Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Small Businesses Impacted by the Streetcar

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Small Businesses Impacted by the Streetcar · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: But today I have Clark Ross with me.
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Good morning, Good morning. How are you and Clark?
• 0:05
  Speaker 3: This is going to be an interesting conversation. I know
• 0:08
  Speaker 3: it is, because, first of all, I want to tell
• 0:10
  Speaker 3: you who Clark is. Clark is the owner of a
• 0:12
  Speaker 3: very cool bar at sixteenth and Harney called Mercury and Clark.
• 0:17
  Speaker 3: I got to confess I've never been there. However, I
• 0:21
  Speaker 3: think you are going to be my new best friend
• 0:23
  Speaker 3: because when I was talking to you the other day,
• 0:26
  Speaker 3: Clark told me that they have the best old fashions
• 0:29
  Speaker 3: in town. You had me at old fashion, absolutely, because
• 0:33
  Speaker 3: that is my favorite drink. I love bourbon, and so
• 0:35
  Speaker 3: we talked a bit about bourbon. It's your favorite drink too, Abs,
• 0:39
  Speaker 3: So I am probably going to be a frequent visitor.
• 0:41
  Speaker 3: Do you know that during the whole time I was mayor,
• 0:44
  Speaker 3: I think I've told you this before, but now I'm
• 0:46
  Speaker 3: telling everybody. I never went to a bar. I would
• 0:49
  Speaker 3: never consider a bellion up to a bar when I
• 0:51
  Speaker 3: was mayor. In fact, I didn't even want a drink
• 0:53
  Speaker 3: in public because I thought somebody's going to see me
• 0:55
  Speaker 3: and go Da da da da. I would only drink
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: if I was like at a dinner sitting down. I
• 1:01
  Speaker 3: wasn't acting officially otherwise, I just stayed out of ours.
• 1:05
  Speaker 3: But you know what, now I can come to Mercury
• 1:07
  Speaker 3: and visit here, your great establishment, and those of people
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: that I know that have been there said it's very cool.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: So see I'm advertising.
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: Well, I appreciate that. A good time there you go.
• 1:20
  Speaker 3: So anyway, Clark is also the chairperson for an alliance
• 1:24
  Speaker 3: called the Streetcar Impact Alliance, and it was formed in
• 1:28
  Speaker 3: February twenty twenty six. I'm going to have him talk
• 1:31
  Speaker 3: about it, but it is a coalition of local business
• 1:35
  Speaker 3: owners and I think you told me there's about one
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: hundred and twenty that belong and residents that focus on
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: the economic and residential health of the Harney and Farnham
• 1:44
  Speaker 3: Street Quarter during the streetcar project, and you all have
• 1:50
  Speaker 3: been negatively affected by the construction. I know I have
• 1:55
  Speaker 3: told this on the air before, but I know downtown
• 1:58
  Speaker 3: like the back of my hand. I've been down there
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: every day for twelve years as mayor, and before that
• 2:04
  Speaker 3: at least three times a week as a council member.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: I went down there not long ago to meet a friend.
• 2:09
  Speaker 3: I was going to meet him about tenth on Tenth
• 2:12
  Speaker 3: Street for lunch. I ended up in Iowa, and I
• 2:15
  Speaker 3: know downtown Omaha. It does get very confusing. There's a
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: lot of barriers, there's a lot of holes in the ground,
• 2:23
  Speaker 3: there's a lot of piles of dirt. Things change on
• 2:26
  Speaker 3: a daily basis and it is very confusing. But this
• 2:29
  Speaker 3: group that you help form, and I think you would
• 2:32
  Speaker 3: call yourself the chairman of this group. A lot of
• 2:35
  Speaker 3: these businesses, their estimates are maybe you are thirty thirty five,
• 2:39
  Speaker 3: forty percent down a lot of businesses along that streetcar corridor.
• 2:44
  Speaker 3: And you are advocating for some mitigation from the city,
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: some improvements with signage, some better communications, some there's a
• 2:54
  Speaker 3: lot of things and that you are really working for.
• 2:56
  Speaker 3: And I'm going to let you go ahead instead of
• 2:58
  Speaker 3: me sitting here talking all the time, and talk about
• 3:02
  Speaker 3: what you are doing, what you want to achieve. But
• 3:06
  Speaker 3: I guess I have to say one more thing. I
• 3:07
  Speaker 3: got to start out with saying I am I am.
• 3:10
  Speaker 3: I tell everybody I will take ownership of the streetcar.
