speaker 1: responsible for what. But there is no magic solution or
23:45
Speaker 1: material that you could use to fill a pothole that
23:48
Speaker 1: would make it permanent. The permanent solution is to resurface
23:53
Speaker 1: and fix your roads and so that they're in a
23:55
Speaker 1: lot better shape. And that's exactly what we did when
23:58
Speaker 1: we pass the bond issue, a two hundred million bond
24:01
Speaker 1: issue in May of twenty twenty, and then in November
24:04
Speaker 1: of twenty four it was reauthorized for basically another two
24:09
Speaker 1: hundred million. And that can keep on going on, but
24:12
Speaker 1: it has to go back to the voters to approve,
24:14
Speaker 1: and the voters overwhelmingly approve street bonds always. I don't
24:18
Speaker 1: know if we've ever had street bonds put on the
24:21
Speaker 1: ballot that the voters voted down because they value the
24:25
Speaker 1: streets and they know the importance of fixing our streets.
24:28
Speaker 1: But I wish there was something more permanent now. The
24:30
Speaker 1: one thing I wouldn't have wanted the city to do.
24:33
Speaker 1: But I think that there is some agreements right now
24:36
Speaker 1: with Hawkins Construction is to have our own asphalt plant
24:40
Speaker 1: that we could fire it up whenever we want. But
24:43
Speaker 1: I think we're working in cooperation with Hawkins, and Hawkins
24:45
Speaker 1: might be building a hot asphalt plant that they could
24:48
Speaker 1: open up earlier if the city needs it. So that's
24:51
Speaker 1: kind of our routine that we do. And boy, I
24:54
Speaker 1: tell you, we have had some winners that have been
24:57
Speaker 1: so bad and we have just had potholes like crazy.
25:00
Speaker 1: One more thing I want to say is cities that
25:03
Speaker 1: have a lot of snow, like Minneapolis, for example, they
25:07
Speaker 1: strangely don't have as many potholes as we do. But
25:10
Speaker 1: the reason is is when Minneapolis has a snow, a
25:14
Speaker 1: lot of times it just stays cold and the snow
25:16
Speaker 1: stays on the ground for months at a time, and
25:19
Speaker 1: they don't have that freeze thaw, freeze thaw cycle like
25:22
Speaker 1: we do in Omaha, so they don't get that water
25:25
Speaker 1: under the pavement and then it freezes again. So it's interesting,
25:29
Speaker 1: But every city that I am familiar with has potholes.
25:33
Speaker 2: So when I went to school in Kansas City, you know,
25:36
Speaker 2: I would drive down I twenty nine and one time
25:39
Speaker 2: one year it said for this year the state of Missouri,
25:43
Speaker 2: they're going to focus on bridges, and they were focusing
25:46
Speaker 2: on bridges the whole I twenty nine. Every bridge that
25:49
Speaker 2: crossed over there was some sort of construction crew or
25:52
Speaker 2: orange cones. Now does a city of Omaha plan out
25:56
Speaker 2: sections of the community or certain roads in advance that
25:59
Speaker 2: they know they're going to tackle, yes, Or is it
26:01
Speaker 2: more of a Okay, this just happened. We got to
26:04
Speaker 2: get to it now.
26:04
Speaker 1: Yes, And every year, you know, every year the City
26:06
Speaker 1: of Omaha gets approved a Capital Improvement Plan. We call
26:10
Speaker 1: it the CIP. It's a six year plan, so it
26:13
Speaker 1: can change. The only year that is actually fully funded
26:16
Speaker 1: is a year that we are in. But a lot
26:19
Speaker 1: of the roadwork is in the Capital Improvement Plan. And
26:22
Speaker 1: every year you depend on the Public Works Department, who
26:26
Speaker 1: do a great job. I can't say enough about omahas
26:30
Speaker 1: the men and women that work in the public Works Department.
26:33
Speaker 1: But every year they prioritize roads all over Omaha that
26:37
Speaker 1: need the most attention, and they prioritize it. They put
26:40
Speaker 1: them in packages, they put them out to bid, and
26:43
Speaker 1: they bid the whole package. If if the package comes
26:47
Speaker 1: back in a lot lower, then you have budgeted, then
26:50
Speaker 1: we add more. So they have basically a list of
26:54
Speaker 1: the roads that are in the greatest need, and we
26:56
Speaker 1: wanted to make sure and it is this way every
26:58
Speaker 1: year that in every city council district and there's seven
27:01
Speaker 1: city council districts that there are roads that are being addressed.
27:05
Speaker 1: We don't just focus on West Omaha because I live
27:08
Speaker 1: out there. That's what people would say. A lot of times.
