Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Mayor Ewing 1 Year in Office

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Mayor Ewing 1 Year in Office · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Peyton and I are sitting here laughing at Chris Baker.
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: He's he's all he's U big with us, He's around
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: all the time here he is, he's he's Oh, he's
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: taken over card show. Now you can, you certainly can,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker. Yes, here we go.
• 0:17
  Speaker 2: Good morning everybody.
• 0:18
  Speaker 3: By the way, Uh, it was so great that you
• 0:20
  Speaker 3: came out to Lanski's last night.
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: That was so much fun. You know the only thing
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: I regret. And I told Scott this this morning. I
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: really wish He asked me if I would sing with him,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: and I said, yeah, I got this cold. But wouldn't
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: have been fun. If we would have sang Great Balls
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: of Fire by Jerry Lee Lewis. We would have gotten
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: the whole crowd singing with us. We could have acted
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: like Maverick and and Goose in Top Gun, remember at
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: the bar.
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: And Tied Dun sing Great Balls.
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: Yes, you did. You shake my nerves and you read
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: on my brain, well that is too much loved dre
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: as a man insane. And then everybody goes, goodness, gracious,
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: great Balls of Fire worked. Let's do it next time?
• 1:00
  Speaker 3: Okay, good? Yeah, where we go? But I know you're
• 1:03
  Speaker 3: trying to be all sweet and everything. Not me totally
• 1:06
  Speaker 3: sandbagged me on your husband, right because.
• 1:09
  Speaker 2: We're in here talking, remember this, Peyton. Peyton backed me
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: up now.
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: But don't bag you on my husband.
• 1:14
  Speaker 3: So we're talking. You were telling me that your husband, uh,
• 1:18
  Speaker 3: just a couple of years ago when you all were
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: in college, Uh had hair. Yeah, just go with it, like, yeah,
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  Speaker 3: he had hair like Peter Frampton.
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: Frampton comes a live.
• 1:30
  Speaker 3: Album and they told me that he lost all his hair.
• 1:33
  Speaker 3: I met him last night. He's got plenty of hair.
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: He's got a lot of hair.
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  Speaker 2: Sand bagged me.
• 1:37
  Speaker 1: He's got good hair too, curly.
• 1:38
  Speaker 2: I just want you to know you don't have to
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: talk down to me, all right. You know I can
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: handle nor I ever things like that. But I just
• 1:47
  Speaker 2: wanted to say that, No, he's got a good head
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  Speaker 2: of hair. Yeah he's good.
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  Speaker 1: He's not challenged like someone sitting next to me right now.
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  Speaker 3: You know, it's like, you know, it's like a level right,
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  Speaker 3: like on one hand and she sandbags me and it's
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: way over here, and then when I call her out
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: on it, she goes to complete opposite. And I's got
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: a great head of hair. Yeah, yeah, I got to
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: go call my therapy.
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: And I think you. We still say that Chris Baker
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: has hair envy of Peyton. If you don't know Peyton,
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  Speaker 1: Peyton's got a good head of hair too.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, and for rubbing that in all.
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  Speaker 1: Okay, now, I'm gonna say one more thing before we
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  Speaker 1: dismiss you from this show. I saw pictures of you
• 2:28
  Speaker 1: when you were in high school and college and you
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: had a lot of hair.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. Yeah, Yeah. Did you meet my wife Lash?
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  Speaker 4: Yes?
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  Speaker 1: I did. I met your beautiful trophy wife. I've met
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: her before, but I had a good time talking to her.
• 2:42
  Speaker 1: She's a hoot.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah, she isnking yet.
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we are back. Yes, he's he's leaving now,
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  Speaker 1: But I am your host. Jean Stothard, Peyton high locked,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: the producer is here and we want to hear from
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: you today. We really want to get your feedback and
• 3:01
  Speaker 1: hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, anything goes city, state, national,
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: the world. We're gonna have some good guests not today.
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: We have a lot to talk about. You're gonna hear
• 3:11
  Speaker 1: plenty of opinions from me, but it is your chance
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: to speak up and sound off. Send your emails to
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: comment at cafab dot com or call us at four two,
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: five five, eight eleven ten. We are so happy that
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: you are with us today. Wasn't that fun last night?
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  Speaker 4: I had a blast last night. It was really fun.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: We had a good time at Lanski's. And like I said,
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  Speaker 1: after I left, I thought, man, if we would have
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: played Jerry Lee Lewis's Great Balls of Fire with Scott
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  Speaker 1: on the piano, we could have had the whole room singing.
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  Speaker 5: Well, here's the thing that can really be something. Now
• 3:43
  Speaker 5: if we know how that went and that was really good, Yeah,
• 3:45
  Speaker 5: maybe get a practice or two together. Yeah, and wait
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: a second, we might be able to go on tour.
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: We can form a band. I mean we got plenty
• 3:52
  Speaker 1: that's right. That would be really fun.
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  Speaker 5: Now.
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  Speaker 1: We had a good time there and there was a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people there, so we'll do it again. But
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  Speaker 1: there was one of our friends there last night. Wanted
• 4:01
  Speaker 1: me to talk about something today, and I am happy
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  Speaker 1: to do that because we brought this up about a
• 4:10
  Speaker 1: week or so ago. It was on the news. But
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: what was going on is they were talking about the
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  Speaker 1: Central Mall, and they were talking about the Central Mall
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  Speaker 1: being redeveloped that area and there was a lot of
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  Speaker 1: people that shared quite a bit of concerns about what
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: was happening there, and there was some a lot of
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  Speaker 1: conversation also about the tiff application that the developer was doing.