• 3:13
  Speaker 3: So Clark, you can yell at me all you want
• 3:15
  Speaker 3: here today, I can take it, but I will take
• 3:17
  Speaker 3: ownership of it because I did push it through. You know,
• 3:21
  Speaker 3: it was a number one recommendation of the Urban Core Committee,
• 3:24
  Speaker 3: which were a lot of businesses downtown. Their number one
• 3:28
  Speaker 3: recommendation was a streetcar. I pushed it through with the
• 3:32
  Speaker 3: city council, the City Council approved it. Lots and lots
• 3:35
  Speaker 3: of people involved, but you know, I said, I will
• 3:37
  Speaker 3: take ownership. I'm not going to blame anybody else for
• 3:40
  Speaker 3: the streetcar. However, when we first started working on it,
• 3:44
  Speaker 3: the streetcar was originally supposed to be completed in twenty
• 3:47
  Speaker 3: twenty six. Then it was twenty seven. Now it's twenty eight.
• 3:52
  Speaker 3: So you that are being so negatively impacted, now you're
• 3:56
  Speaker 3: going to be impacted to twenty twenty eight. Go ahead
• 3:59
  Speaker 3: and tell us what what is happening in the streetcar,
• 4:02
  Speaker 3: qarder to you and a lot of smaller businesses and residents.
• 4:06
  Speaker 3: Tell us your concerns, and then tell us what you've
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: done and what you want to see happen.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: So we started back in February. Like you had mentioned,
• 4:15
  Speaker 4: the construction had really reached kind of a fever pitch
• 4:17
  Speaker 4: where I am downtown and we were just constantly faced
• 4:22
  Speaker 4: with exactly what you described, an ever changing landscape of
• 4:25
  Speaker 4: detour signs that may or may not get to get
• 4:27
  Speaker 4: you to where you need to go. And then we
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: had seen just a steady decline in business, and so
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: I guess I was just the first person who snapped,
• 4:36
  Speaker 4: and I printed up some flyers and I walked up
• 4:38
  Speaker 4: and down Farnam and Harney and I handed them to
• 4:40
  Speaker 4: the business owners and I taped into residents bulletin boards
• 4:44
  Speaker 4: and things like that, just with the meeting, you know,
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: is the streetcar ruining your life? And so we got
• 4:50
  Speaker 4: a pretty good response from that. So we gathered people
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: at Mercury and we ended up packing the house, so
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: shoulders shoulder wed well over one hundred people there, and
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: there we kind of there was a little bit of
• 5:00
  Speaker 4: a venting session as well, but we really wanted to
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: kind of figure out what the solutions could be. So
• 5:06
  Speaker 4: we voted on what we wanted to go to the
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: mayor with as our list of demands as it were,
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  Speaker 4: and there was a mandate. There was a very very
• 5:14
  Speaker 4: clear line the stand about what people wanted, and so
• 5:19
  Speaker 4: the kind of the non negotiables in the room, the
• 5:21
  Speaker 4: things that we weren't even going to bother to vote on,
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: but we were definitely going to say is that we
• 5:24
  Speaker 4: need improvement in communication, and we need improvement with safety,
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  Speaker 4: because we had heard numerous stories of pedestrian strikes, people
• 5:32
  Speaker 4: walking in pits, people falling down, people you know, tripping
• 5:35
  Speaker 4: over construction material are everywhere. And then of course the communication.
• 5:39
  Speaker 4: We don't know what to expect or when to expect it.
• 5:41
  Speaker 3: And when you have a business like a bar downtown
• 5:43
  Speaker 3: that you opened probably at four these are things that
• 5:47
  Speaker 3: are really important, especially for your survival.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: For sure, absolutely, and it has been and it was
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: just it was a steady decline, like you said, we
• 5:56
  Speaker 4: had seen We had seen drops right away like twenty
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: five percent, and then just kept going from there. So
• 6:03
  Speaker 4: the votes that we came up with were yes, we
• 6:05
  Speaker 4: want safety and communication improvement, and then parking solutions they
• 6:09
  Speaker 4: had seen We have seen a lot of parking downtown
• 6:12
  Speaker 4: kind of be blocked by the actual construction and then
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: a lot of cases, even if it's not actual construction,
• 6:17
  Speaker 4: the meters were bagged for traffic redirection and things like that,
• 6:21
  Speaker 4: and they were really I mean, anybody's been downtown saw
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: like especially in the beginning, they kind of tore up
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: everything all at once. So it seems like all the
• 6:27
  Speaker 4: parking went away at the same time. So we asked
• 6:30
  Speaker 4: them for some sort of validated parking program. We asked
• 6:32
  Speaker 4: them for some sort of tax relief. None of us
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: are tax experts, none of us are legal in that,
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: and so we decided, well, there's just ask for no taxes.
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: Let's see what happens.
• 6:42
  Speaker 4: And then the biggest one was a financial mitigation fund,
• 6:44
  Speaker 4: some sort of you know relief. How that is doled out,
• 6:49
  Speaker 4: you know, tbd, But basically we need cash in hand,
• 6:53
  Speaker 4: and we told the mayor, We told the mayor in
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: the office that, like you and know on certain terms,
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: if we don't see cash in hand and in these
• 7:00
  Speaker 4: places in ninety days or so, we're going to start
• 7:03
  Speaker 4: seeing a lot of places close. And we're already starting
• 7:06
  Speaker 4: to see some of the repercussions from that. We're seeing
• 7:08
  Speaker 4: a handful of places closed. We've seen some of the shops.
