Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Police and Firefighter Pension

Transcript

Police and Firefighter Pension · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Peyton. How are you today.
• 0:01
  Speaker 2: I'm doing really good. It's warm out today, day today,
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: the sun is out.
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: We are all good. Speaking of how good it is
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: around here. I just was listening to Scott, me and
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: the other half dozen people that listen to Scott in
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: the morning. But anyway, he was talking to Lucy about
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: a repost that Senator Legislator Megan Hunt did. I wanted
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: to bring it up just a little bit more and
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: talk about it because number one, Megan Hunt is a
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: she is a Democrat legislator. I will say this. I
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: like Megan Hunt. I like her as a person a lot.
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: We don't agree on our politics. She didn't agree with mine.
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: I don't agree with all of hers. But she did
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: repost something that was about something to the effect and
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: I don't have it in front of me, but why
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: would women want to have children? Why would they want
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: to bring children into this country like we have now?
• 0:58
  Speaker 1: And you know, I just wanted to talk a little
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: bit about that, because you know, the trend is just
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: different now than it used to be. I am one
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: of four kids, my husband Kevin is one of six.
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't see that anymore. And I think
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: there is just a huge cohort of women, young women generally,
• 1:17
  Speaker 1: especially in our country now, that not only don't want
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: to have kids at an early age, but don't want
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: to get married. A lot of them just don't want
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: to get married. And I think that is a trend
• 1:28
  Speaker 1: that's a lot different than it was when I was younger,
• 1:32
  Speaker 1: or even when I was going to have kids. I
• 1:34
  Speaker 1: didn't have my daughter, Elizabeth till I was thirty two
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: because I was working as a nurse and liked what
• 1:41
  Speaker 1: I did, so I started a little bit late and
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: had Andrew two years later. I would have had more kids,
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: but Andrew was a bit of a hellion. He was
• 1:52
  Speaker 1: one of those kids that screamed and cried all day
• 1:55
  Speaker 1: long and all night long and never slept, and I
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: was afraid I might have, you know, three or four
• 2:00
  Speaker 1: more andrews. Now. Haven't said that. Andrew is a great kid.
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: He is very successful. He's wonderful person now, and he
• 2:10
  Speaker 1: is a PhD. Very well educated, very smart, obviously takes
• 2:15
  Speaker 1: after his dad. But it was just it was different,
• 2:19
  Speaker 1: you know, it was different when I was having kids,
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: and it was different when I was a kid. But
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: I do think that there are a lot of women
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: that don't want to even get married anymore or have kids.
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: I would never say it's because of the condition and
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: the of what is going on in this country right now.
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: I tell you, I wake up every day and thank
• 2:38
  Speaker 1: god I live in the United States of America. After
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: I get up and read the Wall Street Journal, listen
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: to the international news, listen to what's going on in
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: the Mid East, and I am very, very grateful that
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: I live in a country like the United States of America.
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: So I'd like to hear what other people have to
• 2:54
  Speaker 1: say about that, or if you have any comments about that.
• 2:57
  Speaker 1: But another thing I wanted to bring up this morning.
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Excuse me, Peyton, you should have my cough button there.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: I know I need your cough per I know it.
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: I gotta clear my throat every now and then in
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: the morning. But we had a caller yesterday that was
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: asking about fire and police pension and how much money
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: the city puts into the pension. And I did just
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: take some time last night to look it up in
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: the budget because the City of Omaha's budget is online.
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: I started doing that when I was mayor. I put
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: the whole city budget online, and I put the city's
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: checkbook online, So I hope Mary Ewan keeps up with
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: that because you can look up anything you want. But
• 3:36
  Speaker 1: I knew I said yesterday we were putting millions into
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: the fire and police pension, and did explain that the
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: fire and police pension are combined. It is underfunded still.
• 3:47
  Speaker 1: It went from thirty eight percent funded when I first
• 3:50
  Speaker 1: became mayried around fifty eight percent funded now. But our
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: bond raiders they want it fully funded and they wanted
• 3:56
  Speaker 1: at least eighty percent. So we worked. Every time we
• 3:59
  Speaker 1: did labor negotiations with police and fire, we worked towards
• 4:04
  Speaker 1: more pension reform. And that was either putting more money
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: into the pension or taking less pension benefits. It was
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: one or of the other. Because when I became mayor
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: that fire and police they could retire with full pension
• 4:20
  Speaker 1: benefits after twenty five years of service at age forty
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: five full pension benefits. So basically they were taken out
• 4:29
  Speaker 1: too much too early, and so some of the changes
• 4:32
  Speaker 1: we did is we put gradually, we put more money
• 4:36
  Speaker 1: into the pension. But keep in mind the city Charter
• 4:39
  Speaker 1: says that the employee and the employer should put substantially
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: equal amounts into the pension, and so I didn't want
• 4:46
  Speaker 1: the city or the taxpayers dumping a lot more money
• 4:49
  Speaker 1: into the pension if the employees weren't going to match it.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: So a lot of times in negotiation, I would even say,
• 4:56
  Speaker 1: if you want to put half percent, say more into
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: the pension, or or one percent more into the pension,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: the city would match it. And that was hard to
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: do because they didn't want to put more. The employees
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: didn't really want to put more in the pension. But
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: what we did achieve is making them, not getting them
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: to agree, not making them, getting them to agree to
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: work longer with more years of service to be eligible
• 5:19
  Speaker 1: for full pension benefits. So let's go back to that
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: just for a second and let me explain it. Because,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: like I said before, it used to be they could
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: retire with full pension benefits after twenty five years of
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: service at age forty five. They could retire. Now the
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: Omaha Fire Department, they have to be fifty five with
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: thirty years of service. So they are working longer and
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: they have to have more years of service. And so
• 5:45
  Speaker 1: that is true pension reform because they're not taking it out.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: I mean ten years earlier before they could start taking
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: pension benefits the Omaha Police Department. It's age fifty now
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: and they can max out at thirty eight years as service.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: So it's a lot different for right now than it
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: was before of the age they can retire in the
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: years of service they can retire. So that's hopefully that's plane.