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  Speaker 1: So I wanted to talk a little bit about that
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  Speaker 1: because I wanted to make sure that I covered that
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  Speaker 1: this morning, because I told her friend last night I would,
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  Speaker 1: and I wanted to be able to explain a few
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  Speaker 1: things too. So anyway, let's go back to what we're
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  Speaker 1: talking about. The Central Mall is at forty second in
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  Speaker 1: Center in Omaha. I know many of you have seen it,
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: very close to the med Center. It has been around
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  Speaker 1: for many, many years. In fact, it was first opened
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  Speaker 1: in nineteen fifty five. Guess what, I was one year old.
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  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, I'm telling my age. So it was
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  Speaker 1: a long ago and it was considered one of the
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  Speaker 1: first indoor malls in the country. Now it has been
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  Speaker 1: there a long, long, long time, and it is in
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  Speaker 1: dire need of a facelift. There's no doubt about that.
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  Speaker 1: There is still some use, there are still some businesses
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  Speaker 1: in here, some of the offices in there, but it
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  Speaker 1: is it is worn, it has seen better days, and
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: there is a developer in town. That's Lockwood Development. They
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  Speaker 1: do great developments. Just an example of something Lockwood is
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  Speaker 1: done is at one hundred and thirty second in Pacific.
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  Speaker 1: It used to be Ironwood Country Club. It's Lockwood that
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  Speaker 1: redeveloped that whole area into a beautiful mixed use. That's
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  Speaker 1: where the Tri Faith Center is. There's apartments there, there's
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  Speaker 1: retail there, there's restaurants there, there's business is there. Lockwood
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  Speaker 1: did that. So they are very reputable company. Chip James
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  Speaker 1: owns it, really really good company, and they have not
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  Speaker 1: purchased it yet, but it is my understanding they do
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  Speaker 1: have a purchase agreement for the property. To be able
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  Speaker 1: to financially develop this property, they will be doing a
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  Speaker 1: tiff application And this is what is being debated right now,
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  Speaker 1: which I really wanted to explain. However, there is a
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  Speaker 1: few things I wanted to point out because I was
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  Speaker 1: hearing people on the news, the neighbors say in the
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  Speaker 1: area number one, they will say we have enough of
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  Speaker 1: One woman said we have enough apartments in Omaha, we
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  Speaker 1: do not need any more apartments. I don't know where
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  Speaker 1: this person got this idea, because that's not true. And
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  Speaker 1: you know, these developers that build apartments in Omaha, they're
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  Speaker 1: not going to build them if they're not needed. And
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  Speaker 1: these apartments they fill up as soon as they are open.
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  Speaker 1: The need is there. Take Central Park Plaza downtown, the
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  Speaker 1: Twin Towers downtown that was Class B office space, probably
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  Speaker 1: eighty five percent vacant sitting there, declining value. A great
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  Speaker 1: developer in Omaha, Todd Heastad is converting that into seven
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  Speaker 1: hundred and seven apartments, about twenty percent are affordable, twenty
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  Speaker 1: or thirty percent that will fill up immediately those So
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  Speaker 1: the need is there. Remember your current your mayor John Ewing,
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  Speaker 1: his number one priority in his administration is more affordable housing.
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  Speaker 1: That's number one. It tops him as far as public
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  Speaker 1: safety and budget and taxes and everything, which would not
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  Speaker 1: be my number one priority. But I'm just saying your
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  Speaker 1: mayor has a priority of building more affordable housing. So
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  Speaker 1: the need is there. What Chip James in Lockwood Development
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  Speaker 1: is proposing is about five hundred apartment units there on
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  Speaker 1: the corner office space. It'll be market rate and affordable units,
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  Speaker 1: and there will be some retail and some restaurants there,
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  Speaker 1: and it will really really bring life back into that neighborhood. Now,
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  Speaker 1: the big question about that is the tiff, which is
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  Speaker 1: so hard to really understand the basics of TIFF, but
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  Speaker 1: I wanted to go through it just a little bit.
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  Speaker 1: TIFF stands for tax increment financing, and a lot of
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  Speaker 1: developers to be able to develop, they use that as
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  Speaker 1: a financing tool. The taxpayers are not losing anything when
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  Speaker 1: the city awards a TIFF, and there is a process
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  Speaker 1: they have to make an application, It has to go
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  Speaker 1: through the Planning Board, the tiff committee, and it has
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  Speaker 1: to go to the city council. So there's three different
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  Speaker 1: votes that have to happen before it's actually approved. What
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  Speaker 1: the easiest way to explain TIFF is, say you have
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  Speaker 1: an old building that is deteriorating on a corner and
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  Speaker 1: it's worth say five million dollars, and the owner is
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  Speaker 1: paying taxes on five million dollars. He's going to redevelop
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  Speaker 1: it and it's going to be five hundred million dollars.
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  Speaker 1: That developer will continue to pay that increased time tax.
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  Speaker 1: He will pay it. He will pay the taxes as
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  Speaker 1: the value of that development goes up and up. He's
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  Speaker 1: we're not losing anything because that corner that I said
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  Speaker 1: was formally, this is an example worth five million dollars
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  Speaker 1: is going to keep on decreasing in value and the
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  Speaker 1: taxes will be less and less. He's going to come
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  Speaker 1: in the developer develop it. He will pay all those
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  Speaker 1: extra taxes. But with TIFF, a portion of those taxes,
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  Speaker 1: and that is governed by state law. What is tax
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  Speaker 1: eligible will be returned to the developer for a certain
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  Speaker 1: period of time. Usually most TIFF notes are paid off
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  Speaker 1: in less than fifteen years.
