Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Sister Cities in France and Recap from last week

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Sister Cities in France and Recap from last week · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stathart. And Peyton Heilack, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning, Peyton.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Gene. Happy Monday.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: Happy Monday to you. And I bet you had a
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: good weekend this weekend. What didn't you?
• 0:13
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah. I had a great weekend.
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  Speaker 3: Good.
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  Speaker 2: So did I.
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  Speaker 1: But thank you all for being with us today. We
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: want to hear from you. We want to get your feedback,
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints. Anything goes. City, state, national,
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  Speaker 1: the world. And we're going to have plenty of guests
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this week. And, of course, you will hear plenty of
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  Speaker 1: opinions from me. But it is your chance to speak
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: up and sound off. please send your emails to comment
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: at kfab.com. You can call us at 402-558-1110, or you
• 0:43
  Speaker 1: can leave us a recorded message on the talkback mic,
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: and we will play it on the air. We are
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: so happy that you are with us today. And Peyton,
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: no guests today, but we had such a busy week
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: last week. I think we are just going to follow
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: up on a lot and take some calls about the
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: issues we talked about last week. First of all, we
• 1:01
  Speaker 1: had Lynn Waltz, candidate for governor of the state of
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  Speaker 1: Nebraska on Tuesday. We had Mike Foley on Wednesday talking
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: about initiatives 440 and 441. We had Nate Dodge on
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  Speaker 1: the show on Thursday talking about the city bond issues.
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  Speaker 1: We had Brinker Harding on Friday, followed by Douglas County
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  Speaker 1: Sheriff Aaron Hanson.
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  Speaker 2: So there you go.
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  Speaker 1: We had a whole lot that we talked about, and
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  Speaker 1: we're going to follow up on a lot of that today.
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  Speaker 1: But you know what, Peyton, I got to just tell
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  Speaker 1: you this. You know, I've been nicknamed Mean Gene. For years,
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: and I love it. I love my nickname. I'd rather
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  Speaker 1: have that than weak gene.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, and it's started to evolve a little bit since
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  Speaker 3: you've been here on KFAB.
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  Speaker 2: It's now evolving into some clean gene.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, this is what I'm getting to. You Neanderthals that
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: are in this studio with me always comment about it
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: smells like coconuts in here or something because I wipe
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  Speaker 1: this desk down. It's kind of not clean. the cleanest studio,
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: but you guys like the look. I could just see
• 2:06
  Speaker 1: people in here in the past smoking cigarettes and smoking
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: cigars and drinking brandy and all that stuff. We don't
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  Speaker 1: do that, not Peyton and I. We're clean. But anyway,
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  Speaker 1: I love the name Clean Jean. Guess what is in
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  Speaker 1: my car today? Guess what I brought?
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  Speaker 2: Oh, I have no expectation here. I don't even know
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  Speaker 2: where to begin. My leaf blower. What? A leaf blower?
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  Speaker 1: I have a leaf blower in my car because every
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  Speaker 1: day when I leave this studio, the front of the
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  Speaker 1: studio and the sidewalk is a mess. There is leaves
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  Speaker 1: and junk and crud all over the place, and I
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  Speaker 1: don't like it. And we have this really neat little
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  Speaker 1: store right next to us, Dundee Candle Co., that is
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  Speaker 1: always really nice with decorations and little chairs out front.
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  Speaker 2: And then there's us.
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  Speaker 1: And so today, I swore I was going to come
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  Speaker 1: in here and I'm going to clean the front.
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  Speaker 2: So I'm not above doing anything with this studio. You understand?
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  Speaker 1: I'm cleaning the front sidewalk today after the show.
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  Speaker 3: That's really going above and beyond. It is fall, so
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  Speaker 3: the leaves do hit the ground. It's crud out there.
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  Speaker 2: You know what? It's kind of.
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  Speaker 3: Like the KFAB studio in here was just kind of
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  Speaker 3: black and white. And then you came in, Gene, and
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  Speaker 3: it's like color TV. You know, it's just a spectacle.
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  Speaker 4: Yeah, really.
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  Speaker 2: So much life and color. Like I put flowers in
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  Speaker 2: here or something. Right.
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  Speaker 3: Hey, hey.
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  Speaker 1: Hey, you know, Lucy, what Lucy Chapman does is she
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  Speaker 1: puts little stickies of blood dripping all over the windows.
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  Speaker 1: That's Lucy's humor right here. She decorated this place. A
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  Speaker 1: few skeleton hands. Skeleton hands are out in the hallway for.
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  Speaker 1: But anyway, so I'm going to make sure you're going
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  Speaker 1: to notice something.
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  Speaker 2: Out front.
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  Speaker 1: It's going to look nice and clean and tidy out there.
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  Speaker 1: So Mean Jean, Clean Jean, I'll take any of them. Now,
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  Speaker 1: I want to let you know what I did on
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  Speaker 1: Friday night because it was so much fun. And it's
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  Speaker 1: a little bit about the Omaha Sister City organization. We
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  Speaker 1: now have nine sister cities with the city of Omaha.
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  Speaker 1: Our first one was Shizuoka, Japan, 60 years ago. Since then,
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  Speaker 1: we have, and I know these, we have Sister City
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  Speaker 1: in Shizuoka, We have Braunschweig, Germany. We have Chile, Lithuania.
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  Speaker 1: We have Nice, Ireland. We have Jalapa, Mexico. We have Yantai, China.
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  Speaker 1: And then I, in 2019, created a new sister city.
