Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / New Omaha Library and Skyline Ranch

Transcript

New Omaha Library and Skyline Ranch · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: Peyton. Yesterday, I did go to the opening of the
0:04
Speaker 1: new library at seventy second in Dodge. It's really something
0:08
Speaker 1: and I hope people go and visit it. You know,
0:12
Speaker 1: this is just an example of what results from a
0:15
Speaker 1: lot of good planning. And I had a lot of
0:17
Speaker 1: complaints from people when I was mayor or saying, you plan,
0:20
Speaker 1: and you plan, and you plan, when are you going
0:22
Speaker 1: to get something done? But you have to plan for
0:24
Speaker 1: something great like this. We started the planning on this
0:28
Speaker 1: library about a decade ago. It was about ten years ago,
0:31
Speaker 1: and it started with Heritage Foundation, which at that time
0:35
Speaker 1: was led by the Great Walter Scott. Sue Morris was
0:38
Speaker 1: involved at that time, and they came to us and
0:40
Speaker 1: the city and me and they said, you know, we
0:44
Speaker 1: really want to focus on Omaha's libraries, not just one,
0:48
Speaker 1: but libraries. And they did a study themselves. They looked
0:53
Speaker 1: at every one of our Omaha public libraries and they
0:57
Speaker 1: tried to devise a plan of what they could do
1:00
Speaker 1: to help, what each library needed to be upgraded, what
1:04
Speaker 1: it needed to function better and serve the public better.
1:08
Speaker 1: But out of this big discussion and along with a
1:11
Speaker 1: master plan that the library itself did, they came up
1:16
Speaker 1: with the need for this new central library, more centrally located,
1:20
Speaker 1: which is at seventy second in Dodge. This is such
1:23
Speaker 1: an example of a good public private partnership, which is
1:27
Speaker 1: really rare in a lot of cities. You know, when
1:30
Speaker 1: I went to a lot of meetings with mayors in
1:33
Speaker 1: the past, and we would talk about the things that
1:36
Speaker 1: we've accomplished in Omaha. We would talk about, say the ballpark,
1:40
Speaker 1: we'd talk about the riverfront parks, we talk about what's
1:44
Speaker 1: going on with the libraries, and a lot of mayors
1:46
Speaker 1: in other cities were just astounded by the amount of
1:50
Speaker 1: philanthropic help that we get. A lot of mayors would say, well,
1:54
Speaker 1: we got a big project, and we might get five
1:56
Speaker 1: million dollars or a million dollars, But this library is
2:00
Speaker 1: one hundred and fifty eight million dollar library. One hundred
2:03
Speaker 1: and thirty eight million is private. The city put in
2:06
Speaker 1: twenty with bonds. One hundred thirty eight million of private
2:09
Speaker 1: money went into this beautiful new library and it will
2:13
Speaker 1: be in Omaha Public Library. And the staff is all
2:17
Speaker 1: a public employees, a City of Omaha employees. And it
2:21
Speaker 1: was there was rumors in the very beginning, oh heritage
2:24
Speaker 1: is involved. This is going to be private. They're taking
2:26
Speaker 1: away our library. No, it isn't. That was never the intent.
2:30
Speaker 1: And so after years of planning and years of construction,
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Speaker 1: about a decade of planning, it opened yesterday on the nineteenth,
2:38
Speaker 1: and it was packed. I was there. It was absolutely
2:41
Speaker 1: packed in there. If you really want to go and
2:43
Speaker 1: look at it, I suggest maybe you wait a week
2:46
Speaker 1: because so many people were there. But you know, I
2:50
Speaker 1: do have to bring this up again because I think
2:52
Speaker 1: it's important. Laura Marlane is a library director. She is
2:57
Speaker 1: not hired by the mayor. Is hired by the library
3:01
Speaker 1: Board of Trustees. She reports to the library Board of Trustees,
3:05
Speaker 1: not to the mayor. And I did ask her last
3:08
Speaker 1: week to come on this show and talk about the
3:10
Speaker 1: great things with the new library, and she said she
3:13
Speaker 1: had to decline because of Mayor Ewing's policy. So Ewing
3:17
Speaker 1: will not let the library director of the new library
3:21
Speaker 1: come on and talk to the public about the great
3:24
Speaker 1: things happening in that new library, which is baffling to
3:28
Speaker 1: me because alls we could really talk about is how
3:31
Speaker 1: great it is and how great it is for the public.
3:34
Speaker 1: The best thing about it is, like I said, it's
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Speaker 1: open now and everybody can enjoy it, and there's so
3:39
Speaker 1: much there for everybody. The one feature that people were
3:44
Speaker 1: in awe about yesterday was this I call it a
3:46
Speaker 1: book bot but it's all robotics and there is just
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Speaker 1: like just shelves and shells and shells and up to
3:55
Speaker 1: the ceiling many many stories high of books. And you
3:58
Speaker 1: could see that you can punch in and pick out
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Speaker 1: the book you want or ask for help and the
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Speaker 1: robotics will go grab it and deliver it to you immediately.
4:06
Speaker 1: Plus there's still the stacks that we have like with
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Speaker 1: a typical library. There's a coffee shop there, there's a
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Speaker 1: children's area there, there's genealogy there, there's three D printers,
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Speaker 1: there's everything that you can imagine in there.
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Speaker 2: I got an email from John this morning. He sent
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Speaker 2: an email to comment at kfab dot com. Madam Mayor,
4:27
Speaker 2: as a seventy year old retiree, I would like to
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Speaker 2: add the Omaha Public Library to my top ten favorite
4:34
Speaker 2: features of life in Omaha. I'm amazed that there are
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Speaker 2: folks that do not have a library card headline.
4:39
Speaker 1: It's free. Yes, thanks Marya Jean.
4:42
Speaker 2: And then we also talked a little bit last week
4:44
Speaker 2: and I thought it would be good to just run
4:45
Speaker 2: it over again. You already mentioned the automation, but there's
4:48
Speaker 2: still a sense of able to go and search for
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Speaker 2: books yourself and dig and kind of.
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Speaker 1: There's still stacks. There's still stacks. You brought up the
4:56
Speaker 1: Dewey decimal system.
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Speaker 2: Good lord, And Doug would like to remind everybody that
5:02
Speaker 2: he thinks it's a giant eyesore.
