Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Icy Roads & The Municipal Bond Process

Transcript

Icy Roads & The Municipal Bond Process · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

0:00
Speaker 1: Jeans Douther, Good morning. I hope you had a great weekend.
0:02
Speaker 2: Good morning, I did, and thanks for turning my microphone on.
0:06
Speaker 3: You're welcome.
0:07
Speaker 4: He kept on turning it off a few.
0:08
Speaker 1: Minutes, because you make anytime someone's got a microphone on,
0:13
Speaker 1: and I don't know why, they make me very very nervous. Lucy,
0:17
Speaker 1: you know who used to do that all the time. No,
0:19
Speaker 1: Steve Brown, No kidd. If you tried to turn his
0:22
Speaker 1: microphone off during a commercial break, he would get upset
0:26
Speaker 1: and he would just be sitting over there looking at
0:29
Speaker 1: his notes. He wouldn't say anything, total radio professional, but
0:32
Speaker 1: he would want he wanted his microphone on just in case.
0:35
Speaker 3: And that made me so nervous.
0:39
Speaker 2: Well, don't worry about me. I won't speak until you,
0:41
Speaker 2: like point your finger at me.
0:42
Speaker 1: Well, I'm gonna point my finger at you, right, I'm
0:44
Speaker 1: gonna point my finger right at you with ready because
0:47
Speaker 1: you in case. People don't know this, Jean Stuth not
0:51
Speaker 1: just a legendary radio host here on KFAB for absolutely
0:55
Speaker 1: two hours and three minutes of radio programs, but thus
0:58
Speaker 1: far also sir, or does our mayor for twelve years?
1:01
Speaker 1: I did, and that today a lot of people are
1:04
Speaker 1: talking about roads, and this is something that I'm sure
1:08
Speaker 1: you dealt with a few times here and there.
1:11
Speaker 2: Many many many times. And you know, I will tell
1:13
Speaker 2: you this, and any mayor in the country will say
1:16
Speaker 2: a snowstorm and ice storm, especially during rush hour, is
1:20
Speaker 2: their biggest nightmare because you can't win.
1:23
Speaker 4: It's very, very difficult.
1:24
Speaker 2: And you know, first of all, the mayor's duty is
1:27
Speaker 2: this because I and I have to say this because
1:30
Speaker 2: I would be going to Target during a snow and
1:33
Speaker 2: people would say, why aren't you out there taking care
1:35
Speaker 2: of the snow. The mayor doesn't go out there and
1:37
Speaker 2: plow the snow. The mayor's duty is to give our
1:40
Speaker 2: great public works department the budget that they need, hire
1:44
Speaker 2: the best public works director you can, and let them
1:47
Speaker 2: run their department, make them have a snow and ice
1:50
Speaker 2: removal plan, you know, fund their budget, and then the
1:54
Speaker 2: rest is in the hands of mother nature.
1:56
Speaker 4: It really is.
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Speaker 2: I can tell you so many different instances that we
2:00
Speaker 2: had when I was mayor. One was when I was
2:02
Speaker 2: first mayor in twenty thirteen, and it was on Christmas Eve.
2:07
Speaker 2: We were supposed to have a dusting of snow and
2:11
Speaker 2: by about six o'clock when everybody was starting to go
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Speaker 2: to church. We had eight or nine inches and it
2:17
Speaker 2: was horrible. People were calling me at home saying, I
2:20
Speaker 2: can't get to church and I can't get to Grandma's house,
2:23
Speaker 2: and what are you going to do? Epic failure, Mayor,
2:26
Speaker 2: you are in the hands of mother nature so much.
2:28
Speaker 2: But let me say this, our public works department in
2:31
Speaker 2: the City of Omaha is fantastic and I will back
2:34
Speaker 2: them up anytime at all. Bob Stuby is a public
2:38
Speaker 2: works director. He was hired in two thousand and five
2:40
Speaker 2: by Mike Fahey. And then there's Austin Rouser and assistant
2:44
Speaker 2: public Works director. He takes care of our roads. Jim
2:46
Speaker 2: Tyler Assistant Public Work together Director. They are all fantastic.
2:51
Speaker 2: So we have a snow and ice removal plan with
2:53
Speaker 2: the City of Omaha. Back in twenty nineteen, we received
2:57
Speaker 2: a national award for the best snow and ice removal
3:01
Speaker 2: plan in the country. But again, you have a plan,
3:05
Speaker 2: you fund them, You give them the employees, you give
3:07
Speaker 2: them the equipment that they need, You give them the
3:10
Speaker 2: money to make the brine that we make and buy
3:13
Speaker 2: the salt and do everything that we can do. When
3:15
Speaker 2: the snowplows and then you are at the mercy of
3:18
Speaker 2: mother nature. But having said that, like an instance, like yesterday,
3:23
Speaker 2: our salt crews were out yesterday, they were out today.
3:27
Speaker 2: The pavement was still warm enough and it didn't go
3:30
Speaker 2: below freezing yesterday. The pavement because I still watch all
3:33
Speaker 2: this stuff until five pm last night, so it was
3:36
Speaker 2: not indicated to use brine. And once again, Brian is
3:39
Speaker 2: just salt and water. It's all it is. We make
3:41
Speaker 2: our own. So they didn't brind the streets. That was
3:44
Speaker 2: the right decision to make. And then they were out
3:46
Speaker 2: salting yesterday and today too. They were only plowing the
3:50
Speaker 2: areas where there was drifts because the wind was so
3:54
Speaker 2: terrible yesterday. They are downtown with a lot of the barriers.
3:59
Speaker 2: Because of the wind, a lot of the barriers downtown
4:02
Speaker 2: in midtown were blown around, so they were out there
4:04
Speaker 2: doing that too. But keep in mind, the city of Omaha,
4:07
Speaker 2: we have five thousand lane miles a road that we
4:10
Speaker 2: have to clean up. We used to do all of
4:13
Speaker 2: it the city trucks, the big orange trucks. Right now,
4:16
Speaker 2: the big orange trucks do the mains and the secondaries first.
4:20
Speaker 2: And when I was on city council is when we
4:22
Speaker 2: decided to start hiring contractors to do the neighborhoods, it
4:27
Speaker 2: used to be the neighborhoods wouldn't even get done for
4:29
Speaker 2: maybe two or three days because they had to do
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Speaker 2: the mains and the secondaries. First mains in the secondaries
4:35
Speaker 2: are supposed to be running water from curb to curb.