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  Speaker 4: They are reaching out on social media begging for people
• 7:13
  Speaker 4: to come down. And it has just the situation just
• 7:16
  Speaker 4: continued to deteriorate because we still have not received any
• 7:18
  Speaker 4: sort of financial compensation.
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: Okay, now let me ask you this.
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  Speaker 3: So you said that you had your goals or what
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: you were going to present to the mayor. Have you
• 7:27
  Speaker 3: been meeting with the mayor and the mayor's team.
• 7:29
  Speaker 4: Yes, So right after we sent that initial list of
• 7:33
  Speaker 4: demands or whatever you want to call it. Right after
• 7:35
  Speaker 4: we sent that, then the mayor's office reach out to
• 7:37
  Speaker 4: us and we sat down and we had a conversation.
• 7:39
  Speaker 2: Okay, and that.
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  Speaker 4: Conversation was they started out by saying, here are all
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: the things that we've done so far that have been
• 7:47
  Speaker 4: very helpful, and then here's why we can't do this,
• 7:52
  Speaker 4: and here's why we can't do that, and so on
• 7:53
  Speaker 4: and so forth. So they basically said taxes are removable.
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: They said the parking.
• 7:59
  Speaker 1: That were us it would be well legally they could.
• 8:03
  Speaker 4: Not, yes, exactly, yeah, and that's a policy thing, and
• 8:07
  Speaker 4: so yeah, taxes were a non starter.
• 8:09
  Speaker 2: Parking.
• 8:10
  Speaker 4: They said that they were going to explore a parking
• 8:13
  Speaker 4: solution which has since kind of materialized a little bit, and.
• 8:17
  Speaker 3: That's the lower cost to park in the city's garageous
• 8:19
  Speaker 3: exactly right.
• 8:20
  Speaker 4: So they were rolling out this validate parking program for
• 8:23
  Speaker 4: a dollar a day for the businesses and there are
• 8:26
  Speaker 4: three of them kind of dotted up and down the
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  Speaker 4: construction corridor. And so that's underway, which again, but then
• 8:33
  Speaker 4: the big one, the financial mitigation. They said, just as
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: a blanket term, it is unconstitutional for the city to
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  Speaker 4: give any money to a private business.
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  Speaker 3: And I know this that it is unconstitutional to give
• 8:44
  Speaker 3: public money, taxpayer money to a private business. So I mean,
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: we've talked about that, but I got to bring this
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: up when I was still mayor. That's one of the
• 8:54
  Speaker 3: first things I recognized is there was going to be
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  Speaker 3: hardships for the businesses along the route because there's actually
• 9:01
  Speaker 3: two phases, because the first it's all these utilities, and
• 9:04
  Speaker 3: then the second is laying down the tracks. And the
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  Speaker 3: one thing with the utilities that I feel important to
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: bring up is again, originally it was going to be
• 9:12
  Speaker 3: done in twenty twenty six. Because of all of this
• 9:16
  Speaker 3: additional work that mud is requiring, it then was another year,
• 9:21
  Speaker 3: and then it's another two years. You know, the original
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: estimate for the mud work was going to be less
• 9:27
  Speaker 3: than ten million dollars and the project was paying for it.
• 9:31
  Speaker 3: Now it is forty four million of utility work that
• 9:36
  Speaker 3: mud is requiring, some of it isn't even close to
• 9:40
  Speaker 3: the rails. So I have to bring that up because
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: that absolutely complicated things.
• 9:45
  Speaker 5: I know.
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: When we first talked, you said, what has changed from
• 9:48
  Speaker 3: when you first started working on it?
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  Speaker 1: And to me, that's one of the main things.
• 9:52
  Speaker 3: It's all this extra utility work that is causing a
• 9:55
  Speaker 3: lot of these holes in the ground, that is causing
• 9:58
  Speaker 3: two years more on this instruction. So I've got to
• 10:01
  Speaker 3: throw that.
• 10:02
  Speaker 1: In there now.
• 10:02
  Speaker 3: The one thing we did when I was still there
• 10:04
  Speaker 3: is we created this hardship fund, and I wanted to
• 10:07
  Speaker 3: ask you about that. We got donations for it. It
• 10:10
  Speaker 3: was about one point two million. We knew at that
• 10:13
  Speaker 3: time that wasn't going to be enough. I it's one
• 10:15
  Speaker 3: point two is better than nothing, but it wasn't going
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: to be enough. Now tell me about that. Has that
• 10:20
  Speaker 3: been distributed and where and has that helped? And obviously
• 10:24
  Speaker 3: it's not enough.
