Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / "Substandard" Roads in Elkhorn

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"Substandard" Roads in Elkhorn · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: We've got a lot to talk about. If you want
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Speaker 1: to give us a call today, you can call us
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Speaker 1: at four oh two five five eight eleven ten, or
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Speaker 1: you can email us at comment at kfab dot com.
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Speaker 1: I'm here with peytonick In today. Good morning, Good morning,
0:12
Speaker 1: Happy Friday. Happy Friday to you too. Do you notice
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Speaker 1: what I have on today? I have bright Green on
0:18
Speaker 1: to celebrate the Masters. I know Scott talked about it
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Speaker 1: endlessly on his show this morning. What a big Golf Now,
0:26
Speaker 1: let me tell you you golf I do. Yes, I
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Speaker 1: live on a golf course. I've lived there for thirty
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Speaker 1: three years. I'm a terrible golfer.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, if I golfed on that course, I let's just
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Speaker 2: hope that you have some insurance for that window in
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Speaker 2: the back.
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Speaker 1: You know, after thirty three years and I live right,
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Speaker 1: everybody knows where I live. It's no it's no secret.
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Speaker 1: I live on off Oakills Country Club, right off the
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Speaker 1: six tea box. And in thirty three years of living there,
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Speaker 1: right on the golf course, I've had one broken window.
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Speaker 1: Now I shouldn't say that knock on wood, because it's
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Speaker 1: probably coming this year, but I have had golf balls
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Speaker 1: in my front yard. So I think if people really
1:05
Speaker 1: hit off that tea box and hit a ball in
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Speaker 1: my front yard, I can do at least that good.
1:09
Speaker 1: I really, come on, I'm going to start taking lessons again. Now.
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Speaker 1: My husband, Kevin, he is a golfer, and he feels
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Speaker 1: like he's dyed in going to heaven that he lives
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Speaker 1: on a golf course now, so he loves being there.
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Speaker 1: And that's a nice golf course too. You know, the
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Speaker 1: City of Omaha has nice public golf courses. We have eight,
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Speaker 1: we have four eighteen, and we have four nines, and
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Speaker 1: they are well cupped and they around. A golf in
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Speaker 1: one of the city courses is really inexpensive and affordable too.
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Speaker 1: And there's not quite the dress code at the city
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Speaker 1: courses that you might see at a country club. You know,
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Speaker 1: sometimes they're pretty strict at a country club. But City
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Speaker 1: of Omaha, I mean, they don't want you to dress
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Speaker 1: like a slob. But at the same time, yes, you know,
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Speaker 1: you can dress a little more casually there. But I
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Speaker 1: can't say enough about the golf courses that the city has. Plus,
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Speaker 1: and it was when Mayor Subtle was just going out
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Speaker 1: of office, is when we change golf into an enterprise
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Speaker 1: and so that's really helped our golf courses because that
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Speaker 1: what that means is all the money that is generated
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Speaker 1: from the golf courses goes back into the golf courses,
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Speaker 1: that doesn't go back into the general fund. So that's
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Speaker 1: a really good thing. So anyway, enough about golf. The
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Speaker 1: Masters will go on, Masters will go on.
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Speaker 2: That's a nice green you have on.
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Speaker 1: And it works for the Masters, it works for Christmas,
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Speaker 1: it works for Saint Patrick's Day. So I have green.
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Speaker 1: You know, I want to talk a little bit about
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Speaker 1: and review a little bit and hopefully the gentleman that
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Speaker 1: called from Elcorn along Skyline is still listening. But I
2:39
Speaker 1: really want to get others opinions of this too, because
2:43
Speaker 1: this reflects on something that I did when I was mayor.
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Speaker 1: But he called about the streets out on Skyline and
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Speaker 1: Elcorn and obviously he was pretty angry about it, and
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Speaker 1: his position is those streets are deteriorating. They don't have sidewalks,
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Speaker 1: storm drains, curve gutters, and what the city has called
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Speaker 1: those is that they are substandard streets is what they
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Speaker 1: have kind of labeled them. And what that means is
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Speaker 1: they were built many, many years ago by a developer,
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Speaker 1: but they were not built to today's standards. And today's
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Speaker 1: standards are what I just said, Out of about the
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Speaker 1: five thousand lane miles of road in Omaha, there's about
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Speaker 1: three hundred lane miles that are considered substandard. Most of
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Speaker 1: them are in the West Side area and there are
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Speaker 1: some out in the Elkhorn area also. So when I
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Speaker 1: did become mayor, that was back in twenty thirteen, the
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Speaker 1: policy for the city was if you lived on one
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Speaker 1: of those substandard streets and you wanted it improved to
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Speaker 1: today's standards. There I go again with this this allergy
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Speaker 1: thing I have every morning. Excuse me, But anyway, if
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Speaker 1: you wanted them improved, you had to pay one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent of it. That the city was not going to
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Speaker 1: come in and rehabilitate these streets and make them to
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Speaker 1: today's standards because they were not built to the current standards,
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Speaker 1: but they wouldn't pay for any of it. And I
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Speaker 1: thought this is not fair. I thought, you know, these
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Speaker 1: are city streets. The city owns them. Now, the West
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Speaker 1: Side area has been part of the city for a
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Speaker 1: long time. Elkhorn was not, you know, it was just
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Speaker 1: it was annexed in two thousand and five, and so
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Speaker 1: I looked into it. I appointed a group of citizens.
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Speaker 1: They met for at least a year. But the goal
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Speaker 1: was to create a policy that applied fairly to all applicants.
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Speaker 1: And I mean we wanted it to be fair for
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Speaker 1: those people that want of their streets improved, and also
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Speaker 1: for the taxpayers, because eventually the taxpayers are going to
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Speaker 1: be panned for this. So anyway, that group came up
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Speaker 1: with a policy. That policy was that I pointed the
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Speaker 1: board in twenty seventeen. The policy was approved by the
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Speaker 1: city council in twenty eighteen. And that policy basically a
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Speaker 1: cost sharing policy. It was the city would come out
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Speaker 1: and engineer it, they would design it, the city would
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Speaker 1: pay basically for half in the homeowners whose property abutted
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Speaker 1: on that property would pay for the other half. In
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Speaker 1: a high poverty area, the city would pay one hundred
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Speaker 1: percent if they thought if there were certain guidelines that
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Speaker 1: were met. So anyway, that has been followed now for
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Speaker 1: since twenty nineteen. And in the Capital Improvement Plan for
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Speaker 1: the City of Omaha, which that we do every year
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Speaker 1: with the budget, it's a six year plan. Money was
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Speaker 1: put in there for six years it was about eight
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Speaker 1: hundred and twenty thousand annually, almost a million annually for
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Speaker 1: the city's half of that, so we were ready to
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Speaker 1: go forward with the half. Since then, there has been
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Speaker 1: a lot of neighborhoods that have taken part in that.