4:38
Speaker 2: That neighborhoods are supposed to be passable. That's what the
4:42
Speaker 2: plan is passable, and that means we want you to
4:45
Speaker 2: get in and out of the neighborhood, but they're not
4:47
Speaker 2: going to be clear curb to curb. And because they're
4:51
Speaker 2: using smaller trucks doing that too. So I used to
4:54
Speaker 2: get a lot of calls saying, well, you must not
4:57
Speaker 2: care about North Omaha or South Omaha are midtown because
5:01
Speaker 2: I have not seen one truck. I don't see a plow,
5:04
Speaker 2: so that means you're not out there plowing. And I
5:07
Speaker 2: always used to say, well, I haven't seen a tiger today,
5:09
Speaker 2: but that doesn't mean there's not any tigers. So when
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Speaker 2: I was mayor, we did the we did we put
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Speaker 2: the snow plow tracker on so and it's online and
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Speaker 2: you can go and you can pull it up on
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Speaker 2: the public Works app and you can look at your
5:25
Speaker 2: neighborhood and you could see where the plows are and
5:28
Speaker 2: where the plows have been and where they're going to
5:31
Speaker 2: be next. Now, we did that and we thought, I
5:33
Speaker 2: thought that would be very helpful. But a lot of
5:35
Speaker 2: people will come back and say, I don't believe it.
5:37
Speaker 2: You know, I still haven't seen a plow, so I
5:39
Speaker 2: don't believe it. But they're out there. Also, the Public
5:42
Speaker 2: Works Department has divided the city into five different public
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Speaker 2: works districts. The whole city five different districts. Each district
5:51
Speaker 2: has the same amount of resources and they don't cross over.
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Speaker 2: And so you say, some may say, well north Omaha
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Speaker 2: doesn't get enough attention as mid Town does.
6:00
Speaker 4: Yes, they do.
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Speaker 2: They have the same number of equipment, the same number
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Speaker 2: of people. Geographically, the district may be smaller, for instance,
6:10
Speaker 2: Elkhorn is a bit smaller, but per lane mile, they
6:14
Speaker 2: have the same amount of equipment and they have the
6:17
Speaker 2: same number of people. The men and women of the
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Speaker 2: Omaha Public Works Department are fabulous, they really are. And
6:24
Speaker 2: I will say this. During the campaign, I know Mayor
6:27
Speaker 2: Ewing had a lot of complaints about how we remove snow.
6:32
Speaker 2: I will never criticize Mayor Ewing for the snow removal
6:37
Speaker 2: that we have in the City of Omaha, because again,
6:39
Speaker 2: we have a plan. We have a good plan. We
6:42
Speaker 2: have a great public works department. It's mother nature. You're
6:44
Speaker 2: in the mercy of.
6:45
Speaker 1: You're saying you won't criticize him as long as he
6:47
Speaker 1: does exactly what you did as mayor.
6:49
Speaker 4: Well, no, and that he follows a plan.
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Speaker 2: I mean, the plan is there, and the public Works
6:54
Speaker 2: department is fantastic. The plan is there, but it's difficult.
6:58
Speaker 2: Like when I got up this morning, I heard that
7:00
Speaker 2: there was an accident on the ramp getting off four
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Speaker 2: eighty onto Dodge Street six eighty.
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Speaker 4: That's right.
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Speaker 2: The ramps and bridges are always extra slip and you've
7:12
Speaker 2: got to take extra precaution with them. People ask me
7:15
Speaker 2: a lot about sand, Well, why aren't you putting sand?
7:18
Speaker 2: We use a lot of salt because salt has two capabilities.
7:23
Speaker 2: Number one, it melts, and number two, it provides some
7:26
Speaker 2: traction because it's granular. Sand is a total mess. You
7:32
Speaker 2: can spread sand and you get one pass of cars
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Speaker 2: and it's kicked off the road onto the side, and
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Speaker 2: then when it melts. It is the biggest mess in
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Speaker 2: the world to clean up. Now, if we have really
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Speaker 2: really bad weather, sometimes we will mix sand and salt together,
7:46
Speaker 2: and sometimes we will use sand on hills and so
7:51
Speaker 2: in a lot of hilly areas we have, they can
7:54
Speaker 2: request like barrels of sand too. So we try to
7:57
Speaker 2: do the best we can. And I'm stale sand we
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Speaker 2: because I'm part of the city of Omaha.
8:01
Speaker 4: But I will always say.
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Speaker 2: That, you know, it's it's very, very difficult to clean
8:06
Speaker 2: up five thousand lane miles. If you compare us with Bellevue,
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Speaker 2: I would get questions too, to say, well, Bellvue looks great,
8:12
Speaker 2: why doesn't Omala look great? You know, Bellevue has approximately
8:16
Speaker 2: five hundred lane miles a road. Omaha has five thousand.
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Speaker 2: It's a big effort to clean up Omaha.
8:23
Speaker 1: So you're calling rusty hikers. No, I'm not calling rusty hi.
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Speaker 1: You're not going to criticize mayor Ewing, but you're going
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Speaker 1: to go right after rusty hiking.
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Speaker 4: No, because they do a good job.
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Speaker 2: What I'm saying is people will say, well, Bellevue looks great,
8:34
Speaker 2: why doesn't Omaha look great? And I'm saying they don't
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Speaker 2: have such a big operation as Omaha has, But you
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Speaker 2: know those contractors that go into the neighborhood they're not
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Speaker 2: as good as the big city plows. And sometime if
8:47
Speaker 2: we have to make a second pass in the neighborhoods
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Speaker 2: and we have the capability, we'll send the big orange
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Speaker 2: trucks in, but typically not in the neighborhoods. One other
8:55
Speaker 2: thing I have to mention next time we have a
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Speaker 2: big snow.
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Speaker 5: Though.
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Speaker 2: The biggest complaint I have is the city just came
9:01
Speaker 2: by and plowed my driveway in oh Man. If I
9:04
Speaker 2: heard that over and over and over.
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Speaker 1: We'll have to get to that someday, if not today. Here,
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Speaker 1: I think Pat's out there driving around and at that's
9:11
Speaker 1: Sins Douthor, host of the KFAB comment Line four oh two,
9:15
Speaker 1: five five, eight, eleven ten and Pat, You're on news
9:18
Speaker 1: radio eleven ten KFA B with Jeans Douthor.
9:21
Speaker 3: Good morning.
9:23
Speaker 6: I think I was in an accident this morning. I
9:27
Speaker 6: would say probably my fault. But but the longest short
9:31
Speaker 6: of it is I want to find out the city's
9:33
Speaker 6: got particular streets. I was involved in an accident where
9:37
Speaker 6: I slid down the hill and unfortunately, when I put
9:41
Speaker 6: my brakes on all I did the slide, It's that
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Speaker 6: it's one hundred and thirty second and I and as
9:48
Speaker 6: I was going down the hill towards one hundred and
9:50
Speaker 6: thirty second Street, it just wit is there? Do they
9:54
Speaker 6: have the truck's focus on areas where it slopes or
9:59
Speaker 6: it goes up till of it? You know, I was
10:02
Speaker 6: out quite a bit this morning, unfortunately going up the hill,
10:05
Speaker 6: which on Center Street was top two, but it seemed
10:10
Speaker 6: like this was a crazy snow. I mean that the
10:13
Speaker 6: main part of the streets look pretty dry. You get
10:16
Speaker 6: to an intersection and the next thing you know, it's
10:18
Speaker 6: just as she dies.
10:20
Speaker 4: Thanks for your call.