• 6:09
  Speaker 1: You know, plane is mud right there. But the amount
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: we have put into the city what we budgeted, I
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: wanted to let the listeners know because in twenty twenty
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: six just looked it up in the budget the city,
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: which are the taxpayers into the police pension there it's
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: budgeted for forty one million, and for fire it's budgeted
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: for twenty seven million, So fifty five million of taxpayer
• 6:35
  Speaker 1: dollars are going into just the fire and the police pension.
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: For the employee east side. Now, the police, the city's
• 6:42
  Speaker 1: putting in forty one the employees are putting in twenty total.
• 6:46
  Speaker 1: For fire, the city is putting in twenty seven million
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: and the employees are putting in fourteen million. The difference
• 6:53
  Speaker 1: between police and fire are there are more police than fire.
• 6:57
  Speaker 1: That's why they're putting in twenty million total and fire
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: is putting fourteen million total. That's because there's more police
• 7:03
  Speaker 1: than there is fire. So the taxpayers in the city
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: of Omaha in twenty six it's budgeted for fifty five
• 7:10
  Speaker 1: million dollars going into the pension. That's a lot, lot, lot,
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: lot of money. But still to get that pension fully funded,
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: it's either going to take that the employees take less
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: pension benefits, or more money is put into the pension.
• 7:26
  Speaker 1: And that is a hard nut to crack, but g
• 7:28
  Speaker 1: have somebody to say, yep, I'm going to I'm going
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: to I want to take home less and put more
• 7:33
  Speaker 1: into the pension. Because a lot of the you know,
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: the new police and fire, they're they're young. A lot
• 7:39
  Speaker 1: of them are young. A lot of them are are
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: a little bit older now, but a lot of them
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: are young. And although they're thinking about their future, they're
• 7:46
  Speaker 1: thinking more right now about what they take home in
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: their pockets, you know, every two weeks, because they have
• 7:52
  Speaker 1: young families and they're they're trying to make a go
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: of it, and they don't think as much about what
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: they will have when they retire years and years and
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: years from now, and so the willingness to say, yep,
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: I'll take home less and put a lot more in
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: my pension. It, like I said, is a pretty hard
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: nut to crack, but it's something that we always think
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: about because that truly affects our bond rating, that unfunded
• 8:14
  Speaker 1: pension liability that is still on our backs on the cities,
• 8:16
  Speaker 1: and it's our responsibility to make sure that that pension
• 8:19
  Speaker 1: is funded.
• 8:20
  Speaker 2: This email comes from Gina. You can reach out to
• 8:23
  Speaker 2: us at comment at kfab via email just like Gina did,
• 8:27
  Speaker 2: or the phone lines are wide open. Four zero two
• 8:29
  Speaker 2: five five, eight eleven ten. This one says, good morning,
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: love listening to your show. I just want to talk
• 8:33
  Speaker 2: about the terrible graffiti that has been on the silos
• 8:36
  Speaker 2: on the north side of the Interstate eighty coming into
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: Omaha before the fortieth Street exit. It is terrible. I
• 8:43
  Speaker 2: drive in from Iowa to work in Omaha, and it's
• 8:46
  Speaker 2: disgusting to see this every day. It has been on
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: there for way too long, and you would never have
• 8:52
  Speaker 2: let it be there that long. Something needs to be
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: done about this, and I will email the city and
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: the mayor. Very sad to see when you drive into Omaha.
• 8:57
  Speaker 2: It makes it look very trashy.
• 8:59
  Speaker 1: Okay, Now, remind me that she said coming into Omaha
• 9:03
  Speaker 1: on eighty.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: Into Omaha, Okay, because there's silos also on the north
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: side of eighty if you're going eastbound, those great big
• 9:14
  Speaker 2: silos right body interstate.
• 9:16
  Speaker 1: And you know, we worked on those for quite a
• 9:18
  Speaker 1: while because there was a potential buyer that wanted to
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: buy all of those silos, take them down and do
• 9:24
  Speaker 1: a mixed use development there. But they were we were
• 9:28
  Speaker 1: still in some negotiations when I left office because they
• 9:32
  Speaker 1: wanted the city to really pay for a lot of
• 9:36
  Speaker 1: the demo of those silos and if you can imagine
• 9:39
  Speaker 1: what would that would be like, and also it would
• 9:41
  Speaker 1: probably necessitate closing down the interstate. But you know, we
• 9:45
  Speaker 1: have removed the graffiti from those silos before, and unfortunately
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: it comes back. It's it's hard to keep on top
• 9:55
  Speaker 1: of those things. It truly is. Look at look at
• 9:57
  Speaker 1: the trains.
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, and I.