27:11
Speaker 1: We don't ignore northeast Omaha. Every city council district gets attention,
27:17
Speaker 1: but I will say this most a lot of the attention,
27:21
Speaker 1: I would say the majority is in eastern Omaha because
27:25
Speaker 1: the roads are older. I mean, you just got to
27:27
Speaker 1: accept that asphalt and concrete are what we use, and
27:31
Speaker 1: asphalt street will last much much longer, but it's more
27:35
Speaker 1: than twice expensive as asphalt. Asphalt will last a long
27:38
Speaker 1: time depending on the weather and the traffic. So you
27:41
Speaker 1: put an asphalt street in a neighborhood, it may last forever.
27:44
Speaker 1: If you put it on an area with high traffic,
27:46
Speaker 1: it may last ten years and then need to be
27:49
Speaker 1: milled down and resurfaced.
27:50
Speaker 2: Again, speaking of traffic, This email comes from from Craig
27:56
Speaker 2: excuse me comment at kfab dot com. It's a series
28:01
Speaker 2: of questions. Who is responsible for the traffic light timing
28:04
Speaker 2: and communication? Is this separate for Sarpi and Douglas Counties?
28:07
Speaker 2: Do people who time the lights ever drive around and
28:10
Speaker 2: take notes as to what timing and communication needs to
28:12
Speaker 2: be updated?
28:13
Speaker 1: That is our in the City of Omaha and the
28:15
Speaker 1: City of Omaha city limits. That is our Public Works department,
28:18
Speaker 1: and we have a whole department that does that. And
28:21
Speaker 1: what we are working on, and we've been working on
28:23
Speaker 1: it for quite a few years now, is a coordinated
28:26
Speaker 1: system for our traffic signals that talk to each other
28:31
Speaker 1: and then they can monitor that. They have an area
28:35
Speaker 1: with the public within the Public Works department that can
28:37
Speaker 1: monitor it. So it's not just if a traffic light
28:40
Speaker 1: goes out, nobody knows about it until somebody calls in.
28:43
Speaker 1: And when I say a coordinated effort, let me give
28:46
Speaker 1: you an example of Dodge Street. For example, Dodge Street
28:50
Speaker 1: from west to east every morning, lots of traffic, and
28:53
Speaker 1: what used to happen is if one person would hit
28:57
Speaker 1: that pedestrian crosswalk at nineth and Dodge, it would mess
29:01
Speaker 1: up the whole thing for the rest of the morning.
29:04
Speaker 1: So what this coordinated system would be is if somebody
29:08
Speaker 1: hit that pedestrian cross crosswalk on ninetieth and Dodge, then
29:11
Speaker 1: the others going east would all respond to that and
29:15
Speaker 1: still retime themselves so that you could still have a
29:18
Speaker 1: smooth ride into East Omaha or downtown without stopping and
29:23
Speaker 1: going and stopping and going. That's that's a long range plan,
29:26
Speaker 1: but It's been underway for quite a few years now,
29:29
Speaker 1: so yeah, it's but it is not coordinated with the
29:31
Speaker 1: other counties around. We're just talking about public Works manages
29:35
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha. But I know it can be
29:37
Speaker 1: it could be quite annoying. Now, another thing I have
29:40
Speaker 1: to say is when the weather is bad and it's snowing,
29:43
Speaker 1: as we replace the signals, we're replacing them with LED
29:48
Speaker 1: and they're cool. So when we have a bad snowstorm,
29:51
Speaker 1: we get a lot of calls because snow blocks the
29:54
Speaker 1: traffic signals and you can't see them and they will
29:58
Speaker 1: literally have to go out there with big like brooms
30:01
Speaker 1: and dust them off. That's the problem with using LEDs.
30:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, we saw a little bit of that this weekend
30:07
Speaker 2: with that harsh wind and really strong snow. Yellow.
30:10
Speaker 1: And one other thing that we did do is one
30:14
Speaker 1: of these days, I got to talk to Lucy about this,
30:16
Speaker 1: because Lucy does the traffic and I know she's made
30:19
Speaker 1: a lot of comments about it, and I'd like to
30:21
Speaker 1: have Lucy on some time to talk about it. But
30:23
Speaker 1: do you recall several years ago that when we put
30:26
Speaker 1: the flashing yellow in. Now, there's been a lot of
30:30
Speaker 1: studies throughout the country that a flashing yellow light actually
30:35
Speaker 1: prevents and not, well, we'll prevent a lot more traffic accidents.
30:40
Speaker 2: And they worked.