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Speaker 1: In fact, there's been dozens more in the West Side
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Speaker 1: area than anywhere else. But even the first year of it,
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Speaker 1: there was a lot of applicants to take part of
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Speaker 1: that program, of the cost sharing program. Now what this
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Speaker 1: gentleman was talking about yesterday, I understand the frustration because
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Speaker 1: again Elcorn was annexed by the city of Omaha back
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Speaker 1: in two thousand and five. That was in mayfair fayhe
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Speaker 1: was the mayor, and a lot of those streets are unimproved,
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Speaker 1: and so this became a real point of contention during
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Speaker 1: the campaign. I know there was a lot of people
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Speaker 1: along Skyline that were very, very angry, and they were
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Speaker 1: angry at me, And this gentleman said, I didn't vote
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Speaker 1: for you because of this, and that's fine, but I
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Speaker 1: felt like I could not say, well, then, just this
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Speaker 1: one little area of Elcorn, the city will come in
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Speaker 1: and pay for all of it. When we've had since
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Speaker 1: twenty nineteen multiple neighborhoods already doing the cost sharing. How
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Speaker 1: fair would that be? And so I asked Public Works
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Speaker 1: to determine what all of the Elcorn would cost area
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Speaker 1: that was annexed in two thousand and five. You couldn't
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Speaker 1: just do a couple streets or a couple neighborhoods. That
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Speaker 1: wouldn't be fair. The costs came out to about five
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Speaker 1: hundred million. Now, that was cost prohibitive and it would
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Speaker 1: definitely result in a huge tax increase for all of
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Speaker 1: Omaha to pay for for just the streets in Elkhorn
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Speaker 1: to be done without any cost to them. Now, that
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Speaker 1: was not acceptable to the folks out there. I understand
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Speaker 1: the frustrations. But they did sue the city in twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty four over the street and they lost, and then
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Speaker 1: they appealed again and they lost the appeal in twenty
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Speaker 1: twenty five with the Nebraska Court of Appeals to hold
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Speaker 1: the city responsible for all of those repairs. So that's
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Speaker 1: where I left it. I said, you know, it did
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Speaker 1: become a source of contention during the campaign. I know Ewing,
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Speaker 1: current mayor. Ewing even did a commercial saying Jean stout there.
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Speaker 1: It says, if you want your streets and you got
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Speaker 1: to pay from yourself. That is not accurate, not accurate
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Speaker 1: at all. I did not say that. I said, you know,
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Speaker 1: those three hundred lane mills out of five thousand that
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Speaker 1: were on it would be a cost sharing. I didn't
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Speaker 1: say you have to pay for him yourself. Now, it
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Speaker 1: is true since Mary Ewing has become mayor, he has
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Speaker 1: kept with the policy that we've already established, and I
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Speaker 1: know he has met with some of those folks out
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Speaker 1: in Melcorn and said we can't do it where I
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Speaker 1: think he led them to believe that he would be
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Speaker 1: able to do it. So that's the way it is now.
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Speaker 1: Obviously I don't have any authority over what happens now,
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Speaker 1: but I would really like to know what people think.
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Speaker 1: I mean, do they think that that policy that we
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Speaker 1: established for the cost sharing for this three hundred lane
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Speaker 1: miles out of the five thousand in Omaha is fair.
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Speaker 1: There's already quite a few people that are probably listening
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Speaker 1: to this show that have already taken part in it
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Speaker 1: and are paying for half of it, and that can
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Speaker 1: be assessed over a period of fifteen to twenty years,
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Speaker 1: and so I don't think they would think it was fair.
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Speaker 1: I don't think the city council members would think it
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Speaker 1: was fair that represented those areas that their constituents have
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Speaker 1: already paid for half of their streets and the city
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Speaker 1: half if we would go ahead and say, but one
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Speaker 1: area of Omaha only, we are going to pay for
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Speaker 1: all of it. So I would really like to hear
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Speaker 1: people's comments about that. And if the gentleman that called
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Speaker 1: in yesterday wants to call again, I know I was
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Speaker 1: trying to explain it and explain it, and I think
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Speaker 1: he accused me of filibustering, and I wasn't trying to
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Speaker 1: do that. It's a bit complicated because you know, at
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Speaker 1: the end of the day, when you do the city budget,
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Speaker 1: you do the budget and then you do the Capital
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Speaker 1: Improvement Plan, which is a six year plan, and it's
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Speaker 1: just known. People want better services. They want good fire
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Speaker 1: and police, they deserve that. They want better streets, they
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Speaker 1: want you know, good trash pick up, they want good
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Speaker 1: snow plowing. They want all of those city services that
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Speaker 1: at the to be improved. But at the same time,
9:45
Speaker 1: you hear a lot, but you need to spend a
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Speaker 1: lot less. You're spending too much, and you need to
9:50
Speaker 1: lower taxes. Even more, and so it is a really
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Speaker 1: difficult thing to manage a city budget and to provide
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Speaker 1: all of those things and still keep taxes as low
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Speaker 1: as you possibly can. Lower property taxes is the number
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Speaker 1: one issue to taxpayers and citizens in the state, and
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Speaker 1: it's the number one issue in Omaha. So I'd be
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Speaker 1: interested to see what people have to say about that.
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Speaker 1: So if anybody wants to call in give me their opinion,
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Speaker 1: I'd sure like to hear it and let me know
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Speaker 1: if you think it's fair. Now, I will say this,
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Speaker 1: if that policy is changed, it's not the mayor that
10:25
Speaker 1: can just change it. If the policy was approved by
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Speaker 1: the city council, it would have to go back to
10:29
Speaker 1: the council for an amendment, and so that would be
10:32
Speaker 1: the process. So, you know, the city council members that
10:36
Speaker 1: were representing West Omaha, they got re elected, it would
10:41
Speaker 1: have to be up to them to change the policy.
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Speaker 1: It could be a recommendation of the mayor. But I
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Speaker 1: really want to know what people have to say about it.