• 10:01
  Speaker 1: Will bring this up again. When I was first on
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: the city council, Councilman Gary Grinette was on the city
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: council then and that was his pet peeve beyond belief.
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: He hated graffiti and he is the one that started
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: the whole graffiti abatement program, which we still have and
• 10:17
  Speaker 1: they are still on it, and it's run through the
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: Public Works department, And if graffiti is reported, especially like
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: on the railroad overpasses, they are out there right away
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: to get rid of it, because these people are marking
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: their territory and as soon as you can get it down,
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: the better. So as far as the silos go, those
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: silos that the caller is talking about are privately owned too,
• 10:41
  Speaker 1: and so that makes that makes quite a difference whether
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: who owns them or if they're just abandoned sitting right there.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: But I agree with you, it is it's unsightly. I
• 10:50
  Speaker 1: don't like how it looks. You can certainly call into
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: the Public Works department and ask them if they have
• 10:56
  Speaker 1: any ability to work with the owners of those silos,
• 10:58
  Speaker 1: but I know that they are privately owned too well.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: I've gotten a few emails about this Meghan Hunt situation
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: that we talked about to start the show. It's kind
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: of interesting. I'm curious what you guys have to say
• 11:09
  Speaker 2: for zero two, five, five, eight, eleven ten, or you
• 11:12
  Speaker 2: can send us an email like Randy and Chris have
• 11:14
  Speaker 2: done so. Randy says, no surprise, it's pretty obvious. Meghan
• 11:19
  Speaker 2: Hunt is a member of the homosexual agenda and will
• 11:22
  Speaker 2: never be an advocate for bearing children. She is a
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: mother though, right.
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: No, she is not. She is not not that I
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: am aware of.
• 11:28
  Speaker 3: No.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: And then Chris comments and says, I believe the trend
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: of young women not wanting to have children and get
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: married is the result of radical feminism. I'm sure you
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: are familiar with the term toxic masculinity, and they're just
• 11:41
  Speaker 2: kind of talking about it. Well, it's very interesting. I'm
• 11:44
  Speaker 2: trying to find the quote that we were talking about earlier.
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: I haven't been able to find it, but I'm looking
• 11:49
  Speaker 2: for it.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Scott was talking about it, like I said with Lucy,
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: and they said that Meghan Hunt reposted it. And Meghan
• 11:55
  Speaker 1: Hunt is very much I am very much pro life,
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: and she is very much pro choice. And I think
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: that that weighs into this conversation too. And I think
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: that what she was probably referring to is, you know,
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: if if they if they changed the state law and
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: make any kind of abortion illegal. That is something that
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: I think she was basically referring to, saying, why would
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: why would anybody want to get why would a woman
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: move forward and want to have children? Is she didn't
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: have control over her own body. I believe that's what
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: Meghan Hunt was referring to. And I and I usually
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: would not talk about this unless I have it in
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: front of me too, But I was just listening to
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: Scott on the way here. But I think that ways
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: into this conversation is whether you are pro life or
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: pro choice.
• 12:47
  Speaker 2: I do see that Meghan Hunt is a mother. It
• 12:48
  Speaker 2: says she's a single mother.
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Okay, I did not know that. I was not aware
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: of that. Yeah, And you know, like I said, I
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: know her personally. I like her. I mean I think
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: she's I like her personally. I've I've met with her
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: for drinks one night when she was still in the legislature,
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: and I thought she was very delightful. Our politics are
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: very very different. But I think that just goes to
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: show you too, you know, you can respect somebody and
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: you could be friends with them and not agree with
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: their politics. One guess that I want to have on
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: this show, who is a good friend of mine and
• 13:22
  Speaker 1: who has agreed to come on this show and we're
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: going to get her scheduled sometime is the Mayor of
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: Lincoln and Mayor Baird Larian Baylord Mary Learyan Gaylord baird
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: Man I'm tongue tied today is the mayor of Lincoln.
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: We have become good friends. We are totally different politically,
• 13:40
  Speaker 1: but we still get along very well. And we just thought,
• 13:43
  Speaker 1: you know, here's the mayor of the biggest city in Nebraska,
• 13:46
  Speaker 1: the second biggest city in Nebraska, and if we could
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: join together on legislative issues and go down there with
• 13:52
  Speaker 1: legislative issues, we would appeal to both the Democrats and
• 13:55
  Speaker 1: the Republicans. And that's how we developed a relationship. And
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: they were things that we did agree on that we
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: could go down there and fight for our cities down
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: in Lincoln. And like I said, our politics are very
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: very different, but we did agree that we were going
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: to work together, and there were you know, there were
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: certain things that we would agree on and certain things not.
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: So I think that's how government should run. And I
• 14:19
  Speaker 1: hope that we see more of that type of cooperation
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: and collaboration in Washington, d C. We could get a
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: lot more done there.
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, And I'm just going to say this to wrap
• 14:27
  Speaker 2: up this conversation before I get to the phone lines.
• 14:30
  Speaker 2: The original post said by twenty thirty, an estimated forty
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: five percent of women aged twenty five to forty four
• 14:38
  Speaker 2: will be single and child free. This is a pandemic.
• 14:44
  Speaker 2: That was that was the original post.
