Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Omaha Swiming Pools and Budget

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Omaha Swiming Pools and Budget · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jeene Stother Peyton. Hi Lock, my producer
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Speaker 1: is also here.
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Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning, Jean, Good morning. How are you today?
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Speaker 2: I'm doing pretty good, good energy on this Monday, I
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Speaker 2: think so.
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Speaker 1: And I ran into Peyton out in the wild this
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Speaker 1: weekend at our favorite store, Target.
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Speaker 2: I love Target, Yes, I love Target and Hive.
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Speaker 3: We were all stinky and sweaty, my fiance and I.
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Speaker 3: We were moving this weekend.
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Speaker 1: Well, you got to buy a shower curtain. You know,
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Speaker 1: these things are important. But today we really want to
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Speaker 1: hear from you. We want to get your feedback. We
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Speaker 1: want to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, anything goes
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Speaker 1: as you know, we're not going to back away from anything, city, state, national,
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Speaker 1: the world, and we will have good guest. I've got
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Speaker 1: some lined up for later on this week, and of
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Speaker 1: course you're going to hear plenty of opinions from me.
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Speaker 1: But it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
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Speaker 1: So you can send your emails to comment at kfab
0:53
Speaker 1: dot com or you can call us at four oh two,
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Speaker 1: five five eight eleven ten. Tonight they've been to talking
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Speaker 1: about it, but tonight is the night, Peyton that we're
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Speaker 1: going to be at Lanski's fiftieth and l Baker's back.
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Speaker 1: Scott Vorhees is going to be playing the piano at four,
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Speaker 1: and I think you and I will probably show up there. Yes,
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Speaker 1: I'm thinking I will show up there. I'm thinking I'll
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Speaker 1: bring my husband. You might even be bringing your fiance, Peyton,
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Speaker 1: and I will be there. You might be bringing your grandma,
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Speaker 1: you might be bringing the family. Who knows who will
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Speaker 1: be there. Get in there and get some food, and
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Speaker 1: it's gonna be fun, and I hope you all stop by.
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Speaker 1: Chris Baker and Peyton will be there after they're off
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Speaker 1: the air at six o'clock, But come on down. It'll
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Speaker 1: be fun and there's food, there's drink, and we will
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Speaker 1: have a good time. And you could hear Scott vorhes
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Speaker 1: play the piano and sing, which you hear him do
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Speaker 1: that every day anyway, because he loves singing.
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Speaker 2: So here we are on Monday. Guess what.
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Speaker 1: My two little grandsons, Calvin and Theo, are here from
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Speaker 1: Cincinnati this weekend, so I got to hang out with
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Speaker 1: them and the world famous Max, who I talk about
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Speaker 1: all the time. My six year old grandson, who lives
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Speaker 1: in Omaha, is still in Hawaii. He's coming back tomorrow.
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Speaker 1: But they got to watch Kilauea is erupting now and
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Speaker 1: spewing lava, which is really cool because you don't always
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Speaker 1: get to see that when you go to the Big Island.
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Speaker 1: And so they hiked it down there at night one night,
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Speaker 1: and they sent me some magnificent pictures of Kilauea erupting
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Speaker 1: and lava coming out. And I'm sure Max will have
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Speaker 1: a lot to tell me. My daughter said, Max has
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Speaker 1: become obsessed with buffets. So they're going hotel to hotel
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Speaker 1: because he has to go to and all you can
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Speaker 1: eat buffet every day. But he's going to miss the
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Speaker 1: buffets when he comes home. But I think that's pretty funny.
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Speaker 1: I always want to get back with you if you
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Speaker 1: ask me questions that I don't have the answer.
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Speaker 2: This one's simple.
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Speaker 1: Somebody called last week and said, what the heck is
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Speaker 1: going on at ninetieth and Dodge around the Swanson Library.
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Speaker 1: There's a construction and fence, And I did find that
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Speaker 1: out for you. I drove by it myself. That's what's
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Speaker 1: pretty simple. I said it either had to be utilities
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Speaker 1: or the parking lot.
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Speaker 2: It is neither.
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Speaker 1: But It is just the old pedestrian safety railing that
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Speaker 1: was along the sidewalk there. It's worn out and they're
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Speaker 1: just replacing that. That's all there is to that.
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Speaker 3: Because there is a little bit of a drop there
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Speaker 3: from the sidewalk off the retaining wallet. Yeah.
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Speaker 1: And you know for one that has campaigned on that
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Speaker 1: street corner standing there waving signs, Yeah, that one was
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Speaker 1: kind of falling down and it is a bit of
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Speaker 1: a drop off. So that's all that's happening there. And
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Speaker 1: just one more note, Gerald called a week or so ago,
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Speaker 1: was on the air, seemed to be quite upset about
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Speaker 1: things that were going on within the sheriff's department in
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Speaker 1: a county somewhere in central Nebraska. But Gerald, if you
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Speaker 1: happen to be listening, if you could call us back,
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Speaker 1: or if you could email us, I do have some
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Speaker 1: recommendations for what you could do. I never want to
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Speaker 1: leave you hanging, and so I did look into it,
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Speaker 1: and if you could get a hold of us, I've
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Speaker 1: got some ideas of what you can do and hopefully
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Speaker 1: that you can address this issue. So I want to
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Speaker 1: make sure we got that out there. So what are
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Speaker 1: we going to talk about today? I want to say.
4:16
Speaker 1: In the words of Lucy Chapman, she used to say,
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Speaker 1: I ain't got nothing. Lucy always used to say that, well,
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Speaker 1: good for you, but I have something. But I have
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Speaker 1: something to I'm kid and I always have something. You do.
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Speaker 3: You always come so prepared. But I got a phone
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Speaker 3: call from MJ. Here she would like to add something.
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Speaker 3: This is in regards to the free tired disposal that
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Speaker 3: we have had recently in the city of Omaha.
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Speaker 4: MJ.
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Speaker 2: You are live here on eleven ten Cafe B with
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Speaker 2: Jean Stouthart.
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Speaker 5: Yes, sir, good morning, mayor Jean. This whole adventure may
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Speaker 5: actually be a dear teen and a lot to somebody
4:51
Speaker 5: who will remain nameless. But anyway, so I assume we
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Speaker 5: all got a mailer. It went from nine to to
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Speaker 5: twenty second in Washington. I live over by the Zoo.