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  Speaker 1: It's called Izani, Omaha in France, and it's where Omaha
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  Speaker 1: Beach was. I did that in 2019. And the France
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  Speaker 1: contingency was here on Friday night. And I got to
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  Speaker 1: go out to dinner with him. The other two are Carlantini, Sicily,
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  Speaker 1: and I did that one. And then Jamestown, Ghana, and
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  Speaker 1: that is one that Mayor Ewing is working on. So
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  Speaker 1: there's our nine right there. But anyway, you know, the
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  Speaker 1: whole thing is about citizen diplomacy and hoping that personal
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  Speaker 1: relationships will lessen the chance of future world conflicts. And
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  Speaker 1: it's all about education, business, culture, art, international trade, etc.,
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  Speaker 1: So anyway, the French delegation was here on Friday night,
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  Speaker 1: and I got to have dinner with them. The woman
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  Speaker 1: that was president of this association, and I have to
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  Speaker 1: explain it. I wanted a sister city around Omaha Beach,
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  Speaker 1: but there wasn't a city around Omaha Beach, Normandy. all
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  Speaker 1: these different areas that were big enough to be a
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  Speaker 1: sister city and have comparables with the city of Omaha.
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  Speaker 1: So they created this consortium of multiple little cities.
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  Speaker 2: And in France, if.
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  Speaker 1: You've ever been to France, every teeny weeny little city
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  Speaker 1: has a mayor, and they have like 100 churches and
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  Speaker 1: a mayor. But this was quite a few, a consortium
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  Speaker 1: of quite a few little cities, and then there was
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  Speaker 1: a One mayor that was elected president over all of
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  Speaker 1: those for this organization. So anyway, her name was Ann,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: Ann is how you spell it, but she goes by Ann,
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  Speaker 1: and her and I got along great. She didn't speak
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  Speaker 1: a lick of English, and I didn't speak a lick
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  Speaker 1: of French, and we just made a really good friendship.
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  Speaker 1: And we were able to communicate very well. She was
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  Speaker 1: here Friday night. We were down at Memoir down on
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  Speaker 1: 10th Street and having dinner. And then Philippe, who was
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  Speaker 1: also a mayor at the time, and he is now
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  Speaker 1: president of the association– And several others were here. And
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  Speaker 1: we had a really good time. Me, not speaking a
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  Speaker 1: lick of French at all. And then my husband, Kevin,
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  Speaker 1: my tall, smart, and handsome husband, Kevin, took four years
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  Speaker 1: of high school French. And he walks up and starts
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  Speaker 1: just speaking in French. And they were all so impressed.
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  Speaker 1: And they said, oh, you speak French? And he said, petit,
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  Speaker 1: a little bit. But he was able to communicate somewhat
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  Speaker 1: with them. And I learned a little bit more. You know,
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  Speaker 1: with the French, when you greet them, It's the two
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  Speaker 1: kisses once on each cheek. And then if you toast them,
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  Speaker 1: if there's a toast, like with a glass of wine,
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  Speaker 1: you have to look directly in their eyes or it's offensive.
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  Speaker 1: So when you clink your glass, you have to look
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  Speaker 1: directly in your eyes. They taught me that the other night.
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  Speaker 1: But anyway, Sister City is a great, great, great organization.
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  Speaker 1: Like I said, we've been involved for 60 years. And
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  Speaker 1: when the new terminal opens up at the airport, you
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  Speaker 1: are all going to see something that's really great. And
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  Speaker 1: it's about our sister cities that we have. So many
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  Speaker 1: airports that I have been to all over the country,
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  Speaker 1: when you walk in, you see displays of their sister cities.
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  Speaker 1: And we don't have that in Omaha, but we will.
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  Speaker 2: That's very interesting, Jean. And that's a really cool story.
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  Speaker 3: I'm glad you guys were able to get down, heart
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  Speaker 3: of downtown Omaha and spend time. Oh, they loved it.
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  Speaker 3: Can you explain it to me like I'm a fifth grader?
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  Speaker 3: What is the benefit of having sister cities? Obviously, it's
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  Speaker 3: been around for 60 years, but what is it?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, it was started by Eisenhower.
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  Speaker 1: And he proposed a people-to-people program at the White House
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  Speaker 1: conference in 1956. That's when it started, shortly after World
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  Speaker 1: War II. And it was a national, international initiative. And
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  Speaker 1: it was just really to celebrate how we are similar
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  Speaker 1: than how we are different. It's called citizen diplomacy, is
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  Speaker 1: what they called it. And it is, like I said
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  Speaker 1: in the beginning, it's just a hope that These personal
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  Speaker 1: relationships will lessen the chance of future world conflicts. And
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  Speaker 1: so we have things that we can exchange. And it's
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  Speaker 1: mostly education, business, culture, art, and international trade. And so,
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  Speaker 1: for instance, one of the things that we do with
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  Speaker 1: our sister cities is we have exchange students at UNO.
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  Speaker 1: And so one of their visits that they were doing
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  Speaker 1: while they were here over this weekend was they were
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  Speaker 1: visiting UNO. They visited the Med Center. They visited the
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  Speaker 1: Joslyn Art Museum. They gave me a really neat piece
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  Speaker 1: of art that they brought with them that showed Omaha Beach.
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  Speaker 1: I have some great pictures of me and Ann standing
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  Speaker 1: on Omaha Beach. And there's these big sculptures on Omaha Beach.
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  Speaker 1: And what they would like to do is to have
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  Speaker 1: a replica of these sculptures that are on Omaha Beach
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  Speaker 1: right now. And they're huge, but a smaller sculpture that
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  Speaker 1: looks the same. And they want them in their other
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  Speaker 1: sister cities they have in the United States.
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  Speaker 2: They have some other ones.