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Speaker 2: And yet they do I mean they they, like I said,
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Speaker 2: the city is divined and divided into five public works districts,
10:28
Speaker 2: and and those supervisors in those different districts know exactly
10:34
Speaker 2: where the rough spots are going to be, where the
10:36
Speaker 2: bridges and overpasses are going to be, where the hills
10:39
Speaker 2: are going to be, and they do pay extra attention
10:41
Speaker 2: to those if if though, you have an area that
10:45
Speaker 2: you feel like needs extra attention. You know, I always
10:48
Speaker 2: told people call the Mayor's hotline for four four or
10:51
Speaker 2: five five five five. You can do that and they will.
10:54
Speaker 2: You can call public Works directly and they and say
10:57
Speaker 2: there's an area that needs some extra attention, and they
11:00
Speaker 2: will get out there and do that.
11:01
Speaker 4: I did that all the time when I was mayor.
11:03
Speaker 2: So you just got I'm sorry you were in an accident,
11:06
Speaker 2: but you really have to be extra careful out there
11:09
Speaker 2: when it's like this. I slid around a little bit
11:11
Speaker 2: this morning myself coming here. Yesterday evening. I was actually
11:14
Speaker 2: out in my car in the worst of it because
11:17
Speaker 2: I had somewhere I had to go, and boy was
11:20
Speaker 2: it slick then too.
11:21
Speaker 1: Yeah, it's because of the winds of whipping things through
11:25
Speaker 1: the neighborhoods, you know, where you've got the houses there.
11:28
Speaker 1: It's generally pretty dry there in the middle of the
11:30
Speaker 1: streets in the neighborhoods. But as Pat found out, and
11:33
Speaker 1: any of us who have been in a similar accident
11:35
Speaker 1: like you were this morning and I was a few
11:38
Speaker 1: months ago, when you're coming up on dry streets and
11:41
Speaker 1: then suddenly just glare ice up into the intersection and
11:45
Speaker 1: you realize I'm going to slide into that car and
11:47
Speaker 1: there's nothing I can do about it. It's a helpless
11:50
Speaker 1: feeling but that's where the ice is because at those intersections,
11:53
Speaker 1: that's where you don't have the houses and everyone providing
11:56
Speaker 1: the barriers for that snow drifting the ice coming across,
12:00
Speaker 1: and that's where you have glare ice right up on
12:02
Speaker 1: those intersections. And we've been telling you that all morning,
12:06
Speaker 1: but it just takes a few people to go, oh,
12:09
Speaker 1: the roads are dry. I'll just come right up and
12:10
Speaker 1: do it now. I want to ask you about something
12:14
Speaker 1: that you started talking about right at the start of
12:16
Speaker 1: our conversation, and that was you would have a snowfall
12:21
Speaker 1: across Omaha and residents in the city of Omaha would
12:25
Speaker 1: call you at home to wonder when the plows were
12:29
Speaker 1: going to they would you would answer the phone. I
12:33
Speaker 1: don't recognize this call. I'm the mayor of Omaha. Let
12:36
Speaker 1: me answer your phone at home.
12:40
Speaker 2: I well, it was my cell phone at I mean,
12:44
Speaker 2: I would be at home. But I'm kind of like touchmoder.
12:46
Speaker 2: Everybody in the world seems to have my cell phone
12:49
Speaker 2: or they will text me, or they will go on
12:51
Speaker 2: my Facebook and they will say this area at one
12:54
Speaker 2: hundred and thirty second nine is really icy. I mean
12:57
Speaker 2: I would get contacted a lot, and like I said,
13:00
Speaker 2: I would walk into Target and have somebody say are
13:03
Speaker 2: you the mayor? Yes, why don't you get out there
13:05
Speaker 2: and plow that snow? And so you know, when you're
13:09
Speaker 2: recognized people, well, I'll go back up, I will say.
13:12
Speaker 2: The one thing I really wanted people to know about
13:15
Speaker 2: me is that I would be accessible. And you know,
13:18
Speaker 2: I kept my Facebook open. It was interactive. I would
13:21
Speaker 2: take all sorts of of you know, complaints or comments
13:26
Speaker 2: on my Facebook all the time, and I would try
13:29
Speaker 2: to answer them. People would always say, oh, I bet
13:32
Speaker 2: you that's her staff doing that. I had a deputy
13:35
Speaker 2: chief of staff, Kerrie Murphy. She used to be with
13:38
Speaker 2: the TV media and me that ran my Facebook. And
13:41
Speaker 2: if there was an answer on Facebook, it was me
13:43
Speaker 2: or Carrie. And if Carrie answered, I told her how
13:46
Speaker 2: to answer it. And so no, that was me interacting
13:49
Speaker 2: with people on Facebook. And I took great pride in that.
13:53
Speaker 1: Well, the roads are in pretty good shape here, except
13:55
Speaker 1: of course, for some of those lanes where you had
13:58
Speaker 1: the ice and snow drifting on to some of those lanes,
14:01
Speaker 1: like the if you're heading eastbound on Dodge, the far
14:04
Speaker 1: left lane there in the middle of those that where
14:09
Speaker 1: the barrier would be it's especially icy in some parts
14:12
Speaker 1: it is.
14:12
Speaker 4: You still have to be very careful.
14:14
Speaker 2: And I think with the sun coming out in the afternoon,
14:16
Speaker 2: with the wind dying down, we are going to be
14:19
Speaker 2: in better shape. Do you know it's supposed to be
14:21
Speaker 2: sixty eight by Wednesday?
14:22
Speaker 1: Can you believe that maybe eighty five by Friday?
14:25
Speaker 4: It's crazy.
14:26
Speaker 2: Let me say one other thing though, I will say
14:28
Speaker 2: the TV news media, with those who report the weather,
14:33
Speaker 2: I think they do such a good job.
14:36
Speaker 4: I really do.
14:37
Speaker 2: I mean, every time I go into k TV, Bill
14:41
Speaker 2: Ramby would be in there and I would I would
14:43
Speaker 2: tell him this, and I would mean it. Those people
14:45
Speaker 2: save lives. They truly do. They're not always always correct,
14:49
Speaker 2: because like I said, they're in the hands of mother
14:52
Speaker 2: nature just like we are. But I remember when we
14:55
Speaker 2: had that tornado on Arbor Day. They truly save lives
14:59
Speaker 2: with that tornado when they're reporting on it. I will
15:02
Speaker 2: never criticize them either. They do a great job.
15:05
Speaker 1: Well, you know, they get criticized too. Because someone's getting
15:08
Speaker 1: a tornado and it's thirty miles away from where you live,
15:11
Speaker 1: you're of course going to call up and go. I
15:12
Speaker 1: wanted to watch who wants to be a millionaire, and
15:15
Speaker 1: I got bill rand beyond. They're talking about some tornado
15:17
Speaker 1: in someplace I don't live, so they get that too.
15:20
Speaker 4: Yes they do, I know, and that's why I said it.
15:23
Speaker 2: They get a lot of complaints if they're wrong, but
15:25
Speaker 2: you know what, they do the best job they can,
15:27
Speaker 2: and they truly save lives.