30:40
Speaker 1: Now, the reason that Lucy said she didn't like a
30:43
Speaker 1: flashing yellow is when there is a flashing yellow, you
30:47
Speaker 1: have coming in the opposite direction of green light. But
30:50
Speaker 1: a flashing yellow light it replaces a green ball. So
30:56
Speaker 1: otherwise you would have a green ball to say, should
30:59
Speaker 1: I turn left or not? A flashing yellow just tells
31:02
Speaker 1: you beware there are people coming from the other direction
31:06
Speaker 1: that have a green light. It just makes you stop
31:08
Speaker 1: and think, I can't just go. So a flashing yellow
31:12
Speaker 1: replaces a green ball. And that's what's important to remember.
31:15
Speaker 1: And so far now that people are getting used to them,
31:17
Speaker 1: they seem to like them.
31:19
Speaker 2: That's really interesting because those are maybe kind of interchangeable
31:22
Speaker 2: depending on the intersection and the circumstance. But here's the thing.
31:26
Speaker 2: I heard that if you drive the speed limit exactly,
31:30
Speaker 2: you have a higher likelihood of hitting your lights green. Now,
31:35
Speaker 2: I don't know how true this is, because I hit
31:37
Speaker 2: the same red lights every single night, ya too. I
31:39
Speaker 2: seem like I hit them all. If I go fast,
31:42
Speaker 2: I go slow, it doesn't matter. I'm always hitting the light.
31:44
Speaker 1: I live around one hundred and twentieth in Q and
31:46
Speaker 1: I do a workout twice a week at about one
31:48
Speaker 1: hundred and eightieth and Pacific, And some days I can
31:52
Speaker 1: get there in ten minutes and some days it takes
31:54
Speaker 1: me thirty five minutes, and I'm like, what's going on,
31:57
Speaker 1: And I'm gonna call them hotline, I'll call them, but
32:01
Speaker 1: you know, sometimes you just hit them all wrong and
32:04
Speaker 1: it drives me crazy. Another thing that I am a
32:07
Speaker 1: big proponent of is roundabouts. And people will say I
32:12
Speaker 1: hate roundabouts. They're worried that fire trucks and police trucks
32:15
Speaker 1: can't get through them, especially fire trucks. Well, number one,
32:18
Speaker 1: fire trucks can if they need to get around a roundabout,
32:21
Speaker 1: they'll get around that roundabout whether they have to go
32:24
Speaker 1: over the top of it. So that's no worry at all.
32:27
Speaker 1: But the two main reasons that people are in accidents
32:31
Speaker 1: is speeding in red light running. Those are the two
32:34
Speaker 1: main things, and a roundabout prevents both of them because
32:38
Speaker 1: you have to slow down to go around, and you
32:40
Speaker 1: don't need a light, you don't need a signal there,
32:43
Speaker 1: And so that's why I'm a big proponent of roundabouts.
32:45
Speaker 1: I know the people on Farnham that wanted to change
32:49
Speaker 1: that area of Farnham from Saddle Creek to Dodge to
32:52
Speaker 1: be two way all.
32:53
Speaker 2: The time, all day long.
32:56
Speaker 1: And we did a lot of studying and it was
32:57
Speaker 1: recommended to put a couple roundabouts there and the neighbors
33:00
Speaker 1: did not want that. But the issue is it definitely
33:04
Speaker 1: will slow the traffic down, no problem at all with
33:08
Speaker 1: our emergency response vehicles, and they don't have to be signaled,
33:12
Speaker 1: and so I'm a big proponent. We have them all
33:14
Speaker 1: over Omaha and they do work. If you haven't been
33:16
Speaker 1: listening in the last week or so, I am the
33:19
Speaker 1: former mayor of Omaha, the former city council member, former
33:23
Speaker 1: Millard school Board member, former critical care nurse. But i
33:26
Speaker 1: am the current host of the comment line on from
33:29
Speaker 1: ten to eleven every day on KFAB and I'm here
33:32
Speaker 1: with Peyton again today. Peyton, you do Chris Baker in
33:37
Speaker 1: the afternoon, don't you. We ended the show talking about
33:40
Speaker 1: this yesterday. Both of you were smack talking me again
33:44
Speaker 1: the other day.
33:45
Speaker 2: Mm hmmm. I might have joined in on it a
33:47
Speaker 2: little bit.
33:47
Speaker 1: Yes, I know, I'm looking at you right now now.
33:50
Speaker 1: I will tell the viewers Peyton has don't let me
33:53
Speaker 1: embarrass you. He has really good hair, really good hair.