5:04
Speaker 1: But that's okay, that's okay, Doug. Doug, I hope you
5:07
Speaker 1: go in it, because you know, from the outside, I know,
5:10
Speaker 1: I've had all sorts of comments from it looked like
5:13
Speaker 1: cheap bathroom tile to everything else. But it is glass
5:17
Speaker 1: and you can't appreciate it until you go inside and
5:20
Speaker 1: you see how light it is and how bright it
5:23
Speaker 1: is and what that glass really does. It kind of
5:25
Speaker 1: brings the outside into the inside, and it's just it's
5:29
Speaker 1: really beautiful. The art in there is beautiful. A lot
5:32
Speaker 1: of planning, a lot of attention went into this library,
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Speaker 1: and like I said, I can't say enough for Heritage
5:39
Speaker 1: Foundation and all those who put their dollars in there, because,
5:43
Speaker 1: like I said, this was something that was a real
5:46
Speaker 1: focus of Walter Scott. It was carried on. Mike McCarthy
5:49
Speaker 1: now heads the Heritage Foundation, but so many people contribute
5:54
Speaker 1: to it. And this is just the same thing happened
5:57
Speaker 1: with the geene Lea himal and with the Real Front
6:00
Speaker 1: parks so much four hundred million of private dollars went
6:05
Speaker 1: into the gene leahey Mall and then the Luminarium. The
6:09
Speaker 1: key with Luminarium is all privately funded. And there it's
6:12
Speaker 1: sitting down there on Lewis and Clark Landing, on city
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Speaker 1: owned property and open to the public. So it's it's
6:18
Speaker 1: really great and I think it's something that we in
6:20
Speaker 1: Omaha should be very very proud of. I know, the
6:23
Speaker 1: outside of the new library at seventy second and Dodge,
6:27
Speaker 1: people question what the heck is as supposed to look like.
6:30
Speaker 1: And I mentioned it before, but the original design was
6:33
Speaker 1: it was supposed to look like an open book and
6:36
Speaker 1: it was really really cool. I really liked the way
6:39
Speaker 1: it looked. But as it went on and the planning
6:42
Speaker 1: went on, and as happens with a lot of developments,
6:45
Speaker 1: the outside of it, the design of it that looks changed,
6:49
Speaker 1: but it's still very very functional. There is a parking garage.
6:53
Speaker 1: You can enter that parking garage from Douglas, like the
6:57
Speaker 1: street it would be south of Dodge, and then you
7:01
Speaker 1: enter from about seventy third Street in Douglas is where
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Speaker 1: you enter the parking garage. It's a two level parking garage,
7:07
Speaker 1: and then there's parking out back too. I've had a
7:09
Speaker 1: lot of people ask where the heck do I park there?
7:12
Speaker 1: And so there is parking up back, and there is
7:14
Speaker 1: a garage that is connected to it. But when you
7:17
Speaker 1: think about that corner, that is truly well, I would
7:20
Speaker 1: think that that's the middle of town. I don't know
7:22
Speaker 1: if it's really the middle. I keep on thinking as
7:24
Speaker 1: we move more and more west, maybe ninetieth than Dodge,
7:27
Speaker 1: but seventy second Dodge is certainly right smack in the
7:30
Speaker 1: middle of Omaha. Now that's going to be a really
7:33
Speaker 1: busy intersection once the Crossroads development is done, and so
7:38
Speaker 1: a lot of planning has to go into that, and
7:40
Speaker 1: a lot more planning will go into that corner. The
7:45
Speaker 1: northeast corner of seventy second in Dodge where Petco is
7:49
Speaker 1: that has been sold to someone else too that is
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Speaker 1: going to develop that corner into a mixed use development,
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Speaker 1: So that will look different too. On that northeast corner
8:01
Speaker 1: of seventy second and Dodge, So a lot going on
8:04
Speaker 1: there now, the traffic. Everybody's bringing up the traffic because
8:08
Speaker 1: that was a what Public Works would consider a failed intersection,
8:14
Speaker 1: that's how they would label it presently. Now when all
8:17
Speaker 1: that development happens, it's going to get busier and busier
8:20
Speaker 1: and busier. So there is a lot of thought and
8:23
Speaker 1: a lot of planning going into what we know the
8:28
Speaker 1: city is going to do to make easier access and
8:31
Speaker 1: safer with that intersection there. And they don't just look
8:34
Speaker 1: at that intersection. I mean they go all the way
8:37
Speaker 1: out to say ninetieth and Dodge to look at what
8:39
Speaker 1: they can do. You can't just readjust your traffic signals.
8:42
Speaker 1: If you do that, you're just going to stack it
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Speaker 1: up somewhere else. So there's even been discussion about a
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Speaker 1: pedestrian overpass from the north to the south side. Be
8:52
Speaker 1: very expensive, but it's something that is being considered and
8:56
Speaker 1: has been talked about. So all that is still something
9:00
Speaker 1: that people are looking at. But I think the thing
9:02
Speaker 1: right now is that that library is open after many
9:05
Speaker 1: many years, and those who don't like the looks on
9:07
Speaker 1: the outside please go in there. And then tell me
9:10
Speaker 1: what you think.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, I've gotten a few emails about it, and also
9:13
Speaker 2: how I feel about it to a certain extent is
9:17
Speaker 2: that's a very beautiful new building. Has an incredible amount
9:21
Speaker 2: of glass on the outside. It just looks stunning, but
9:24
Speaker 2: it doesn't really match around it. It kind of sticks
9:27
Speaker 2: out in a good way, you could say, because it
9:29
Speaker 2: is so beautiful. It's so new and shiny.
9:31
Speaker 1: And modern and modern, really modern, and it doesn't really
9:35
Speaker 1: match that the rest of that intersection in the corner.
9:37
Speaker 2: But now that we have a little new development going on,
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Speaker 2: mixed use, you got anything for us? Do you know
9:43
Speaker 2: anything about what's going on.
9:44
Speaker 1: I've seen renderings of the northeast corner, oh gosh, at
9:49
Speaker 1: least a year ago. Now those could change, but it
9:52
Speaker 1: was just a nice mixed use. It was apartments, and
9:55
Speaker 1: it was you know, the ground floor had some retail,
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Speaker 1: had some restaurants and things like that, like a typical
10:01
Speaker 1: mixed use development does. And then, of course everybody has
10:05
Speaker 1: seen the renderings of what Crossroads is going to look like.