15:29
Speaker 4: They do a great job.
15:29
Speaker 1: Well, I'm talking about treating the roads here, we didn't
15:32
Speaker 1: have the phenomenon that happens all too often, and that
15:34
Speaker 1: is the Brian salt solution.
15:36
Speaker 3: The water.
15:37
Speaker 1: The Brian goes down there on the roads and then
15:40
Speaker 1: it rains first and it washes off the brine and
15:43
Speaker 1: then here comes the ice and snow. And it was like, well,
15:46
Speaker 1: what do we even bother to do that solution for
15:48
Speaker 1: it's all gone now and you shouldn't.
15:49
Speaker 2: I mean, that's why there's different conditions where Brian is warranted.
15:55
Speaker 2: And again Brian is just salt and water. And the
15:58
Speaker 2: reason we Brian this stat is this is you put
16:02
Speaker 2: down a layer of brine and it makes it easier
16:05
Speaker 2: once the snow falls, and then the cars packed the
16:08
Speaker 2: snow down. It makes it easier for the blades on
16:10
Speaker 2: the plow to come up and lift the snow up
16:13
Speaker 2: off the pavement. Otherwise it gets matted down and it
16:16
Speaker 2: sticks to the pavement. That's the only reason you use, Brian,
16:20
Speaker 2: and it's only indicated in certain conditions. As you just said,
16:24
Speaker 2: yesterday morning it rained, so it made no sense to
16:27
Speaker 2: Brian the entire city. It doesn't cost a whole lot
16:30
Speaker 2: except time and effort and the people that are out
16:33
Speaker 2: there doing it. But it didn't make sense because it
16:36
Speaker 2: would just wash away, and people will say a lot, Well,
16:39
Speaker 2: I didn't see those little lines on the pavement, so
16:41
Speaker 2: you didn't brin, and sometimes you shouldn't. Sometimes you shouldn't.
16:44
Speaker 2: If it's too cold, you can't brin either. I mean,
16:47
Speaker 2: if you get like way below zero, it doesn't make
16:50
Speaker 2: any sense to Brian either. So there are certain conditions.
16:53
Speaker 2: But yesterday not only did it rain, but the pavement
16:56
Speaker 2: was still very warm. In fact, the pavement didn't go
16:59
Speaker 2: below freezing until about five last night, so it was
17:02
Speaker 2: not indicated. So they really didn't need to do it yesterday.
17:06
Speaker 1: Well, is it not an acceptable answer as an acting
17:10
Speaker 1: member of the council or Mayor's office in Omaha to say, look,
17:14
Speaker 1: sometimes mother nature wins. You're not going to have down
17:18
Speaker 1: to the concrete snow off of your residential street in
17:22
Speaker 1: some smaller area of Omaha, and you're going to have potholes,
17:26
Speaker 1: and sometimes mother nature wins. We're doing the best we
17:29
Speaker 1: can here. Is that not an acceptable answer?
17:31
Speaker 2: I would try that sometimes that people would say I
17:34
Speaker 2: was being flip about it. You know, you can't just say, well,
17:37
Speaker 2: too bad for you, it's just mother nature. People did
17:40
Speaker 2: not want to hear that. The other thing I was
17:42
Speaker 2: going to mention a minute ago is plowing in people's driveways.
17:46
Speaker 2: I mean, when again, we have contractors, some have pickup
17:50
Speaker 2: trucks with blades that are doing the neighborhoods so that
17:53
Speaker 2: they don't have to wait for the big city plows
17:55
Speaker 2: to come through, and there is really no way to
17:59
Speaker 2: stop and plow everybody's driveway. We would be plowing till June,
18:03
Speaker 2: so you really can't do everybody's driveway. I'm out there
18:06
Speaker 2: plowing my shoveling my own driveway because they plowing my
18:10
Speaker 2: driveway too. I didn't get any special attention being mayor,
18:14
Speaker 2: that's for sure.
18:15
Speaker 3: It's so frustrating.
18:16
Speaker 2: It is so it is very frustrating.
18:19
Speaker 1: This is the Kfabe comment line, and you don't have
18:21
Speaker 1: to be on topic with whatever it is that your
18:24
Speaker 1: host Gen Stothard is talking about. And I think we're
18:27
Speaker 1: going outside the lines here with this call from Brett. Brett,
18:31
Speaker 1: you're on news radio eleven ten kfab Good morning.
18:35
Speaker 7: Good morning, Jean, good morning, Scott, good morning. Well, kudos
18:39
Speaker 7: to you for everything that you've done. I'm in this
18:42
Speaker 7: weird little Bermuda Triangle area on the Douglas Sarpy County
18:46
Speaker 7: line and I'm outside of the city limits, so I
18:49
Speaker 7: can't participate in local elections. But I wish I could
18:51
Speaker 7: have voted for you, but I couldn't. But I guess
18:54
Speaker 7: my question is I've always been curious about how the
18:56
Speaker 7: municipal bond process works, if there are multiple people on
19:00
Speaker 7: the mayor's staff who handle that or just one person,
19:04
Speaker 7: and how that works, And is it like an individual
19:10
Speaker 7: going to get a loan. You your city has a
19:13
Speaker 7: credit rating and a credit worthiness and that's going to
19:17
Speaker 7: determine how much you can borrow and who's going to
19:20
Speaker 7: buy it. I guess it goes to a market as
19:23
Speaker 7: part of that. And the last part is how would
19:26
Speaker 7: you grade the city's fiscal situation right now? As far
19:30
Speaker 7: as debt and how well are we doing with attracting
19:34
Speaker 7: businesses and retaining people in the city. So that was
19:38
Speaker 7: my question. I appreciate it, thank you.
19:40
Speaker 2: That's that's that's a big part of what the mayor
19:44
Speaker 2: does and should be concerned with is is basically the
19:48
Speaker 2: city's bond rating. Because you want a good bond rating.
19:53
Speaker 2: It really affects that if you go out and need
19:56
Speaker 2: to buy more municipal bonds. But this is kind of
19:58
Speaker 2: how it works. The finance apartment. We have a very
20:01
Speaker 2: good finance director Steve Curtis right now and there he
20:05
Speaker 2: handles those. Before that el when I became mayor, Al
20:09
Speaker 2: Harrick had been down there for years and years and
20:11
Speaker 2: years and he dealt with the bonds the most. But
20:14
Speaker 2: we do have a bond Council and we use them
20:17
Speaker 2: whenever we are selling bonds or whether we want to
20:20
Speaker 2: do a bond issue, and they are the ones that
20:23
Speaker 2: work with the finance department on selling those bonds. You
20:27
Speaker 2: want to get a good bond rating. We have a
20:29
Speaker 2: very good, excellent bond rating for the City of Omaha,
20:32
Speaker 2: and I wanted to keep it that way. Every single year,
20:35
Speaker 2: it was every fall the city does a presentation to
20:39
Speaker 2: our bond raiders, and we use standard and Poors and
20:43
Speaker 2: we use moodies. We would take turns either going up
20:47
Speaker 2: to Chicago and doing the presentation up there, or they
20:50
Speaker 2: would come here the next year. When I was mayor,
20:53
Speaker 2: every time every year I did the presentation for the city,
20:57
Speaker 2: and so you got to know a lot about what
20:59
Speaker 2: is going on with the city, in the city's finances.