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  Speaker 1: And so we talked about that a bit, about getting
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  Speaker 1: a mini replica of the art that is sitting on
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  Speaker 1: Omaha Beach right now in Normandy and getting that put
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  Speaker 1: in Omaha. And they were thinking Memorial Park. And I said,
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  Speaker 1: what about our riverfront parks? Because we have a sculpture
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  Speaker 1: garden there and we have public art.
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  Speaker 2: There.
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  Speaker 1: And so that's just an example. But the exchange students,
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  Speaker 1: we talk about business exchanges, trade. And so all of
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  Speaker 1: those things are really important in keeping these things up.
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  Speaker 1: So Mayor Ewing is working on, like I said, Jamestown, Ghana.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know much about what– with that. That would
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  Speaker 1: have to be– That would have to be Mayor Ewing
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  Speaker 1: to explain that. And once again, Mayor Ewing will not
• 10:22
  Speaker 1: let any of his staff be on our show, but
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  Speaker 1: we all know about that. So anyway, hopefully we can
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: find out a little bit more about that. I do
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: have a question here from Sam. He gave us a call, 402-558-1110.
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  Speaker 1: Very relevant to the country of France in the last
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  Speaker 1: few weeks. Sam, thanks so much for the call. You're
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: live with Gene Stothert.
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  Speaker 2: Good morning, Sam.
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  Speaker 3: Morning, Gene.
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  Speaker 5: Hey, my wife and I... have been planning a trip
• 10:51
  Speaker 5: to Europe, our first trip to Europe for next summer.
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  Speaker 5: And I was wondering if Kevin asked them anything about
• 11:00
  Speaker 5: the current situation over there, because our travel agent that
• 11:04
  Speaker 5: we always work with is actually advising against going there.
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  Speaker 5: Because Paris was obviously, we wanted to kind of hop
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  Speaker 5: around to several different countries while we're over there for
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  Speaker 5: two weeks. And she highly advises not to even consider France.
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  Speaker 1: I would agree at this point in time because, I mean,
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  Speaker 1: I was just listening to the news and reading the
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  Speaker 1: Wall Street Journal this weekend, and it's a mess over there.
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  Speaker 1: I did ask them, the representatives that were here from France,
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  Speaker 1: about what was going on in France and in Paris.
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  Speaker 1: And they said, oh, it's all politics. It's all politics.
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  Speaker 1: I said, yeah, but isn't everything right now? It started
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  Speaker 1: out with a lot of student protesting, but now it's
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  Speaker 1: just getting violent and they're catching things on fire and
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: they're overturning cars and they're fighting with each other. I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if there's been any deaths yet. But it
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  Speaker 1: does not sound like a place right now that would
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: be good to visit. However, I do have a friend
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  Speaker 1: from Omaha that is over in Paris right now. They
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  Speaker 1: went on some pre-planned business. food trip that they're visiting
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  Speaker 1: a bunch of different restaurants and things. And I can't
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  Speaker 1: wait to find out what their experience was like now.
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  Speaker 1: I will tell you one thing. When I was in Paris,
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  Speaker 1: when we went over there in 2019 to sign this
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  Speaker 1: agreement in Normandy, we landed in Paris. And the one thing,
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  Speaker 1: I was so glad I got to go there because
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  Speaker 1: I'd never been. And I got to see everything. I
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  Speaker 1: got to see the Eiffel Tower and I went in
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  Speaker 1: the Louvre and I got to see everything, and it's beautiful.
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  Speaker 1: But the one thing I did notice about it back
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  Speaker 1: then is it was not clean, and it was so
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  Speaker 1: full of graffiti. I mean, the graffiti was everywhere. And
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  Speaker 1: I made the comment to one of the mayors. I said, boy,
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  Speaker 1: if this happened in Omaha, Nebraska, they'd kick me out
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  Speaker 1: of office. And they said, there is so much graffiti here.
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  Speaker 1: We just call it art.
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  Speaker 2: We don't do anything.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, we, you know, in Omaha, we are really
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: focused on graffiti abatement. As soon as we see graffiti,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: we try to get rid of it. And over there,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: they don't even try. They just say, we look at
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  Speaker 1: it as art. All the bridges, beautiful bridges, overpasses, buildings,
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  Speaker 1: all the front, the facades of buildings just covered with graffiti.
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  Speaker 1: That was in 2019. So I don't know what is
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  Speaker 1: going on there now, but Maybe you should go to
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  Speaker 1: Ireland and Scotland. And France has got so much history, though,
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: and it's really neat to be there. And I'll tell you,
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  Speaker 1: one of the greatest things that I got to do
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: as mayor is I did get to raise the flag
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: in the American cemetery. and got to put some flowers
• 13:47
  Speaker 1: on graves of two soldiers that were brothers from Omaha, Nebraska.
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  Speaker 1: And that was really kind of an emotional ceremony. That
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: was really great. And then they gave me the flag.
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  Speaker 1: They took the flag down, and I have it at home,
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: the American flag.
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  Speaker 3: Wow.
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  Speaker 2: It's pretty cool. That's tremendous.
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  Speaker 3: And it's an interesting perspective for me there, Jean. And
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: we opened the show by you mentioned anything's on the table.
• 14:09
  Speaker 3: We had a lot of really, really good guests on
• 14:12
  Speaker 3: the show last week, and Brett's calling in.
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  Speaker 2: Thanks for the call, Brett.
• 14:15
  Speaker 5: 402-558-1110.
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: You're live with Gene Stothert. Good morning.
• 14:21
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 14:21
  Speaker 4: How are you guys?
• 14:22
  Speaker 2: We are good.