10:08
Speaker 1: And you know, the construction fences, thank goodness, are finally up.
10:12
Speaker 1: There's there's grading going on, there's there's some equipment out there.
10:16
Speaker 1: Now I've mentioned this before too. It has new owners.
10:20
Speaker 1: It's the Woodberrys. They're out of Salt Lake City. This
10:24
Speaker 1: is what they do. They buy old malls, old shopping
10:28
Speaker 1: centers that are no longer functional and they make them
10:31
Speaker 1: into something great. And so the city is a partner
10:35
Speaker 1: with that, but it is a private owner. And that's
10:37
Speaker 1: one thing about that crossroad area. I had so many,
10:41
Speaker 1: you know, calls and comments about it over the years,
10:44
Speaker 1: and what is the city going to do with crossroads.
10:46
Speaker 1: It's it's was always owned privately, and so when the
10:50
Speaker 1: city doesn't own it, it's not up to the city
10:52
Speaker 1: what to do with it. But if you recall, it
10:54
Speaker 1: was originally Frank Crachi owned it, and then he had
10:57
Speaker 1: a partnership with Lockwood and then you know, I mean
11:00
Speaker 1: they kind of evolved, and then Frank passed away. So
11:03
Speaker 1: I wouldn't say there were starts and stops. There was
11:06
Speaker 1: some slowdowns, and a lot of it was because of
11:09
Speaker 1: the ownership and who owned it. And then, like I said,
11:12
Speaker 1: when Frank passed away, every hit thing changed for a while.
11:15
Speaker 1: But it's on the move now and crossroads will happen,
11:18
Speaker 1: and it will it's the design and Crossroads is beautiful too.
11:22
Speaker 1: The real question is will that sign, that old iconic
11:26
Speaker 1: crossroads sign, Will that stay there or not? People want
11:29
Speaker 1: it to stay there, but I think it's going to
11:32
Speaker 1: be really, really great, and their goal is to have
11:34
Speaker 1: new to the market stores there. Whenever a new development
11:39
Speaker 1: is designed and developed, you always worry about what's going
11:43
Speaker 1: to be there, and are you just going to cannibalize
11:46
Speaker 1: businesses from another shopping center and make that shopping center
11:50
Speaker 1: go down the drain? And that's what you don't want,
11:52
Speaker 1: and so you want to be real careful when developers
11:55
Speaker 1: come in and want to develop something and bring retail
11:58
Speaker 1: in and restaurants and something. When you hear new to
12:01
Speaker 1: the market, that really piques your interest because you think
12:04
Speaker 1: they're not just going to try to take stores from
12:06
Speaker 1: another development. And with when we talk about Heartwood Preserve
12:10
Speaker 1: at one hundred and forty fourth in Dodge, you know
12:12
Speaker 1: that's still under development and a lot is going on there.
12:15
Speaker 1: Their center part at one hundred and forty fourth in
12:18
Speaker 1: Dodge at Heartwood is called the Row, and the Row
12:20
Speaker 1: will have shops, it'll have retail, it'll have restaurants, it'll
12:24
Speaker 1: have bars, it'll have a lot of walkability, and so
12:28
Speaker 1: you know all of those things are being developed right now.
12:31
Speaker 1: And one hundred and ninety second Dodge, you know that's
12:34
Speaker 1: that's being developed now too. So all of those are
12:37
Speaker 1: kind of mixed use development. But they wouldn't be they
12:40
Speaker 1: wouldn't be developing them and building them. These developers are
12:43
Speaker 1: smart and they wouldn't be putting their money in it
12:46
Speaker 1: if the need wasn't there. They absolutely they study it.
12:50
Speaker 1: They know where they have been successful in other cities.
12:53
Speaker 1: I had so many people say to me when I
12:55
Speaker 1: was mayor, why you let all these people build all
12:58
Speaker 1: these apartments? There's apartments everywhere Now they fill up the
13:02
Speaker 1: minute they're open. I mean, these developers that build these
13:06
Speaker 1: apartment buildings, they know where the need is and honestly,
13:10
Speaker 1: as soon as they open, they fill up.
13:12
Speaker 2: I'll due respect to the developers, but the only thing
13:15
Speaker 2: on their mind is money, money, money, money, money. So
13:17
Speaker 2: they're not going to go out on a limb somewhere
13:19
Speaker 2: and take a chance to lose some money.
13:21
Speaker 1: Well they're not.
13:23
Speaker 3: I'm not.
13:24
Speaker 1: I'm going to disagree with you a lot at all.
13:26
Speaker 1: Not just money, money, money, money, but you have to
13:28
Speaker 1: have a return on your investment. I mean, you're not
13:31
Speaker 1: going to build something and spend a gazillion dollars on
13:34
Speaker 1: it if you don't think it's going to be successful,
13:37
Speaker 1: if you don't think that you can have enough business
13:40
Speaker 1: there or residents there that you're going to make enough
13:43
Speaker 1: money to make it successful and pay for your development.
13:47
Speaker 1: So you're partially right there, but I think they've got
13:50
Speaker 1: to have a return on their investment or it's not
13:51
Speaker 1: worth them doing it.
13:52
Speaker 2: You talked about seventy second in Dodge might not quite
13:55
Speaker 2: be the center of the city anymore, and quote unquote
13:58
Speaker 2: center of the city, and that's because there's some expansion
14:00
Speaker 2: out west. Four zero two, five, five, eight, eleven ten.
14:04
Speaker 1: Give us a call.
14:05
Speaker 2: The phone lines are open. You can email us comment
14:07
Speaker 2: at kfab dot com, or the radio talkback Mike. You
14:10
Speaker 2: can reach out to us and get your word on air.
14:14
Speaker 2: So we've talked about this quite a bit over the
14:16
Speaker 2: last few weeks. But this is the Skyline Ranches in
14:19
Speaker 2: western Douglas County. Yes, and I got a really good
14:23
Speaker 2: email last week and I decided to print it off
14:25
Speaker 2: and send it to you. We've had some good conversations
14:29
Speaker 2: and I think it's it's just important to continue to
14:31
Speaker 2: go over this a lot of different opinions. I've gotten
14:35
Speaker 2: a lot of anecdotes of people that live over there
14:37
Speaker 2: that are upset in their opinion on things. So, Geene,
14:41
Speaker 2: I'll let you take it away from here.
14:42
Speaker 3: Right.