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  Speaker 4: In Omaha.
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  Speaker 1: It'll be returned to the developer to help pay for
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  Speaker 1: the project. And then once that project is done, that
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  Speaker 1: all that extra revenue because of the value of that property,
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  Speaker 1: it goes. It goes up and up and up and
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  Speaker 1: back into our tax roles. So it's good for everybody.
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  Speaker 1: That's how tiff works. We aren't losing anything now. The
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  Speaker 1: thing that guides tiff is state statue. It's in the
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  Speaker 1: state law and there is one portion of the state
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  Speaker 1: law about tiff that really bothers people, and I understand
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  Speaker 1: why it bothered me too. It's been in there for years.
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  Speaker 1: And to be TIFF eligible, the area has to be
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: considered blighted in substandard, and that drives people nuts and
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  Speaker 1: I could see why it does. It drove me nuts too.
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  Speaker 1: But last Wednesday, back to this project, the planning board
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  Speaker 1: approved they call it a CRA, which is a community
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  Speaker 1: redevelopment area. They approve that, and they approve that designation
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  Speaker 1: for an area much larger than just where the Center
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  Speaker 1: Mall is on the corner of forty second and Center.
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  Speaker 1: They did a much larger area and so that area,
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  Speaker 1: what is a community redevelopment area, is eligible for TIFF
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  Speaker 1: and that area has to be considered blighted and substandard.
• 11:04
  Speaker 1: This is what the people in that area are really opposing. Now,
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  Speaker 1: go back to state law. There is definitions of blighted
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  Speaker 1: and substandard. And here's the catch. If something is to
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  Speaker 1: be considered blighted, there are basically six measurable factors. You
• 11:22
  Speaker 1: only have to meet one out of the six. So
• 11:26
  Speaker 1: to be considered blighted, it doesn't mean that your area
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  Speaker 1: or where your property is or your house is is
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  Speaker 1: run down, shabby, going down the drain. It doesn't mean
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  Speaker 1: that at all. In fact, one of the factors is
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  Speaker 1: the age of the structures is forty years or more.
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  Speaker 1: That's it. And if if they meet that criteria, it
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  Speaker 1: can be considered blighted. A couple of the other things
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  Speaker 1: are based on the per capita income in the area
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  Speaker 1: is less than the city wide per capita income. The
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: employment rate is more than one hundred and twenty percent
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  Speaker 1: of the statewide unemployment rate. The area has a stable
• 12:06
  Speaker 1: or declining population growth, meaning the population growth is less
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  Speaker 1: than five percent. The area has more than half of
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: its area platted. So there are six different factors. You
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: only have to meet one to be considered. So because
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: that's an older developed area, those houses in there are
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: generally most of them are more than forty years old.
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  Speaker 1: It doesn't mean that your area is declining, and it
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: does not affect the value of your property. The Douglas
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: County Assessor will still value your property based on the
• 12:39
  Speaker 1: comparables that houses are selling in that area. So to
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: receive that designation of blighted and substandard and then substandard two,
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: there's a definition of it and it talks about a
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: predominance of the buildings in the area that some are
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: have some issues, they do say, some could be dilapidated,
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: they said, some could be overcrowded, some there's a lot
• 13:04
  Speaker 1: of factors that go into there, but you only have
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  Speaker 1: to meet one. And so this is something that we
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: have talked to the state legislature about could we change
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: that definition. It bothers people, it bothered me, but that's
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: what's in state law. And so that area, once again
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: more a bigger area than what is at forty second
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  Speaker 1: in Center, has been approved already by the Planning Board
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: as a community redevelopment area, meaning that they can apply
• 13:34
  Speaker 1: for TIFF. And that whole area it's goes south of
• 13:38
  Speaker 1: Center as far west as forty fifth Street, and it
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: starts at the Center Mall east of forty second Street.
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  Speaker 1: So that whole area, assuming that the city council approves it,
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: then Lockwood would have to submit a TIFF application. They
• 13:54
  Speaker 1: haven't done that yet. And then, like I said, that
• 13:57
  Speaker 1: TIFF application goes through a tiff committee, it goes through
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: the Planning Board, and then it goes to city council.
• 14:03
  Speaker 1: So there are three different times that the public has
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: the opportunity to ask questions and speak out. We don't
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: have or I could not get the exact project details
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: yet to say exactly what is going to happen until
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: we actually see that TIFF application, because I'm saying we
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: but until the city sees that tiff application, but Lockwood
• 14:27
  Speaker 1: has publicly said it would include about five hundred multifamily,
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: office and retail and so and these apartments are needed
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: in Omaha. But I just want to make sure people
• 14:41
  Speaker 1: understand what is going on with that. There is a
• 14:45
  Speaker 1: meeting that is coming up apparently on May twenty first,
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: that the public has been invited to. It'll be held
• 14:53
  Speaker 1: at the Field Club, which everybody knows that's on Woolworth,
• 14:56
  Speaker 1: at five o'clock. I think Danny Bagley, who is the
• 14:59
  Speaker 1: council remember representing that area, will be there, hopefully Lockwood
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: will be there. That could explain more about that development.