• 10:26
  Speaker 4: So that fund was administrated through the It was administered
• 10:29
  Speaker 4: through the Chamber of Commerce.
• 10:30
  Speaker 2: Okay, so my understanding.
• 10:33
  Speaker 4: I was not part of the decision making process at all, obviously,
• 10:36
  Speaker 4: but the chamber they took they had the one point
• 10:39
  Speaker 4: two million and they said, let's figure out how we
• 10:41
  Speaker 4: can make the most out of this. And somewhere along
• 10:44
  Speaker 4: the line, the calculus was stretching it out along the
• 10:47
  Speaker 4: whole route is not going to do anybody any real benefit.
• 10:50
  Speaker 4: So let's focus on the area of strongest impact. And
• 10:52
  Speaker 4: at the time, Blackstone was going through their utility work
• 10:55
  Speaker 4: and they were.
• 10:55
  Speaker 2: The hardest hit.
• 10:57
  Speaker 4: So they decided to distribute that money between Turn and
• 11:00
  Speaker 4: forty second to the businesses there.
• 11:02
  Speaker 2: And it was based on square footage, so that's more.
• 11:05
  Speaker 3: That's more midtown in my opinion, right midtown by Yeah,
• 11:09
  Speaker 3: So they received those funds and from my talks with
• 11:12
  Speaker 3: the ownership of those companies, it obviously helped.
• 11:15
  Speaker 4: I mean, any amount of money coming in the door,
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: it's going to be a benefit. But like you said,
• 11:20
  Speaker 4: it was just not quite enough. It bought them a
• 11:22
  Speaker 4: couple of months, but if we're looking at two or
• 11:26
  Speaker 4: three more years of this construction, exactly, just it's gone
• 11:29
  Speaker 4: before you know it.
• 11:30
  Speaker 3: Well, my opinion always was a street car. I understand
• 11:33
  Speaker 3: the benefits and I still support the street car. And
• 11:36
  Speaker 3: when it's finished, the businesses definitely will benefit from them.
• 11:41
  Speaker 3: If they're still there, that's the issue, if they can survive.
• 11:44
  Speaker 3: I always said the street car should not come at
• 11:47
  Speaker 3: the cost of small businesses and residents who define the
• 11:52
  Speaker 3: city's urban core. You are what the residents and these
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: small businesses are what is the urban core? And you know,
• 11:59
  Speaker 3: I guess my opinion is also a lot of these
• 12:02
  Speaker 3: there are some big businesses that are along that streetcar route,
• 12:06
  Speaker 3: some big businesses, and you know, it seemed like it
• 12:11
  Speaker 3: would be in their best interest too, that they would
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: not want the small businesses to not survive because of construction,
• 12:19
  Speaker 3: because they will definitely benefit from it too, and they're
• 12:22
  Speaker 3: not benefiting from it negatively. Mutual of Omahas Tower isn't
• 12:26
  Speaker 3: even open yet. I mean, that's a you know, seven
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: hundred million dollar tower that's very much going to benefit
• 12:31
  Speaker 3: from the streetcar. Mutual has four thousand employees in the
• 12:35
  Speaker 3: city of Omaha. So you know, that's what I would
• 12:38
  Speaker 3: be thinking, is you know, because I'm aware that you
• 12:42
  Speaker 3: can't give taxpayer dollars to a private business, but is
• 12:47
  Speaker 3: there the possibility that the current administration could work on
• 12:50
  Speaker 3: getting more donations that would go in this this hardship
• 12:55
  Speaker 3: fund that would really help because of the time of
• 12:59
  Speaker 3: this street.
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: Of the.
• 13:00
  Speaker 3: Whole construction has been spread out so much. So I mean,
• 13:04
  Speaker 3: just let me just ask you point blank. I mean
• 13:07
  Speaker 3: I want people to come downtown. I mean I and
• 13:09
  Speaker 3: I know the mayor Mayor Ewing is out there saying
• 13:11
  Speaker 3: come downtown, but that doesn't help much. When you hear
• 13:15
  Speaker 3: coming downtown can be a real mess.
• 13:18
  Speaker 2: It can be a real mess.
• 13:19
  Speaker 1: And do you feel like.
• 13:20
  Speaker 3: Your business is really threatened then well absolutely if it
• 13:24
  Speaker 3: comes Undo twenty twenty.
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: Eight, absolutely yeah.
• 13:26
  Speaker 3: And you've got to, like I said, you've got a
• 13:27
  Speaker 3: great bar there, right, you're right down from the Orpheum.
• 13:31
  Speaker 4: We're the closest door to the Orphan. Yes, and we've
• 13:33
  Speaker 4: been there for ten years. We're very good at what
• 13:35
  Speaker 4: we do. We're accoladed on the Food Network and things
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: like that. I mean, like we do a good job.