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Speaker 5: No big deal. That's a short joint. Went there at
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Speaker 5: nine o'clock or a little after. They were already lined up,
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Speaker 5: which is I assume one of our yards for the city.
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Speaker 5: They were already lined up around Gilmore Avenue, down around
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Speaker 5: the corner and clear up.
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Speaker 2: To Q Street.
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Speaker 1: Wow, there's that many people that want to dispose of tires.
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Speaker 5: Apparently that that I applaud the thought, honest to god,
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Speaker 5: you know, because apparently we have an opportunity and the
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Speaker 5: need so anyway, because we look so close, it's like
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Speaker 5: we'll let the earlier birds go through and and thank you.
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Speaker 1: Well that that's interesting and that's good to hear. You know,
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Speaker 1: the city of Omaha does that as a service, and
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Speaker 1: they do. There is the purpose as you know, that
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Speaker 1: they do grind those old tires up and they use
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Speaker 1: them for the basis of the ground that surrounds playgrounds.
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Speaker 1: So because they soften them up and you know, if
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Speaker 1: the kids would fall, et cetera, they're good drainage, they're soft,
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Speaker 1: and so there is a purpose that they use those
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Speaker 1: ground up tires. But it does surprise me. I'm glad
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Speaker 1: to hear it that there's that many people that have
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Speaker 1: tires to dispose of. But you know, if you have
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Speaker 1: tires to dispose of, again, what the heck do you
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Speaker 1: do with them? So I'm glad that they provide that
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Speaker 1: service because with our new trash collection service that we
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Speaker 1: do have in Omaha with FCC, obviously tires are not
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Speaker 1: going to fit in that ninety six gallon cart and
6:41
Speaker 1: that's what we got now. And you know we don't
6:43
Speaker 1: have like with a yard waste. We have two times
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Speaker 1: a year fall and spring that you can put unlimited
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Speaker 1: curbside prefer pickup and they will pick it up and
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Speaker 1: you don't have to put it in the cart.
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Speaker 2: But that didn't go for tires. So it's a good service,
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Speaker 2: Thank goodness for that.
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Speaker 1: And you know, the city does a really good job too,
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Speaker 1: like when we have storms and we always have those
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Speaker 1: drop off points after big wind storms that people could
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Speaker 1: bring tree debris and yard debris there and they do
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Speaker 1: the same thing with that, they mulch it up. We
7:13
Speaker 1: buy these big multres. I remember it. After that big
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Speaker 1: wind storm we had a few years ago, we did
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Speaker 1: an emergency order to buy a new big mulcher. If
7:23
Speaker 1: you could believe it, they're in stock and it was
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Speaker 1: like a million dollars. But it was very very expensive
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Speaker 1: that mulcher. But still they could put in all this debris,
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Speaker 1: they could mulch it and turn around and use it
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Speaker 1: in all of our parks. So it's very cost efficient
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Speaker 1: the way that the city and Public Works does these
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Speaker 1: things in the parks department too, So that's a good thing.
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Speaker 2: That's good to hear.
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Speaker 3: We were kind of having some fun with it here
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Speaker 3: across multiple different shows on the radio station Cafe.
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Speaker 2: You know, we're having some fun with it.
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Speaker 3: And the first one was on Saturday, like MJ said,
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Speaker 3: obviously a exceptional turnout, if that's what you want to
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Speaker 3: call it.
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Speaker 2: There's also a few more days.
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Speaker 3: August fifteenth will be another day where you can give
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Speaker 3: your tires. That's going to be in a different location,
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Speaker 3: and then the last one November seventh. So it's good
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Speaker 3: to see that that first one was so productive, and
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Speaker 3: obviously there's going to be a need for those other ones.
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Speaker 2: So save your tires, So save your tires.
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Speaker 3: And I have another conversation here, and I'm surprised we
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Speaker 3: haven't gotten more into this as the public swimming pools
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Speaker 3: have been opening up for the summer. Yes, Dwayne says,
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Speaker 3: why does Omaha not have more public swimming pools? They
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Speaker 3: closed one a year in the last three years. Like
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Speaker 3: cryer Lee Valley, I took the grand kids to a
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Speaker 3: pool the other day and they had to close the
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Speaker 3: pool by three o'clock because the water was too dirty.
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Speaker 2: It was packed with people. We need more pools, right, This.
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Speaker 1: Is another thing I got to go back and say
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Speaker 1: one more time, we need a parks director. Hopefully they
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Speaker 1: will get one soon. But the issue is a lot
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Speaker 1: of these pools, for example, Crier, they are old, and
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Speaker 1: they are to do the maintenance on them that they
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Speaker 1: need to do on them because they have been pretty
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Speaker 1: much neglected some of them. I mean it is millions
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Speaker 1: and millions and millions of dollars. Plus there is also
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Speaker 1: the issue of liability, and there's also the issue of
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Speaker 1: getting the staff in there. And that's why the City
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Speaker 1: of Omaha several years ago made a decision for some
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Speaker 1: of these older pools, instead of trying to rehabilitate them
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Speaker 1: and put in new, you know, infrastructure and everything, they
9:34
Speaker 1: have gone to the spray grounds. The spray grounds need
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Speaker 1: very very little maintenance. They don't need staff there, they
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Speaker 1: don't need lifeguards there. They're much less less expensive, and
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Speaker 1: the kids could still run around and get wet and
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Speaker 1: have a good time.
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Speaker 2: People that love to swim.
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Speaker 1: Though, I'm one that loves to swim, I mean a
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Speaker 1: spray ground would not satisfy me. I want to get
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Speaker 1: into the pool and swim. I taught my kids I'm
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Speaker 1: a swimmer. Did you know that everybody's say, was I
10:00
Speaker 1: a basketball player because I'm so tall? But I was
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Speaker 1: a swimmer. My dad was a swimmer. My dad made
10:05
Speaker 1: it to the Senior Olympics. My brother was a swim coach.
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Speaker 1: But I was a swimmer. But I love swimming. I
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Speaker 1: love getting in a pool and swimming, And so that
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Speaker 1: the swim the spray grounds wouldn't really satisfy me with
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Speaker 1: young kids.
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Speaker 2: So I know what you're saying.
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Speaker 1: The issue is cost, and the issue is the age
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Speaker 1: of those pools.
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Speaker 2: We did do a study a few years ago.