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: And see, that's kind of what I said earlier. I said,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: it's not just that women, a big cohort of younger
• 14:52
  Speaker 1: women are deciding not to have kids or to wait
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: till they're older to have kids. There's a lot that
• 14:58
  Speaker 1: don't want to get married, all right, obolusly. And I
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: think that that's what you see in that twenty five
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: to forty four year old cohort of young women. And
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: like I said, I didn't get married until I was
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: about twenty five, and I did not have my first
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: child till I was thirty two, and so I mean,
• 15:17
  Speaker 1: and you know, I'm pretty old, but I think you
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: know you're you're engaged, and you're going to get married.
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: And I'm sure you and your fiance have had conversations
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: about get obviously getting married and having kids whatever you
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: decide to do. But it's very different. Like I said,
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: my husband is one of six kids, a good old
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: Catholic family, And you know, you don't see families with
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: six kids that much anymore. You don't see them with four.
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: I'm ten years older than my sister, my younger sister,
• 15:47
  Speaker 1: and then my younger brother I'm fifteen years older.
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and then my brother. I have an older brother
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: that's five years so we were really really spread out.
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: But that's just the way it kind of was back then.
• 15:57
  Speaker 1: The kids showed up when they showed up.
• 16:00
  Speaker 2: Yeah. The part, the part that she said that I
• 16:02
  Speaker 2: think was the one that stirred the controversy a little bit.
• 16:05
  Speaker 2: It says women don't owe children to a world that
• 16:08
  Speaker 2: hates them and is actively curbing their body autonomy rights.
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: Yeah. See, I'm not that's an area I would not
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: agree with Megan on. Yeah, but that's that's her point
• 16:18
  Speaker 1: of view. Again, I think we are so lucky that
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: we live in the United States of America and just
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: to say talk about why would we want to bring
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: kids into a world that about their body autonomy? I
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: think we're talking about a lot of other issues here too.
• 16:36
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, we're going to cut to the phone lines here.
• 16:38
  Speaker 2: We have Gene on the phone lines. Gene, you're talking
• 16:42
  Speaker 2: to Gene here on news radio eleven ten KFAB you're live.
• 16:46
  Speaker 1: How about that?
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: Good morning, this morning.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: Very good, thank you.
• 16:52
  Speaker 4: You're you're doing a wonderful job. I've been listening off
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: and on, but I just have a question. You mentioned
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: you were starting to show talking about pensions for fire
• 17:01
  Speaker 4: and police. Yes, and I bag you remember and correctly
• 17:06
  Speaker 4: if I'm wrong, that restaurant docks that was putting the
• 17:10
  Speaker 4: back back ten years ago. A lot of that money
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: was supposed to go to equalizing the pension for the
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: police and the fire department. But since then that money
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: has become a piggy bank for the city to find
• 17:24
  Speaker 4: all kinds of projects. And I'm wondering how that focus
• 17:29
  Speaker 4: got lost and why we're still only funding the fire
• 17:32
  Speaker 4: and pension thing at thirty eight percent.
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: Yes, and it's fifty eight percent now. But I'm so
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: glad you brought that up, because that is a that
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: is something that has been out in the community for
• 17:45
  Speaker 1: years that the restaurant tax was all supposed to be
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: in going to the pension. And it's been out there
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: too that the restaurant tax was supposed to be temporary.
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: Neither is true. This was back it was it was
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: over ten years ago. No, it was like fifteen years
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: ago now. It was when I was on the city
• 18:02
  Speaker 1: council that the City of Omaha was about twelve million
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: dollars thirteen million dollars short in what they needed to
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: put into the pension, and so Mayor Subtle and his
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: team created the restaurant tax, and that was supposed to
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: generate about fourteen million dollars worth of revenue. That was
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the estimates, and so they thought, that's just enough to
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: fill the shortfall or the gap that we have, so
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: we will push this restaurant tax through. Restaurant tax is
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: an occupation tax. You can read it. You could read
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: the original one online. And all occupation taxes go into
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: the general fund, and all occupation taxes go to fund
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: every city department. Now, the restaurant tax is the third
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: largest source of revenue that the City of Omaha has.
• 18:56
  Speaker 1: It's first sales tax, then it's the property tax, and
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: then it's restaurant tax. The restaurant tax right now is
• 19:04
  Speaker 1: bringing in at least about forty eight million dollars a year.
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: That's when you talk about a piggy bank. That's our
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: third largest source of revenue that we have. It's bringing
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: in a lot more than they originally anticipated it would,
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: but it never said the entire amount is supposed to
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: go into the pension. It goes into the general fund.
• 19:26
  Speaker 1: It made enough revenue even the first year to fill
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: that gap of what we needed to put into the pension.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: But the rest goes into the general fund. And that's
• 19:36
  Speaker 1: just what all occupation taxes do. Why would I or
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: any mayor want to take that whole amount the out
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: of the general fund, forty eight million out of the
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: general fund to put into the pension to help shore
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: it up, and then take that amount of money from
• 19:54
  Speaker 1: all the other city departments. It's like, where are you
• 19:56
  Speaker 1: going to cut? Are you going to have less firemen
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: or less policemen or US public works people out there
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: plow and snow. So that forty eight million is a
• 20:04
  Speaker 1: huge source of revenue for the city, and so it
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: would be fiscally irresponsible in my opinion, to try to
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: take that amount and put it all into the pension.