• 14:23
  Speaker 5: Thanks.
• 14:25
  Speaker 4: Hey, I'm glad you all picked this up. I listened
• 14:27
  Speaker 4: to the interview with Lynn Walls last week. I travel
• 14:29
  Speaker 4: for work, so I was out of town, and I
• 14:31
  Speaker 4: wanted to call in and comment. I took away three things,
• 14:35
  Speaker 4: and I'm really just kind of amazed. What I heard
• 14:38
  Speaker 4: from her was really, number one, just slogans, sloganeering about
• 14:42
  Speaker 4: affordable health care, and affordable housing. They all talk about it,
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: but there's no specifics. So I don't really know what
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: that means. I don't know if anybody can define that.
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: I don't know what her answer is. The default Democrat
• 14:55
  Speaker 4: position would be more government. I don't know what government
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: has made more affordable. The second thing I heard was contradiction.
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: You know, LB575, she killed in cloture. She says she
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: supports the idea of not having males in female spaces,
• 15:11
  Speaker 4: but she voted against it. So I see a politician
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: that contradicts herself, and I either think she's inept or
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: she's dishonest. And that's a bad combination. And then the
• 15:22
  Speaker 4: last thing that really just kind of blew me away
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: was the big issue about property tax. And she's running
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: on this and making it a big deal. When you
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: asked her what her plan was, she, and I'm paraphrasing,
• 15:35
  Speaker 4: she essentially said she has no plan. She's getting everybody together.
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: She's doing these things, but you're at this point weeks
• 15:43
  Speaker 4: away from being a governor of a state, and you
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: have no plan. Just amazed and blown away that people
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: would consider voting for somebody that has no specifics and
• 15:54
  Speaker 4: really no substance. And I know you're short on time
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: in these things, but I really wish there would have
• 16:00
  Speaker 4: been some pushback on that because I was just blown
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: away when she said, I have no plan. So thank
• 16:06
  Speaker 4: you for opening it up, and have a great Monday.
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: You bet. You bet. And thanks for calling, Brett.
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  Speaker 1: And, you know, my goal was just to ask her
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: the questions and let her talk and let you all decide.
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: But I tell you, there was one thing that I
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: did punch back on, and I want to do it again,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: because she has a commercial out there now. And by
• 16:23
  Speaker 1: the way, she was very nice. I mean, very nice,
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: very personal to be in here. But she has a
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: commercial now that's running more and more and more. And
• 16:31
  Speaker 1: I challenged her on this and said, Then here's what
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: she said, and this was a thing that she has
• 16:37
  Speaker 1: this commercial that says Governor Pillen– it's a tack ad.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: He says he can't lower or didn't lower property tax,
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: but he– I quote, he has jacked up the sales
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: tax 36 percent on everything you buy. That is exactly
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: what the commercial says. Number one, Jim Pillen's number one
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: issue is property tax reduction. But he has 49 legislators,
• 17:05
  Speaker 1: her included, that have to vote and approve these things.
• 17:09
  Speaker 1: And that's why I think Governor Pillen got so frustrated
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: because he can't get them to agree. And number two,
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: the sales tax in the state of Nebraska are still 5.5%.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: He did not jack up any sales tax 36%. In
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the conversations that they were having about what is a
• 17:29
  Speaker 1: permanent solution or what is a solution, to property tax
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: rate reduction. One of the things that has been thrown
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: around for many years is sales tax. If you remember
• 17:40
  Speaker 1: with Heinemann, it was we have too many sales tax
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: exemptions in the state of Nebraska, and if we either
• 17:46
  Speaker 1: reduced or got rid of some, that we could really
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: lower our property tax because there's billions. in sales tax exemptions.
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: Another thing that Governor Pillen did bring up in discussion
• 17:59
  Speaker 1: was that if we did raise the sales tax and
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: it would be up to 7.5%, so that would be
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: the 36%, we would get billions of extra revenue in
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: the state of Nebraska. It was in conversation. It was
• 18:17
  Speaker 1: never introduced. And when I asked her that, she said, well, yeah,
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: we voted it down. No, you didn't vote it down
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: because it was never introduced. So that commercial that you
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: hear that is playing is absolutely false. I mean, and
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: that's what drives me crazy about these attack ads because
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: right now they are meant to confuse you and mislead you.
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: And saying that Governor Pillen jacked up, is what it says,
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the sales tax 36% on everything you buy, that is false.
• 18:51
  Speaker 1: That is just a false statement that is in her ad.
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: And I waited this morning to look at the disclaimer,
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: and it is paid for by her campaign.
• 18:58
  Speaker 2: It is not paid for by... by.
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: A pack or a super pack. And so these are
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: the things that drive me nuts. But she did answer
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: me by saying, we did not vote on that. We
• 19:10
  Speaker 1: voted it down. But no, they did not. It was
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: never introduced and they never had anything to vote on.
• 19:15
  Speaker 1: And by the way, Brad von Gellerin, who is a
• 19:19
  Speaker 1: state legislator and he is running for re-election, but he
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: is chair of revenue committee, he's going to be on
• 19:25
  Speaker 1: the show tomorrow. And we're going to ask him more
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: about this, this initiative and this property tax relief fund
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: that we are hearing a lot about when we talk
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: about this 440 and 441, about this $ 166 million in
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: direct property tax relief, which is bogus. And we had
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: State Auditor Foley on last Wednesday and he's totally against this.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: 440 and 441, saying that there is no guarantee whatsoever
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: that you are going to get $ 166 million in direct
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: property tax relief. Because if you read the fine print,
• 19:59
  Speaker 1: even on that, that is over 10 years, depending on
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: the market. And you know, one thing, while I'm on
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: a roll with this subject here, that I did bring
• 20:09
  Speaker 1: up and Auditor Foley brought it up too, is six
• 20:13
  Speaker 1: years ago, When the casino opened up in the state
• 20:18
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska, we were promised all this money was flowing
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: out of Nebraska over in Iowa. And now it's going
• 20:25
  Speaker 1: to stay here and it's going to result in all
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: this property tax relief. I'm still waiting and I'm sure
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: you are too. And that's been six years ago. I
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: know these numbers. The city of Omaha from Warhorse that
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: is in Omaha last year.