21:03
Speaker 4: You know.
21:04
Speaker 2: The one thing that the bond raiders when I was mayor,
21:07
Speaker 2: they gave us an excellent bond rating, and one of
21:10
Speaker 2: the raiders rated what you want is triple A. I mean,
21:13
Speaker 2: that's that's the ultimate to have a triple bond A
21:16
Speaker 2: bond rating. One of the raiders rated US one notch
21:19
Speaker 2: below and the other rated US two notches below. I
21:22
Speaker 2: will say this, the one reason they gave us that
21:25
Speaker 2: we didn't have triple A for twelve years was our
21:29
Speaker 2: unfunded pension liability. And that was one thing I really
21:32
Speaker 2: tried to work on. Fire and police pension are in
21:36
Speaker 2: one section. I mean, there were one thing that they
21:40
Speaker 2: looked at. And then of course we have pensions for
21:43
Speaker 2: our other employees too, but fire and police pension was
21:46
Speaker 2: woefully underfunded. For years, and that is one reason the
21:50
Speaker 2: bond raiders kept on giving us a lower bond rating. Now,
21:54
Speaker 2: what we also do, even though we sell municipal bonds
21:58
Speaker 2: and we get them at really good price, is the
22:00
Speaker 2: finance department in our bond council is always looking at
22:03
Speaker 2: refinancing them to get lower rates. And we did that
22:07
Speaker 2: a lot. So while I was mayor, we would refinance
22:10
Speaker 2: bonds to get lower bond rating. But what the mayor
22:13
Speaker 2: needs to do, and what I tried to do, is
22:16
Speaker 2: to really focus on that unfunded pension liability. Now, when
22:21
Speaker 2: I was mayor for twelve years, we made progress. When
22:24
Speaker 2: I became mayor, the fire and police pension was underfunded
22:27
Speaker 2: and it was funded at about thirty eight percent. The
22:30
Speaker 2: bond raiders want you fully funded. Fully funded to a
22:34
Speaker 2: bond raider is eighty eighty five percent. And the bond
22:38
Speaker 2: raiders would be jumping for joy if you would say,
22:40
Speaker 2: by golly, I'm going to raise everybody's taxes sky high
22:44
Speaker 2: to tackle that unfunded pension liability. Well, the taxpayers don't
22:47
Speaker 2: want that. When I left the office, we were about
22:52
Speaker 2: fifty eight percent gone from thirty eight. It varies a
22:56
Speaker 2: little time to time, that was a big jump, but
22:59
Speaker 2: that was an anywhere near eighty eighty five percent, So
23:02
Speaker 2: that is still an issue with the City of Omaha.
23:04
Speaker 2: It's the unfunded pension liability that we are still working on.
23:08
Speaker 1: As people who listen to this radio station always say,
23:10
Speaker 1: thank goodness for that restaurant tax.
23:12
Speaker 2: Yes, now that was past when I was on city know.
23:16
Speaker 1: All right, all right, well, well stop there for a
23:18
Speaker 1: second and come back here. More of the kfab comment
23:21
Speaker 1: line four oh two, five five, eight, eleven ten. Comment
23:24
Speaker 1: at kfab dot com or send us a message via
23:27
Speaker 1: the talkback mic on iHeartRadio. That's Gene stoutht. I'm your producer,
23:31
Speaker 1: Scott Vorhees.
23:32
Speaker 8: Good morning, Scott. After waking up this morning and seeing
23:36
Speaker 8: the wind and snow outside and listening to you talk
23:39
Speaker 8: about the fires in western Nebraska and the state of
23:44
Speaker 8: Abyss we're in, I think I'm going to go back
23:46
Speaker 8: to bed.
23:46
Speaker 1: And Joyce is on the line too. Joyce is on
23:50
Speaker 1: the line to talk about the wildfires and a few
23:52
Speaker 1: other things as well. Joyce, You're on the eleven ten
23:54
Speaker 1: KFAB comment line with Jeane Stouth.
23:56
Speaker 9: Good morning, good morning, thanks for taking my call. Yes,
24:00
Speaker 9: I heard the Rosie did you knows? And I just
24:02
Speaker 9: wanted to say, last night at ten o'clock, we had
24:05
Speaker 9: TV on for news, and I'm not sure what network
24:09
Speaker 9: it was, but they said something like, and in Nebraska
24:12
Speaker 9: there's a wildfire and in Michigan the snow is And
24:17
Speaker 9: I said where in Nebraska? And my husband said how big?
24:20
Speaker 9: And we said, boy, that was informative. They just but yeah.
24:26
Speaker 9: And then my other comment, it's a positive thing. All
24:30
Speaker 9: my grandchildren in Lincoln last week there was no school
24:34
Speaker 9: for spring break, so a lot of kids were out
24:36
Speaker 9: everywhere doing things and nice weather, and I just noticed,
24:41
Speaker 9: and I know it's the same way at my grandchildren's
24:43
Speaker 9: birthday parties. I don't think that kids are worrying about
24:49
Speaker 9: trying to be racist or believed the adults that keep saying
24:52
Speaker 9: their systemic racism. Their friends are every race. Some of
24:57
Speaker 9: them wear burkas, and it doesn't seem to me like
25:01
Speaker 9: most of the kids are. It pleases me to see
25:05
Speaker 9: how they're just all together.
25:09
Speaker 2: I appreciate the call, and I agree with you. You know,
25:12
Speaker 2: Omaha and Nebraska, but I'll speak particularly of Omaha is
25:16
Speaker 2: getting more and more diverse all the time. And I
25:19
Speaker 2: got to tell you a little personal story here because
25:21
Speaker 2: both of my kids, Elizabeth and Andrew, were born down
25:24
Speaker 2: in Galveston, Texas Hey University of Texas Medical Branch. They
25:27
Speaker 2: went to public school. We didn't move here till Andrew
25:30
Speaker 2: was going into kindergarten and Elizabeth was going in the
25:32
Speaker 2: second grade, but they went to public school. And you know,
25:35
Speaker 2: down in Galveston, it was a third Hispanic, a third black,
25:38
Speaker 2: and a third white.
25:40
Speaker 4: They were bilingual.
25:41
Speaker 2: Elizabeth was very bilingual when we came here because she
25:44
Speaker 2: was in classes with kids that were that spoke Spanish
25:47
Speaker 2: all the time. And when we first moved here, it
25:50
Speaker 2: was in it was in ninety three. I remember I
25:53
Speaker 2: took him out to Oakview Mall. It had just opened up.