14:43
Speaker 1: I received a listener and maybe you're listening today, and
14:47
Speaker 1: I'm just going to call him Rock and he is
14:49
Speaker 1: a Skyline Ranch resident and he wrote a long about
14:54
Speaker 1: a six page email to me here that I have
14:56
Speaker 1: in front, and I'm not going to go through the
14:58
Speaker 1: whole thing. Some of what he says is accurate, some
15:01
Speaker 1: is not, but I still want to reemphasize what I
15:04
Speaker 1: said that we did about the roads in Omaha when
15:09
Speaker 1: I became mayor. It was the practice in Omaha and
15:13
Speaker 1: Mayor Subtle started this that if you had a street
15:17
Speaker 1: in front of your home and you and your neighbors
15:20
Speaker 1: wanted that street rehabilitated, then you had to pay one
15:25
Speaker 1: hundred percent. That was the policy, whether it be concrete
15:30
Speaker 1: or whether it be asphalt. And you know, concrete is
15:33
Speaker 1: about twice as expensive, but it lasts twice as long.
15:36
Speaker 1: It would be one hundred percent up to you. I
15:38
Speaker 1: felt like that was not fair and out of the
15:42
Speaker 1: five thousand lane miles of road in Omaha, there's about
15:46
Speaker 1: three hundred lane miles that they now consider substandard. And
15:52
Speaker 1: when I say substandard, that means they are not up
15:55
Speaker 1: to what today's standards are. Meaning when there is a
16:00
Speaker 1: new development, a new housing development, today's standards are concrete
16:05
Speaker 1: with storm drains, curbs, gutters, sidewalks. That's today's standards. Now,
16:10
Speaker 1: what I did is I got a group of citizens together,
16:14
Speaker 1: volunteer citizens. They met for over a year and I said,
16:17
Speaker 1: I want you all to give me a recommendation what
16:20
Speaker 1: you think is fair, because I don't think it's fair
16:23
Speaker 1: for the citizens to pay one hundred percent. They came
16:26
Speaker 1: back with a cost sharing plan and it is basically,
16:30
Speaker 1: it's about a fifty to fifty plan depending on if
16:33
Speaker 1: you do asphalt or concrete. The city would come out,
16:36
Speaker 1: they would engineer it, they would design it, they would
16:38
Speaker 1: do the work. The city would pay basically half and
16:40
Speaker 1: the homeowners would pay for half too. Since that policy
16:44
Speaker 1: has been in effect for about ten years, there has
16:47
Speaker 1: been at least a dozen or so neighborhoods that have
16:49
Speaker 1: taken part in this cost sharing plan. A lot of
16:53
Speaker 1: them are in the West Side area. Now the issue
16:56
Speaker 1: out in Wellcorn is along Skyline Ranches. This person Rock,
17:03
Speaker 1: I hope you're listening, and I'll meet with Rock sometime
17:06
Speaker 1: because what he many questions, It is too much to
17:09
Speaker 1: talk about on the air. But he did buy a
17:12
Speaker 1: house out there in twenty nineteen. He said, yeah, we
17:16
Speaker 1: visited the house in neighborhood in twenty nineteen and was
17:18
Speaker 1: struck up bad the roads were. He did bring up that.
17:23
Speaker 1: He said that I came out there and I because
17:29
Speaker 1: of one of my biggest political donors, had made a
17:35
Speaker 1: phone call to me that I went ahead and resurfaced
17:40
Speaker 1: some of the streets out there.
17:42
Speaker 3: Hm.
17:43
Speaker 1: And he said that the roads then magically were paved,
17:47
Speaker 1: and they were told that they were paved because they
17:49
Speaker 1: were connector roads. But it wasn't that. It was because
17:53
Speaker 1: I got a phone call from my biggest, my biggest
17:56
Speaker 1: political donor.
17:57
Speaker 2: Well that is not true, as in you, as in
17:59
Speaker 2: Geen go call from her biggest political support number one.
18:02
Speaker 1: I will not say who this is, but I will
18:04
Speaker 1: call him Sid and he is not my biggest political donor,
18:09
Speaker 1: not at all. You know, you could and you could
18:12
Speaker 1: look up that at the NADC, at the Nebraska accountability
18:15
Speaker 1: and disclosure, and you could see who my biggest donors were.
18:19
Speaker 1: I did get a call from this man I know him,
18:21
Speaker 1: and he did say, can you come out here and
18:23
Speaker 1: just look at these roads along Skyline. We looked at
18:26
Speaker 1: all of them. I was out there myself. I went
18:29
Speaker 1: to public Works and I said, isn't there anything we
18:31
Speaker 1: can do for these folks out here because these roads
18:35
Speaker 1: out here are in bad shape? And public Works said
18:39
Speaker 1: this was true, that because a few of them were
18:42
Speaker 1: considered connector, meaning they connected that road with a main
18:46
Speaker 1: or a secondary road, that the city could come out
18:49
Speaker 1: there and do an asphalt overlay on those. That is true.
18:52
Speaker 1: So it is not because my biggest political donor called
18:57
Speaker 1: me that I ran out there in reservice roads that
19:00
Speaker 1: was fault there. That was not true. There. The Skyline
19:04
Speaker 1: people did take it to court. They lost. They took
19:09
Speaker 1: it to appeals and they lost on that too. Now
19:12
Speaker 1: they're saying that there's gonna be more litigation, and that,
19:15
Speaker 1: of course is up to them. But he says, in
19:18
Speaker 1: here we do not have substandard streets. They are considered
19:22
Speaker 1: substandard compared to today's standard. There is no neighborhood that
19:27
Speaker 1: is going to be built now in the city of Omaha,
19:29
Speaker 1: new development that has asphalt streets with no storm drains
19:34
Speaker 1: or curves or gutters, so they are considered substandard by
19:39
Speaker 1: today's standards. He does say that they are on a
19:42
Speaker 1: septic tank and they cannot do concrete. That is why
19:47
Speaker 1: we gave the option of asphalt.
19:49
Speaker 3: II.
19:50
Speaker 1: Some neighborhoods they just have chosen just to do asphalt
19:53
Speaker 1: and they can do that. It is a lot less
19:56
Speaker 1: expensive than the concrete. So they have we call them
20:00
Speaker 1: road maintenance districts that is an option in cost sharing,
20:04
Speaker 1: which is asphalt, or they have street improvement districts, which
20:07
Speaker 1: is concrete, which is a cost sharing Elcorn was annexed
20:12
Speaker 1: back in two thousand and five. We all know what
20:14
Speaker 1: happened back then. It was Mayor Fahi was the mayor then.