• 20:43
  Speaker 2: Do you know what we received? $ 2. 4 million. That's it. Now, $ 2.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: 4 million to me and you, if we got it
• 20:52
  Speaker 1: in our bank account right now, that's a lot of money.
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: But for the city of Omaha to think we were
• 20:56
  Speaker 1: having all this money rolling out of Omaha and we
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: can use it for tax reduction. $ 2. 4 million last year.
• 21:05
  Speaker 1: We budgeted $ 2. 4 million this year. Not that it's growing.
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: And in the 2027 budget, there is another $ 2. 7 million.
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: It's not growing. And $ 2. 7 million is not a lot
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: to reduce property taxes for this great promise we had
• 21:24
  Speaker 1: with these casinos years ago. Now, the breakdown on this
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: is on the gross gaming revenue the state receives from
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: Right now, 70% goes to the Nebraska Property Tax Credit
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: Cash Fund, and that's supposed to be for statewide property
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: tax relief.
• 21:44
  Speaker 2: Twelve and a half goes to the City of Omaha.
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: So just think, 70% goes to the state, twelve and
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: a half to the City of Omaha, twelve and a
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: half to Douglas County, two and a half to the
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: state's general fund, and two and a half to Compulsive
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: Gamblers Assistance Fund. So that's the breakdown. So again, this
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: 440 and 441, I know this morning about 7 a.m.,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Rosie and Scott Voorhees had on Jordan McRain, who is
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: the lobbyist that has been hired to promote and talk
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: about– he's a proponent of LB 440 and 441. He
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: was on, but you got to consider he's a paid
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: lobbyist for these folks. And so he was on, and
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: I think he's to kind of counter when I had
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: Mike Foley on saying I oppose this. But you've got
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: to keep these facts all in line before you vote
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: because what you're hearing, especially what you're hearing on TV,
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: is always not factual. Another thing I have to bring
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: up about Lynn Waltz is that in the World Herald
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: on 10-12, there was an op-ed saying, and it was
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: written by former state legislators that worked with her. It
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: was Jody Albright, Tom Brewer, Steve Erdman, and Kathleen Kalf.
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: They wrote this op-ed, and I'll just say what the
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: title was. The title was of the op-ed, We Served
• 23:04
  Speaker 1: with Lynn Waltz in the Nebraska Legislature.
• 23:07
  Speaker 2: She is no moderate.
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: And then it goes on to explain, like you did, Brett,
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: about some of the votes that she made and what
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: her positions really were. So I think you could probably
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: pull this op-ed up. It was written on the 12th
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: of October. So you could read that, too, to get
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: some more information.
• 23:27
  Speaker 3: So many things to talk about here on Nebraska's news
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: weather and traffic station, 1110 KFAB. Your host of the
• 23:34
  Speaker 3: comment line, Gene Sothert. My name is Peyton Highlock.
• 23:37
  Speaker 2: We want to hear from you.
• 23:38
  Speaker 5: 402-558-1110.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: An email, comment at kfab.com. And as Gene always says,
• 23:46
  Speaker 3: everything goes.
• 23:47
  Speaker 2: Everything goes.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: We'll not back away from anything. Reach out to us.
• 23:50
  Speaker 3: More to come here on the comment line with Gene Stothert.
• 23:53
  Speaker 2: And we are back.
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: And here's another thing I wanted to cover today. Peyton,
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: I've got all sorts of things swimming around in my
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: mind today. But there is a man in Omaha named
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: Ricky Fulton. Ricky Fulton is what I would consider an activist.
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: Ricky Fulton, when we were doing the beautiful riverfront parks
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: that have had millions and millions of people visit, loved them.
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: He started this group that was called Boycott the Gene
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: Leahy Mall because he hated the thought of it. He
• 24:21
  Speaker 1: hated the thought of the streetcar. I think he hates Omaha,
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: but Ricky Fulton is a constant writer to the public pulse.
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: And I just have to say, I've got to read
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: one portion of what he wrote on a public pulse
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: letter that was published in the World Herald on October 15th.
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Because again, shame on the World Herald for not fact-checking these,
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: because if people read these, they believe it is true.
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: And there is a There's quite a big difference about
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: what is opinion and what is just false. I always
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: say people are entitled to their own opinions, but not
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: their own facts. And what Ricky Fulton writes in on
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: this public post letter, the headline is Omaha needs to
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: control spending. Of course, he is against the bond issues too.