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Speaker 2: The phone lines are wide open four zero, two, five, five,
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Speaker 2: eight eleven ten. If you have an opinion, you can
10:52
Speaker 2: also email us comment at kfab dot com. This email
10:56
Speaker 2: comes from Mark Gene. I was wondering, this is in
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Speaker 2: regards to the Sunset Hills golf course. I'm sure that
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Speaker 2: you've dealt with this. I was wondering what your reason
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Speaker 2: was for backing the Sunset Hills two hundred and ten
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Speaker 2: apartments and thirty seven home development. The people that live
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Speaker 2: in the area did not want twenty five hundred vehicles
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Speaker 2: a day going through two small streets.
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Speaker 1: I know that, and you know that I remember dealing
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Speaker 1: with that when that was being planned. And again, understand,
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Speaker 1: I hear this a lot, as mayor is. And I'll
11:32
Speaker 1: give you an example in my own neighborhood. But there
11:35
Speaker 1: is private property owners' rights. And somebody owned that property
11:42
Speaker 1: there and they decided to make it into apartments there.
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Speaker 1: It was just their decision. It was their decision, and
11:49
Speaker 1: you private property owners do have rights. Now, there is
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Speaker 1: a city master plan. It has to be compliant with
11:57
Speaker 1: the master plan, it has to fit the neighborhood. But
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Speaker 1: I'm going to give you a good example in my neighborhood.
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Speaker 1: I tell everybody I live about one hundred and twentieth
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Speaker 1: in Q, right on the corner of one hundred and
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Speaker 1: twentieth in Q, and that would be the southeast corner.
12:14
Speaker 1: There used to be a huge parking lot in a
12:16
Speaker 1: movie theater, an indoor movie theater called the Q nine,
12:19
Speaker 1: And then I live in a neighborhood adjacent to that.
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Speaker 1: Years ago, a developer bought that corner there, and first
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Speaker 1: of all, there was an insurance company there and that
12:33
Speaker 1: is now Project Harmony. But he also bought the whole
12:36
Speaker 1: area behind, knocked down the movie theater and built apartments,
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Speaker 1: and the neighborhood that I live in, my neighbors were
12:43
Speaker 1: furious and they were coming to me and they were saying,
12:46
Speaker 1: how can you let you know, we had this nice
12:49
Speaker 1: open corner. How can you let somebody build apartments there?
12:53
Speaker 1: We don't want apartments there, And they were coming to
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Speaker 1: me right and left. But it was zoned for well,
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Speaker 1: it's originally zone commercial there and it could have had
13:03
Speaker 1: anything there. I mean, it could have had a doctor
13:05
Speaker 1: John's there for all. I mean, it was zoned properly
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Speaker 1: for it. So but that private property owner asked for
13:12
Speaker 1: it to be rezoned to I believe that our six
13:15
Speaker 1: are apartments multifamily, and the city council approved that, and
13:19
Speaker 1: then Project Harmony is on the corner there, so there
13:23
Speaker 1: happens all over Omaha. There's an issue right now at
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Speaker 1: one hundred and sixty eighth a street between Pacific and
13:30
Speaker 1: Center that on the west side there is a big
13:33
Speaker 1: green space that I know that somebody has called about
13:36
Speaker 1: that before. That actually is owned by the same person
13:41
Speaker 1: that built the apartments by my house, and so there
13:44
Speaker 1: are private property owners' rights. However, it has to be
13:47
Speaker 1: compliant with a master plan, it has to be zoned properly,
13:51
Speaker 1: and so I remembered when that happened there. But because
13:54
Speaker 1: that the city council at the time didn't have any
13:58
Speaker 1: real reason to turn it down. I mean, the neighbors
14:01
Speaker 1: opposed to it were opposed to it, the neighbors my
14:04
Speaker 1: neighbors were opposed to it where I live too, But
14:06
Speaker 1: there isn't really a legal reason to say no, we
14:10
Speaker 1: don't want those there because it is owned by a
14:14
Speaker 1: private person or company and it is compliant with the
14:17
Speaker 1: city master plan.
14:18
Speaker 2: In the same vein here with properties in Omaha. This
14:24
Speaker 2: one is what's Mayor Jean's opinion on the ruling of
14:28
Speaker 2: the longtime blighted hotel property one hundred and eighth and.
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Speaker 1: L I know all, I mean, I know all about
14:35
Speaker 1: that and that that is a bit confusing to me.
14:40
Speaker 1: That hotel, I mean it is. It is absolutely blighted.
14:44
Speaker 1: There were homeless living in there. It did have a
14:46
Speaker 1: private owner. That was an issue once again about what
14:50
Speaker 1: the city can do. It was boarded up to try
14:52
Speaker 1: to keep it safe. Don Roe is the council member
14:55
Speaker 1: in that area and it was just a source of
14:58
Speaker 1: irritation to him for years. They did just move forward
15:03
Speaker 1: with it. But the mayor is having he said, he
15:08
Speaker 1: is using some funds so that the city pays for
15:13
Speaker 1: the demo entirely, and I don't really understand that. I
15:18
Speaker 1: actually talked to a city council member last night for
15:21
Speaker 1: quite a while, which I appreciated because I guess the
15:25
Speaker 1: mayor has not blocked city council from talking to me.
15:28
Speaker 1: But they better not do that because they are elected officials.
15:32
Speaker 1: But anyway, talk to a city council member a long
15:34
Speaker 1: time last night, and they also were a bit confused
15:38
Speaker 1: about why Mayor Ewing was taking this direction to get
15:43
Speaker 1: money to pay one hundred percent for this when the
15:46
Speaker 1: owner should be paying.
15:48
Speaker 2: There's about eighteen different hotels on that intersection.
15:51
Speaker 1: Yes, and there was shady things going on in a
15:54
Speaker 1: lot of those hotels we knew about it. Some there
15:57
Speaker 1: was some trafficking going on. But that one that was
16:01
Speaker 1: that is in question right now is certainly an eye sore.
16:05
Speaker 1: And I think we can't wait to see that not
16:08
Speaker 1: there anymore.
16:09
Speaker 2: Okay, we're going to go to a streetcar question here,
16:13
Speaker 2: but let's not get too nitty gritty here. This is
16:16
Speaker 2: just kind of an interesting one. It's a different angle here,
16:19
Speaker 2: big fan of yours, but not of the downtown amusement ride.