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Because again, the employee, which is the City of Omaha,
• 20:21
  Speaker 1: which are the taxpayers in the employee er, are supposed
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: to put substantially equal amounts in. I think it would
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: be irresponsible for the mayor to want to dump all
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: of that money into the pension. If the fire and
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: the police employees weren't willing to put a lot more
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: into the pension too, So it is an occupation tax
• 20:40
  Speaker 1: by law. It goes into the general fund and then
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: it goes out to fund every department. And I wouldn't
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: call it just I know you use the term piggybank.
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: It is just a source of revenue. I would. I mean,
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: you could say the same thing for sales tax or
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: a piggy bank, or property tax or a piggy bank.
• 20:57
  Speaker 1: But that restaurant tax number one was never so opposed
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: to all going to the pension, and it was never
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: supposed to be temporary. That's not in the ordnance at all.
• 21:06
  Speaker 2: We are back and we are live here in the
• 21:08
  Speaker 2: Gary Sattlemeyer studio here at news radio eleven ten KFAB.
• 21:14
  Speaker 2: CAFA be comment line with your host of the show,
• 21:16
  Speaker 2: Jeans to Author. Let's go ahead and cut to the
• 21:18
  Speaker 2: phone lines. We have Dave on the line right now. Dave,
• 21:22
  Speaker 2: you're news Radio eleven ten KFAB with Jean Stautht.
• 21:26
  Speaker 5: Good morning, Good morning. Say I want to know if
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: anything can be done. We consistently see this on the
• 21:33
  Speaker 5: curves and the exits around the city of Omaha, ware
• 21:36
  Speaker 5: with animal waste spearing out, livestock trailers making big ugly
• 21:41
  Speaker 5: stains and causing dangerous situations for motorcyclists. Another it never
• 21:47
  Speaker 5: seems to stop, It never seems to get cleaned up.
• 21:50
  Speaker 5: What can we do?
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: Are you talking mostly about South Omaha? And are you
• 21:54
  Speaker 1: talking about the big semis that are carrying cattle down
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: to the you know, to the Omaha beef in those.
• 22:03
  Speaker 5: Areas at South But I've seen them on the exit
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: ramp to the Dodge Expressway going out west. Okay, Yeah,
• 22:12
  Speaker 5: I mean absolutely there is.
• 22:16
  Speaker 1: Yeah, if if it if it is from semis, and
• 22:19
  Speaker 1: if it is animal excrement, I mean there are absolutely
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: there are laws about that that they are not allowed
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: to do that, and they are I mean, they have
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: to keep that under control within their semis. And if
• 22:32
  Speaker 1: they and if they are spelling, they could be fine
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: for that. I know it was brought up to me
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: a lot in the South Omaha area, like with all
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the semis coming from out west down to the meat
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: packing facilities in South Omaha, and I know that was
• 22:47
  Speaker 1: a big problem for a while, and so they were
• 22:50
  Speaker 1: really keeping an eye on that and and which which
• 22:55
  Speaker 1: you know, which companies and which farmers or cattlemen were
• 22:59
  Speaker 1: at fault. And so that is something that can be done.
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: I will that should be remedy because they can get
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: fined for that. That is not allowed, and it's against.
• 23:07
  Speaker 5: The law for them to somebody catches I'm doing it
• 23:11
  Speaker 5: and reports them. That's not going to happen. I mean,
• 23:14
  Speaker 5: it's a motorcyclist slid on that in the dark and
• 23:18
  Speaker 5: got killed. Well a few years back. I may or
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: may not remember that, but has gone away. Well, And
• 23:25
  Speaker 5: unless someone actually sees a truck doing it and reporting it,
• 23:29
  Speaker 5: I don't know how you did find them or stop them.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: You're you're absolutely right, though it's hard to do that.
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: I mean, it's like people driving recklessly. You got to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: catch them before that you can do anything about it.
• 23:38
  Speaker 1: And and some of these trucks, I know a lot
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: of them are during the daytime. Some of them are
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: at night time. But the only thing I could say
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: that you know, if you do observe it, then then
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: and you do observe the name on the on the truck,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: it definitely can be reported by calling the Mayor's hotline,
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: and it should be reported. I will tell you that
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: those semis that do go down to the meat packing
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: facilities in South Omaha, they are watching them very very closely,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: and they're watching them as they come in and they
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: pull into those those facilities down there, because that has
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: been an ongoing problem for a long time. But thank
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: you for your call. I appreciate it.
• 24:18
  Speaker 2: Thank you all was answering the phone there, Gene. Sure, Hey,
• 24:21
  Speaker 2: let's go to another one here. This is an email
• 24:22
  Speaker 2: at comment atkfeb dot com and it says Gene. Due
• 24:26
  Speaker 2: to the changes in downtown, the Saint Pat's Parade was
• 24:30
  Speaker 2: moved and shortened, resulting in less attendance. The new route
• 24:34
  Speaker 2: goes past closed businesses, empty lots, parking garages, and the interstate.
• 24:39
  Speaker 2: Seems like the city is trying to kill off downtown
• 24:42
  Speaker 2: parades thoughts No from.
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: Andrew, Yeah, no, not trying to kill them off at all.
• 24:47
  Speaker 1: You know, there is a lot of construction down there,
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: there is no doubt. I was down there, met some
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: friends for lunch yesterday down on Tenth Street, and it is,
• 24:56
  Speaker 1: like I've said this before, I know the downtown all
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: like the back of my hand. I was down there
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: every single day for twelve years and then one city
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: council probably three or four times a week too, and
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: it is very confusing down there. But going back to
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: your question about parades. No, you know, the Hibernians are
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: the ones that put on the Saint Patti's Day parade.