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: But I'm going to go back to a phrase I
• 15:08
  Speaker 1: have used many many times, and this is true, and
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: I will go back to saying that this mall was
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: built in nineteen fifty five. Cities never stand still. They
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: are either moving, growing and moving forward, or they are
• 15:22
  Speaker 1: declining and falling behind. If you say I wanted to
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: stay just like it was in nineteen fifty five, and
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: I think it's dandy. Just like that, It's going to
• 15:32
  Speaker 1: keep on declining and the value will go down, and
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: that'll bring the value in the whole area down.
• 15:38
  Speaker 4: It's momentum.
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: It is. It's absolutely momentum. And when you talk about momentum,
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: I mean we've talked about this before, Peyton. It's like
• 15:45
  Speaker 1: riding a bike. You know, you keep If you're riding
• 15:48
  Speaker 1: a bike, you got to have momentum to keep on
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: moving forward. If you don't, you're going to fall down
• 15:52
  Speaker 1: and you're going to crash. And so this is what
• 15:55
  Speaker 1: we really want to focus on in Omaha. We don't
• 15:59
  Speaker 1: want areas that are old and run down and declining value.
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: We want and we have developers that want to do
• 16:05
  Speaker 1: things and to want to develop the area. And this
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: is really really good for all of Omaha. And so
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: hats off to developers like Lockwood that want to do
• 16:17
  Speaker 1: these things and keep on doing things that are good
• 16:21
  Speaker 1: good for the city. So anyway, that's my thing on
• 16:26
  Speaker 1: Central Mall. For a friend that was there last night,
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: I can't give you, like I said, more detail on
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: the area, but it will include some affordable housing and
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: market rate. Let me address that for one second here.
• 16:39
  Speaker 1: Affordable housing is still something people have a hard time understanding.
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: And I heard somebody on the news last night saying
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: these aren't going to be affordable for me. You have
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: to understand that that term affordable housing is used rather loosely,
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: and it is defined by HUD Housing and Urban Development,
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: and they're position is people should not be paying any
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: more than thirty percent of their monthly income including utilities
• 17:07
  Speaker 1: on housing. Now, that applies to anyone no matter what
• 17:12
  Speaker 1: your income is. So if your income is fifty thousand
• 17:15
  Speaker 1: a year or five hundred thousand a year, it still applies.
• 17:19
  Speaker 1: And people will say, well, that isn't affordable to me.
• 17:23
  Speaker 1: What they look at is the average median income in
• 17:27
  Speaker 1: the area that you live in, and they base it
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: on that. Affordable housing in New York City, affordable housing
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: in Los Angeles, isn't affordable in the city of Omaha.
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: And you know, they will say, a market rate apartment
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: here in Omaha used to be about twelve hundred a
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: month for a one bedroom. I think affordable may start
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: at maybe seven eight hundred. Some people will say, well,
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: I can't afford that. Affordable housing doesn't mean cheap and
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: it doesn't mean free housing. It doesn't mean that at all.
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: I mean if you're in the those levels, then you
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: go back to subsidized housing. And so it's all determined
• 18:06
  Speaker 1: by HUD. If you start at the bottom, there's basically
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: subsidized housing, then it goes up to affordable, then it
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: goes up to workforce, then it goes up to market rate,
• 18:19
  Speaker 1: and then at the top is luxury. So there's different
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: levels of how HUD determines what the value of housing is. Again, Marror,
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: youing his number one priority is more affordable housing, So
• 18:33
  Speaker 1: he's going to be pushing developments like this. So keep
• 18:37
  Speaker 1: it in mind. There will be public hearings. You can
• 18:39
  Speaker 1: certainly sound off on this radio station I want you to,
• 18:43
  Speaker 1: and you can certainly sound off at any of these
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: public meetings. But I think it's important that people understand
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: TIFF is not taking money away from you. Tiff is
• 18:52
  Speaker 1: awarded to a developer. It's a development tool, and in
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: the long run, after that note is paid off, the
• 19:00
  Speaker 1: taxpayers all benefit because all that goes back into the
• 19:03
  Speaker 1: text rules.
• 19:04
  Speaker 5: It's good to talk about TIFF every once in a
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: while because it is kind of complicated and it's tough.
• 19:07
  Speaker 5: There's a lot of layers to it, and it's pretty complicated.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: Four zero two, five, five, eight eleven ten comment at
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: kfab dot com. We want to hear from you this morning.
• 19:17
  Speaker 5: I got to talk back in Gene. This comes from Greg.
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: Good morning.
• 19:24
  Speaker 6: I was wondering if I couldn't make a suggestion, could
• 19:28
  Speaker 6: you change that song to introduce Mayor.
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: Jean stother.
• 19:37
  Speaker 7: To ain't no hala back.
• 19:39
  Speaker 6: Girl My.
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, you don't like this girl's on fire?
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: Oh my goodness, that's pretty funny. All right, all right,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: good one, thanks for that.
• 19:50
  Speaker 5: With Jean Stothard and the kfab comment line, here we are, Ruby,
• 19:55
  Speaker 5: I see you on the phone lines. We're gonna cuts
• 19:57
  Speaker 5: you very shortly. Let me just bring one thing up
• 19:59
  Speaker 5: real quick. How zero two, five, five, eight eleven ten
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: or comment at kfab dot com. We want to hear
• 20:04
  Speaker 5: from you this morning.
• 20:06
  Speaker 4: Gene.
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: I got in the email inbox from Tammy. Would you
• 20:10
  Speaker 5: please pass this on to Mayor Jen Congratulations on being
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: inducted into the Omaha Business Hall of Fame.