25:55
Speaker 2: And the comment Elizabeth made me just made me stop
25:58
Speaker 2: and think. And she said, Mommy, where are all the
26:01
Speaker 2: Hispanic and black people? They were all white everybody she saw,
26:05
Speaker 2: and she wasn't used to that. And I thought that
26:07
Speaker 2: was such an interesting comment that a second grader said
26:10
Speaker 2: to me when we first moved here, it's not that
26:12
Speaker 2: way anymore. And I'm glad to see it's not that
26:14
Speaker 2: way anymore. And I'm glad to see it's a lot
26:17
Speaker 2: more integrated, and I think it's just it's becoming a
26:21
Speaker 2: more diverse community and I think that's good.
26:23
Speaker 1: The first part of Joyce's comments where about the wildfires. Yes,
26:27
Speaker 1: and I think this is the first time, this is
26:29
Speaker 1: beyond your time as mayor of Omaha, that you had
26:32
Speaker 1: any fire crews from Omaha go out elsewhere in the state,
26:36
Speaker 1: like well beyond the boundaries of Omaha to help fight fires.
26:40
Speaker 1: This is a pretty amazing phenomenon going on out there,
26:45
Speaker 1: and it's zero percent contained. We didn't get any of
26:48
Speaker 1: that snow yesterday in that area of the Panhandle where
26:52
Speaker 1: about seven hundred thousand acres of wildfires are burning across
26:55
Speaker 1: mostly Moral County, Nebraska, right between I eighty west of
26:59
Speaker 1: Ogola up north to Alliance. That whole area is on fire,
27:03
Speaker 1: and so we sent Omaha and some Lincoln fire crews
27:06
Speaker 1: out there. That never happened when you were there, right.
27:08
Speaker 2: Not particularly to fight fires, but our teams from Omaha
27:12
Speaker 2: have been sent all over the country for other disasters.
27:16
Speaker 2: I mean they've been down to New Orleans, they've been
27:18
Speaker 2: other places their emergency response team and they are eager
27:21
Speaker 2: to go. I mean, our Omaha Fire Department, I can't
27:25
Speaker 2: praise them enough either. Chief Bossman, I was so happy
27:28
Speaker 2: to be able to appoint the first woman as chief,
27:32
Speaker 2: but I also appointed Bernie Kanger. I also supported Dan Olsen,
27:36
Speaker 2: who did a great job. And when they need us,
27:39
Speaker 2: we go, and I think that that's really great. So, yes,
27:42
Speaker 2: our firefighters are out there helping them out. Luckily, that's
27:46
Speaker 2: huge area that is on fire, the seven hundred thousand acres.
27:49
Speaker 2: It's not populated as much as you know, say, when
27:53
Speaker 2: the wildfires were happening in Los Angeles, so that's a
27:56
Speaker 2: really positive thing. But yeah, they're out there and when
27:59
Speaker 2: they are needed, they go, Yeah, which I think is great.
28:01
Speaker 1: A lot of ranches out there, cattle and pigs. We
28:04
Speaker 1: already have historically low cattle populations across this country.
28:09
Speaker 2: And we don't know how yet how this is. These
28:11
Speaker 2: fires right now are affecting the cattle out there, so
28:14
Speaker 2: we will find out, I'm sure soon.
28:16
Speaker 1: Yeah, you've got the cattle ranchers potentially dealing with that.
28:20
Speaker 1: If it hasn't impacted the herds out there, it's probably
28:23
Speaker 1: impacted travel and the ability to do some of that business.
28:26
Speaker 1: And then in Colorado you've got meat packing plant workers.
28:29
Speaker 1: One of the biggest meat packing processing plants in the
28:31
Speaker 1: country in Greeley, Colorado on strike today. So it's a
28:38
Speaker 1: have you been trying to afford beef here lately? Do
28:41
Speaker 1: you go to the store and go, Why goodness, I'm
28:43
Speaker 1: not going to get this. This is too expensive. Now
28:45
Speaker 1: cast prices are up, this is going to also raise
28:48
Speaker 1: the cost of beef.
28:49
Speaker 2: And I love beef too, And yes, obviously I've noticed
28:53
Speaker 2: that the prices have gone up unbelievable, and I think
28:56
Speaker 2: you know that's an issue that we're having to deal
28:59
Speaker 2: with right now.
29:00
Speaker 1: So I wanted to ask you about watching the Academy
29:05
Speaker 1: Awards last night, because before we got on the air
29:07
Speaker 1: this morning, you said, yeah, I watched a little bit
29:09
Speaker 1: of that, and you actually had a chance to meet
29:12
Speaker 1: Conan O'Brien at one point.
29:14
Speaker 3: Here.
29:14
Speaker 1: Can we get that story from you next? Well, yes
29:17
Speaker 1: we can. Okay, James right there, a host of the
29:20
Speaker 1: KFAB comment line. We'll return with that story and more
29:23
Speaker 1: next And you and Chris are sniping at each other
29:26
Speaker 1: and you know it needs to stop. Came on, You're
29:30
Speaker 1: not looking to lower the temperature. No, I'm going to
29:33
Speaker 1: earn the name mean gene. I think I need to No,
29:36
Speaker 1: I'm a big fan of Chris's, but you know what,
29:38
Speaker 1: I could keep up with him. He said that you
29:40
Speaker 1: came in here on day one and started throwing a
29:43
Speaker 1: big diva fit and demanding an office. And you said,
29:47
Speaker 1: that's the funniest thing Chris has said since he decided
29:50
Speaker 1: he could get elected to the Douglas County Board. I
29:52
Speaker 1: did say that, and he came back and I don't
29:55
Speaker 1: know what he said on Friday, but he was popping
29:57
Speaker 1: off then. So I'm going to write.
29:58
Speaker 2: Him a few more emails this week. We'll have to
30:00
Speaker 2: do that. Yeah, I'll have to keep bothering him with
30:04
Speaker 2: some emails. Did you watch the Academy Awards last night
30:07
Speaker 2: a bit until they got political? And then I thought,
30:11
Speaker 2: I don't want to hear these celebrities and these actors
30:15
Speaker 2: talk smack about politics, so I turned it off. My
30:18
Speaker 2: daughter and I like to both watch it. We just
30:21
Speaker 2: talk about what clothes of women and men have on.
30:23
Speaker 4: That's about it.
30:24
Speaker 2: But you know a lot of those movies I have seen,
30:27
Speaker 2: you talked a little bit about them earlier.
30:29
Speaker 3: F one.
30:30
Speaker 2: I don't know anything about about formula car racing, and
30:33
Speaker 2: I thought that movie was so good. I sat at
30:36
Speaker 2: the edge of my seat the whole time. You feel
30:38
Speaker 2: like you're in a race car. So and Hammett. I
30:41
Speaker 2: loved when Jesse Buckley won for Best Actress. Oh you've
30:46
Speaker 2: got to see it. It's the saddest thing you've ever seen.
30:50
Speaker 3: Why would I want to watch the Statiste.
30:51
Speaker 2: Because it's about Shakespeare and it's so good. I mean,
30:55
Speaker 2: it's just it's it's great. Speaking of Shakespeare. They just
30:59
Speaker 2: had ann Juliet at the Orpheum, which is about Romeo
31:04
Speaker 2: and Juliet after Romeo dies, and it's a comedy. So
31:07
Speaker 2: and William Shakespeare is in that that show too, and
31:10
Speaker 2: it's hilarious. So you want a lively show, see and
31:13
Speaker 2: juliett it's.