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Speaker 1: There was an older pool in north Omaha that the
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Speaker 1: and we keep track of the attendance too. The attendance
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Speaker 1: was really really low, and it was kind of what
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Speaker 1: should we do here, Should we shut it down or
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Speaker 1: should we just make it a lot less expensive for
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Speaker 1: people to go and swim. And we took that one
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Speaker 1: pool in north Omaha and we dropped the fee to
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Speaker 1: get in the daily feef to a dollar, so it
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Speaker 1: was really inexpensive to get in, and we wanted to
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Speaker 1: see if perhaps that was the reason, and that if
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Speaker 1: we could get more people to use that pool and
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Speaker 1: then it would be worth you know, our dollars to
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Speaker 1: fix it.
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Speaker 2: Up and it did. It really helped.
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Speaker 1: So they do keep an eye on the pools. They
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Speaker 1: do keep an eye on the maintenance how much it cost.
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Speaker 1: But they are expensive to run. There's no doubt about
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Speaker 1: it that I know. If you love a pool like
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Speaker 1: I do, do you do want more pools?
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Speaker 2: Now?
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Speaker 1: Some of the pools that were delayed this year was
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Speaker 1: because of maintenance issues. I know Elmwood was delayed quite
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Speaker 1: a bit years several years ago opened up like Midsummer
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Speaker 1: and people were quite angry about that. But at the
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Speaker 1: same time, you got to do the maintenance on those things.
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Speaker 1: So I know they're phasing them, they're opening them up.
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Speaker 1: Zorenzy obviously is the newest pool. But I will tell
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Speaker 1: you all this. I know that in the Capital Improvement
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Speaker 1: Plan there is no plan to build new pools.
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Speaker 2: I'll tell you that right now. Okay, very interesting.
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Speaker 3: Tom says taxes go up, get less services, then we
12:04
Speaker 3: get used to it.
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Speaker 2: Got it. I don't know, is this Tom? Did you say?
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Speaker 2: Tom said that not?
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Speaker 1: I wouldn't say less services, but Tom, you just got it.
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Speaker 1: When you're doing a city budget, you just have to
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Speaker 1: prioritize and at you know, always people want their taxes down.
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Speaker 1: They want their levees to go down, which means less
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Speaker 1: money into the budget. Now when you do, I know
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Speaker 1: what the city levee is. I mean I remember it
12:33
Speaker 1: because I worked on budgets a lot. And I'm not
12:36
Speaker 1: going to say when I was a mayor, because these
12:37
Speaker 1: guys are having a drinking game today and I don't
12:39
Speaker 1: want them to start drinking at ten o'clock in the
12:41
Speaker 1: morning that they take a shot every time I say
12:43
Speaker 1: when I.
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Speaker 2: Was maybe ten thirty five. We can give it a truck.
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Speaker 1: Okay, guys, I'm just gonna say when I used to
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Speaker 1: work for the city. But the for instance, our levee
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Speaker 1: for the City of Omaha is forty three point nine
12:56
Speaker 1: pennies per hundred dollars valuation. Now I know this, These
13:01
Speaker 1: are in my brain. So if you take if you
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Speaker 1: lower the levee a penny, one penny equals about five
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Speaker 1: and a half million dollars. So if I take, if
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Speaker 1: I would take the levee from forty four pennies to
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Speaker 1: forty three pennies per one hundred dollars, that takes five
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Speaker 1: million out of the budget. If you lower it two pennies,
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Speaker 1: it takes ten million out of the budget. So every
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Speaker 1: time you lower the levee, you know, potentially you're taking
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Speaker 1: money out of the budget. But at the same time,
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Speaker 1: if valuations are going up, then more money is coming in.
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Speaker 1: So it's it's a big balance, it really is. It's
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Speaker 1: it's it's very difficult to do the city budget. But
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Speaker 1: you want to keep taxes low and you want to
13:42
Speaker 1: keep services as good as you can, I mean, and so,
13:45
Speaker 1: but you got to you gotta think too that the
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Speaker 1: general fund budget with the City of Omaha, two thirds
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Speaker 1: of it, two thirds of the entire budget is fire
13:56
Speaker 1: and police. Two thirds of the entire budget is fire police.
14:00
Speaker 1: In the City of Omaha, the entire budget's about general
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Speaker 1: fun budget right now is about five hundred and sixty
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Speaker 1: two million dollars, and two thirds of that is fire
14:10
Speaker 1: and police. The police department gets two hundred and sixteen million,
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Speaker 1: Fire department gets about one hundred and forty million. Two
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Speaker 1: thirds goes to fire and police.
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Speaker 2: So you still want.
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Speaker 1: To provide good roads, good trash pickup, all of those
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Speaker 1: services that the city should be responsible for too. So
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Speaker 1: it's a it's a balancing act and it's not easy,
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Speaker 1: it really is.
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Speaker 3: And if you have any questions, comments, concerns that's on
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Speaker 3: your minds. Give us a call four zero two, five,
14:35
Speaker 3: five eight eleven ten, email inbox, comment at kfab dot
14:39
Speaker 3: com and the radio talkback mic is fun. Send a
14:41
Speaker 3: message up to thirty seconds long with your opinions. We're
14:45
Speaker 3: going to go to the phone lines.
14:46
Speaker 2: Here is Pat. You are alive with Jean stauthardt here
14:49
Speaker 2: on KFAB.
14:51
Speaker 6: Good morning, Hello Jean, Hello, good money. I just wanted
14:55
Speaker 6: to tell you. You probably don't remember me because it's
14:58
Speaker 6: been a long time ago, and I know you deal
15:00
Speaker 6: with a lot of people, but the first time I
15:02
Speaker 6: met you was when you're on the Miller's school board,
15:05
Speaker 6: and I just I want to thank you for your
15:08
Speaker 6: public service. I think you're a great mayor. I would
15:12
Speaker 6: hope that you would consider higher office because I love
15:16
Speaker 6: the opportunity to vote for you.
15:18
Speaker 1: So that being said, well, but I loved it when
15:25
Speaker 1: I was on the school board.
15:26
Speaker 2: I really love that. That was really fun.