20:18
Speaker 1: So this is one of those things that I'm going
20:20
Speaker 1: to say not my fault, but you know there was
20:23
Speaker 1: there was a back and forth that went on and
20:25
Speaker 1: it went to court, and basically the law is is
20:29
Speaker 1: that you can unilaterally annex an area in the state
20:33
Speaker 1: of Nebraska if the population is ten thousand or under,
20:37
Speaker 1: and that is what they used when the city annexed
20:41
Speaker 1: Millard and Benson and Florence in South Omaha, and so
20:45
Speaker 1: they went ahead and started an annexation process. What the
20:51
Speaker 1: citizens of Elcorn did at the time is they then
20:53
Speaker 1: turned around and tried to annex smaller communities to bump
20:57
Speaker 1: their population up above ten thousand. So the city of
21:00
Speaker 1: Omaha could not annex. But they went to court in
21:03
Speaker 1: two thousand and five two thousand and seven, and the
21:06
Speaker 1: Nebraska Supreme Court ruled unanimously that Omaha had the right
21:10
Speaker 1: to annex. So sore feelings still exists. I will tell
21:13
Speaker 1: you sore feelings still exist in Millard. And Millard was
21:17
Speaker 1: annexed in the seventies, and so you know, they could
21:22
Speaker 1: do the asphalt out there. That would be what would
21:26
Speaker 1: be the most practical thing for them to do if
21:30
Speaker 1: they are on that septic tank. Now, he was very
21:33
Speaker 1: mad at me too about saying that I made this statement.
21:38
Speaker 1: If somebody could show me in writing where it said
21:44
Speaker 1: that the city will do what it needs to do,
21:46
Speaker 1: but we have to see it in writing. Well that
21:49
Speaker 1: was because so many people came to me and said,
21:52
Speaker 1: we have it in writing. We have documents in writing
21:56
Speaker 1: that says if the city annexes us you will continue
21:59
Speaker 1: to do these streets exactly like Elkhorn did. We have
22:03
Speaker 1: it in writing, and I said, then that would solve
22:06
Speaker 1: all my problems. Just give me the document that it
22:09
Speaker 1: says that in writing that the city has agreed to
22:11
Speaker 1: do that, and that would solve everything because we would
22:14
Speaker 1: have it in writing. But they never could produce that
22:17
Speaker 1: document and that was broughten up in court too. So
22:20
Speaker 1: that's the reason I asked for that is because so
22:23
Speaker 1: many people told me that they had a document that
22:27
Speaker 1: said what the city agreed to do. So, you know,
22:30
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of issues out there. I know
22:34
Speaker 1: there's still a lot of hard feelings out there. But
22:36
Speaker 1: do keep in mind that Marry Ewing during the campaign
22:40
Speaker 1: used this as a weapon against me, There's no doubt,
22:43
Speaker 1: and he made the people out there feel like that
22:45
Speaker 1: he was going to come out there and fix their streets.
22:48
Speaker 1: He even did a commercial against me about that, and
22:51
Speaker 1: then after the election he basically said he couldn't help them.
22:55
Speaker 1: So I think you got to keep that in mind too.
22:58
Speaker 1: But you know what, Rock, I'm happy to talk to you.
23:02
Speaker 1: I'm happy to explain a few more things to you.
23:05
Speaker 1: I'm happy to listen to you. Of course it's out
23:08
Speaker 1: of my hands at this point in time, but I'd
23:11
Speaker 1: be happy to talk to you anytime about it. But
23:13
Speaker 1: I think you got to be fair in what you're
23:16
Speaker 1: saying too, and some of this that you say our
23:18
Speaker 1: claim was not quite accurate. I will say the streets
23:22
Speaker 1: are one of the big issues in the city of Omaha.
23:25
Speaker 1: We passed that bond issue two hundred million in twenty twenty,
23:29
Speaker 1: reauthorized it in November. At twenty four we're putting a
23:32
Speaker 1: lot more money into our streets than we ever did,
23:34
Speaker 1: and with that cost sharing, there is also money in
23:37
Speaker 1: the budget every year.
23:38
Speaker 2: This is the KFAB comment line with your hosts of
23:41
Speaker 2: the show Jeans author. I'm Peyton Hilock and I do
23:44
Speaker 2: have a couple of callers on the line. Dan and
23:45
Speaker 2: Michael will be with you shorty, Jean. I'll give you
23:47
Speaker 2: the floor here as we kind of wrap up this
23:49
Speaker 2: conversation with the Skyline ranches out in.
23:53
Speaker 1: Roads my favorite time.
23:54
Speaker 3: You know.
23:54
Speaker 1: First of all, I gotta say Scott Vorhees was making
23:57
Speaker 1: fun of me this morning because he says, I bring
23:59
Speaker 1: this big giant jug of this keg, the keg of
24:02
Speaker 1: things can drink. But you know, I drink iced tea
24:05
Speaker 1: in the morning, and I stopped by scooters every morning
24:08
Speaker 1: to get a nice tea because I don't drink coffee.
24:10
Speaker 1: I've never drank coffee. I think I'm the only nurse
24:13
Speaker 1: my age and from my time that I never drank
24:16
Speaker 1: coffee and I never smoked cigarettes. I never did either one.
24:19
Speaker 1: So you got time. You still can't. No, no, no,
24:21
Speaker 1: I don't want to do that. But this is just
24:23
Speaker 1: my lift in the morning. But back to one of
24:25
Speaker 1: my favorite subjects. Excuse me, besides the streetcar and the
24:29
Speaker 1: roads and one thing else I have to mention because
24:32
Speaker 1: I did mention during the campaign. During the campaign, John
24:36
Speaker 1: Ewing many many times said it was the recipe use
24:40
Speaker 1: that word for concrete that we use that is wrong
24:44
Speaker 1: and he will come up with a different recipe for
24:47
Speaker 1: concrete that will make them stronger and more durable. And
24:50
Speaker 1: I just have to say that was not true, but
24:53
Speaker 1: a lot of people believed it. About every two years,
24:55
Speaker 1: the Public Works Department works with suppliers, experts, people from
25:00
Speaker 1: the University of Iowa and they look at the recipe
25:03
Speaker 1: that the City of Omaha uses for concrete. It goes
25:06
Speaker 1: to the city Council. They approve it, and we are
25:09
Speaker 1: constantly looking at ways to make it more durable. But
25:12
Speaker 1: we work with the experts to do that. So just
25:15
Speaker 1: saying it was the recipe we use is wrong. Was
25:18
Speaker 1: a false statement that just was not true. So I
25:22
Speaker 1: just want to get that clear, and I'll be happy
25:25
Speaker 1: to take any more calls on Rhodes because it's something
25:28
Speaker 1: I've talked about an awful lot.