• 13:40
  Speaker 4: And that's This isn't like an advertising campaign. This is
• 13:43
  Speaker 4: just at night Out has been around for thirteen years.
• 13:47
  Speaker 4: Block sixteen has been around for Decko is right there, Deco.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: I mean, there are so many businesses up and down
• 13:52
  Speaker 4: that corridor that are well established. Cresa Moon is a
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: phenomenal example. They were there since nineteen ninety three. They're
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: being threatened. Everybody's being threatened. And this is not because
• 14:02
  Speaker 4: this is this isn't what the businesses should take the
• 14:05
  Speaker 4: risk or something like that, like we didn't we didn't
• 14:07
  Speaker 4: know that, like this is this is way outside of
• 14:09
  Speaker 4: our country.
• 14:10
  Speaker 1: Have you had to let go any of your employees.
• 14:12
  Speaker 4: Absolutely, And when we did an economic impact survey of
• 14:16
  Speaker 4: all the businesses that responded, everyone that wasn't like a
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: one or two matchup.
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: Everybody had reported layoffs. So we've already seen hundreds of
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: jobs and that's.
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: The last thing you want to see happen too. Now.
• 14:26
  Speaker 3: Of course, you said you're meeting with the mayors and
• 14:29
  Speaker 3: the mayor's team and do you feel like some of
• 14:32
  Speaker 3: these things that have been put into play you think
• 14:35
  Speaker 3: they've been very very helpful or do you think there's
• 14:38
  Speaker 3: been some missteps along the way.
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: It's a mixed bag.
• 14:40
  Speaker 4: So the things that have been helpful and things that
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: are better now than they were when we started. They
• 14:46
  Speaker 4: have doubled their safety efforts, so we've already seen a
• 14:49
  Speaker 4: lot of safety issues kind of get cleaned up. They
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: and that's part of like we have a weekly meeting
• 14:54
  Speaker 4: with the mayor team and that that's one of the
• 14:57
  Speaker 4: things they go through is that you know, we saw
• 14:58
  Speaker 4: this this man whole situation that was untenable or something
• 15:02
  Speaker 4: like that. So safety has improved and we have I
• 15:03
  Speaker 4: don't think we've seen any pedestrian strikes since we started.
• 15:07
  Speaker 4: Since those security this is safety inspections increased.
• 15:11
  Speaker 1: And that's the top priority.
• 15:13
  Speaker 4: Of course, Yes, it would be ideal if people were
• 15:15
  Speaker 4: not getting hit by cars, and so number two navigation.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Now the signage is still a little woful, but one
• 15:21
  Speaker 4: of the big benefits that we have now is Apple
• 15:25
  Speaker 4: Maps and ways are being updated daily with road closures.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: And I think up until up until recently, you couldn't
• 15:33
  Speaker 4: put in an address downtown into your GPS and have
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: it just get you there. It would invariably drive you
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: around some block or into oncoming traffic or something like that.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: So now that that's being updated, that is great.
• 15:44
  Speaker 1: I've experienced that myself.
• 15:45
  Speaker 3: But I think you're saying they're making progress, but it
• 15:48
  Speaker 3: would have been nice if this would have happened these
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: like these Apple Maps update a long time.
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: Ago, of course, of course, And I think you know,
• 15:56
  Speaker 4: and I think I should point out that Google Maps
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: is still having some sort of issue with integrating there
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: and they're working on that. So Google Maps as of
• 16:03
  Speaker 4: now is not daily updated, but the way as and
• 16:05
  Speaker 4: Apple Maps are, so just so everybody knows that if
• 16:08
  Speaker 4: you are trying to get downtown. That's the way to
• 16:10
  Speaker 4: do it. You can put it in and it'll get
• 16:12
  Speaker 4: you there. So that's really nice. That's a big benefit
• 16:14
  Speaker 4: for us. But you had mentioned things that had happened
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: in the past, and I think that has been a
• 16:17
  Speaker 4: big problem, is that it's kind of broken the trust
• 16:20
  Speaker 4: with the rest of the city. If you don't live downtown,
• 16:22
  Speaker 4: or even if you do, but if you live downtown,
• 16:25
  Speaker 4: you go down and you hear we're open for business,
• 16:27
  Speaker 4: and if you were driving around in February, you would
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: you couldn't get anywhere and you were like, well, what's
• 16:32
  Speaker 4: going on? Like I don't believe you anymore. And that's
• 16:36
  Speaker 4: really tough. And so that is something that we've kind
• 16:38
  Speaker 4: of been talking with the city about. It's like, we
• 16:40
  Speaker 4: need to rebuild the trust of the people. They need
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: to trust that they can get down there safely and
• 16:46
  Speaker 4: have a good time and then leave.
• 16:47
  Speaker 2: And that's all that we're working towards.