15:29
Speaker 6: Well, and you know I want you're talking about levies,
15:32
Speaker 6: and you know this that when a taxpayer looks at
15:37
Speaker 6: their total tax burden, the school districts are the biggest
15:41
Speaker 6: one on the list, absolutely, and so that again I
15:46
Speaker 6: think there needs to be a little more focus on
15:48
Speaker 6: how those can be more cost effective. And again I'm
15:52
Speaker 6: I'm I'm a fan of public schools, but I also
15:56
Speaker 6: understand that, you know, it does have a great burden
15:58
Speaker 6: of costs that goes with it. So anyway, that wasn't
16:01
Speaker 6: my main question. Question again just to talk to talk
16:07
Speaker 6: about is the cost of gas. And I you know,
16:10
Speaker 6: you hear, we hear that you know, it's a global market,
16:14
Speaker 6: but yet we also hear that we're energy independent in
16:17
Speaker 6: the United States. And so my question and that you
16:21
Speaker 6: know you hear, well, you know, twenty percent of the
16:23
Speaker 6: energy comes out of the Middle East, so with the
16:26
Speaker 6: blockade and everything going on over there, that you know,
16:29
Speaker 6: it does have an impact. But my question, I guess,
16:33
Speaker 6: and maybe you have some information that can help shed
16:35
Speaker 6: some light on this, is why why can't the United
16:39
Speaker 6: States say We're going to keep all of our oil
16:41
Speaker 6: here to drive the price of oil and gas down domestically.
16:48
Speaker 6: And again, I get it, these are public companies that
16:50
Speaker 6: are trying to make money. But can the president just say, hey,
16:55
Speaker 6: We're going to try and keep this oil domestic and
16:58
Speaker 6: try to drive prices down here in the United States?
17:01
Speaker 6: So that we can all benefit and not have to
17:04
Speaker 6: pay the high price that the rest of the world
17:07
Speaker 6: is paying because of their dependence on Middle East oil.
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Speaker 6: That's all I had. I'll be quiet and let you talk.
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Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate your comments.
17:15
Speaker 1: And the one thing I'll go back to where you
17:17
Speaker 1: started with the taxes and the levee. You were so
17:20
Speaker 1: absolutely right. If you look, if you get your tax bill,
17:23
Speaker 1: your property tax bill from the Douglas County assessor you
17:27
Speaker 1: are going to or from Douglas County, you are going
17:31
Speaker 1: to just look at it and go, ah, this is
17:33
Speaker 1: all the city of Omaha. But look at the breakdown,
17:35
Speaker 1: because it is broken down on there the levee. When
17:39
Speaker 1: I talked about the City of Omaha a while ago,
17:41
Speaker 1: was forty three point nine pennies per one hundred dollars valuation.
17:45
Speaker 1: That is only twenty two percent of your bill. So
17:49
Speaker 1: when you pay your tax bill, your property tax bill,
17:52
Speaker 1: twenty two percent goes to the City of Omaha. And
17:56
Speaker 1: with that twenty two percent we have to fund fire
17:58
Speaker 1: department and police department, life very, swimming pools, public works,
18:03
Speaker 1: you know, planning department. Everything gets funded with twenty two
18:08
Speaker 1: percent of your entire bill. The school districts get about
18:11
Speaker 1: sixty two sixty three percent, so you are so very
18:15
Speaker 1: very right. Douglas County gets about twelve and a half percent,
18:19
Speaker 1: and then the other there's other taxing entities at Levy
18:22
Speaker 1: that make up the rest such as Metro Transit, Metro
18:25
Speaker 1: Community College, the NRD, So that all breaks down that
18:30
Speaker 1: they all get a piece of the pie. And then
18:33
Speaker 1: when that money because these things, this budget stuff is
18:37
Speaker 1: always on my mind when it comes in to the
18:41
Speaker 1: City of Omaha, those tax dollars and we get we
18:45
Speaker 1: get more sales tax dollars than we do property tax.
18:48
Speaker 1: Our major funds into the City of Omaha start out
18:52
Speaker 1: with sales tax about two hundred and sixty five million,
18:54
Speaker 1: property tax it's about two hundred and fifty million, restaurant
18:58
Speaker 1: tax around forty eight million. Okay, so they'll all add
19:02
Speaker 1: up come into the city coffers, but they don't all
19:05
Speaker 1: go into the general fund. There's four different budgets that
19:10
Speaker 1: that tax money goes into. Goes into the general fund,
19:13
Speaker 1: the judgment fund, Debt service, and Redevelopment fund. So there's
19:18
Speaker 1: four different funds. Judgment fund is like if the city
19:21
Speaker 1: gets sued over something for settlements debt service. We use
19:25
Speaker 1: it to pay our bonds and our bond debt, and
19:27
Speaker 1: then the redevelopment fund goes into obviously redevelopment, and then
19:31
Speaker 1: general fund gets the biggest piece of the pie. So
19:33
Speaker 1: I just wanted you to know it's it's broken down.
19:37
Speaker 1: Lots of revenue that comes in, but the City of
19:40
Speaker 1: Omaha truly gets only about twenty two to twenty three
19:44
Speaker 1: percent of the total amount. So when you lower the
19:47
Speaker 1: levee for the City of Omaha, which when I work
19:51
Speaker 1: for the city I did five times, you just don't
19:55
Speaker 1: see that big of an impact because if you lower
19:57
Speaker 1: it a penny or two, you're lowering a penny or
19:59
Speaker 1: t twenty two percent.
20:01
Speaker 2: So you got to think of it that way.
20:03
Speaker 1: Now, as far as your questions about oil and the
20:06
Speaker 1: global market, I will confess to you I am not
20:10
Speaker 1: I am not the expert on the global oil market,
20:14
Speaker 1: but we definitely you are correct. The United States is
20:18
Speaker 1: energy independent. However, what is happening in the Middle East
20:22
Speaker 1: is affecting the entire world right now. No, the President
20:25
Speaker 1: is saying this is going to come to an end
20:27
Speaker 1: sometime soon, and when it does, that price of gas
20:31
Speaker 1: and the price of oil is going to come down,
20:33
Speaker 1: and hopefully it will soon. Why can't we just you
20:37
Speaker 1: asked the question, why can't we just be independent, keep
20:41
Speaker 1: our oil here and let the rest of the world
20:44
Speaker 1: do it the way that they want to do it,
20:47
Speaker 1: And I think it's just because it affects financially. It
20:51
Speaker 1: affects the entire world's finances when these types of things
20:54
Speaker 1: are going on. I think mostly because of the uncertainty
20:57
Speaker 1: out there, not knowing when it's going to end, not
20:59
Speaker 1: knowing what the price of a barrel of oil is
21:01
Speaker 1: going to be, and so I think it's complicated and
21:05
Speaker 1: it's way above my expertise to discuss oil in the
21:11
Speaker 1: Middle East. But hopefully this is going to come to
21:14
Speaker 1: an end soon. The straight of horror moves is going
21:16
Speaker 1: to open up and things are going to get back
21:19
Speaker 1: to normal. We can only hope so well, when you
21:21
Speaker 1: go to the gas station, it does hurt. It definitely does.