25:30
Speaker 2: Dan, thank you for being patient here on the phone lines.
25:32
Speaker 2: We want to cut to you now you Dan, you
25:34
Speaker 2: are alive with Jean's author here on the KFAB comment line.
25:37
Speaker 3: Good morning, Good morning, Jean, Thank maryag Jean. I should
25:41
Speaker 3: say thank you for your service. You've been great for
25:44
Speaker 3: the city and the community, and well, thank you. I
25:47
Speaker 3: campaign for you a few times. I didn't campaign the
25:49
Speaker 3: last time. I thought you were a shoe in, but
25:52
Speaker 3: things happened.
25:53
Speaker 1: Unfortunately everybody felt that just didn't come out and vote.
25:57
Speaker 1: But that's okay.
25:59
Speaker 3: It's I get it. Who decided that Omaha should be
26:03
Speaker 3: a sanctuary city. I've always wondered, what what?
26:11
Speaker 1: No, it is not a sanctuary city. Now, as long
26:16
Speaker 1: as I was mayor, I said Omaha is not and
26:19
Speaker 1: will not be a sanctuary city. If Mayor Ewing wants
26:23
Speaker 1: to change that, then that is a question you need
26:26
Speaker 1: to ask Mayor Ewing. But when I was mayor, it
26:28
Speaker 1: is not. Now, the City of Omaha does work with
26:33
Speaker 1: our federal agencies. They do work in collaboration with ICE.
26:40
Speaker 1: They do work in collaboration, especially if there is a
26:43
Speaker 1: hold on someone. They do detain and they do deport
26:48
Speaker 1: working with ICE. Omaha Police Department does not do that
26:52
Speaker 1: on their own. They do not go door to door.
26:54
Speaker 1: They are not looking for people's legal status. But they
26:59
Speaker 1: do work can cooperation with ICE. But the City of
27:02
Speaker 1: Omaha is not a sanctuary city unless Mayor you and
27:07
Speaker 1: has changed that. But all the time that I was mayor,
27:09
Speaker 1: it was not very good. Okay, Michael, thank you for
27:13
Speaker 1: being patient on the phone lines. Here you are live
27:15
Speaker 1: with Jean Stauthor here on news radio eleven ten kfa B.
27:20
Speaker 3: Good morning, good morning, good morning.
27:23
Speaker 4: I enjoy your show. Voted for you your first term,
27:26
Speaker 4: but then I moved out of the city limits for
27:30
Speaker 4: the rest of your terms. But I thought you've done
27:33
Speaker 4: a great job as mayor.
27:34
Speaker 1: Thank you.
27:36
Speaker 4: My first question is I'm a board member of both
27:39
Speaker 4: of an s I D and an HOA in Northwest Omaha,
27:44
Speaker 4: and one of the questions we get asked the most
27:47
Speaker 4: is annexation. When is annexation coming to our for our neighborhood? Okay,
27:53
Speaker 4: and I like this, ask what what you used is
27:56
Speaker 4: your criteria in the past for annexation of SID?
28:01
Speaker 1: Sure, it's yes, And I could explain that to you
28:05
Speaker 1: because I believed in really aggressive annexation. We annexed a
28:08
Speaker 1: lot when I was mayor. When you look at an area,
28:13
Speaker 1: say an SID, to see if it's ready for annexation.
28:16
Speaker 1: I had a whole team that worked on this for
28:19
Speaker 1: months and months and months. They looked at every SID
28:22
Speaker 1: and every unincorporated area. And when you annex you not
28:27
Speaker 1: only assume that their assets, but you assume their debt too.
28:32
Speaker 1: And so we our team then would look at that.
28:36
Speaker 1: They would look at all of the services that we
28:39
Speaker 1: have to provide if we annex in areas. So we
28:42
Speaker 1: knew the lane miles of road, we knew the acres
28:45
Speaker 1: of parks, we knew the condition of the roads. We
28:49
Speaker 1: knew what their sales tax revenue is going to be,
28:52
Speaker 1: what their property tax revenue is going to be. We
28:54
Speaker 1: looked at the cost of the trash collection that the
28:59
Speaker 1: Omaha Fire depart department already covered those areas, but the
29:02
Speaker 1: Omaha Police Department didn't, And so I always got approval
29:06
Speaker 1: from the police chief and the fire chief before we
29:09
Speaker 1: annexed an area, because the police chief might say, if
29:12
Speaker 1: we annex this area, we're going to need five more
29:14
Speaker 1: cops or eight more cops. We'd have to put that
29:17
Speaker 1: in the budget too. And then we looked at all
29:19
Speaker 1: of those things over a ten year period, and if
29:23
Speaker 1: it wasn't revenue positive for the city over ten years
29:28
Speaker 1: to annex that area, we wouldn't do it and we
29:31
Speaker 1: wouldn't take that in and then we would look at
29:33
Speaker 1: it again in the following year. And so that is
29:36
Speaker 1: the process that we used now a lot of people.