• 16:49
  Speaker 3: Right now, you're still open for a business, but your
• 16:51
  Speaker 3: message is the city needs to get their act together.
• 16:54
  Speaker 1: And do more.
• 16:55
  Speaker 2: I think, yes, accommodation, but quickly, well yes, time is
• 16:58
  Speaker 2: very much of the essence. Like I said, we are.
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: We've already seen a handful of places closed, and there's
• 17:02
  Speaker 4: just going to be more happening if things don't get
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: better very quickly.
• 17:05
  Speaker 2: So from a you know, from what the.
• 17:08
  Speaker 4: Citizens can do downtown is not innavigable, it is not immovable.
• 17:13
  Speaker 4: It is if you put in the address into your GPS,
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: you'll get there. And that's that is that's great, that's
• 17:21
  Speaker 4: a good start. So we need to kind of start
• 17:23
  Speaker 4: rebuilding the trust with our other people.
• 17:25
  Speaker 3: Okay, okay, So if you could your group, if you're
• 17:29
  Speaker 3: you're telling me what you need and you've been very
• 17:32
  Speaker 3: clear with that and what some solutions are. Some of
• 17:35
  Speaker 3: these things are helping. Some of these things you really
• 17:38
  Speaker 3: wished would have happened a long time ago, of course,
• 17:41
  Speaker 3: to not end up where you are now, with your
• 17:43
  Speaker 3: your revenues declining as much as they are, but to
• 17:46
  Speaker 3: be able to move forward. If you could say maybe
• 17:49
  Speaker 3: three more things that you want to see happen, the
• 17:52
  Speaker 3: message to the city right now.
• 17:53
  Speaker 4: If they're listening, message to the city, please help, I
• 17:57
  Speaker 4: think you would really hit the nail on the head
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: that there are a lot of business is that are
• 18:00
  Speaker 4: benefiting from this, A lot of the larger corporations and
• 18:03
  Speaker 4: if they can help facilitate the conversations in which those
• 18:06
  Speaker 4: businesses step up, because if we're not going to be
• 18:08
  Speaker 4: able to get funds from the city, if they have
• 18:09
  Speaker 4: just made this blanket statement they won't give us any money,
• 18:12
  Speaker 4: then we need to find somebody who will. Because the
• 18:14
  Speaker 4: alternative is, like you said, all these places closing down,
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: and that is just going to hurt everybody downtown absolutely.
• 18:20
  Speaker 3: And you know, I got to say I would love
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: to have Steve Jensen on from the city. He is
• 18:26
  Speaker 3: the one that I was out on the road with.
• 18:27
  Speaker 3: We called it Steve and I did about probably a
• 18:31
  Speaker 3: PowerPoint about the street car to probably at least six
• 18:34
  Speaker 3: seven thousand people. I would love to have you on
• 18:36
  Speaker 3: the show to talk about, you know, for the city's
• 18:38
  Speaker 3: point of view. But I have to say, Mary Ewing
• 18:41
  Speaker 3: will not allow any of the city employees are directors
• 18:44
  Speaker 3: to be interviewed by me, so and that's a real
• 18:49
  Speaker 3: frustration too, I think all of us, because I feel
• 18:52
  Speaker 3: like those city employees should be upfront, out in center
• 18:55
  Speaker 3: and be able to talk to the citizens about what
• 18:58
  Speaker 3: is going on and what they're doing. But he's not
• 19:01
  Speaker 3: allowed to do that. So that's disappointing to me, but
• 19:04
  Speaker 3: I really appreciate you being on. You know, we could
• 19:06
  Speaker 3: talk a lot about this, and once again I said, I,
• 19:09
  Speaker 3: you know, I'll take ownership of this, but I didn't
• 19:11
  Speaker 3: want this to happen. And and because it has spread
• 19:14
  Speaker 3: out so much longer two more years, I think you know,
• 19:18
  Speaker 3: what you are asking for is very very reasonable. And
• 19:20
  Speaker 3: the last thing we want to see is these businesses
• 19:22
  Speaker 3: suffer downtown. And so I will say what the mayor
• 19:25
  Speaker 3: is saying, if he could come downtown. You know, you
• 19:28
  Speaker 3: guys are open for business and you have the best
• 19:31
  Speaker 3: old fashions in town. So you know you're you'll see me.
• 19:35
  Speaker 2: Well, I look forward to that. And yeah, downtown, I'm not.
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: Going to take a scooter down there either. That's off.
• 19:40
  Speaker 4: We're going to scoot into a town, scooted into a bit.
• 19:43
  Speaker 4: But no, things are a lot better downtown, like you said.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: All right, thanks Clark, thanks so much for being here.
• 19:47
  Speaker 2: To thank you, thank you.
• 19:48
  Speaker 6: I'm Peyton Highlock, and we had a very good conversation
• 19:52
  Speaker 6: about the street car and how it has affected businesses downtown.