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: They are the ones that choose the date. They work
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: with the City of Omaha to get their parade permit,
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: and they work on the route. I think that this
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: year it might have been temporarily changed because of the
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: construction of the street car. But once it's all done,
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: once the construction is done, you know, it's it's going
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: to be smooth sailing hopefully downtown hopefully, and so it is.
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: It is a temporary really inconvenience down there. Now I've
• 25:49
  Speaker 1: dealt with it myself. It's turned into be two years
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: longer than the street car construction originally was going to be.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: It originally was going to be finished in twenty two,
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: twenty six, and now it's twenty twenty eight, and they
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: feel pretty certain about that. But it's not there's no
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: intent to kill parades at all. It is just the
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: massive amount of construction, plus the construction of the Mutual
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: of Omaha Tower. I mean that is that you know
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: that site, that whole block that is just east of there,
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: that's a that's a lay down site. There's a lot
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: of trucks backing in and out of there. The old
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: up site across the street from Union Pacific is now
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a lay down site for that Hawkins is using while
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: they do the bridges. They did the Harney and Farnham
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: Street bridges and so there's a lot of construction going
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: on down there right now, and that's there just trying
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: to make the parade route as convenient and as safe
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: as they possibly can. And let me tell you, I've
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: been to many parades down there. I was in that
• 26:46
  Speaker 1: Saint Patrick's Day parade for probably sixteen years, so I
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: know exactly exactly what you're talking about. And it's dependent
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: on whether too. I remember being in that Saint Patti's
• 26:56
  Speaker 1: Day parade when it was icy and freezing cold. I
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: remember when it was rain, and I remember when it
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: was hot. You just never know what you're going to
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: have and that really affects the number of people in
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: the crowd too.
• 27:06
  Speaker 2: Moving on here, I don't want to spend too long
• 27:08
  Speaker 2: on this. We talked about the pension for the firefighters
• 27:11
  Speaker 2: and the police earlier, but we talked about this very
• 27:14
  Speaker 2: briefly over the break chen and it said why are
• 27:19
  Speaker 2: sorry this wording is tough. Why are the police and
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: firefighters not on a four to oh one K retirement
• 27:24
  Speaker 2: plan like the rest of us instead of a taxpayer
• 27:26
  Speaker 2: pension system?
• 27:27
  Speaker 1: Absolutely, And you know that question has come up a lot.
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: A lot of people feel like that public employees should
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: not be on public employee pensions anymore. They feel like
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: they should be on a regular like a four oh
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: one or some sort of retirement account like most of
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: us have. But keep in mind they are a union.
• 27:49
  Speaker 1: Local three eighty five is the fire union. The police
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: have a union two, and all of their contracts have
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: to be negotiated and they have to be agreed on
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: its collective bargaining. And I do not think that the
• 28:03
  Speaker 1: fire arc police union are in in any way looking
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: at giving up their public employee pension, and that would
• 28:11
  Speaker 1: have to be agreed on by them and the city.
• 28:14
  Speaker 1: And so you know, that is something that many many
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: people have brought up to me. I know every anytime
• 28:20
  Speaker 1: Jim Rose is on the air and starts talking about
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: the pension, he'll say, there should not be public employee
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: pensions anymore. But you can't just stop it. A mayor
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: or a city council can't just stop it. It has
• 28:31
  Speaker 1: to be negotiated out. Now, fire and police their their
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: their pensions are joined, they are together. What they put
• 28:38
  Speaker 1: in is a different amount because that is negotiated. Like
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: explained before, there's more police than fire, and so that
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: that is that is all something negotiated and you are
• 28:48
  Speaker 1: contractually obligated to do that to to fund that pension
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: for them, and so uh, fire and police will also
• 28:56
  Speaker 1: say they will bring up a lot though, and they
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: will say, but we don't get social security, you know,
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: we just get that pension. We don't get solid security
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: like you do. But they've negotiated that, they agreed to that,
• 29:09
  Speaker 1: and they don't pay into social security. So you don't
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: pay into social Security. You don't. You don't have your
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: employee or pay into it either for you, and so
• 29:19
  Speaker 1: they do not pay into social Security. That was their choice,
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: and their choice basically many many, many many years ago,
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: was to have a public employee pension. But you can't
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: just stop that. It would have to be negotiated out
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: in collective bargaining. And I don't think that there's any
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: way that they're going to agree.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: To do that.
• 29:37
  Speaker 2: Cutting to the phone lines for Dale four zero two,
• 29:40
  Speaker 2: five to five eight eleven, ten Dale. You are live
• 29:43
  Speaker 2: on the CAFA B comment line with Jean stouthor.
• 29:48
  Speaker 4: Good morning, former Mayor Alo.
• 29:52
  Speaker 3: I like to talk to you a little bit about that.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: That is on the st last corner of seventy second
• 30:02
  Speaker 3: Dodge to the house. That was a very vibrant area
• 30:06
  Speaker 3: exact when since we were younger, and now it's more
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: of a a wat plant with very little progress going on.
• 30:15
  Speaker 1: Why is that are you saying? Did you say the
• 30:18
  Speaker 1: corner of seventy second Dodge, the northwest corner where Crossroads was.
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: That's exactly what Okay, So I'm glad you brought that
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: up because it's right across the industry from the new library.