29:39
Speaker 1: When I first started annexing, when I was first mayor
29:43
Speaker 1: back in twenty thirteen. I think the first package was
29:45
Speaker 1: in twenty fourteen. We would always do a town hall meeting,
29:49
Speaker 1: invite a lot of people, anybody that wanted to come,
29:53
Speaker 1: and I had all the departments there, but I would
29:55
Speaker 1: explain why we chose that area to annex, and I
29:58
Speaker 1: know a lot of people would say to me, well,
30:00
Speaker 1: I chose this sid because I don't want to be
30:04
Speaker 1: part of the city, and that's why I chose it,
30:07
Speaker 1: and the process that we use are the ability to
30:12
Speaker 1: create an SID with the Sanitary Improvement District is by
30:16
Speaker 1: state law and it is that the intention is it
30:20
Speaker 1: will eventually become part of the city. And that's why
30:24
Speaker 1: your SID has to follow all the zoning regulations, all
30:28
Speaker 1: the planning departments rules and regulations because eventually it will
30:33
Speaker 1: become part of the city. The ones that we don't
30:36
Speaker 1: annex are if their debt is too high, and so
30:39
Speaker 1: that is kind of the process that we use, but
30:42
Speaker 1: we definitely look at it over a ten year period
30:45
Speaker 1: and make sure that it is ready to be annexed
30:48
Speaker 1: into the city. Now, a lot of people will also
30:51
Speaker 1: tell me, well, I don't want the city to pick
30:53
Speaker 1: up my trash. I want, you know, abes or my
30:55
Speaker 1: private trash collection to do it. And I would always say,
30:58
Speaker 1: you can continue doing that, but the city will be there.
31:01
Speaker 1: The city will be there and they will pick up
31:03
Speaker 1: your trash at no additional charge to you. The city
31:06
Speaker 1: will plow your snow, the city will take care of
31:09
Speaker 1: your roads. So these are the things that we look
31:12
Speaker 1: at and we evaluate what the cost is and so
31:15
Speaker 1: a lot of people will say, well, you know, I'm
31:17
Speaker 1: in SID number three two six, and is it ready
31:20
Speaker 1: to be annexed? You know, you can always call the
31:22
Speaker 1: Planning department and say, you know, is my is my
31:26
Speaker 1: SID being considered for annexation? Are we close to that?
31:30
Speaker 1: But you're you're if you are president of your HOA
31:34
Speaker 1: or your SID, you are probably very aware of what
31:38
Speaker 1: your finances are and where you are as far as
31:41
Speaker 1: what your dad is. It is estimated that Omaha will
31:45
Speaker 1: run out of room to expand by about twenty fifty
31:48
Speaker 1: that we will go out west as far as we
31:51
Speaker 1: can go. That'll be primarily it'll be all of Douglas County.
31:56
Speaker 1: And once you get all the way out to the
31:58
Speaker 1: Elkhorn River or the Ridge, you can't annex any further
32:01
Speaker 1: west because you can't bring your utility lines across the ridge.
32:05
Speaker 1: And so that is why we have focused during my
32:08
Speaker 1: administration about moving back then and building up in your
32:12
Speaker 1: midtown downtown area. And that's why we were so focused
32:15
Speaker 1: on you know, you go vertical then and you build
32:20
Speaker 1: up in your urban core because you've annexed out west
32:24
Speaker 1: about all you can. So Omaha is growing, and like
32:28
Speaker 1: I said, it used to be Omaha, and then Douglas
32:30
Speaker 1: County was big, and now Omaha is at least eighty
32:33
Speaker 1: percent of Douglas County and soon to take up more
32:36
Speaker 1: of Douglas County. In the Sunday Paper World Herald, it
32:40
Speaker 1: did have an article that I thought was very good
32:42
Speaker 1: by Henry Cortis, who is a great writer about Nebraska.
32:46
Speaker 1: Though the state they say has lost its edge and
32:49
Speaker 1: growth and they think a decline in competitiveness has cost
32:54
Speaker 1: the state, not Omaha, but the state seventy thousand jobs
32:58
Speaker 1: in the recent years. And they kind of analyze this.
33:01
Speaker 1: It's a big article on what they see is that
33:05
Speaker 1: the state has lost its edge when it comes to
33:08
Speaker 1: competing for jobs economic growth, and so it's a really
33:13
Speaker 1: interesting article, but it says a lot about where the
33:17
Speaker 1: state is going, and I think it's interesting that there's
33:21
Speaker 1: a lot of thought going into this about what the
33:24
Speaker 1: state in Nebraska can do to bring the state back.
33:28
Speaker 1: For several years, the three years in a row, Nebraska
33:32
Speaker 1: really was pretty high flying and won the Governor's Cup
33:36
Speaker 1: given the states landing in the most economic development projects
33:39
Speaker 1: per capita. And now we weren't even in the top
33:42
Speaker 1: ten this past year. So it's an interesting comparison of
33:46
Speaker 1: the city of Omaha, how it is growing and thriving,
33:50
Speaker 1: where the state of Nebraska now they're estimating that it's
33:53
Speaker 1: decreasing in its competitiveness and growth.
33:56
Speaker 2: We're going to cut to the phone lines here. Don
33:58
Speaker 2: You are now live on news radio ELEVENFABE with Jeans South.
34:02
Speaker 1: Good morning.
34:04
Speaker 5: Hi. I have a question about your childhood, and it
34:08
Speaker 5: oddly has a little bit for me to do with
34:11
Speaker 5: that Elkhorn River and jobs. I'm a de tassling contractor
34:15
Speaker 5: and I've led over ten thousand teenagers in the fields,
34:19
Speaker 5: and I'm curious with your amazing work ethic. What did
34:23
Speaker 5: you do as a child or teenager that you think
34:27
Speaker 5: helped develop the work ethic that you have today.
34:30
Speaker 1: Oh, that's an interesting question. I didn't detassel. That's hard work.
34:34
Speaker 1: I tell you so many kids in Nebraska that have
34:37
Speaker 1: done that. That is really hard work. I grew up
34:39
Speaker 1: in I was born in Alton, Illinois and grew up
34:42
Speaker 1: in Wood River, Illinois. You know, this whole thing that
34:45
Speaker 1: I live in Saint Louis is just it's false. It's
34:47
Speaker 1: not true at all. But I always felt like I
34:51
Speaker 1: had to do something to contribute to the city that
34:56
Speaker 1: I lived in. And I started very very young, even
34:59
Speaker 1: before I had a was able to drive, of working
35:02
Speaker 1: in when I was in high school, I worked in
35:04
Speaker 1: the summer as a lifeguard. I taught swimming lessons and
35:10
Speaker 1: I swam. That was my sport that I did. But
35:13
Speaker 1: I did a lot as far as that during the summer,
35:15
Speaker 1: and then in the winter, I worked for an accounting agency.