16:22
Speaker 2: Can you tell me you're con Can you tell me
16:25
Speaker 2: your conversation with Warren Buffett about his opposition. This is
16:28
Speaker 2: a guy who rarely steps into local issues, but he
16:31
Speaker 2: felt the need to make his opinion here.
16:33
Speaker 1: And I'm not laughing at you, but I've heard the
16:35
Speaker 1: streetcar called everything. I've been called street car stothard too.
16:39
Speaker 1: But you know, Warren Buffett what And I like Warren Buffett,
16:42
Speaker 1: and you know Warren supported me, and when I ran
16:45
Speaker 1: for mayor. Different is night and day politically. But what
16:49
Speaker 1: a great guy. But he what he did, if you
16:52
Speaker 1: all recall he wrote a letter to the public pulse
16:54
Speaker 1: and he thought, oh well, I'm just writing a little
16:57
Speaker 1: letter to the public pulse. And when I did meet
16:59
Speaker 1: with him, and I did go meet with him about
17:00
Speaker 1: this that I'll explain that. He said, I just wrote
17:03
Speaker 1: a letter to the public pulse. I said, Warren, mister Buffett,
17:05
Speaker 1: when you write a letter to the public pulse, it's
17:08
Speaker 1: front page news. But anyway, I went and met with
17:11
Speaker 1: him after he made that statement. I went Susie, his
17:14
Speaker 1: daughter is a friend of mine. She helped arrangement. I
17:16
Speaker 1: took some of my team with me and we went
17:19
Speaker 1: there and talked to him about it. And he was
17:21
Speaker 1: as friendly and nice as he could be. And you
17:24
Speaker 1: know what he said to me is Mayor, you know
17:27
Speaker 1: I buy railroads. Yes he does, and he goes I
17:30
Speaker 1: know a lot about public transportation. He certainly does. And
17:34
Speaker 1: he says, I don't support the street car for public transportation.
17:39
Speaker 1: That's what he said. I mean, for no, I take
17:41
Speaker 1: that back. He didn't say for public transportation. He said
17:43
Speaker 1: I don't support the street car for mass transportation. That's
17:48
Speaker 1: what he said. Those were his exact words. And we
17:51
Speaker 1: all said, understand and agree, this is for this is
17:56
Speaker 1: not for mass transportation. This is for public transportation's economic
18:00
Speaker 1: development tool. It's to bring people just in around and
18:04
Speaker 1: out of downtown, not math transportation. And it's to better
18:09
Speaker 1: utilize the land that we have in our urban core,
18:13
Speaker 1: that it's not just primarily dedicated to parking, but we
18:16
Speaker 1: can replace those all that parking lots surface parking lots.
18:20
Speaker 1: We have downtown with buildings and businesses and jobs and people.
18:26
Speaker 1: And he said he understood it. I mean, he really did,
18:28
Speaker 1: and he wasn't not what the last thing he told
18:31
Speaker 1: me that day is I'm not going to make another statement,
18:33
Speaker 1: but you know they're not streetcar fans. Either is his
18:37
Speaker 1: daughter Susie, who again is a good friend of mine,
18:40
Speaker 1: And you know, I appreciate how they think about it.
18:43
Speaker 1: But again, there were let me remind you all, there
18:46
Speaker 1: were so many people that were so against the Arena
18:49
Speaker 1: Convention Center. I will never go downtown. I will never
18:53
Speaker 1: go there and watch a baseball game, a soccer game
18:55
Speaker 1: or whatever, a swim trial, a concert. There were so
18:59
Speaker 1: many people that oppose the new ballpark downtown said the
19:03
Speaker 1: same thing. I will never go down there. I won't
19:05
Speaker 1: use it, I liked Rosenblatt. I won't go to another
19:08
Speaker 1: College World Series game. There were people that protested the
19:13
Speaker 1: redevelopment of the Riverfront Parks. There were people that really
19:16
Speaker 1: were against the Dodge Expressway. I mean, there's all sorts
19:20
Speaker 1: of things that the city has moved forward with and
19:22
Speaker 1: done that in the long run, after it's up and running,
19:26
Speaker 1: they're very successful and people really appreciate it. I feel
19:30
Speaker 1: like people will be the same way with the street car.
19:32
Speaker 1: I really do. Roger, that's a very good question.
19:34
Speaker 2: Thank you for that. You've mentioned on the air two
19:37
Speaker 2: before your relationship with mister Warren Buffett, despite your guys's differences,
19:42
Speaker 2: that you guys have always been a really pretty good
19:44
Speaker 2: in communication with each other.
19:45
Speaker 1: Yes, and it's Susie too. Susie Buffett has her you know,
19:49
Speaker 1: she has a foundation called Sherwood And truly you know
19:52
Speaker 1: why she named it that it's truly from Robinhood. I
19:56
Speaker 1: remember that the theme of robin Hood was steal from
20:00
Speaker 1: they're from the rich and give to the poor. Yeah,
20:02
Speaker 1: and you know, Susie Buffett's focus, her her passion is
20:08
Speaker 1: those that are lower income, those that are in poverty,
20:12
Speaker 1: children early childhood, getting children good education, getting them services
20:17
Speaker 1: they need. That is her focus and her passion, and
20:20
Speaker 1: she does things very quietly. She doesn't want her name
20:23
Speaker 1: all over everything. She doesn't want to be thanked and recognized.
20:27
Speaker 1: She does a lot of things quietly, but she has
20:30
Speaker 1: truly helped this community a lot, and I really, I
20:33
Speaker 1: really enjoy my friendship with her. And of course we
20:36
Speaker 1: are as a different night and day politically, but that
20:39
Speaker 1: to me, that doesn't matter. I agree, it really doesn't
20:42
Speaker 1: matter at all. She does a lot for the community
20:44
Speaker 1: and I really appreciate that.
20:45
Speaker 2: And Gene, I'm gonna get you in here. I know
20:47
Speaker 2: you wanted to talk about this soccer stadium. You got
20:49
Speaker 2: the Omaha World Herald in front of you, per usual
20:52
Speaker 2: like you do every morning, and the Wall Street Journal.
20:54
Speaker 1: But the Wall Street Journal is not talking about the
20:56
Speaker 1: a soccer state, no kidding.
20:59
Speaker 2: This is a talk here on the iHeart Sorry, I'm
21:02
Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app. This is from Tommy.
21:06
Speaker 3: Good morning, miss Gene.