• 19:56
  Speaker 6: I have a talk back here. Let's get to that.
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: Hey, good morning, Mayor. Good morning rather former mayor, Actually
• 20:06
  Speaker 5: you're ad hoc mayor. This streetcar thing has ruined business,
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: made lives miserable for people that live there. Being trendy
• 20:18
  Speaker 5: has a very high price, and it's a very small
• 20:22
  Speaker 5: population of the city and businesses that are in that
• 20:25
  Speaker 5: area and the rest of the city. You know, we
• 20:28
  Speaker 5: don't care.
• 20:29
  Speaker 3: It's on you, may Well, he said it's on me, Mayor,
• 20:33
  Speaker 3: I think before we lost him there. But you know
• 20:36
  Speaker 3: I've said over and over I'll take full ownership of
• 20:39
  Speaker 3: the streetcar. The streetcar is going to be successful.
• 20:43
  Speaker 1: It already is.
• 20:44
  Speaker 3: The streetcar is a catalyst for economic development. There is
• 20:48
  Speaker 3: already about one and a half billion dollars worth of
• 20:51
  Speaker 3: new development that creates jobs, that brings you know, people
• 20:56
  Speaker 3: downtown and it by the time it's done, there's estimated
• 21:01
  Speaker 3: to be at least four billion dollars of new economic
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: development along the corridor. That is good for all of Omaha.
• 21:09
  Speaker 3: The way you reduce taxes and keep them down is
• 21:11
  Speaker 3: you broaden your tax base, and this is a way
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: to broaden tax base. It's already successful before the rails
• 21:18
  Speaker 3: are put in it. You know, right now it is.
• 21:21
  Speaker 3: This is what I'm worried about. And that's why I
• 21:23
  Speaker 3: had Clark Ross on from Mercury is it is hurting
• 21:26
  Speaker 3: the small businesses along the corridor and that is the
• 21:29
  Speaker 3: last thing that I want to see done. And it
• 21:32
  Speaker 3: or happened, and it has now extended the completion date
• 21:35
  Speaker 3: two years above and beyond what it originally was. And
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: this is why I had him on because I wanted
• 21:41
  Speaker 3: him to be able to say, here's what's happening, and
• 21:44
  Speaker 3: here's what we need done, because this is not what
• 21:47
  Speaker 3: was in the original plan. Originally, it was supposed to
• 21:49
  Speaker 3: be done in twenty twenty six. This year, it was
• 21:51
  Speaker 3: supposed to be done. It's not trendy. The cities that
• 21:55
  Speaker 3: have had street cars have been very successful. Our nearest neighbor,
• 21:59
  Speaker 3: Kansas City, is so successful. It's there are extending it
• 22:03
  Speaker 3: now and all of those businesses, whether it's residents or
• 22:07
  Speaker 3: businesses along the route, are going to benefit from it
• 22:10
  Speaker 3: greatly when it is done right now. We got to
• 22:13
  Speaker 3: get those businesses through this hard time during construction.
• 22:15
  Speaker 6: We're going to go to John on the phone lines
• 22:18
  Speaker 6: four zero, two, five, five, eight, eleven ten. John, you
• 22:22
  Speaker 6: are live on news radio eleven ten KFAB with Jean Stoutht,
• 22:25
  Speaker 6: Good morning.
• 22:27
  Speaker 7: Hey, Hi Jean, Hi mean Jean.
• 22:31
  Speaker 2: All right me Jean.
• 22:32
  Speaker 7: You know I'll own that too.
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: That's okay. I've been called worse.
• 22:39
  Speaker 7: I know. Well I'm a resident you know, I'm two
• 22:45
  Speaker 7: one two blocks away from yeah saying this residential area,
• 22:52
  Speaker 7: like you say, the urban corridor. You know, I don't
• 22:55
  Speaker 7: know why you call it. It's not like Canna City
• 22:58
  Speaker 7: where it's flat right. I mean, the street car is
• 23:02
  Speaker 7: going up and down, and I don't know who's going
• 23:06
  Speaker 7: to write it in the middle of winter, you know,
• 23:09
  Speaker 7: And those are my concerns. Is it just for the corporation,
• 23:13
  Speaker 7: so you know, business people can get to their destination
• 23:16
  Speaker 7: and come back to the bars and the restaurants downtown.
• 23:20
  Speaker 7: I don't know anybody that really takes downtown seriously. You know,
• 23:25
  Speaker 7: it's a downtown old market. Oh yeah, look at the
• 23:28
  Speaker 7: old buildings, look at the downtown park. You know, no one,
• 23:33
  Speaker 7: I don't think no one really they go to siege
• 23:35
  Speaker 7: I you know, they should have made a route around that,
• 23:39
  Speaker 7: you know, and then come back. You know, it's just
• 23:43
  Speaker 7: not practical. It just doesn't seem common sense. I think
• 23:46
  Speaker 7: Al Dabb was the first one to suggest it years
• 23:54
  Speaker 7: ago in Kanas City. Why not overall? I don't know.