35:19
Speaker 1: Does that sound boring? But I had to walk there
35:23
Speaker 1: because I didn't I didn't have a car. I didn't
35:25
Speaker 1: have a car till I got to college. But I
35:27
Speaker 1: worked in an accounting agency, running numbers and things for
35:31
Speaker 1: an accountant, and we were real busy during tax season obviously,
35:34
Speaker 1: But that's that's basically what I did. And then when
35:38
Speaker 1: I knew I wanted to become a nurse, then I
35:40
Speaker 1: worked as a nurse's aide, which a lot of people
35:44
Speaker 1: that want to become nurses do that at first, just
35:47
Speaker 1: to get their feet in a hospital. And then I
35:49
Speaker 1: went to nursing school. So that's and I will say
35:53
Speaker 1: what I learned in nursing school because I quickly became
35:56
Speaker 1: a head nurse in an intensive care unit. But a
35:59
Speaker 1: lot of the things that I learned as being a nurse.
36:03
Speaker 1: I used every day as being mayor. I mean, you
36:06
Speaker 1: learn a lot about working with people, critical decision making,
36:10
Speaker 1: how you know how to work with empathy with people
36:14
Speaker 1: with the issues that they had, so many of the things.
36:17
Speaker 1: And I did the budget for the ICU that I
36:19
Speaker 1: worked in. I did all the hiring, manage the nurses
36:23
Speaker 1: and the physicians, so a lot of that. Those skills
36:27
Speaker 1: I used as being a nurse, I used every day
36:30
Speaker 1: as being mayor of Omaha. And once a nurse, always
36:33
Speaker 1: a nurse. I don't want to say when I used
36:35
Speaker 1: to be a nurse, because I think all of us
36:37
Speaker 1: nurses feel like we could do it again in a minute.
36:41
Speaker 2: Thank you for the phone call, don We're running a
36:43
Speaker 2: little bit out of time here, so thank you. We
36:44
Speaker 2: appreciate that question. We do appreciate questions like that too.
36:49
Speaker 2: We don't always have to talk about the social and
36:51
Speaker 2: economic status of the world. That was a little bit
36:53
Speaker 2: fun too. So Geine, I got a question here from Jerry,
36:56
Speaker 2: and we've talked about this a decent amount on the show.
36:58
Speaker 2: Maybe we can just talk about it real briefly here.
37:01
Speaker 2: I know you have your answer downpack. Dear kfa B
37:04
Speaker 2: From Jerry. I'm writing to enquire about the city's financial planning.
37:07
Speaker 2: Could you please clarify if the police and fire pension
37:09
Speaker 2: funds have an impact on the City of Omaha budget.
37:12
Speaker 1: Oh for sure, I mean they really do. And you know,
37:16
Speaker 1: the one thing that is a real concern and should
37:19
Speaker 1: be to all of us is our bond rating. You know,
37:22
Speaker 1: we have to have a really good bond rating to
37:25
Speaker 1: borrow money, to pass bondage and pay for bonds that
37:29
Speaker 1: we have the voters vote on. And the one thing
37:33
Speaker 1: that I did every fall is I went up to
37:36
Speaker 1: Chicago one year or the next year, the bond raiders
37:39
Speaker 1: would come down to Omaha and that Standard and Poors
37:41
Speaker 1: and Moodies, and they were our bond raiders, and I
37:45
Speaker 1: do the presentation of the city. The one reason that
37:48
Speaker 1: we don't have, the one main reason that the City
37:51
Speaker 1: of Omaha doesn't have a triple A bond rating by
37:53
Speaker 1: both bond raiders, and that's what you desire to have,
37:56
Speaker 1: is they will always say because of our unfunded pension
38:00
Speaker 1: liability that we have, they would give that every single
38:04
Speaker 1: time our fire and police pension is combined, it is
38:08
Speaker 1: underfunded and it has been underfunded for some time. When
38:12
Speaker 1: I became mayor, it was thirty eight percent funded. Now,
38:17
Speaker 1: by doing a lot of different things and real pension reform,
38:22
Speaker 1: we have moved that up to about fifty eight percent funded.
38:25
Speaker 1: But that is not enough for the bond raiders. They
38:27
Speaker 1: consider it at least eighty percent funded is considered funded
38:33
Speaker 1: for them, and they, you know, the bond raiders would
38:36
Speaker 1: like you to go and raise taxes sky high just
38:38
Speaker 1: to put more money into that fire and police pension.
38:41
Speaker 1: But of course that's something I didn't want to do either.
38:44
Speaker 1: So when you do the city budget every year, it's
38:48
Speaker 1: a big process and I don't have time to go
38:50
Speaker 1: through it, but you do have to consider every single
38:54
Speaker 1: year what you are putting into the fire and police pension,
38:58
Speaker 1: because that is negotiated. You negotiate that with the contracts
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Speaker 1: for the fire and for the police, which are separate
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Speaker 1: contract negotiations, but you negotiate what the city's portion is
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Speaker 1: going to be and what the employeees portion is going
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Speaker 1: to be. And the city Charter says that the amount
39:16
Speaker 1: that the employee er the city and the employee the
39:19
Speaker 1: fire or the police put into the pension has to
39:22
Speaker 1: be substantially equal. That's the term that they use, and
39:27
Speaker 1: so it's not that I never felt like the city
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Speaker 1: should be raising taxes, putting tons of money into the
39:33
Speaker 1: pension and putting a lot more money than the employees
39:37
Speaker 1: are putting in. So that is something that we consider,
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Speaker 1: but we put a lot of money into the fire
39:42
Speaker 1: and police pension.
39:44
Speaker 2: This is the CAFAB comment line. Your host of the show,
39:46
Speaker 2: Jean Stauthard. I'm Peyton Highlock. You coming up very shortly,
39:50
Speaker 2: have a chance to put a grand in your hand
39:52
Speaker 2: with the KFAB cash contest. Listen for that keyword. If
39:55
Speaker 2: you happen to get a call within the next hour
39:58
Speaker 2: from an unfamiliar number, be sure to answer it. That's
40:01
Speaker 2: a good phone call. As we prepare here for the
40:03
Speaker 2: rest of the week, Jeane, do we have any guests
40:05
Speaker 2: coming up this week that you can talk about.
40:08
Speaker 1: We do, but I'll talk about them tomorrow. And there's
40:11
Speaker 1: a couple that I'm working on that would be really,
40:13
Speaker 1: really good. I know I have one for Wednesday that
40:15
Speaker 1: I'll talk about tomorrow. But like I said, I've got
40:18
Speaker 1: a few requests out and so hopefully we're going to
40:21
Speaker 1: have some good guests this week.