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: He's against almost everything it seems like that we do
• 25:10
  Speaker 1: in Omaha. But at the very end of it, he
• 25:13
  Speaker 1: is talking about Tranquility Park. And he says– and he
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: talks about what we need as a committee to protect taxpayers. Well,
• 25:22
  Speaker 1: there's a committee out there as far as promoting the
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: bond issue. But at the end, he said that if
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: we had a committee that was to protect the taxpayers–
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: they would point out that Tranquility Park project, was it
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: originally supposed to be paid with federal COVID funds? Absolutely,
• 25:43
  Speaker 1: 100% false, Ricky Fulton. I don't know where you got
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: that or why you made that up, but I was
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: the one that managed the federal COVID funds. And I
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: will tell you, one of the number one issues that
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: people identified for me And basically a survey of what
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: we should do with the COVID funds was to use
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: on our parks. So we gave about $ 12 million to
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: our Omaha parks for multiple parks that needed some rehabilitation.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: None of it was supposed to go to Tranquility to Park,
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: the COVID funds, and the COVID funds were not supposed
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: to pay that. Ricky Fulton, get your facts straight, please,
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: because this kind of stuff just drives me crazy. And
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: I will tell you this right now, that with the funds,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: it was supposed to be lease purchase funds, and that
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: was in the 2025 CIP, Capital Improvement Plan. It was
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: in 26, and it is in 27, and it is
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: not supposed to be paid for by CIP.
• 26:52
  Speaker 2: COVID funds. Wrong.
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: Sorry, Ricky Fulton, you're wrong. Here's another thing about Ricky Fulton.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: This is really interesting, and I don't mind saying it
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: because he used to send me hate mail constantly all
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: the time about just about everything that we did in
• 27:07
  Speaker 1: Omaha was wrong. He hates the streetcar. Hates, hates, hates
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: the streetcar. Goes on and on and on about the streetcar.
• 27:15
  Speaker 1: And guess what? Someone sent me down at City Hall.
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: There was a letter that was written by to the
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: City Council, September 16, 1998, from Ricky Lee Fulton. And
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: it says in here, Dear Sirs, I am in full
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: support of the trolley system in downtown Omaha. I believe
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: on the economic benefits, and it will be a plus
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: for downtown. I believe the system will relieve parking problems
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: and congestion problems in the old market. I believe a
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: vibrant downtown is important to any big city, and I
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: believe it will be a plus for downtown. and a
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: transit system will be of great benefit to the citizens
• 27:54
  Speaker 1: of Omaha. Oh, dear, Ricky, you have been caught by
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: speaking out of both sides of your mouth.
• 28:00
  Speaker 2: I know. That smells a little funny.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: It does, but it is signed Ricky Lee Fulton, and
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: it was sent to City Hall. And, of course, now
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: it's the worst thing because guess what? Gene Stothert promoted it. Okay, Ricky,
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: you don't like what I've done, but you know what?
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: Come on, tell the truth. Don't write– Don't write public
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: pulse letters and try to mislead people.
• 28:21
  Speaker 2: Totally made that up.
• 28:23
  Speaker 3: Now, I don't know all of the numbers behind the
• 28:26
  Speaker 3: COVID money that came from the federal government, but surely
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: it wasn't enough to fully fund a new complex like Tranquility.
• 28:35
  Speaker 5: No.
• 28:35
  Speaker 2: That's a lot of money. We wouldn't even consider that.
• 28:40
  Speaker 1: The original amount that we budgeted with lease purchase bonds
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: for Tranquility was $ 54 million. I gave $ 12 million to
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: all the 256 parks in Omaha for the parks director, which,
• 28:54
  Speaker 1: by the way, we still don't have one with the
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: city of Omaha, to identify for me his priorities and
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: where this money needed to be dispersed.
• 29:03
  Speaker 2: And so that's how we did that.
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: But we had teams of people working on where the
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: other COVID dollars would go to housing, etc., But it
• 29:13
  Speaker 1: was not supposed to go to fund tranquility. So this
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: is just another example of an attempt to mislead the public,
• 29:21
  Speaker 1: which I hopefully we can get a lot of that
• 29:23
  Speaker 1: out with this show, especially about the elections. Don't believe everything.
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: It used to be, well, I read it in the
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: World Herald. It's got to be true. I heard it
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: on the 6 o'clock news. It must be true. You
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: cannot believe all those things anymore. And it's really frustrating
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: for me and I think all of you, too.
• 29:40
  Speaker 3: Speaking of, um, uh, taxpayer money and, and, uh, uh,
• 29:43
  Speaker 3: federal funds and all of those sorts of things. I
• 29:45
  Speaker 3: have two questions that I got in the email inbox
• 29:48
  Speaker 3: that I'm going to try and tie together in one question. Um,
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: here we go. This one is, uh, let me find
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: it real quick. Got to be on my toes here
• 29:58
  Speaker 3: from Jean. Was your trip taxpayer-funded, your trip to your
• 30:04
  Speaker 3: sister city in France?
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: Oh, heavens no, Gene. Here, I'm going to tell you
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: another story. Okay, so no, I paid for it 100%
• 30:14
  Speaker 1: out of my own pocket. The same when I went
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: to Ireland and the same when I went to Sicily.
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: No taxpayer dollars. Now, Gene, please ask that question about
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Mayor Ewing's trip to Ghana. Ask that question and see
• 30:30
  Speaker 1: if any city money is going because I've been told
• 30:34
  Speaker 1: that Mayor Ewing takes security. on trips too, which is taxpayer-funded,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: and I never took security. Because frankly, who cares who
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: the mayor of Omaha is when you're out, you know,
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: when you're traveling on a trip? They don't even know
• 30:47
  Speaker 1: who you are, nor do many of them care. But no,
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: and you know, when I went to Normandy for the
• 30:53
  Speaker 1: first time back in 2019, Mike Kelly, who was a
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: great guy that used to write for the Omaha World-Herald,
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: great reporter, he went with us. And I will never
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: forget this story because I was standing on Omaha Beach
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: with the mayors that I just talked to you about.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: It was a real rainy, kind of cloudy day. And
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: they were telling me that on D-Day when all of
• 31:17
  Speaker 1: those soldiers arrived and all of them were getting shot
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: and killed right there. The weather was just the same.