• 20:17
  Speaker 4: Thank you.
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: I've always been throughout her years of service. Congratulations, Gene.
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: I love the show.
• 20:23
  Speaker 1: Thank you, and you know that that is an honor.
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Not every mayor gets put in the Business Hall of
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: Fame by the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. I think
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: maybe the last one was Hal Dob and that was
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: quite a while ago. So thank you. I hope that
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: just reflects on we did focus on a lot of
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: businesses and growing Omaha and bringing businesses in and keeping
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: businesses that are here here and thriving. And so thank
• 20:46
  Speaker 1: you for saying that. Thank you for the message, Tammy.
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it. All right, Ruby, it's your time
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: to shine. Welcome to news Radio eleven ten kfab you
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: are alive with Jean's author.
• 20:55
  Speaker 8: Good morning, Good morning, mirror listen. I wanted to know
• 21:01
  Speaker 8: what her take was on the lawsuit between the current
• 21:05
  Speaker 8: mayor and Lisa Kilker. She had a victory on Friday.
• 21:11
  Speaker 8: She sued the mayor and he conceded to go to
• 21:14
  Speaker 8: trial and in fact, he did violate her First Amendment right,
• 21:19
  Speaker 8: And I wanted to know what's your take on that was?
• 21:23
  Speaker 1: Well, you know, originally he did say that he was
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: he wanted a jury trial. He said he wanted to
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: fight it, but they did go to federal court and
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: he was They federal court found that he engaged in
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: discrimination of the First Amendment because he deleted that social
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: media comment. Now I know a lot about this because
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, this has been something that I cared about
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: when when I was mayor when I worked for the city.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I'm not supposed to say that too much anymore, but
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: you know, Donald Trump even went to federal court over that.
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: If you have an official social media account, meaning you
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: are the official whatever you are, whatever elected position, and
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: it is being paid for by the taxpayers, there are
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: certain rules and regulations you must follow, and if you
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: take comments off because you don't like them or they
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: criticize you, then that is coned considered a violation of
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: freedom of speech. Now, you know, I mentioned this before
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: on my Facebook. I was very interactive with it. I
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: didn't spend all day on it, but it was managed
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: by my communication director, whose name was Carrie Murphy and me.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: People would always say, oh, all those comments, somebody else
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: is doing it, your staff is doing it. I would
• 22:38
  Speaker 1: do it. It meant a lot to me to let
• 22:39
  Speaker 1: people sound off and say whatever they wanted to, whether
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: it was a criticism or not. The a I did
• 22:46
  Speaker 1: put in terms of use on my Facebook that did
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: say if you post anything racist or vulgar, or if
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: you're using you know, horrible language, your post may be deleted.
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: But if it was just a criticism, it was not. Now,
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: when mayor Ewing first became mayor. This is just a fact,
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: is that he said he wasn't going to then allow
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: any comments at all on his Facebook. I know the
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: city attorney discussed it with him. He said, you cannot
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: be deleting things. This has been already to court before.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: And his response was, well, then I won't allow any
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: comments at all. My opinion, Jean Stozard's opinion of a
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: newly elected mayor not allowing any comments on social media
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: is not a good direction to go. You want to
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: be out there. You want to be able to communicate
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: with people, respond to people, hear what they have to say,
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: and people should been allowed to do that. When this
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: all came out about with the sixteenth Street sinkhole, he said,
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: well then for a period of time. They announced that
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: he will allow comments for a period of time. But
• 23:56
  Speaker 1: when they did, then this comment came out and they
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: lead it and they banned her. The thing that honestly
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: is most annoying to me, just being honest, is you know,
• 24:07
  Speaker 1: for about eight months of a campaign, I stood right
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: next to John Ewing at many debates in many forums
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: when he bitterly criticized me for that sinkhole in sixteenth
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: Street on the alley in the alley, and he did say,
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: I remember several times if I'm elected mayor, no more
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: sink holes, no more Well, come on, I mean the
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: sinkhole and exarbon ate two cars recently. But I'm not
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: blaming John Ewing. A mayor cannot prevent sink holes. It's
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: not the mayor's responsibility to know what's going on underneath
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: all the streets in Omaha.
• 24:43
  Speaker 5: The mayor can't prevent a sinkhole. But what Lisa Kilker
• 24:46
  Speaker 5: said in her Facebook message was we had the takeout
• 24:50
  Speaker 5: a loan to fill the sinkhole that you ran on
• 24:53
  Speaker 5: that you promised you were going to fix.
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: And he did, and he promised he would fix it
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: right away in this hist the city that he did.
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: He said that the work was going to begin on
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: it immediately and it still hasn't been fixed.
• 25:09
  Speaker 7: Now.
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: The reason what she says that they had to take
• 25:12
  Speaker 1: a million dollar loan out, I don't understand if she
• 25:17
  Speaker 1: is a resident there, because it would be the owner
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: of the property that would need to take out a loan.
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: The issue with that is they discovered that there was
• 25:28
  Speaker 1: some structural issues. There's like a sub basement in the
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: regis that has been leaking water and that has been
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: eroding under the alley and causing you know, the problems
• 25:39
  Speaker 1: that had happened. And truly, the city can't fix the problem,
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: can't fix a sinkhole until they fix the reason that
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: the sinkhole happened. And so you know, there is a lawsuit.