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: But the and I've had so many questions about this,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: but the Crossroads Mall area was purchased by Frank Cragie
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: years and years ago, and private property owners have rights.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: The city did not own it. So the city was
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: always trying to be a partner with Frank crage and
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: to because he wanted to develop it into a new
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: mixed use development with residential with retail, you know, with
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: restaurants and bars and things like that. As the time
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: went on, you know, there, I would say that there
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: were slow downs, not starts and stops. Because what happened,
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: and I think everybody is aware of it, is Frank
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: Crazy passed away. Before he passed away, he formed a
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: new partnership with Lockwood. Lockwood was in development, was involved
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: with it for a while. They redesigned that area what
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: they were going to do. After Frank passed away. Then
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: there was you know a lot of legalities that had
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: to be taken care of. But there are new owners now.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: It is a Woodbury company. They're at a Salt Lake City.
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: There is a construction fence around the whole area. There's
• 31:42
  Speaker 1: equipment out there. They're grading it. They have a new
• 31:45
  Speaker 1: design for the area and they are working on it now.
• 31:49
  Speaker 1: Keep this in mind too, a lot has been done.
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: A whole lot has been done. You know, they acquired
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: best Buy, they acquired seers and they had to those.
• 32:01
  Speaker 1: All of the underground infrastructure is in, the water lines,
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: the sewer lines, all of that is in. So a
• 32:07
  Speaker 1: lot of work was done before they could start going vertical.
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: So that is something I was hoping while I was
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: mayor that we would see things go vertical and start
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: going up. There's a lot of work happening there. I
• 32:20
  Speaker 1: wouldn't say that it is just you know, a big
• 32:23
  Speaker 1: disaster there because it just took a long time as
• 32:29
  Speaker 1: the it evolved with the ownership of Crachi and then
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: on into new ownership. Now the city is a partner.
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: The city is building some parking garages there for them
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: that are gonna their city will own and operate the
• 32:41
  Speaker 1: parking garages. And you know, we pay for those with
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: revenue bonds, and so city builds parking garages a lot
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: because with the revenue that you make in the garages,
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: how you pay the bonds off. So the city is
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: a partner with that. But it is being developed by
• 32:55
  Speaker 1: a private company right now. And I think you're I
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: mean you see a lot I drive by it every morning.
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: I mean, you see a lot more activity there now
• 33:02
  Speaker 1: than there was before. Butch up with Baker, I know,
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: I said here, we're laughing about that, because every now
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: and then when I catch butch up with Chris Baker,
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: I just about dial laughing this stuff he does. It's
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: worth listening to Chris Baker for to hear him do
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: the Butchup Academy. He's released something. But you know, I
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: wanted with the last caller talking about the Crossroads site
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: on the northwest corner of seventy second in Dodge. She said,
• 33:31
  Speaker 1: it's a disaster, and I tried to explain what had
• 33:33
  Speaker 1: happened there, but it does have new ownership. But I
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: did want to bring up to that the northeast corner
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: where pet Co is has been purchased by a private
• 33:43
  Speaker 1: developer and has a plan. I saw the renderings before
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: I left office of a mixed use development there too.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: So you think about, you know, the corner of seventy
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: second in Dodge, Crossroads will be done, the library is
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: done and open. On the southeast corner, you know, you've
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: got a megasaver there, which which you know that's it was.
• 34:06
  Speaker 1: It was owned by a private company that corner, and
• 34:09
  Speaker 1: they could build what they want there if it fits
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: the zoning. And then the northeast corner is going to
• 34:15
  Speaker 1: be redeveloped so that that corner is going to look
• 34:18
  Speaker 1: within I would say five years, is going to look
• 34:21
  Speaker 1: pretty darn good. The problem is is the traffic in
• 34:24
  Speaker 1: the intersection and getting people from one side to another.
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: And I mentioned the other day that we have had
• 34:29
  Speaker 1: conversations about is a pedestrian overpass is a warranted on
• 34:36
  Speaker 1: seventy second dodge maybe from the north to the south
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: towards where the library is, or maybe east to west.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: But that is something that Public Works has looked at
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: and has considered expensive. But it's that safety means everything.
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: When you got all that going on, and you know
• 34:52
  Speaker 1: they're going to be parking garages. Like I said in
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: the Crossroads, if there's a big event, say at the library,
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: they may need extra parking and people park over there.
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: So you know, it all has to work together.
• 35:05
  Speaker 2: Tim, you are alive with jeanst Author here on news
• 35:08
  Speaker 2: radio eleven ten kfab Hey, thank you.
• 35:12
  Speaker 6: Hey, Mayor, this is Tim. I'm with the Hibernians and
• 35:15
  Speaker 6: the previous caller about the parade being down in the capitol.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: Thanks for calling.
• 35:23
  Speaker 6: Oh you bet hey. That route is a little longer,
• 35:27
  Speaker 6: so it may have looked to the public that we
• 35:29
  Speaker 6: had less people, but we have the biggest parade ever
• 35:34
  Speaker 6: this year, and the weather kind of cooperated, cooperated, and
• 35:38
  Speaker 6: also just you were very one hundred percent correct. This
• 35:42
  Speaker 6: parade happens because we work with the city, The city
• 35:45
  Speaker 6: works with us, The police love that route. It's a
• 35:49
  Speaker 6: safer route than the Old Market and we work with
• 35:53
  Speaker 6: them and according to the city, uh, that's the permanent
• 35:58
  Speaker 6: parade route because of safety, because you can't stop the
• 36:02
  Speaker 6: street car on Doug Harnie and Barney far in them.