21:08
Speaker 4: Yeah, this whole tip thing is obviously borrowing from our
21:12
Speaker 4: future selves, which I don't It doesn't seem like a
21:15
Speaker 4: good recipe for success in my book. But regardless, since
21:19
Speaker 4: we're able to use tip money, now, let's not use
21:22
Speaker 4: it for I mean the street cars, all right, but
21:26
Speaker 4: let's use it for knocking down property taxes too. Something
21:29
Speaker 4: that will directly benefit the taxpayers.
21:34
Speaker 1: Appreciate your comment here. I think there's a little confusion though. Now.
21:39
Speaker 1: First of all, the soccer stadium, the city council was
21:42
Speaker 1: on their agenda yesterday and the discussion for financing of
21:45
Speaker 1: that stadium was delayed for a week because some of
21:48
Speaker 1: the council members had some questions. This soccer stadium, I'll
21:52
Speaker 1: just give a little background. It's for Union Soccer. It's
21:56
Speaker 1: about a sixty five hundred fixed seat soccer stadium down
22:00
Speaker 1: town in that area right adjacent to where the ballpark is,
22:04
Speaker 1: kind of where the Union Pacific lot was where the
22:07
Speaker 1: train used to sit, and it has a capacity to
22:10
Speaker 1: increase to about eighty five hundred. The property where the
22:15
Speaker 1: soccer stadium is going to be built was owned by
22:17
Speaker 1: Union Pacific. The city is going to purchase that land
22:21
Speaker 1: because and then lease it basically because the city can
22:26
Speaker 1: obviously they can get better rates on bonds and things
22:31
Speaker 1: than a private developer can. But it is being funded well.
22:37
Speaker 1: The city can get borrow at lower interest rates. But
22:40
Speaker 1: I think there's a little confusion in the tiff that
22:42
Speaker 1: you were just brought up, because the funding of this
22:46
Speaker 1: soccer stadium has multiple sources of funding, and it gets
22:50
Speaker 1: a little confusing, and I think that's why the city
22:52
Speaker 1: council wanted to delay it over a week so they
22:55
Speaker 1: all had it straight in their mind. It involves about
22:58
Speaker 1: forty eight million in TIS and TIFF is not borrowing,
23:02
Speaker 1: in my opinion, at all against the future. You know
23:06
Speaker 1: that there's only certain TIFF eligible expenses that are allowed
23:09
Speaker 1: by state law. And when they go through, a developer
23:14
Speaker 1: comes in and he says, I'm going to do this development,
23:16
Speaker 1: and I think I qualify for TIFF. He goes through
23:19
Speaker 1: the Planning department first, and then it goes on the
23:22
Speaker 1: Mayor's desk, and then the mayor signs off and it
23:24
Speaker 1: goes to the City Council. Then if it is approved,
23:27
Speaker 1: that developer goes to the bank and takes out a loan,
23:31
Speaker 1: and that developer pays back the loan, So the city
23:34
Speaker 1: is not on the hook at all. There's no risk
23:37
Speaker 1: to the city with TIFF. And what he is doing
23:40
Speaker 1: that developer is as he develops that property and the
23:44
Speaker 1: value of that property goes up and up and up
23:46
Speaker 1: and up, he pays to the city that increased property
23:50
Speaker 1: taxes whatever that value is determined by the Douglas County Assessor.
23:55
Speaker 1: He pays that year after year after year that increased
23:58
Speaker 1: amount of taxes, but of what he pays then goes
24:02
Speaker 1: back for him to help pay off the development. Now,
24:05
Speaker 1: when you said you're borrowing off future, this is part
24:09
Speaker 1: I think what you're talking about here is the turnback tax,
24:13
Speaker 1: and that is something different and what the turnbacks tax
24:17
Speaker 1: is it was first developed by state law to help
24:20
Speaker 1: the Gretna outlet out there. And what the turnback tax
24:24
Speaker 1: is is a portion of the new sales tax, not
24:28
Speaker 1: the existing sales tax, but the new sales tax that
24:32
Speaker 1: is generated from that new development would go be turned
24:37
Speaker 1: back and go to help pay for the development. So
24:40
Speaker 1: that's a little bit different than what TIFF would be
24:43
Speaker 1: and how TIFF would be used. So this is a combination.
24:47
Speaker 1: The funding for this is a combination of TIFF. That's
24:51
Speaker 1: about forty eight million. There is about thirty five million
24:55
Speaker 1: from an occupation tax, and then there's an additional sales
24:59
Speaker 1: tax that is applied only within the district. Only in
25:02
Speaker 1: that district. They're going to add a little more sales
25:05
Speaker 1: tax and that then there's the state turnback tax. So
25:09
Speaker 1: it's it's confusing because there's multiple sources of revenue that
25:14
Speaker 1: are going in to help pay for that project. And
25:19
Speaker 1: the partners they requested about twenty five million in turnback
25:23
Speaker 1: taxes over twenty years, so that's just a little more
25:27
Speaker 1: than a million a year of turnback that would go
25:30
Speaker 1: back to help pay for the development. Now, again, that
25:34
Speaker 1: turnback tax is brand new sales tax, and you excuse me,
25:39
Speaker 1: and you wouldn't have that new sales tax as the
25:42
Speaker 1: development wasn't there, So it's not really borrowing off the future.
25:46
Speaker 1: It's determining what that additional sales tax will be because
25:50
Speaker 1: it'll be a mixed use development, it'll have retail, it'll
25:53
Speaker 1: have a hotel, it'll have residential in there. And this
25:57
Speaker 1: is just really what a true public private partnership is. Now,
26:01
Speaker 1: that turnback's application that has to be approved by a
26:06
Speaker 1: committee at the state level, and that committee includes Nebraska
26:11
Speaker 1: Governor Jim Pillen, and that hearing on that application for
26:16
Speaker 1: them to get that turnback tax, and again that is
26:19
Speaker 1: future sales tax. That hearing has been scheduled for April
26:23
Speaker 1: twenty first, so that has not even been approved yet.
26:27
Speaker 1: And I think the feeling is from Union Soccer and
26:29
Speaker 1: from the city of Omaha is it is unlikely that
26:33
Speaker 1: the city would proceed with this project for the soccer
26:36
Speaker 1: stadium if that application is not approved. So there's still
26:40
Speaker 1: a lot of ifs about how that project is going
26:44
Speaker 1: to be funded. I think it's a great project. I
26:46
Speaker 1: think it would be great for downtown, but there's still
26:49
Speaker 1: some ifs. But it is a little confusing how there's
26:53
Speaker 1: multiple funding sources to get that stadium funded.