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: I would think it would be the owner of the
• 25:54
  Speaker 1: building that would be having to fight this lawsuit. But
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: at the same time, the issue is there were promises
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: made there, there were promises that would be fixed right away.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: And I will always go back to why do why
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: do candidates do this? They literally lie to get elected,
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and then after they get elected it's like, oh, I
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: really can't do that anyway. It's like the streets and
• 26:19
  Speaker 1: Elkorn on Skyline, if any that was a promise too,
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: And is anything being done new? So this is a
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: this is an issue now. I think, in my opinion,
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: a mayor should open up that social media and should
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: take anything that comes across. I mean, you know, we
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: would have sometimes posts that we would get eight hundred
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: comments right away. But that's why. I mean, you are
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: elected to represent the people, So represent the people and
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: don't run away if people are criticizing. No, you're not
• 26:52
  Speaker 1: going to please everybody all the time. You're just not
• 26:55
  Speaker 1: and you need to let people sound off. So obviously
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: he lost that let lawsuit. Now the damages are minimal.
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: They do have to pay legal fees the city does.
• 27:08
  Speaker 1: That comes out of the taxpayer's pockets. And then there
• 27:11
  Speaker 1: was a small award, a very small award, like a
• 27:14
  Speaker 1: couple bucks. But I think the point was is that
• 27:18
  Speaker 1: this was a violation of First Amendment and you should
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: not be able. You can't do that. You just can't
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: do it.
• 27:25
  Speaker 5: I'm going to the talkback mike here on the iHeartRadio app.
• 27:28
  Speaker 5: There's a little bit of microphone there. You hit it,
• 27:30
  Speaker 5: send us a message. You can say whatever you want
• 27:32
  Speaker 5: and we'll put it on the air.
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: This is Steven.
• 27:34
  Speaker 7: I'm a retiring school superintendent. With regards to First Amendment
• 27:38
  Speaker 7: rights on social media post I'm assuming city governments the
• 27:41
  Speaker 7: same as school districts. When you have a post, you
• 27:44
  Speaker 7: either accept comments or you don't accept comments. Where you
• 27:47
  Speaker 7: can't dick and choose which comments to accept. So once
• 27:51
  Speaker 7: you do a post, you have to decide am I
• 27:53
  Speaker 7: going to allow comments or not? If you allow comments,
• 27:56
  Speaker 7: you can't dick and choose.
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: Which ones stay on and that thank you, and that
• 28:00
  Speaker 1: is exactly right. But that's what I was saying when
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: Mayor you Ing first became mayor, when he was told
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: that you can't be deleting comments and banning people if
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: they say things you don't like, then his position was, well,
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: then I won't allow any comments at all, and that's
• 28:16
  Speaker 1: what he did. So you are exactly right. You either
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: accept or you don't accept. But should that be the
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: position an elected mayor takes? I will not take any comments.
• 28:26
  Speaker 1: I don't want to hear from you.
• 28:27
  Speaker 5: I also think, just to put my opinion out there,
• 28:30
  Speaker 5: I also think that if you're the mayor, or any
• 28:33
  Speaker 5: elected official for that matter, the president, you're the president.
• 28:36
  Speaker 5: If you're going to be posting things on social media,
• 28:39
  Speaker 5: whether your personal account or your mayor account or a
• 28:42
  Speaker 5: city account, and you don't allow comments, exactly, it's embarrassing
• 28:47
  Speaker 5: because how are you supposed to hear feedback from people?
• 28:51
  Speaker 5: And if you can't tolerate the feedback, that's an even
• 28:55
  Speaker 5: greater knock on you.
• 28:58
  Speaker 4: Where's the cajones?
• 28:59
  Speaker 2: Right?
• 29:00
  Speaker 4: Listen to it? You know you don't have to let
• 29:01
  Speaker 4: it beat you.
• 29:02
  Speaker 2: Up.
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: But like if you can't stand the fire stat of
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: the kitchen, you have to be able to take these
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: these criticisms. I mean, they're they're gonna happen. If if
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: anybody thinks they're going to run for an elected office,
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: any political office, and never get criticized, and you think
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: you're just going to be loved in the doorge forget it.
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: I mean, it doesn't happen, but you don't expect that
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: to happen. Yeah, you know they always say it's lonely
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: at the top, and it certainly is. But that's that's
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: why you You were elected, and you got to be
• 29:33
  Speaker 1: honest and you got to be out there. And what
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: I don't like either is when people elected officials get
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: too scripted. If they're in public, they have a piece
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: of paper, they want to read a statement, and then
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: they leave. I mean, I have I said this before,
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: but I'm happy about this. I did over seventy town
• 29:53
  Speaker 1: hall meetings. You know how set town hall meetings are now? Good, Lord,
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: Mike Flood just got reamed again at a at a
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: town hall meeting. But so what I mean, that's his
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: job and that's how Mike Flood looks at it. You're
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: out there, you're elected, you represent the people. It's all
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: elected officials' jobs to get out there and hear what
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: people have to say.
• 30:14
  Speaker 5: Well, I completely forgot about it today, but today is
• 30:17
  Speaker 5: technically one year anniversary of Mayor Ewing in office.
• 30:21
  Speaker 1: Yes, and you know, bringing that up again to yesterday,
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker did a what am I supposed to call it?