• 31:23
  Speaker 1: That's what it was like on D-Day. And so it
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: was this emotional ceremony standing right there on that beach
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: where all those soldiers came on land. And Mike Kelly
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: walks up to me, and the first thing he says
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: to me is, who paid for your trip? Did the
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: Omaha taxpayers pay for your trip? And I said, absolutely not.
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: And my husband, Joe, at that time, he was with
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: me 100%.
• 31:47
  Speaker 2: Came out of our pocket.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: When we went to Italy, Kevin and I just got
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: married and paid 100% for Kevin's, 100% for me. So
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: no taxpayer dollars were wasted on me and no, Gene
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: Stothert never took security anywhere with her. My security would
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: drop me off at the airport and go, see you later.
• 32:04
  Speaker 1: And that was about it.
• 32:06
  Speaker 3: Sometimes I see you train. I don't think anybody wants
• 32:09
  Speaker 3: to mess with you anyway. You've got a mean roundhouse kick.
• 32:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, yeah, right.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: Similar to this, though, who pays– and I'm quoting this email.
• 32:16
  Speaker 3: This is not my words here. This one's from Robert.
• 32:19
  Speaker 3: Who pays for the sister city junkets? I'm assuming that's
• 32:23
  Speaker 3: in reference to your visitors this week.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: You know, I don't know how those sister cities that
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: we have, and I named them all, and when they
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: do their visits here, I don't know how they pay.
• 32:35
  Speaker 2: I don't know how the French pay when they come here.
• 32:38
  Speaker 2: That's on them.
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's on them. But I will say, since I
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: have been mayor, that it is all– All of it.
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: You know, when we took the trip to Sicily, I
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: think there was about 80 people from Omaha that went
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: and they were all Sicilians that lived in Omaha, all
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: paid for them themselves. It's 100 percent nothing on the
• 32:59
  Speaker 1: taxpayer for these. When I went to Ireland, there was
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: it was just me and Kevin, a small group. Normandy,
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: there was a big group, too, and everybody paid their
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: own way.
• 33:11
  Speaker 3: Wrapping up this segment here, and I will let you
• 33:14
  Speaker 3: get the final word, Gene. This email comes from Nick,
• 33:17
  Speaker 3: and thank you for the reminder. FYI, next Sunday's NFL
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: schedule includes Pittsburgh Steelers and New Orleans Saints playing very
• 33:30
  Speaker 3: near to Paris.
• 33:32
  Speaker 2: As of this morning, the game is still on.
• 33:34
  Speaker 1: Ooh.
• 33:35
  Speaker 2: Interesting. That's just a little interesting tidbit there. That's interesting.
• 33:39
  Speaker 2: Why are they playing there?
• 33:41
  Speaker 3: The NFL has done this globalization of the game, and
• 33:45
  Speaker 3: they've had a few teams. Basically, one game every week
• 33:49
  Speaker 3: in the NFL is played internationally. It's been played in
• 33:52
  Speaker 3: Ireland and Dublin so far. They've had a few games
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: in various cities in England. They even made a trip
• 33:57
  Speaker 3: down to Brazil. The NFL does that.
• 34:00
  Speaker 2: NFL, yep.
• 34:01
  Speaker 3: And there's been some safety concerns regardless of the country,
• 34:05
  Speaker 3: you know, There's so many people involved in an NFL team, organization, travel, media.
• 34:12
  Speaker 2: Well, you would know this, Peyton. What about college? Because
• 34:15
  Speaker 2: the Huskers played in Ireland. They have. They have.
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: I remember they were playing in Ireland. I would have gone,
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: except that's exactly the time I was in Sicily. And
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: I was even thinking, can we get a plane and–
• 34:28
  Speaker 1: Go over the Mediterranean and go watch the Huskers play
• 34:32
  Speaker 1: in Ireland.
• 34:32
  Speaker 2: We decided that would be a little expensive for us.
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: Wow, yep.
• 34:35
  Speaker 2: Again, it was just us. I forgot about that. Nebraska
• 34:38
  Speaker 2: played Northwestern. In Dublin. In Dublin.
• 34:41
  Speaker 5: Yes.
• 34:41
  Speaker 2: In August of 2022.
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's right exactly the time I was in Sicily. So, yeah, interesting,
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: isn't it?
• 34:49
  Speaker 2: Very interesting.
• 34:50
  Speaker 3: More to come here on the KFAB Comment Line with
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: your host, Gene Stothert. My name is Peyton Highlock. 402-558-1110.
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: Comment at kfab.com. Final segment of the KFAB Comment Line.
• 35:01
  Speaker 3: Your host, Gene Stothert. My name is Peyton Heilach. I
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: want to take a quick moment here to just tease
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: the KFAB podcast. Last week, Gene did a tremendous job.
• 35:11
  Speaker 3: So many high-profile guests on the Comment Line. Lynn Walsh,
• 35:16
  Speaker 3: Mike Foley, Nebraska State Auditor, Nate Dodge in reference to
• 35:20
  Speaker 3: the Tranquility and the new Fire and Police Committee, station,
• 35:25
  Speaker 3: Brinker Harding and Sheriff Hanson. It was absolutely star studded
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: with guests last week. So be sure to go to KFAB.com
• 35:33
  Speaker 3: slash podcasts or the I heart radio app. Listen to
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: those podcasts, 40 minutes straight KFAB comment line, cut out
• 35:41
  Speaker 3: the commercials all for you to go listen to at
• 35:44
  Speaker 3: any time. And about two weeks away from the election,
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: a lot of very, very high profile information there that
• 35:52
  Speaker 3: will give you a lot of information about about what
• 35:54
  Speaker 3: to vote for in the coming weeks.