• 36:06
  Speaker 6: That's what we've been told, yes, and we're okay with that.
• 36:10
  Speaker 6: And because and the police love it, because it's safe.
• 36:14
  Speaker 6: So we just don't haphassively have a parade. It's kind
• 36:18
  Speaker 6: of a whole cooperation with the city, the police and
• 36:23
  Speaker 6: the Hibernians and it's it's a wonderful parade and we've
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: always had great support from the city and especially you.
• 36:31
  Speaker 6: And I remember that parade that it was snowy and
• 36:34
  Speaker 6: ikey that.
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: Oh yeah, we were freezing on that one parade and
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: it was icy and we still had we still had
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: the parade. I remember. The only one that we ended
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: up canceling and we hated doing it was during COVID.
• 36:48
  Speaker 1: It was during COVID.
• 36:50
  Speaker 6: And it was yep, and that was we had the
• 36:53
  Speaker 6: parade canceled and that's that was out of our hands.
• 36:57
  Speaker 6: It's you know, it is what it was. But and
• 37:00
  Speaker 6: the parade this year, like I said, there was some
• 37:03
  Speaker 6: hit hops. It was a new route. People had to
• 37:05
  Speaker 6: get used to it and next year that'd be the
• 37:07
  Speaker 6: route that for the twenty twenty something parade and people
• 37:13
  Speaker 6: will get used to it. And it is a little
• 37:15
  Speaker 6: farther out of the Old Market, but people did walk
• 37:19
  Speaker 6: to the Old Market and solicit those businesses. They also
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: solicited the businesses around the Capitol District and the baseball field,
• 37:28
  Speaker 6: so it was a win win, we thought, good for everybody.
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad you called in and explained that
• 37:33
  Speaker 1: that is the permanent route. I thought maybe it would
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: have been, you know, a temporary route because of the construction,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: but it makes a lot of sense. Safety is everything in.
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: These and.
• 37:45
  Speaker 6: We can't we can't stop the street cars and I
• 37:50
  Speaker 6: can say we yeah, and no, I mean the cars
• 37:55
  Speaker 6: once they're up and running, and that that would be
• 37:58
  Speaker 6: a safety nightmare.
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: Yes, it absolutely a parade.
• 38:02
  Speaker 6: Yes, so this is a this is the police love
• 38:05
  Speaker 6: this route against it. It's out away from the street
• 38:09
  Speaker 6: car for safety, and we like it as the organizers
• 38:14
  Speaker 6: of the parade. It it was a good alternative route
• 38:17
  Speaker 6: and we're very happy and like you say, your administration
• 38:21
  Speaker 6: and even the current one would they work with us
• 38:24
  Speaker 6: good one hundred percent. That make its good.
• 38:27
  Speaker 1: So we'll We're very happy reassure them that the previous
• 38:30
  Speaker 1: caller that the City of Omaha is not anti parade anymore.
• 38:34
  Speaker 6: No, they're not. It was just and it makes sense
• 38:38
  Speaker 6: in the long term goal. If you want to have
• 38:40
  Speaker 6: a parade in the city of Omaha downtown, this is
• 38:43
  Speaker 6: the route.
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: Period good and that parade is a fun parade. So
• 38:48
  Speaker 1: hopefully you guys keep on doing that for a long time.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: It's so much fun.
• 38:52
  Speaker 6: We sure hope so so that that I just had
• 38:56
  Speaker 6: a call and say, hey, look, I we got to
• 38:59
  Speaker 6: appreciate that.
• 39:00
  Speaker 2: Well.
• 39:00
  Speaker 6: No, it was a wonderful parade. The city's not trying
• 39:03
  Speaker 6: to shut down parades.
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: Good.
• 39:05
  Speaker 6: They're trying to keep it stay well, keep it up.
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: And I will be watching as a as a, as
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: a you know somebody that's going to stand on the
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: sidelines and watch that parade. It's always it's always so
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: much fun. So thank you so much for.
• 39:18
  Speaker 6: Coming ring those grandkids down.
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: I will they walked in the parade with me all
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: the time, but I'll bring them down to and the kids.
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: Everybody dresses up for that parade too. I even had
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: my it director one year. We all we planned this
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: whole thing, but he proposed to his fiance during the parade,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: and we had it. We had it all planned. Everybody
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: knew about it but her, and we knew exactly. It
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: was right in front of where the old wheat fields
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: used to be, right there, and he had it all planned,
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: and all of a sudden he stopped, and we all stopped,
• 39:50
  Speaker 1: and he got on his knee and you would have
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: seen this the whole the whole group around there was cheering.
• 39:55
  Speaker 1: It was really good. But you even had a proposal
• 39:57
  Speaker 1: in the middle of your parade. So thanks for colling.
• 40:01
  Speaker 6: Thank you, Jean, Yeah you bet.
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: This is the KFA B comment line with your host
• 40:05
  Speaker 2: of the show, Jean Stothard. I'm Peyton Hilock. Thanks for
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: the show, Geen.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: Absolutely and thank you all for joining us today. We
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: really appreciate it, and join us again tomorrow. We're gonna
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: have some good guests later on this week and next
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: week too. So this is Jeane Stothard for KFAB