• 30:27
  Speaker 1: A bit bit a bit on his show. It's on
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: a podcast that was hilarious and he was talking about
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Mayor Superman, and I just want to say, I want
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: people to know that's listening. This isn't just something that
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: Chris Baker thought up, calling him Mayor Superman. Mayor Ewing
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: has asked to be called Superman. He tells people call
• 30:49
  Speaker 1: me Superman. He wears Superman shirts. There's a lot of
• 30:54
  Speaker 1: pictures of him posted with Superman shirts on if you
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: look at Omaha Magazine their addition, which is free. This month,
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: they did a bit on him an article celebrating I
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: guess you'd say his first year is mayor and he
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: wore a Superman shirt for his portrait in there. So
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: this is not something that just the Baker Show thought up,
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: and it was funny. He is asking people to call
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: him Superman.
• 31:19
  Speaker 5: Yeah, and he's sitting there with his blazer and he's
• 31:23
  Speaker 5: pulling it to the side like he's ripping his shirt open,
• 31:26
  Speaker 5: kind of like Clark Kent, does you know.
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: Faster than a speeding bullet, more power in a locomotive.
• 31:30
  Speaker 5: And I'm not stealing too much thunder here from the
• 31:32
  Speaker 5: Baker's show in the afternoon. You have to listen this
• 31:34
  Speaker 5: afternoon to hear.
• 31:34
  Speaker 1: It op in the sky. It's a burger.
• 31:39
  Speaker 4: Okay, there we go. That's enough of that, all right.
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: It is pretty funny, But this is real. This is
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: this is not something that that Kfab in the Afternoon
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: made up. He wants to be called superman, and he
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: asked to be called Superman.
• 31:53
  Speaker 4: Dave called in and asked a question.
• 31:55
  Speaker 5: He said, well, why is the city on the hook
• 31:59
  Speaker 5: for these legal fees, lawyer fees payout you name it.
• 32:03
  Speaker 5: If Mayor Ewing was driving, you got a speeding ticket, well,
• 32:07
  Speaker 5: surely the city is not going to pay the speeding ticket.
• 32:09
  Speaker 1: Not the speeding ticket. But in a you know, a lawsuit,
• 32:14
  Speaker 1: which this was and it was decided by a federal judge.
• 32:17
  Speaker 1: There are city attorneys that are required to represent the mayor,
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: and that was obviously part of the agreement that they
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: agreed upon that the judge said, you will cover attorney fees,
• 32:30
  Speaker 1: and the city said, okay, yes we will because the
• 32:33
  Speaker 1: City of Omaha represents the mayor in any kind of
• 32:38
  Speaker 1: legal battle. I mean, if there was a huge award
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: that the city would have to pay representing the mayor.
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: It's just the way it goes. But it was part
• 32:46
  Speaker 1: of the judgment that they will pay all those attorney fees.
• 32:49
  Speaker 1: So the person that filed it, which they found was
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: her claim was accurate that it was a violation of
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: First Amendment. Then they're paying the fees there is in
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: the city budget. There is a judgment. There was a
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: portion of bucket and the budget that's judgment because of
• 33:09
  Speaker 1: judgments against the city, and they pay out and that's
• 33:12
  Speaker 1: taxpayer money.
• 33:13
  Speaker 4: That's really interesting. That's insight that you only get here
• 33:16
  Speaker 4: on the kfab comment line. Well, that's good stuff. Okay, Rick,
• 33:19
  Speaker 4: thanks for being patient.
• 33:20
  Speaker 5: You are now live with Jean st Author here on
• 33:22
  Speaker 5: eleven to ten KFAB Good morning, good morning. Hey.
• 33:27
  Speaker 6: My memory fails me often at this point in life,
• 33:29
  Speaker 6: but thanks too. I think you'll help to correct it.
• 33:35
  Speaker 6: If it's wrong. But back in the day, I believe
• 33:39
  Speaker 6: you were mayor, there was a bed bug issue in
• 33:42
  Speaker 6: North Omah and the city started to apply pressure on landlords.
• 33:51
  Speaker 6: The scenario I'm going to describe was in that time frame,
• 33:57
  Speaker 6: So let me get at it. There was and I
• 34:00
  Speaker 6: witnessed this, the police going on to private property, confiscating
• 34:09
  Speaker 6: personal property. And I'm talking about a car parked in
• 34:14
  Speaker 6: the driveway because I believe it wasn't licensed. How How
• 34:21
  Speaker 6: how does the city justify or the administration at that
• 34:27
  Speaker 6: time justify confiscating personal property and trespassing on private property
• 34:37
  Speaker 6: at the same time.
• 34:39
  Speaker 1: Good question. I think you're you're you have kind of
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: two things going on. Yes, there was a landlord registration
• 34:45
  Speaker 1: that was developed years ago that was in response not
• 34:49
  Speaker 1: only to issues like bed bugs, but run down property,
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: property that was not suitable for people to live. It
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: has been very successful. The city has added inspectors to
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: the inspection department that go out and inspect these rental properties.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: It's very good for the renters, but they are not
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: allowed to just come in and bust in somebody's private property.