33:57
Speaker 1: I bet Chris Baker is pretty jellous of you because
34:01
Speaker 1: of your hair.
34:02
Speaker 2: I just bet he is.
34:03
Speaker 1: Okay, So here's the deal. Okay, I'm going to write
34:07
Speaker 1: him another email, okay, and your job is to make
34:10
Speaker 1: sure you read it on it.
34:10
Speaker 2: I can handle that. Okay.
34:12
Speaker 1: Let me get my laptop out here. Okay, here we go,
34:16
Speaker 1: de Chris, I bet you are very jealous of Peyton's
34:22
Speaker 1: hair because you don't have any hair. Your friend Jean Stothard, Well,
34:28
Speaker 1: you make sure you read that on the air.
34:30
Speaker 2: Absolutely. Okay, get on the air, and better yet, I
34:33
Speaker 2: might even just put in your email. We're gonna we're
34:35
Speaker 2: gonna get back at him today. Yes, that guy, I'm
34:38
Speaker 2: telling you. But anyway, you just make sure and you
34:42
Speaker 2: tell him to quit talking smack about me on his
34:44
Speaker 2: show too. He said the other day that I drove
34:47
Speaker 2: a pickup truck. He knows better than that. And I
34:50
Speaker 2: take up two spots. Come on, Chris, so game on,
34:54
Speaker 2: We're ready, Game on, Game on. So what do we have?
34:58
Speaker 2: I have an interesting question for you? Okay, Yes, this
35:00
Speaker 2: is kind of a loose one. What lessons did Mayor
35:06
Speaker 2: Jean Stouthard learn from her response to COVID? Oh, and
35:11
Speaker 2: what would she do differently if she had to do
35:14
Speaker 2: it all over again? Thanks Bob, great question.
35:18
Speaker 1: And you know, that was really one of the hardest
35:20
Speaker 1: things I had to deal with with being mayor because
35:24
Speaker 1: people would always ask me what keeps you awake at night,
35:26
Speaker 1: and I would say nothing. I usually come home and
35:28
Speaker 1: I'm so tired, I fall asleep at dinner. But COVID
35:32
Speaker 1: kept me awake because I was there was so many
35:34
Speaker 1: unknowns we didn't know, We did not know what was happening.
35:38
Speaker 1: I will tell you I think my background as a
35:40
Speaker 1: nurse really helped Audi. Poor Doctor Addipoor was the Douglas
35:46
Speaker 1: County Director at the time and health director, and her
35:51
Speaker 1: and I together did over thirty over thirty it's probably
35:55
Speaker 1: close to forty press conferences trying to keep the public
35:59
Speaker 1: informed about what we were doing with COVID, And I
36:02
Speaker 1: think what, you know, what I learned is how important
36:05
Speaker 1: communication is. You know. I assembled a team of anybody
36:10
Speaker 1: I could think of out in the community too, from
36:13
Speaker 1: philanthropy to just about nonprofits, people that dealt with housing,
36:20
Speaker 1: with healthcare to help guide me and let me know
36:25
Speaker 1: what the biggest issues were out in the community. You know,
36:28
Speaker 1: I was so worried that people were going to lose
36:30
Speaker 1: their job. Of they lose their job, were they going
36:32
Speaker 1: to lose their apartment, their house, were they going to
36:35
Speaker 1: get sick? What was going to happen? And it was very,
36:38
Speaker 1: very difficult to deal with. But I will say we
36:41
Speaker 1: came out of COVID better than most major cities in
36:44
Speaker 1: the country did. And how we did that was just
36:48
Speaker 1: really really paying attention to what was, you know, what
36:51
Speaker 1: was going on. When COVID first hit, we estimated that
36:55
Speaker 1: we could have up to oh my goodness, it was
36:58
Speaker 1: like an eighty million shortfall in the budget because of
37:02
Speaker 1: the loss of sales tax. I mean, it was huge
37:05
Speaker 1: and we thought, I thought, how am I going to
37:08
Speaker 1: continue to provide the services that we need with the
37:11
Speaker 1: City of Omaha because of all this loss of revenue.
37:14
Speaker 1: And that was a big deal for the mayor too.
37:16
Speaker 1: Not just the health of everybody, but because of the
37:19
Speaker 1: lack of sales tax, we weren't getting the restaurant tax,
37:22
Speaker 1: which will be a subject we'll talk about. We weren't
37:25
Speaker 1: getting hotel, motel taxes, all of those things, and so
37:28
Speaker 1: it took a lot to get through it. But I
37:31
Speaker 1: will say just working in coordination and collaboration with people
37:35
Speaker 1: in the community, and also doctor AdipoR did a great
37:39
Speaker 1: job and we got through it better than most And
37:42
Speaker 1: we did not have the financial hit that we thought
37:45
Speaker 1: we were going to have, so managing that budget was
37:48
Speaker 1: a lot too.