31:14
Speaker 1: Basically looking at shows that we all know. Romeo and
31:17
Speaker 1: Juliet are Wizard of Oz and just twisting it a
31:19
Speaker 1: little bit for Wicked or and Juliet.
31:21
Speaker 2: And in current music there was a lot of Backstreet
31:24
Speaker 2: boys music with and In and Juliet. There was Britney Spears.
31:27
Speaker 2: I mean, you're pretty funny.
31:29
Speaker 1: But you you said you wanted to watch the Oscars
31:31
Speaker 1: last night to see what Conan would do with it.
31:33
Speaker 3: I thought he was great.
31:34
Speaker 1: I love Conan. You actually what met him?
31:37
Speaker 2: Well, it was really It's really funny. I have a
31:40
Speaker 2: real good girlfriend here in Omaha, Shirley. Shirley and I
31:43
Speaker 2: would go to New York on long weekends and we
31:45
Speaker 2: would go to eat and watch Broadway shows.
31:47
Speaker 4: We did everything.
31:48
Speaker 2: We'd be down at thirty Rock at the Today Show
31:50
Speaker 2: at six in the morning, waving at the cameras like
31:52
Speaker 2: everybody else. But one day I remembered it was really rainy,
31:55
Speaker 2: so we decided we would just tour thirty Rock, which
31:58
Speaker 2: was really great because you get to go in all
32:00
Speaker 2: the studios. So what of the that we went to
32:03
Speaker 2: where Saturday Night Live is. That's the biggest studio at
32:05
Speaker 2: thirty Rock. And then they took us in Conan's studio,
32:08
Speaker 2: which is really small. It's a real tiny little studio.
32:11
Speaker 2: And we were standing there kind of with the tour group,
32:14
Speaker 2: and we were standing back where the seats were, and
32:16
Speaker 2: you know, they used those studios for multiple different shows,
32:19
Speaker 2: and the stage had a bunch of boxes and things
32:21
Speaker 2: on it, and so they were just talking and all
32:23
Speaker 2: of a sudden, Conan pops his head up behind one
32:26
Speaker 2: of the boxes and he's just goofing around with people
32:29
Speaker 2: so he is a he's a really I think he's
32:31
Speaker 2: so witty, so funny. People either like comedians or they don't.
32:35
Speaker 2: I think being a comedian would be one of the
32:37
Speaker 2: hardest things in.
32:38
Speaker 4: The world to do.
32:39
Speaker 3: Yeah, I thought he was great last night.
32:41
Speaker 4: He was really, really good.
32:42
Speaker 2: And when he said I'm your last human as being
32:45
Speaker 2: the host, I thought that was pretty funny too.
32:47
Speaker 1: I like the insertion of the host into the various
32:51
Speaker 1: movies like Billy Crystal used to do. Conan does that
32:54
Speaker 1: as well.
32:55
Speaker 2: Arn know, if you're gonna get political, that's that's fine.
32:58
Speaker 2: As long as you make me laugh. Yeah, be fun
33:00
Speaker 2: and if you're funny, that's fine.
33:01
Speaker 3: Right.
33:02
Speaker 1: He had a joke about the name of the theater
33:04
Speaker 1: in relation to male warts, and he said, let's see
33:09
Speaker 1: Trump try and name the theater after himself.
33:11
Speaker 3: This time.
33:13
Speaker 1: He did a better job at the line than I did.
33:15
Speaker 1: I wasn't going to say it here on the KFA
33:17
Speaker 1: BE comment line, but we'll put you on the air
33:19
Speaker 1: at four oh two, five, five, eight eleven ten. Hello Clyde,
33:22
Speaker 1: You're on news radio eleven ten KFAB with Jeans Dothor.
33:27
Speaker 10: Hey, good morning, good morning, good morning, good morning, Scott. Yeah,
33:33
Speaker 10: I got a comment just listening to the show this morning.
33:35
Speaker 5: I've sure been hearing a.
33:36
Speaker 10: Lot of talk about race and gender, and just my comment,
33:43
Speaker 10: is there ever going to be a time when we
33:45
Speaker 10: don't have to think about somebody's gender or the race
33:50
Speaker 10: in human history? Here ever coming up? You know, like
33:54
Speaker 10: kind of what Martin Luther King said.
33:56
Speaker 5: Judge a man by the content of his character, not
34:02
Speaker 5: the color of skin, nor what's in his or her pants.
34:06
Speaker 5: You know that's my comment.
34:09
Speaker 2: Well, thanks for your comment, and I you know I
34:11
Speaker 2: could I couldn't agree with you more. I think I've
34:13
Speaker 2: I talked a little bit on the first show about
34:15
Speaker 2: how difficult it was for me to run for city
34:19
Speaker 2: council and for mayor. There had not been a city
34:22
Speaker 2: council member that was a woman in a decade. There
34:25
Speaker 2: has never been a mayor that has been a woman
34:28
Speaker 2: until I was elected, And I mean it was difficult.
34:32
Speaker 2: I had people tell me over and over things like, honey,
34:36
Speaker 2: why don't you go back and be on the school
34:37
Speaker 2: board because that's what girls do. Well that made me
34:40
Speaker 2: want to dive in even more. But I will tell you,
34:43
Speaker 2: with this city of Omaha, our hiring practices have never
34:47
Speaker 2: been based on quotas or the color of your skin
34:52
Speaker 2: or your gender, never ever, ever, and never.
34:55
Speaker 4: Will it will will it be.
34:57
Speaker 2: It's always based on your capabilities, and I think that
35:00
Speaker 2: that is something important to know and understand about city government.
35:05
Speaker 2: When I hired, and I did hire a DEI coordinator
35:10
Speaker 2: in the City of Omaha, I was really criticized for it,
35:13
Speaker 2: and I felt like at that time that was a
35:16
Speaker 2: big issue in the community and I felt like that
35:19
Speaker 2: that is something that we should lead by example. But
35:22
Speaker 2: NETT never changed what our hiring practices were at all.
35:26
Speaker 2: Another thing I have to bring up is when I
35:28
Speaker 2: hired our homeless service coordinator, Tamara Dwyer, who I love.
35:32
Speaker 2: I think she does a great job. And if you
35:35
Speaker 2: recall during the campaign, there was Mike McDonald that was
35:39
Speaker 2: running and before in the primary, and he was doing
35:43
Speaker 2: a talk and at a Saturday morning event and he
35:47
Speaker 2: said Tamara Dwyer was just a DEI hire and he
35:51
Speaker 2: would fire her on day one is what he said. Well,
35:55
Speaker 2: going back to what the City of Omaha hiring practices are,
35:58
Speaker 2: I helped write her job description. We put it out
36:01
Speaker 2: there for people to apply. There was over one hundred
36:05
Speaker 2: people that applied for that position over one hundred. She
36:10
Speaker 2: just stood out and was outstanding, and that's why she
36:13
Speaker 2: was hired. So with that hiring practice and all those applicants,
36:17
Speaker 2: I didn't know the color of their skin. I kind
36:19
Speaker 2: of knew their gender by their names. But that's about it.