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: The same with what you are talking about with the
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: Omaha Police Department. Now there are laws which are ordinances
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: that are say nuisances. If the police get a call
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: about a neighbor about say trash in the yard, et cetera, noise,
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: there's a noise ordinance in Omaha, the police can go
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: investigate that. Now about the cars, this this was an
• 35:42
  Speaker 1: issue in South Omaha City Council district. For that the
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: city council member Ron Hugg was really on a few
• 35:51
  Speaker 1: years ago and he said he was getting a lot
• 35:53
  Speaker 1: of complaints in South Omaha about people using their front
• 35:57
  Speaker 1: yards for parking lots, and he wanted a new ordinance
• 36:01
  Speaker 1: that would allow the police to go on private property
• 36:05
  Speaker 1: if they were in the front yard and if they
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: were not licensed. And that was something I fought. I
• 36:12
  Speaker 1: did not think that the police department in the City
• 36:15
  Speaker 1: of Omaha, especially being low on the number of officers. Now,
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: we wanted a whole team out there going in people's
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: front yards and taking cars, confiscating cars and finding people
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: for them. And so that is not something that is
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: in ordinance now that they can do that. It's it
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: would be complaint driven. Neighbors want to complain about something
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: and it does violate city ordinance, they can, but the
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: police cannot just go on private property and take items
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: unless they were private property, unless they were violating the law.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: The one thing they can do with cars is if
• 36:53
  Speaker 1: it is a snow route and we have a great
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: big snowstorm and they're needing to plow and it is
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: on a snow route, can be removed. But that's only
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: few and far between when that happens. But those things,
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: the bedbug thing is one issue there. The landlord registry
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: is there. They've inspected tens of thousands of units already,
• 37:14
  Speaker 1: which is good for all of us. But the other thing,
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: this is something that Ron hug and District for really
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: would like. It doesn't have much speed yet very interesting.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: Here's a talkback that's a fun one. Thanks for talking back.
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: This on the iHeartRadio app. There was a little bit
• 37:30
  Speaker 1: of microphone and you can send us a message just
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: like Doug did.
• 37:33
  Speaker 4: Okay, Hi, this is Doug. I'm walking my dog on
• 37:38
  Speaker 4: the Mopac Trail north of Elmwood listening to your show.
• 37:43
  Speaker 2: It's a lovely day and I'm having a good time.
• 37:46
  Speaker 2: Thank you well.
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: I hear birds tweeting in the background. Is this for real, Doug?
• 37:51
  Speaker 4: Yes, that sounds incredibly like you. Said, the bird's chair
• 37:54
  Speaker 4: upin he's walking. He sounds like he's got a little
• 37:56
  Speaker 4: life in his voice.
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: Oh well, that sounds really really nice.
• 37:59
  Speaker 5: Very nice. Thank you for that talkback. That's on the
• 38:01
  Speaker 5: iHeartRadio app. I'm getting a few emails in here, and
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: Doug says, this is I think a separate Doug because
• 38:07
  Speaker 5: Doug is walking.
• 38:08
  Speaker 4: This is emailing Doug, a new Doug gene A j
• 38:12
  Speaker 4: E n E is how he said.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: Jean, that's all right.
• 38:14
  Speaker 4: I have to completely disagree with your position.
• 38:18
  Speaker 5: Since a social media page just the reflection of you,
• 38:22
  Speaker 5: I believe that you need to have control of the
• 38:24
  Speaker 5: content on the page. With that set, If a person
• 38:27
  Speaker 5: doesn't have control of the page and the temperature in
• 38:29
  Speaker 5: the room, you should not engage in social media at all.
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: I disagree with you. I'm sorry, but you know, I
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: use my social media to give people important day to
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: day information that I think that the public needed to know,
• 38:45
  Speaker 1: whether it be a new development, something going on about
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: the College World series, are a bad weather issue. I
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: think that it's the elected official or the mayor's responsibility
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: to keep the public informed in any possible way that
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: you can. So I was, you know, I never would
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: take the position to say that if I you know that,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: I don't. I don't want to I don't want to
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: hear anything. I don't want to hear feedback, So I
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: shouldn't be on social media. You have to use social media.
• 39:13
  Speaker 1: That's the way that you can communicate.
• 39:15
  Speaker 5: Randy says. Official government officials should not be using and
• 39:20
  Speaker 5: involving themselves with such stupidity as Facebook. If you lie
• 39:24
  Speaker 5: down with dogs, you get up with fleas.
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: Well, Okay, but I disagree with that. I mean, I
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: just think we used every possible avenue we could, whether
• 39:34
  Speaker 1: it be my web page, the city's official web page,
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: whether it be my Facebook. We are trying to get
• 39:42
  Speaker 1: information out to the public. I never put goofy stuff
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: on there, like what I ate for dinner or whatever
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: people do on their private social media pages. This was
• 39:53
  Speaker 1: information that we wanted to share with the public, and
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: we felt like this was one avenue that we could
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: get that in for out. Now to engage with people
• 40:02
  Speaker 1: going back and forth, I wouldn't do that. I mean,
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: some some posts we would have eight hundred comments. I'm
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: not going back and forth arguing with people, but you know,
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: a lot of times if they ask me a question,
• 40:14
  Speaker 1: I would respond.
• 40:15
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, we got one minute here, Gen, and I believe
• 40:17
  Speaker 5: there's a press conference this afternoon.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: There is. I believe that Mary Ewing is doing a
• 40:22
  Speaker 1: press conference this afternoon celebrating his first year in office,
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: and so we'll listen to that and we'll talk about
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: that tomorrow.
• 40:30
  Speaker 5: Absolutely, And we can always hear from you, even if
• 40:32
  Speaker 5: you send us an email today, we can get to
• 40:34
  Speaker 5: it tomorrow and we can find answers to you comment
• 40:36
  Speaker 5: at kfab dot com.
• 40:38
  Speaker 4: Wrap it up the show here on a Tuesday.
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: Yes, and thank you all for being with us today.
• 40:42
  Speaker 1: We really appreciate it and we hope that you join
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: us again tomorrow. We have lots to talk about and
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: we'd love for you to join us again. So thanks
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: for listening. I'm Jeene Stothard and this is eleven ten
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: kfab