21:25
Speaker 2: It definitely does.
21:25
Speaker 3: If you're host of the show, Jean Stouthard, I'm Peyton Highlock,
21:29
Speaker 3: and we are rolling along here on this Monday morning.
21:33
Speaker 2: We got a couple questions about the gas prices.
21:35
Speaker 3: We got a couple questions about public swimming pools, because
21:38
Speaker 3: that was an interesting topic. As we are entering unofficial
21:43
Speaker 3: start of summer, I'm going to go to the phone
21:44
Speaker 3: lines here.
21:45
Speaker 2: This is Michael. Good morning, Michael.
21:49
Speaker 7: Good morning to both of you.
21:51
Speaker 2: Good morning.
21:54
Speaker 7: I just want to comment on comments about gas prices. Yes,
21:58
Speaker 7: if you you are a Scooters, Starbucks, whatever the flavored
22:05
Speaker 7: coffee people are, or if you just order it when
22:07
Speaker 7: you go to a restaurant, you will notice that if
22:10
Speaker 7: you order a small flavored coffee it is it's more
22:15
Speaker 7: than a gallon of gas in Nebraska. And maybe when
22:19
Speaker 7: you can want to complain about the price of gas,
22:23
Speaker 7: you can account for that.
22:27
Speaker 6: If you control your buffy consumption and leave.
22:30
Speaker 7: It to be at home instead of buying it out
22:33
Speaker 7: at one of those places.
22:35
Speaker 2: Good point.
22:37
Speaker 1: I know, you know, I am not a coffee drinker.
22:40
Speaker 1: I'm a nice tea drinker. But every now and then
22:43
Speaker 1: I will.
22:43
Speaker 2: Just scoot through Scooters, scoot.
22:45
Speaker 1: On through, and when I know I'm spending five dollars
22:50
Speaker 1: on a glass of iced tea, which I frequently do,
22:54
Speaker 1: I do kind of cringe and think, Geane, you could
22:57
Speaker 1: make your own tea at home.
22:59
Speaker 2: You have a good point.
23:00
Speaker 3: It's a good point. But it's it's the response to
23:05
Speaker 3: people my age, the gen Z or even the millennials,
23:08
Speaker 3: the younger population of people that say, well, things are
23:11
Speaker 3: just so expensive right now, things are so expensed. Oh
23:13
Speaker 3: your rent is too high and the rent is you
23:16
Speaker 3: can't afford your rent. Well maybe if you just stop
23:18
Speaker 3: getting that coffee. Well it's just not that simple.
23:21
Speaker 1: No, you know, and you're you're not getting you know,
23:24
Speaker 1: when you fill you talk about a gallon of gas.
23:26
Speaker 1: When you're filling up your twenty gallon tank. You're not
23:30
Speaker 1: going to go to Starbucks or scooters and get twenty
23:33
Speaker 1: iced teas or twenty coffees a day too. So, I
23:36
Speaker 1: mean you have a good point when things are sort
23:40
Speaker 1: of something's in flight, and some things cost more. You
23:43
Speaker 1: got to cut back one way or another. And your
23:46
Speaker 1: point is well taken.
23:47
Speaker 3: Though, I mean you just think about a simple A
23:49
Speaker 3: simple connection is a three hundred thousand dollars home today, Yes,
23:54
Speaker 3: was twenty four to twenty five thousand dollars in the seventies.
23:58
Speaker 1: And you know, I'm so old I could talk about
24:01
Speaker 1: things like you know, nickel candy bars.
24:04
Speaker 2: And things like that.
24:05
Speaker 1: I mean things everything has increased, it is it it happens.
24:10
Speaker 1: It's just it is what it is, so and it
24:12
Speaker 1: makes it very very difficult for some people who are
24:15
Speaker 1: on a very limited or strict budget.
24:18
Speaker 2: I understand that.
24:19
Speaker 1: But hopefully as far as the gas prices, the gas
24:22
Speaker 1: prices have been up in the past, they've come back down.
24:25
Speaker 1: They were up in the past higher than they are now,
24:28
Speaker 1: and they came back down and hopefully that it's going
24:31
Speaker 1: to change and turn around once again.
24:33
Speaker 3: But speaking of speaking of overpayments, will go to Joe
24:37
Speaker 3: on the phone line. Joe, thanks for the call this morning.
24:40
Speaker 3: You're live with Jean st Authort here on kfa B.
24:44
Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning.
24:49
Speaker 4: In light of all the fraud that's appearing worldwide in
24:53
Speaker 4: our country, Uh, I like to know how that mistake
24:58
Speaker 4: was made the state making that payment, and I'd like
25:03
Speaker 4: to know where is the money at this time.
25:07
Speaker 3: Give us a little more context, Joe, What what payment
25:09
Speaker 3: are you talking about from the state You told me
25:11
Speaker 3: on the phone.
25:12
Speaker 4: One the one that the state aide the school district.
25:19
Speaker 2: I have to stop and think about that.
25:20
Speaker 1: You mean the with the Omaha Public schools and there
25:24
Speaker 1: was a miscalculation with their state aid and.
25:27
Speaker 2: The is that what you're talking about Yeah, you know.
25:33
Speaker 1: That baffles me too, because how the state distributes state
25:39
Speaker 1: aid to school districts is one of the most complicated
25:45
Speaker 1: formulas you can imagine. They call it to sets an acronym.
25:49
Speaker 1: But I remembered when I was on the school board,
25:51
Speaker 1: and this was years and years and years and years ago,
25:53
Speaker 1: twenty years ago.
25:55
Speaker 2: That state aid formula.