36:22
Speaker 2: I wanted to hire the best person for the job,
36:24
Speaker 2: and that's what the City of Omaha does.
36:26
Speaker 1: We have a few minutes leftists today here on the
36:29
Speaker 1: kfab comment line with Gene Stock that this one from
36:32
Speaker 1: comment at kfab dot com. Kyle emails and says, glad
36:36
Speaker 1: to hear your voice on the radio. He's talking about you,
36:40
Speaker 1: of course.
36:40
Speaker 3: He said, I'm.
36:41
Speaker 1: Curious what's going to be going into or happening to
36:43
Speaker 1: the old Mutual of Omaha building, as that new one's
36:47
Speaker 1: just about hitting its peak and looks great on the skyline.
36:51
Speaker 3: He said.
36:51
Speaker 1: I've heard the parking will be used, but nothing about
36:54
Speaker 1: the building itself. The old Mutual Empire there not far
36:58
Speaker 1: from midtown crossing.
36:59
Speaker 2: And you know when Mutual I started talking to Mutual
37:02
Speaker 2: way way way before they made a decision that they
37:04
Speaker 2: were going to be downtown, that they needed to expand,
37:07
Speaker 2: they were looking at their current campus. They were looking
37:10
Speaker 2: out west. I felt like a fortune five hundred company
37:13
Speaker 2: like Mutual of Omaha needed to build its new headquarters downtown,
37:16
Speaker 2: and that's where I wanted them. But one of my
37:19
Speaker 2: biggest concerns was what would happen to Midtown because Mutual
37:23
Speaker 2: of Omaha is Midtown now. The developer that they are
37:27
Speaker 2: using is going to be developing Midtown and their current
37:32
Speaker 2: campus and their current buildings. It's going to be phased.
37:36
Speaker 2: I was hoping that that developer at Lanaha Developments would
37:40
Speaker 2: be able to announce what they were going to do
37:43
Speaker 2: with that area while I was still mayor, because that
37:46
Speaker 2: would be a really exciting thing to do. But rest
37:49
Speaker 2: assured that they are not going to abandon those buildings
37:53
Speaker 2: at Midtown. That campus there of Mutual of Omaha is
37:57
Speaker 2: going to be developed, and hopefully we will know soon
38:00
Speaker 2: what is going to go there now. The last I
38:03
Speaker 2: was involved when they were going to preserve those old
38:06
Speaker 2: buildings too. It wasn't going to be just a knockdown,
38:08
Speaker 2: but they were going to preserve the old buildings and
38:10
Speaker 2: add on to what is in their current campus. That
38:13
Speaker 2: was a big concern of mine, and I think we
38:16
Speaker 2: all know that they're going to do something there too.
38:18
Speaker 1: Next email is also about some development around town. Jill
38:23
Speaker 1: says so thrilled that Genus joined kfab to spice up
38:26
Speaker 1: the mornings and teach us about how things get done.
38:29
Speaker 1: Jill says, I teach sports economics. We're considering the costs
38:33
Speaker 1: and benefits of the proposed Union Omaha Soccer stadium in
38:37
Speaker 1: the new so called stadium district.
38:39
Speaker 3: We've learned.
38:40
Speaker 1: Any idea called a district though, is code for proposed
38:44
Speaker 1: tiff support. Does the city publish details of proposed projects
38:48
Speaker 1: like these?
38:49
Speaker 4: Oh? Absolutely.
38:50
Speaker 2: I mean when we have things that we know of
38:53
Speaker 2: where the development is going, and the developer is ready
38:56
Speaker 2: to announce it, we will do that. We will do
38:59
Speaker 2: it in a press conference. We will take all the
39:01
Speaker 2: questions that we know anybody has about it. I did
39:04
Speaker 2: that with Central Park Plaza, say the twin towers downstairs
39:08
Speaker 2: when they announced that. I did it over and over
39:11
Speaker 2: and over with the streetcar. But yes, I was working
39:14
Speaker 2: with the group with Union Soccer. Even when they were
39:18
Speaker 2: looking for a place to put that stadium. There was
39:21
Speaker 2: several multiple places that they were looking at, and we
39:24
Speaker 2: wanted to work with them to find the best place
39:26
Speaker 2: for it.
39:27
Speaker 4: When they say the district.
39:28
Speaker 2: Yet there's not only an area that will they will
39:32
Speaker 2: receive tiff, and that is just a financing tool. And
39:35
Speaker 2: we could talk about tiff till I'm blue in the face,
39:38
Speaker 2: and I'm happy to do it anytime. I could explain
39:40
Speaker 2: tiff to you. But they're also looking at turnback tax
39:43
Speaker 2: for that area too, and what that means is that's
39:47
Speaker 2: all about sales tax. Is that it's not only going
39:50
Speaker 2: to be the stadium, but there's going to be a
39:51
Speaker 2: big development around that stadium that will have residential, it'll
39:56
Speaker 2: have commercial, it'll have retail in it, and it's going
39:59
Speaker 2: to generate a lot more sales tax that whole district there.
40:04
Speaker 2: And with the turnback tax, a portion of that new
40:07
Speaker 2: sales tax could go back to the development to help
40:10
Speaker 2: pay for the development. So that's what they're talking about
40:13
Speaker 2: now with the State of Nebraska. But that tiff you
40:17
Speaker 2: got to keep in mind too, there's only certain things
40:20
Speaker 2: that are tiff eligible expenses that can be covered with tiff,
40:24
Speaker 2: and that is determined by state law.
40:26
Speaker 1: Well, how come some private developer doesn't just put it
40:29
Speaker 1: all in there and not put it back on the taxpayers.
40:31
Speaker 1: You got one minute to answer all of our economic questions.
40:34
Speaker 4: Oh one minute.
40:35
Speaker 2: I can't answer it in one minute, but we don't
40:37
Speaker 2: want it on the backs of the taxpayers with TIFF.
40:40
Speaker 2: The taxes that they are paying, the property taxes now
40:43
Speaker 2: that is being paid in that area will still go
40:46
Speaker 2: back into the coffers of the city. You're not going
40:49
Speaker 2: to lose anything. It's just the new property taxes that
40:54
Speaker 2: they will pay because the value of the area will increase,
40:58
Speaker 2: and we can go into that at length.
41:00
Speaker 1: Another show, well we've got We've got more shows to
41:02
Speaker 1: do is every morning at ten o'clock it's the KFAB
41:05
Speaker 1: comment line, Saint Patrick's Day tomorrow. You're wearing green today.
41:08
Speaker 2: I'm all out Irish and I'm gonna be that way
41:11
Speaker 2: all week. Remember I married an Irishman, so I got
41:13
Speaker 2: to be Irish.
41:14
Speaker 3: That is Jean Stothard