37:50
Speaker 2: That makes a lot of sense. And you know, everybody
37:52
Speaker 2: has their story of when everything happens. That everyone's going
37:57
Speaker 2: to remember that and they remember what things and their
38:00
Speaker 2: life were affected because of it.
38:01
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know, there was so controlling. The rumors
38:06
Speaker 1: were so bad too. I mean, it was it was.
38:09
Speaker 1: It was something else. I remembered. One person was all
38:12
Speaker 1: over social media saying that I was violating my own
38:16
Speaker 1: rules because she worked in a hair salon and I
38:19
Speaker 1: was going in there and having her color my hair.
38:24
Speaker 2: How dare you color your hair well, pandemic? How dare you?
38:27
Speaker 1: But listen, I didn't even know the person, and I
38:30
Speaker 1: had never been to that salon, and they were just
38:33
Speaker 1: making things up. That was one thing I learned that
38:36
Speaker 1: you don't need I mean, when something like a worldwide
38:40
Speaker 1: pandemic happens, you certainly don't need people confusing the issue
38:43
Speaker 1: saying things that aren't true. And no, I did not
38:46
Speaker 1: cover my gray hair during the pandemic. I just dealt
38:51
Speaker 1: with it like everybody else did. But it was very,
38:54
Speaker 1: very difficult. But I was very proud of how everybody
38:57
Speaker 1: came together and worked together and we survived it, and
39:00
Speaker 1: we survived at better than most cities.
39:02
Speaker 2: We got about two minutes here. A lot of people
39:04
Speaker 2: are not happy with the with the stop lights and
39:07
Speaker 2: the red and green. What a great response, But on
39:11
Speaker 2: my drive home, I have to hit red still anyway.
39:14
Speaker 1: I do the same. I know exactly, I know, I
39:17
Speaker 1: know exactly what you are all saying because it happens
39:20
Speaker 1: to me too. But you know, we have over a
39:24
Speaker 1: thousand signals in the city of Omaha, and it's going
39:27
Speaker 1: to take a while, and it's a big expense to
39:29
Speaker 1: get them coordinated, but it is something that is underway
39:33
Speaker 1: and it will improve travel and they recognize, like I
39:37
Speaker 1: said when I talked about the pedestrian crosswalk, when they talk,
39:40
Speaker 1: When they can talk to each other the signals and
39:43
Speaker 1: communicate with each other, that's when our travel is going
39:46
Speaker 1: to be much easier and we are moving forward with it,
39:49
Speaker 1: but I know it's frustrating. I deal with the same
39:51
Speaker 1: thing myself.
39:52
Speaker 2: Okay, last one here, you got about a minute from Miles.
39:55
Speaker 2: Any news on what's going on with Heartwood Preserve and
39:58
Speaker 2: Avenue one. Oh excited for these new developments as well
40:01
Speaker 2: as the crossroads.
40:01
Speaker 1: They are both great. Heartwood is at one hundred and
40:04
Speaker 1: forty fourth and Dodge Applied Underwriters is doing that. My
40:08
Speaker 1: news on that is it's moving forward. Lanaha Developments is
40:11
Speaker 1: working on it. There's a lot of new stores and
40:14
Speaker 1: restaurants that are being planned in there that will be opening.
40:17
Speaker 1: The one thing I do want to tell you about
40:19
Speaker 1: Heartwood is that enormous building on the south side of
40:22
Speaker 1: Pacific right across from Millard North the south side. People
40:26
Speaker 1: are saying what is that and when will it open?
40:28
Speaker 1: That is their headquarter building of Applied Underwriters and it
40:32
Speaker 1: is due to open this fall. And then Avenue one
40:36
Speaker 1: is one hundred and ninety second in Dodge on the
40:38
Speaker 1: south side of Dodge. You know, we just redid that
40:41
Speaker 1: intersection there. It's going to be a double diamond, which
40:43
Speaker 1: is really going to help that area. But Avenue one,
40:46
Speaker 1: that's a hope for development and it is moving along too,
40:49
Speaker 1: and boy do they have great plans for Avenue one.
40:51
Speaker 1: I'm so excited about all this development in Omaha.
40:54
Speaker 2: It's all the way out.
40:56
Speaker 1: To the Elkhorn River. Things are happening in Omaha. It's
40:58
Speaker 1: really booming now as far as development