25:56
Speaker 1: I studied it and studied and studied it, and it
25:59
Speaker 1: is still very complicated. How that happened on the state
26:03
Speaker 1: level that they did give Omaha Public Schools more than
26:07
Speaker 1: they were qualified to get and then they said, okay,
26:10
Speaker 1: now we're gonna pull back and you're not going to
26:12
Speaker 1: get as much. So, you know, I have no idea
26:16
Speaker 1: how that mistake could have been made at the state level.
26:19
Speaker 2: I really, I really don't.
26:22
Speaker 1: But it is a complicated formula, and you know there's
26:26
Speaker 1: a lot that goes into that formula. Omaha Public Schools
26:30
Speaker 1: has a lot of kids on free and reduce lunch,
26:32
Speaker 1: which makes a big difference. There's the equalization formula that
26:36
Speaker 1: they have with the state. It is it is quite complicated,
26:39
Speaker 1: and so how that happened, I am I can't tell you.
26:43
Speaker 1: It's something that should not have happened though, but it is.
26:47
Speaker 1: It is not an easy thing to understand, and therefore
26:50
Speaker 1: it's not an easy thing to explain either.
26:52
Speaker 3: Yeah, we'll look into it a little bit as well. Joe,
26:54
Speaker 3: thank you for the call, And Gina, I want to
26:56
Speaker 3: get to one more phone call. I knows there's some
26:58
Speaker 3: things you want to bring up today, but let's go
27:00
Speaker 3: to Sheila real quick on the phone lines. She has
27:03
Speaker 3: a good one. Sheila, you're live here on KFAB with
27:06
Speaker 3: Jean's author.
27:08
Speaker 8: Hello, Jeane, thisn'tli Busher. My question is about these nonpartisan races.
27:14
Speaker 8: I think the voter is entitled to know their political
27:18
Speaker 8: persuasion on these boards and all that, and it's just
27:23
Speaker 8: the condition of the political climate in the country is
27:28
Speaker 8: definitely you should know what you're voting for, and I
27:31
Speaker 8: feel you're not with these You.
27:33
Speaker 1: Know, I understand what you're saying here. Don't most people
27:38
Speaker 1: know though? In nonpartisan races, I mean, the mayor of
27:41
Speaker 1: Omaha is a non partisan race. Everybody knew the political
27:46
Speaker 1: party of the candidates. The legislature is nonpartisan. Everybody knows
27:53
Speaker 1: who's a Democrat and who's a Republican. Because when you're
27:57
Speaker 1: campaigning those messages come out of what you want to
28:01
Speaker 1: do and what your philosophy is and what your positions
28:04
Speaker 1: are going to be. And I just think it's it's
28:07
Speaker 1: almost silly to say they are nonpartisan because on a
28:11
Speaker 1: ballot you don't have an R or a D or
28:13
Speaker 1: an I behind your name. I think people generally already
28:17
Speaker 1: know that. I mean, it comes out during the campaign.
28:20
Speaker 1: And that's why campaigns I think are important is it
28:24
Speaker 1: does give people and the voters a chance to go
28:27
Speaker 1: and listen to the candidates and just ask them and
28:30
Speaker 1: ask them if they are if they're liberal, if they're Republican,
28:33
Speaker 1: ask them what they're feeling is about about taxes and
28:38
Speaker 1: everything else. And I think, you know, this last race
28:42
Speaker 1: is for the congressional district right now. The last mayor's
28:46
Speaker 1: race that I was in, you know, it was all
28:49
Speaker 1: about the blue dot. Denise Powell. That's all she talked
28:53
Speaker 1: about was maintaining the blue dot. And so it became
28:57
Speaker 1: very clear what political parties that people belong to. Of course,
29:00
Speaker 1: that's a partisan race right there. The congressional race, definitely,
29:04
Speaker 1: that's partisan. You have an RRD behind your name. But
29:07
Speaker 1: still I think those races that are not and they're
29:11
Speaker 1: considered nonpartisan. I think still generally people know when they
29:15
Speaker 1: should know, and I think that the campaign brings most
29:19
Speaker 1: of that out. In fact, a lot will campaign as
29:23
Speaker 1: I am the Democrat, I am the Republican, and you know,
29:27
Speaker 1: interestingly enough, we had. This makes me think of an
29:30
Speaker 1: email I got on my private email this weekend. But
29:33
Speaker 1: I'm going to invite a gentleman on that asked to
29:35
Speaker 1: be on because he was listening to the show. And
29:38
Speaker 1: when I had married Barrett on a couple of weeks ago,
29:41
Speaker 1: she's delightful that she was a lifelong of the Barrett
29:44
Speaker 1: family that owns Barrett's Barleycorn down there on Leavenworth, a
29:47
Speaker 1: good Irish Catholic family. But anyway, she was Democrat for many,
29:52
Speaker 1: many years, and she became frustrated and became an independent,
29:56
Speaker 1: not a Republican. But there was a gentleman that emailed
29:59
Speaker 1: me and he said, I was a Republican and became
30:02
Speaker 1: a Democrat. I would like to come on your show
30:05
Speaker 1: and say why. And he was an attorney in town,
30:07
Speaker 1: and I said, sure, this is what we're about. We
30:10
Speaker 1: want you to be able to talk and sound off.
30:12
Speaker 1: And so I told him might get a hold of
30:14
Speaker 1: him this week, and we're going to bring him on
30:16
Speaker 1: because I think it would be interesting.
30:17
Speaker 2: I want to hear.
30:18
Speaker 1: Why he was a Republican and decided to become a Democrat.
30:22
Speaker 1: I think that's good information to have.
30:24
Speaker 3: Yeah, and those are always really, really good conversations. Now,
30:27
Speaker 3: I got an email this morning from Scott and he said,
30:30
Speaker 3: good morning, Jean. Curious about your years of negotiating labor
30:34
Speaker 3: agreements with police, fire and the City of Omaha. What impact,
30:39
Speaker 3: if any, does raising the minimum wage in Omaha have
30:43
Speaker 3: on those agreements. Wondering what's prompted the conversation for the increase.
30:49
Speaker 3: Is it taking advantage of the current minority? A few
30:52
Speaker 3: things to digest there.