26:57
Speaker 2: And this is something that we'll probably touch on again
26:59
Speaker 2: next week when it goes back, and this is something
27:02
Speaker 2: that we'll continue to talk about as it evolves. So
27:05
Speaker 2: I have Dave on the phone line here, who's gonna
27:07
Speaker 2: bring up the Elkhorn Roads again. I thought it would
27:09
Speaker 2: be good to get a caller in here with some
27:11
Speaker 2: personal experience. This is from Penny, though it's an email
27:15
Speaker 2: just for some context, and I don't know if this
27:17
Speaker 2: is for Dave in particular, but I'm just gonna fill
27:20
Speaker 2: it out here. I live in a neighborhood where the
27:22
Speaker 2: streets are substandard. Less than five years ago, our neighborhood
27:25
Speaker 2: worked with the city on potential improvements. We were told
27:28
Speaker 2: it would cost approximately seventeen thousand per homeowner to replace
27:32
Speaker 2: our current asphalt. We were also quoted fifty thousand per
27:38
Speaker 2: homeowner to replace the asphalt with concrete streets, drainage curbs, etc.
27:43
Speaker 2: This was in agreement with the city. And now I'm
27:45
Speaker 2: gonna bring on Dave. Dave, thank you for calling news
27:48
Speaker 2: radio eleven to ten KFAB. You are live with jeanst Author.
27:51
Speaker 2: You can correct anything that I said there, but I
27:53
Speaker 2: was just trying to provide some context.
27:55
Speaker 1: Sure, good morning to you.
27:58
Speaker 3: My comments to the mayor is I think, very very
28:02
Speaker 3: simply this. I'm one of those residents of I'm from Elkcoorn,
28:07
Speaker 3: I'm one of the people that lives on one of
28:08
Speaker 3: those substandard streets. And the comments that Mayor Southor that
28:14
Speaker 3: you made are correct. That is often the case with
28:17
Speaker 3: a politician. You left off some of the stuff that's
28:20
Speaker 3: really important. And here's one of the here's the catch
28:23
Speaker 3: twenty two that the city has us in. I live
28:25
Speaker 3: in Skyline Ranches. Our roads are a disaster. And you
28:30
Speaker 3: said that the city standard is curbs and gutters. Well,
28:34
Speaker 3: that's great, except we're all on septic and it is
28:37
Speaker 3: also city code that we can't have curbs and drainage gutters.
28:41
Speaker 3: If we have if we're on septic and not on
28:44
Speaker 3: city sores. So you've pretty much just left us hanging.
28:48
Speaker 3: Our roads weren't substandard. Our roads were built to code
28:52
Speaker 3: when the subdivision was developed, back before we were even
28:55
Speaker 3: part of Elcorn. They were maintained by the city of
28:59
Speaker 3: Elkhorn to In fact, our streets were ground and resurfaced
29:03
Speaker 3: within two years of the City of Omaha taking us over.
29:07
Speaker 3: When Omaha an Xlcorn, my streets and my subdivision were
29:11
Speaker 3: better than just about anything that you had in Omaha.
29:14
Speaker 3: The second point I want to make, and then I'd
29:16
Speaker 3: like to hear your comment. My taxes didn't go down
29:19
Speaker 3: because the city all of a sudden doesn't want to
29:21
Speaker 3: do the street maintenance. I still make task tax. My
29:24
Speaker 3: property taxes went up. So why am I supposed to
29:27
Speaker 3: be okay with you just washing your hands of it
29:30
Speaker 3: and saying, you guys take care of it. Where do
29:32
Speaker 3: I go to get my tax money back so that
29:34
Speaker 3: I can pay for this? So if you want me
29:37
Speaker 3: to do it myself, I'll do it myself. But what
29:39
Speaker 3: about getting my tax money back.
29:40
Speaker 1: Well, I guess I would go back to and you know,
29:44
Speaker 1: first of all, I was going to tell you I
29:46
Speaker 1: don't look at myself as a politician anymore. I'm I
29:49
Speaker 1: am not an elected official. I'm doing a radio show now.
29:52
Speaker 1: So we got to get rid of that. That's why
29:54
Speaker 1: I don't ask people to call me mayor Stothard anymore.
29:57
Speaker 1: But you know, at the same time, we're trying to
30:00
Speaker 1: figure out I was trying to figure out a way
30:02
Speaker 1: that I thought was fair for everyone. And like I said,
30:07
Speaker 1: there's about three hundred lane miles of those streets that
30:10
Speaker 1: are considered unimproved by two days standards out of the
30:14
Speaker 1: five thousand. But would it be fair in your opinion,
30:19
Speaker 1: that we would go out there and do all of Elcorn,
30:22
Speaker 1: which I don't think it would be fair if we
30:23
Speaker 1: only did Skyline. I think we should do all of
30:26
Speaker 1: the areas in Elcorn that were annexed and improve them.
30:30
Speaker 1: And it can be asphalt. I mean, you can just
30:32
Speaker 1: do an asphalt overlay or you could do the concrete.
30:35
Speaker 1: Either one one is the street Improvement District is the concrete.
30:39
Speaker 1: And as you said, it cost a lot more, about
30:41
Speaker 1: fifty thousand dollars per home owner that can be assessed
30:45
Speaker 1: over a long period of time, say fifteen years or
30:48
Speaker 1: seventeen thousand for the asphalt. The concrete is going to
30:50
Speaker 1: last twice as long, but it's twice as expensive too.