• 35:55
  Speaker 2: Hope so. That's what we want.
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: We want you to make up your own mind, but
• 35:59
  Speaker 1: we want you to get the facts, the actual information.
• 36:03
  Speaker 1: And tomorrow we're going to have State Senator Brad Von
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: Gilleran on, who is chair of the Revenue Committee. He
• 36:09
  Speaker 1: is running for re-election, but we're going to reach out
• 36:10
  Speaker 1: to his opponent and make sure that she has the
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: opportunity to come on also. Last week, again, Breaker Harding
• 36:17
  Speaker 1: was on. Friday, after the three debates, we reached out to...
• 36:22
  Speaker 1: Denise Powell, once again, multiple times we've reached out to
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: her and asked her if she wanted equal time and
• 36:28
  Speaker 1: she wanted to come on because I would have her,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: won't even respond. Won't even say, no, thank you, like
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: she did for her rebuttal. So we've invited her. So
• 36:37
  Speaker 1: there was one email that came in last week I
• 36:39
  Speaker 1: wanted to address real quick.
• 36:40
  Speaker 2: Do you have it? Yes, yes.
• 36:43
  Speaker 3: This email is, why would Jean mention Bob Stew be
• 36:48
  Speaker 3: staying on board with the city of Omaha? Does she
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: think that he will not be elected as the next
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: mayor of Papillion?
• 36:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I wanted to respond to that.
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: And, you know, Bob Stubbe has been the public works
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: director for the city of Omaha since 2005. Mike Fahey
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: hired him. And, you know, he's a great guy. He
• 37:09
  Speaker 1: loves his department. He loves the people in that department.
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: And guess what, folks? He told Mayor Ewing that he
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: was going to retire over a year ago, and he
• 37:18
  Speaker 1: wanted to retire in August 2015. And Mary Ewing knew that,
• 37:22
  Speaker 1: but there has not been any replacement hired for Bob Stubbe,
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: so there would be no public works director as well
• 37:29
  Speaker 1: as no.
• 37:31
  Speaker 2: Parks director.
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: And so Bob Stubbe, I think out of his desire
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: to help public works stay steady– that he has offered
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: to stay on a few more months. But I have
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: all the confidence in the world that he is going
• 37:48
  Speaker 1: to win the election in Papillion as mayor. He is
• 37:51
  Speaker 1: just doing it out of the kindness of his heart
• 37:54
  Speaker 1: and because of his care about the Public Works Department
• 37:58
  Speaker 1: in the city of Omaha, they do not have a
• 38:01
  Speaker 1: replacement for him. And he wanted to retire in August
• 38:05
  Speaker 1: of last summer, but he is staying on just to
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: help out, hopefully until they can find a replacement. And
• 38:12
  Speaker 1: I just saw very recently, like last week, they just
• 38:15
  Speaker 1: posted the position last week. And so Bob Stubbe will
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: be leaving. I mean he's going– like I said, I
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: have confidence he will be the mayor of Papillion. But
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: I don't know why they've waited so long, but they did.
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: And once again, no parks director yet and no public
• 38:35
  Speaker 1: works director to replace Bob Stubbe.
• 38:37
  Speaker 2: Very interesting.
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: Thanks for that clarification there, Gene. And that's why I
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: love getting emails like this. We'll always source back to
• 38:43
  Speaker 3: things and make sure we get it absolutely correct. I
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: just got an email in my inbox, comment at kfab.com.
• 38:50
  Speaker 3: Mayor's funding for parks.
• 38:52
  Speaker 2: Thank you.
• 38:52
  Speaker 3: This comes from Derek. I'm a resident of Mission Park neighborhood.
• 38:56
  Speaker 3: Because of Mayor Stothert's funding for parks, we got a
• 38:59
  Speaker 3: brand new park in our neighborhood.
• 39:01
  Speaker 2: It was needed.
• 39:02
  Speaker 3: We had two old parks that were not great for kids.
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: The new park replaced one of the old ones and
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: has been a huge benefit to the neighborhood, not only
• 39:10
  Speaker 3: for the residents to use, but it makes our neighborhood
• 39:13
  Speaker 3: much more attractive and which increases home valuations for those
• 39:16
  Speaker 3: who want to sell. This is a great example of
• 39:18
  Speaker 3: how public funding can create value if it's done the
• 39:22
  Speaker 3: right way.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Derek. Derek, thank you.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: I agree. I mean, again, we have 256 parks in
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: the city of Omaha. Some are teeny weeny and some
• 39:31
  Speaker 1: are huge like Memorial Park or Elmwood Park, but they
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: are in great need. And I have always tried to, well,
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: when we hired Matt Kalcevich, who is a great parks director,
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: who Ewing let go, you know, he was so enthusiastic
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: about our parks, really trying to identify which parks needed
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: the most attention first, prioritize it. That's why I asked
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: them to do a parks master plan, which I hope
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: is done now and really can prioritize.
• 39:56
  Speaker 2: But parks are very important to people in Omaha.
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: But once again, COVID money was never meant to pay
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: for tranquility. But that is it for us today. Boy,
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: time flies when we're having fun, doesn't it? Thank you
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: for spending this hour with us today. We'd love for you.
• 40:11
  Speaker 2: To join us tomorrow.
• 40:13
  Speaker 1: State Senator Brad von Gilleran will be in the studio tomorrow.
• 40:16
  Speaker 2: And I'm Jean Stothert. And this is 1110 KFAB.