30:53
Speaker 1: Yes, And I think minimum wage should be based on
30:56
Speaker 1: the economy. I mean, I don't know why the decision
31:01
Speaker 1: was made by a few city council members to try
31:03
Speaker 1: to put that in city ordinance. Obviously it's a concern
31:07
Speaker 1: to a lot of people that feel like that minimum
31:12
Speaker 1: wage needs to be raised to pay for what we
31:15
Speaker 1: were talking about just a few minutes ago, everything is
31:18
Speaker 1: much more expensive. But I think the economy should judge
31:23
Speaker 1: should be to determine what the minimum wage is, not
31:28
Speaker 1: individual cities, but I will tell you yes, I was
31:31
Speaker 1: involved in labor negotiations for many, many years as a
31:34
Speaker 1: council member to sixteen years total. They are very, very difficult.
31:39
Speaker 1: But it will not affect labor negotiations in the City
31:44
Speaker 1: of Omaha because we don't have anybody at minimum wage
31:48
Speaker 1: within the City of Omaha. We don't hire anybody at
31:50
Speaker 1: minimum wage. I don't think it'll affect labor negotiations whatsoever.
31:55
Speaker 2: What is the current citywide minimum wage? The current Oh
31:59
Speaker 2: my goodness, Peyton, you stump me.
32:02
Speaker 1: I should have that on the tip of my tongue
32:04
Speaker 1: if we're going to come right back and know exactly
32:07
Speaker 1: what it is, because I just heard that the city
32:10
Speaker 1: council is doing this, and I want to know what
32:13
Speaker 1: their intent is, what that ordinance says, what they want
32:16
Speaker 1: to raise it to. And so we could talk a
32:19
Speaker 1: little bit more about this tomorrow about what the current
32:21
Speaker 1: one is and then what they are proposing to raise
32:24
Speaker 1: it to. But it should be definitely market driven. It's
32:28
Speaker 1: I don't think it should be something individual cities should
32:31
Speaker 1: do well.
32:31
Speaker 3: It's tough because I know that there's some they've been
32:33
Speaker 3: trying to raise it and then it got lowered a
32:35
Speaker 3: little bit, So I don't know the exact number, and
32:38
Speaker 3: we'll digestic here when we go to break.
32:40
Speaker 1: Here's here's the problem though, when you when you get
32:43
Speaker 1: like if you get businesses that do hire in at
32:46
Speaker 1: minimum wage, say say some of let's just give an
32:49
Speaker 1: example of fast food restaurants or maybe grocery stores at
32:53
Speaker 1: higher in at minimum woyage. You have to understand that
32:57
Speaker 1: those businesses have to make a certain amount of money
33:00
Speaker 1: to survive, and if they have to pay employees more
33:04
Speaker 1: and more that means to survive, they may hire less
33:09
Speaker 1: and less employees. And that's why I say it should
33:12
Speaker 1: be really market driven, because the last thing you want
33:16
Speaker 1: is them to say, Okay, we're going to pay you more.
33:18
Speaker 1: But because we're going to pay you more, we're not
33:20
Speaker 1: going to hire as many people, and then you defeat
33:22
Speaker 1: the whole purpose. And so it should be market driven.
33:26
Speaker 1: You don't want to the city should not be forcing
33:29
Speaker 1: businesses of what they are going to pay their employees,
33:33
Speaker 1: because you know, at the end of the day, they
33:36
Speaker 1: just may have less employees.
33:37
Speaker 2: We double checked ourselves here.
33:39
Speaker 3: The current minimum wage in the city of Omaha is
33:41
Speaker 3: fifteen dollars per hour and Nebraska legislature is trying to
33:48
Speaker 3: get an ordinance passed just specifically for the city of Omaha,
33:52
Speaker 3: so that workers under the age of sixteen city council.
33:56
Speaker 1: City council would be trying to pass the ordinance, not
33:59
Speaker 1: the state, to get it across the board that everyone
34:02
Speaker 1: would get the fifteen dollars an hour. And that is
34:07
Speaker 1: because the Nebraska legislature has a base of thirteen fifty
34:12
Speaker 1: for those that are fourteen to sixteen years old. So
34:16
Speaker 1: what the city council would do with an ordinance, a
34:19
Speaker 1: city ordinance is they are proposing to make that across
34:22
Speaker 1: the board that those fourteen sixteen year olds would get
34:25
Speaker 1: fifteen dollars an hour.
34:26
Speaker 2: Two, So just everybody fifteen.
34:28
Speaker 1: That's now I understand what they are trying to do.
34:31
Speaker 1: But then again I will still go back to keep
34:34
Speaker 1: in mind, folks, is that if businesses have to pay more,
34:39
Speaker 1: they may have less employees, so it can backfire on
34:42
Speaker 1: you too. Peyton and I were just talking during the
34:44
Speaker 1: break one of the first jobs he got.
34:46
Speaker 2: He was and he hasn't.
34:48
Speaker 1: Been out of high school that long I have, but
34:50
Speaker 1: he's talking about what six dollars an hour?
34:53
Speaker 3: Yeah, I was, I was fifteen years old and I
34:56
Speaker 3: was considered training, so I was making six fifty or
34:59
Speaker 3: seven been just absolutely absurdly low. But I'm sure you
35:03
Speaker 3: have plenty of worse stories too where it was.
35:05
Speaker 2: Money coming in. Shoot.
35:06
Speaker 1: Yeah, I have something I wanted to bring up because
35:09
Speaker 1: it is has been on the news, and I think
35:12
Speaker 1: it'll we'll talk more about it tomorrow, but I think
35:16
Speaker 1: it is quite interesting, and it's concerning Omaha Mayor John Ewing.
35:20
Speaker 1: And as you all know, he has banned city department
35:23
Speaker 1: heads from appearing on this show. And those are mostly
35:28
Speaker 1: people that I worked with for many, many years.
35:30
Speaker 2: But now a.
35:32
Speaker 1: US District Court judge, obviously appointed by a Democrat president,
35:38
Speaker 1: found that Mayor Ewing engaged in viewpoint discrimination of First
35:43
Speaker 1: Amendment by deleting comments that were made on his Facebook
35:49
Speaker 1: by an Omaha taxpayer, and he blocked her from his
35:52
Speaker 1: social media page, and the judge ruled that he violated
35:56
Speaker 1: First Amendment rights with that constituent.
36:00
Speaker 2: And you know, we.
36:01
Speaker 1: Brought this up before. When Mary Ewing first became mayor,
36:05
Speaker 1: he did have a Facebook page and didn't allow any comments.