30:53
Speaker 1: But if you figure out if it was seventeen thousand
30:56
Speaker 1: per homeowner over fifteen years, you know, that's a little
31:00
Speaker 1: over one thousand dollars a year that the homeowner could
31:04
Speaker 1: pay for. Now, some of the of the areas in
31:07
Speaker 1: the West Side district, I know that they just paid
31:10
Speaker 1: up front. They paid for it, and it was done,
31:13
Speaker 1: and it wasn't assessed on their property taxes. But I
31:17
Speaker 1: understand the frustration because when it was Elkhorn, they took
31:21
Speaker 1: care of the streets and they maintained them, and then
31:24
Speaker 1: you know, the big city of Omaha comes in and
31:26
Speaker 1: they annex them and they say, but these aren't aren't
31:29
Speaker 1: compliant with what our standards are today. And so I
31:32
Speaker 1: remember going out there and doing some resurfacing, a little
31:36
Speaker 1: resurfacing in that Skyline area when I was mayor, and
31:40
Speaker 1: it didn't last. It didn't last because some of those
31:42
Speaker 1: those ditches along the side of the road they were
31:45
Speaker 1: filled in with dirt. They weren't draining right. So there's
31:48
Speaker 1: a lot of issues out there that I think need
31:50
Speaker 1: to be addressed. But I'm not just washing my hands
31:53
Speaker 1: and walking away from it. I tried to come up
31:56
Speaker 1: with a policy, which I explained to you, a cost
31:59
Speaker 1: sharing policy, rather than the existing policy that had been
32:02
Speaker 1: in existent forever that said you had to pay for
32:05
Speaker 1: all of it. Try to come up with something that
32:08
Speaker 1: was absolutely more fair for everybody. But to raise everybody's
32:13
Speaker 1: taxes in Omaha wouldn't be fair either, just to do
32:16
Speaker 1: one area. So it is. It's a difficult situation, and
32:19
Speaker 1: you try to Government should not be picking winners and losers.
32:23
Speaker 1: Government should make decisions that would be fair for everybody.
32:28
Speaker 1: And that's why I had a committee of people of
32:31
Speaker 1: citizens try to come up with what a policy they
32:33
Speaker 1: think would be the most fair for everyone.
32:38
Speaker 2: All right, Uh, mister Dave, just a quick closing thoughts
32:41
Speaker 2: he or anything you'd like to rebuttle with here.
32:45
Speaker 3: Well, yeah, with all due respect there with you grind,
32:49
Speaker 3: you know it is city code that you'll have asphalt,
32:52
Speaker 3: you'll have concrete down when it needs repair, you grind
32:55
Speaker 3: and resurface it. How many times you do that? You
32:58
Speaker 3: do that all over the place. At it in Chaffel
33:00
Speaker 3: Hill right next to our subdivision. Yes, and that was
33:03
Speaker 3: fine because they have curbs and gutters. You will not
33:06
Speaker 3: allow us to have curbs and gutters, even if we
33:09
Speaker 3: would pay for it because we're on septic. Yet you
33:12
Speaker 3: still collect the same amount of taxes from these subdivisions.
33:17
Speaker 3: You know, when you say substandard, that is such a
33:20
Speaker 3: misnomer because our roads were maintained just like the City
33:23
Speaker 3: of Omaha maintains the roads before we were annexed. They
33:27
Speaker 3: need work, you grind them, you overlay them with asphalt.
33:30
Speaker 3: It wouldn't It's not like it's costing this city more money.
33:33
Speaker 3: And you're giving us something that we didn't already have.
33:37
Speaker 3: We already had great roads. We had great roads went
33:40
Speaker 3: Omaha annexus, and now you just won't take care of them.
33:44
Speaker 3: You don't get me any of my tax money back,
33:45
Speaker 3: but you're not spending any more to do my roads
33:48
Speaker 3: than you are anybody else's roads. You just won't take
33:51
Speaker 3: care of them.
33:52
Speaker 1: And again, I'm not the hair anymore. So have you
33:56
Speaker 1: have you gone in and talked to Mary Ewing about this,
34:00
Speaker 1: because let me just clarify one thing, and that is
34:03
Speaker 1: when I say substandard, it's a term the city uses,
34:07
Speaker 1: and it's not about the condition of the street. It's
34:10
Speaker 1: not about the street needs rehabilitation. The street has potholes,
34:13
Speaker 1: substandard means it the street itself isn't built to today's
34:18
Speaker 1: city code. In today's city code, whether it be asphalt
34:21
Speaker 1: or whether it be concrete, has different standards than it
34:24
Speaker 1: did when your streets were built out there in Elkhore.
34:28
Speaker 1: Now there is got brought up before. There is a
34:33
Speaker 1: major drainage problem out there, and you know that. And
34:36
Speaker 1: I know that too, because a lot of those ditches
34:38
Speaker 1: on the side of the road are filled in with
34:40
Speaker 1: dirt now and sometimes they are done that. They are
34:44
Speaker 1: that way because of the horse trails around there too.
34:48
Speaker 1: They don't drain and the resurfacing that we did do
34:51
Speaker 1: in that area they quickly washed out because the water
34:54
Speaker 1: went underneath the road again. So I'm not saying I'm
34:57
Speaker 1: not going to do anything. I'm telling you I don't
34:59
Speaker 1: have the authority to do anything anymore. I tried to
35:02
Speaker 1: do when I was mayor what I thought was best
35:04
Speaker 1: with the new policy. But I don't know what you
35:06
Speaker 1: were promised by the new mayor, by Mary Ewing. But
35:11
Speaker 1: I would you know, I would be more than happy
35:13
Speaker 1: to have you tell us, you know, at today or
35:16
Speaker 1: at a later time, what it is that he promised
35:20
Speaker 1: you out there and what is he going to do?
35:21
Speaker 1: And we have a special guest that's coming on on
35:24
Speaker 1: Monday that you'll all want to listen to because he
35:27
Speaker 1: agreed to stay the whole show with me and to
35:29
Speaker 1: answer your questions in your calls and your concerns. And
35:33
Speaker 1: Gary Sattlemeyer will be here, the famous, the world famous,
35:37
Speaker 1: the Gary Satlemyer will be back and Gary Sattlemeyer studio
35:40
Speaker 1: here with us and Peyton, and we're gonna have a
35:43
Speaker 1: lot of fun. So on Monday, he's going to spend
35:46
Speaker 1: the whole hour with me. He gave me the probably
35:49
Speaker 1: the best advice when I said I was going to
35:51
Speaker 1: do this show and I said any advice from the master,
35:55
Speaker 1: and he said just be yourself, which I thought was great.
35:58
Speaker 1: And I mean everybody everybody loves Gary Satlmira and misses him,
36:02
Speaker 1: and it's going to be fun. I'm going to have
36:04
Speaker 1: him take some calls and answer some questions with me too.
36:07
Speaker 1: So Gary will be here with me the full hour
36:09
Speaker 1: on Monday, So be sure and listen.
36:11
Speaker 2: And if you have any questions comments too, throw him
36:13
Speaker 2: in now you know, we'll get him ready on Monday,
36:15
Speaker 2: so we'll have it all ready to go.