36:09
Speaker 1: He didn't want comments on there, and that is one
36:12
Speaker 1: thing that I really valued a lot when I used
36:15
Speaker 1: to work for the city, That's all I'm saying. But
36:17
Speaker 1: we would take I mean, we would answer comments and
36:20
Speaker 1: it would be me or my communication director all the
36:22
Speaker 1: time because I felt like, almost like this radio, it
36:25
Speaker 1: was time for people to communicate and talk and let
36:28
Speaker 1: me know what was going on. And I felt that
36:32
Speaker 1: was very, very valuable. He would not let people comment.
36:36
Speaker 1: After some criticism, they changed and they allowed comments on
36:39
Speaker 1: one Facebook, but they were blocking people and they were
36:44
Speaker 1: not allowing comments that were critical. And so a judge
36:50
Speaker 1: has ruled now and said that he federal court found
36:54
Speaker 1: that Omaha Mayor violated First Amendment. Now we're going to
36:57
Speaker 1: talk about this more tomorrow, and we're going to have
36:59
Speaker 1: somebody six people call in tomorrow and they're going to say,
37:02
Speaker 1: Jeane Stothard block me. And you know what I did
37:07
Speaker 1: is we had a terms of use put on my
37:09
Speaker 1: Facebook because there were certain things that I would not tolerate,
37:13
Speaker 1: and one said if you write profanity, vulgar language, racist comments,
37:20
Speaker 1: et cetera. I did not want that on my Facebook.
37:23
Speaker 1: And we had a warning to say your comment may
37:26
Speaker 1: be deleted. But opinions of people, if people had their
37:31
Speaker 1: opinion on this, that or the other those were not
37:34
Speaker 1: removed at all. But I wasn't gonna you know, grade
37:36
Speaker 1: school kids looked at my Facebook for crying out loud.
37:39
Speaker 1: I didn't want some vulgar comments on there that they
37:42
Speaker 1: were looking at and reading. So I made sure I
37:46
Speaker 1: work this through the city attorney to say if we
37:48
Speaker 1: put in terms of use with that help But people's
37:51
Speaker 1: comments positive, negative, neutral, they were left on there.
37:55
Speaker 3: Well, like you said, Gene, we're going to talk more
37:56
Speaker 3: about this tomorrow. But I just wanted to provide a
37:58
Speaker 3: little bit of context here. I have the comment that
38:02
Speaker 3: was left on Mayor Ewing's post, and you can say,
38:05
Speaker 3: if it falls.
38:06
Speaker 2: Out, had to do with the sinkhole on sixteenth Street.
38:09
Speaker 3: Yes, she wrote, the Regions Building residents have just had
38:13
Speaker 3: to take out a one million dollar loan to pay
38:17
Speaker 3: for repairs for the sinkhole. You ran a campaign on
38:20
Speaker 3: promising to help us. What happened to those promises? And
38:24
Speaker 3: then this woman again attempted to view the post and
38:28
Speaker 3: she was met with a message saying she did not
38:30
Speaker 3: have access to the page.
38:32
Speaker 1: And also, if you remember when Mary Ewing did his
38:34
Speaker 1: State of the City, he did announce that work on
38:37
Speaker 1: that sinkhole on Sixteenth Street in the alley was starting
38:41
Speaker 1: at the end of that week. He said that during
38:44
Speaker 1: his State of the City it has just started. So
38:49
Speaker 1: I mean this is months and months and months and
38:51
Speaker 1: months later. That sinkhole is still there. There is still
38:55
Speaker 1: a pending lawsuit, so things have not been done there.
38:58
Speaker 1: But to block some with a complaint and a question
39:03
Speaker 1: is obviously not something that I think a public any
39:08
Speaker 1: public officials, should do. So there you are, but it
39:12
Speaker 1: is you know, it has been said many many times,
39:16
Speaker 1: whether you're the governor, whether you're the president. Donald Trump
39:19
Speaker 1: went to federal court over blocking people on his Facebook
39:22
Speaker 1: and it was ruled it's a violation of First Amendment
39:26
Speaker 1: freedom of speech. People are able to say what they
39:28
Speaker 1: want to say and that needs to be respected absolutely.
39:31
Speaker 3: And like we said a few times, alrighty, we're going
39:33
Speaker 3: to talk more about this tomorrow. So if you have
39:35
Speaker 3: any thoughts or opinions, you can send us an email
39:38
Speaker 3: comment at kfab dot com and we'll get to this tomorrow.
39:40
Speaker 3: We'll dive into them comments, concerns, you agree, do you disagree,
39:44
Speaker 3: whatever you think, And then just real quick, as we're
39:46
Speaker 3: wrapping up the show, Gene Matt sent us a talkback
39:49
Speaker 3: and he.
39:50
Speaker 2: Just said good morning.
39:51
Speaker 3: As a business owner, in my opinion, raising the minimum wage,
39:54
Speaker 3: whether by state or city, state or federal, it's the
39:57
Speaker 3: dumbest thing that can be done for local businesses and
39:59
Speaker 3: a enemies because when that's raised, my overhead goes up.
40:03
Speaker 2: There, you gu guys is go up. You name it
40:05
Speaker 2: right right, and.
40:06
Speaker 1: You know they have to survive, they have to make
40:07
Speaker 1: their bottom line. I think about all those businesses downtown
40:11
Speaker 1: which I want to talk about tomorrow.
40:12
Speaker 2: N I have an email for you that we can
40:13
Speaker 2: talk about. This will be very good. That are that.
40:15
Speaker 1: Are really struggling because of the street car, and you know,
40:19
Speaker 1: you tell them now you have to start paying your
40:22
Speaker 1: employees more. They're struggling. I met with the owner of
40:26
Speaker 1: Mercury again on Friday to talk about how things were going,
40:29
Speaker 1: and he's down sixty percent. Wow, now you say you
40:32
Speaker 1: got to start paying everybody more. You know that really
40:35
Speaker 1: affects their bottom line. And if these businesses start shutting down,
40:39
Speaker 1: that is not good. But folks, that's it for us today. Boy,
40:43
Speaker 1: this time goes pretty quick. Thank you for spending this
40:46
Speaker 1: hour with us and listening. We'd love to have you
40:48
Speaker 1: join us. Again tomorrow. I am Jean Stothard and this
40:51
Speaker 1: is eleven ten kfab