36:16
Speaker 1: Absolutely, well, queue him up. One other thing I have
36:19
Speaker 1: to reinforce along with what the last caller was calling
36:23
Speaker 1: about the streets in Elkhorn, just and he said, my
36:26
Speaker 1: property taxes have not gone down. Just remember this, the
36:31
Speaker 1: Douglas County Assessor assesses the value of your property, not
36:36
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha. And when you look at your
36:39
Speaker 1: property tax bill, the City of Omaha is about twenty
36:44
Speaker 1: two percent of the entire bill. The schools get about
36:48
Speaker 1: sixty two sixty three percent, city of Omaha gets twenty
36:52
Speaker 1: two percent. And with that twenty two percent, the City
36:55
Speaker 1: of Omaha has to fund the fire department, the police department,
36:58
Speaker 1: the Planning department, the law department, the Public Works department,
37:01
Speaker 1: the libraries at community centers, the golf. All of those
37:04
Speaker 1: things are funded with twenty two percent of what you
37:07
Speaker 1: pay in your entire bill. So just keep that in mind.
37:11
Speaker 1: When the caller said, my taxes haven't gone down because
37:13
Speaker 1: you're not rehabilitating our streets, you know that it's the
37:18
Speaker 1: City of Omaha is such a very small portion of that.
37:21
Speaker 1: And every time I have reduced the levee when I
37:24
Speaker 1: was mayor, i did it five times. The city's levee.
37:27
Speaker 1: You didn't see that much really of a difference in
37:31
Speaker 1: your bill because it was it was, you know, a
37:34
Speaker 1: property levee reduction of that twenty two percent, and so
37:39
Speaker 1: it didn't seem like it was this big impact on
37:41
Speaker 1: your property tax bill. But I will tell you if
37:45
Speaker 1: a mayor would try to raise your taxes and raise
37:47
Speaker 1: your levee, you would hear about it.
37:49
Speaker 2: You recently reminded people to vote for the candidates for
37:52
Speaker 2: the board of the Learning Community. Can you explain the
37:55
Speaker 2: value and responsibilities of the learning community? Taxpayers fund the
37:59
Speaker 2: federal Department of Edge, the state Board of Education, the
38:02
Speaker 2: learning community, and the school districts. I do not know
38:05
Speaker 2: how the learning community originated.
38:07
Speaker 1: Well, it originated a long time ago, David. Yeah, when
38:11
Speaker 1: I was on the city council, and you know, to
38:14
Speaker 1: be honest with you, I was mentioning all of these
38:18
Speaker 1: these different offices that are going to be on the ballot,
38:21
Speaker 1: from the governor to the US Senator to the congressman.
38:25
Speaker 1: You know, I was mentioning all of those, and I
38:28
Speaker 1: did mention learning community. It's considered a lower ballot, you
38:32
Speaker 1: know election there with the learning community. I honestly I
38:36
Speaker 1: can't say that I'm a big fan of the learning community.
38:38
Speaker 1: I'm really not, and so because I'm not sure how
38:42
Speaker 1: functional they really are, because you know, each school has
38:45
Speaker 1: its own elected school board, there is the state board
38:50
Speaker 1: of Education, and you know, I am just not sure
38:54
Speaker 1: that I would agree with the value of what the
38:57
Speaker 1: learning community does. And I would like, I mean, I
39:01
Speaker 1: would love for somebody from the learning community to come
39:03
Speaker 1: on and say, these are all the great things we do,
39:06
Speaker 1: and this is why we need to continue to exist.
39:09
Speaker 1: And I think that that actually is being questioned. Is
39:12
Speaker 1: that something that needs to exist, be you know, in existence.
39:16
Speaker 1: Maybe more out in rural areas it would be beneficial.
39:21
Speaker 1: But I can't really I don't think since I have
39:23
Speaker 1: been on you know, an elected position, and that's eleven
39:27
Speaker 1: years on a school board too, I'm not sure I
39:29
Speaker 1: really understand the value of the learning community. I'm just
39:33
Speaker 1: saying it's on the ballot, and so if you don't
39:36
Speaker 1: understand the value of it either, maybe you know that's
39:38
Speaker 1: something that you have to decide how you're going to
39:40
Speaker 1: vote on.
39:41
Speaker 2: It, absolutely real quick here as we wrap up the show,
39:44
Speaker 2: this one comes from Randy. Has there been any money
39:48
Speaker 2: allocated for the removal of gang graffiti or maybe just
39:52
Speaker 2: graffiti in general that will ultimately be plastered all over
39:55
Speaker 2: the wonderful street cars.
39:57
Speaker 1: Uh you know, I mean, look, you know, and that
40:01
Speaker 1: could be. Graffiti is one thing that I can't I
40:05
Speaker 1: hate if you when I was on the city council,
40:07
Speaker 1: if you all remember councilman Gary Grenette, that was his
40:10
Speaker 1: big pet. Peeve hated graffiti. It's art. Yeah, no it isn't.
40:15
Speaker 1: I mean, I mean he hated it. And when they
40:17
Speaker 1: would sit there, you know, gang members would mark their
40:19
Speaker 1: territory that the thing you have to do is get
40:22
Speaker 1: it down that day. And so we had that graffiti
40:25
Speaker 1: abatement plan and graffiti van that would go out in
40:28
Speaker 1: a bait and get all of that that paint. And
40:31
Speaker 1: when they would do it on the railroad overpasses, look
40:34
Speaker 1: at our railroad, Look at our rail cars. I mean,
40:37
Speaker 1: that's their big thing is to put graffiti all over it. So, yes,
40:40
Speaker 1: we will keep we will keep those street cars clean
40:43
Speaker 1: and free of graffiti. I can guarantee you that, yes,
40:47
Speaker 1: of course.
40:48
Speaker 2: And just a reminder as we wrap up the show here,
40:50
Speaker 2: Gary Sadomayer in the studio on Monday and the whole hour.
40:56
Speaker 1: The whole hour, and we're gonna have fun. And I
40:58
Speaker 1: can't wait for Gary to answer some of these questions
41:00
Speaker 1: with And you can have your questions towards Gary, like
41:03
Speaker 1: what the heck you been doing right or where you've
41:05
Speaker 1: been traveling to or talk about he's engaged now and
41:09
Speaker 1: so we can ask all we want with Gary Saddlemeyer.
41:12
Speaker 1: But please tune in on Monday. Thanks for listening, Thanks
41:15
Speaker 1: for being with us today. Have a wonderful weekend.