• 23:56
  Speaker 7: I appreciate your comments like a dream, you know, for
• 23:59
  Speaker 7: corporate just generate more JAX your revenue. I don't know.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: Well, I told yeah, I appreciate your comments.
• 24:07
  Speaker 3: And you know, I mean, there's a lot of people
• 24:08
  Speaker 3: that feel the same way that you do. But a
• 24:13
  Speaker 3: vibrant urban core, a vibrant downtown is what will make
• 24:16
  Speaker 3: or break a city. And you know what we are,
• 24:19
  Speaker 3: what we have done in the last twelve years. Downtown. Yes,
• 24:21
  Speaker 3: there are a lot of people that come downtown a lot,
• 24:25
  Speaker 3: not just for the events at the Arena, convention Center,
• 24:28
  Speaker 3: in the ballpark and you know the new riverfront parks.
• 24:32
  Speaker 3: There are millions of people coming down for events down there.
• 24:36
  Speaker 3: Downtown Omaha is more vibrant than it's been in a
• 24:39
  Speaker 3: long long time. But the and I've said this many times,
• 24:42
  Speaker 3: right now, half of downtown is dedicated to parking, and
• 24:46
  Speaker 3: at any time half is vacant. We are trading parking
• 24:50
  Speaker 3: downtown instead of having businesses and jobs for people. We
• 24:54
  Speaker 3: want more people to live and enjoy our urban core.
• 24:57
  Speaker 3: And that's what we have done so much to revitalize
• 25:01
  Speaker 3: that area. And it is the streetcar is going to
• 25:05
  Speaker 3: bring people in around and out of downtown.
• 25:08
  Speaker 2: Now.
• 25:08
  Speaker 3: Original the plan was to swing the streetcar right in
• 25:11
  Speaker 3: front of the Arena Convention Center down Tenth Street and
• 25:14
  Speaker 3: end at tenth and Mike Fahe, But we pulled it
• 25:17
  Speaker 3: back to end at tenth and Capital because there will
• 25:22
  Speaker 3: be a future route that will go north, hopefully all
• 25:25
  Speaker 3: the way up to the airport. So this is the
• 25:27
  Speaker 3: first route and there will be many that will come
• 25:29
  Speaker 3: off of it in the future. But you need to
• 25:32
  Speaker 3: have public transportation in a city and get people in
• 25:35
  Speaker 3: and around in downtown, and you need to bring businesses
• 25:38
  Speaker 3: in and replace vacant surface parking lots with businesses. And yes,
• 25:44
  Speaker 3: it will help those big businesses. I mean, we have
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: Downtown Mutual of Omaha. You know, Union Pacific, First National Bank,
• 25:52
  Speaker 3: keywit now is in the builders district over there by
• 25:54
  Speaker 3: the ballpark. But there's a lot going on in a
• 25:57
  Speaker 3: lot of new development in that urban core. And that's
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: what makes our breaks a city. And when a city
• 26:02
  Speaker 3: is vibrant, the whole city benefits from it. So I
• 26:06
  Speaker 3: think I'm going to say trust me on this, yet,
• 26:09
  Speaker 3: trust me. I'm a politician, right, And people don't like
• 26:13
  Speaker 3: to hear that, But I always bring up the arena
• 26:15
  Speaker 3: convention center in the ballpark. When we first started talking
• 26:18
  Speaker 3: about the arena convention Center, people were so opposed to it.
• 26:21
  Speaker 3: We don't need that downtown. I'll never go downtown When
• 26:24
  Speaker 3: we first were building the new ballpark, same thing. I
• 26:27
  Speaker 3: will never go downtown to a ballgame never ever. I
• 26:30
  Speaker 3: like it at rosen Blad, I'll hate going downtown and
• 26:33
  Speaker 3: look at it now, I mean sell out crowds all
• 26:35
  Speaker 3: the time. I bring up the Dodge Expressway. You know
• 26:38
  Speaker 3: they were going to recall hal dab over the Dodge
• 26:41
  Speaker 3: Expressway and now they're saying, well, you should have made
• 26:43
  Speaker 3: it wider, you should have had another lane in each direction.
• 26:46
  Speaker 3: So I know when things are under construction, it causes
• 26:50
  Speaker 3: a lot of complications hardships, no doubt, and that's the
• 26:55
  Speaker 3: last thing I wanted to see with these smaller businesses downtown.
• 26:58
  Speaker 3: So that's why I had clark on On today and
• 27:01
  Speaker 3: to say be able to have a voice and say,
• 27:04
  Speaker 3: you know, city, here is what we need. We need
• 27:07
  Speaker 3: to survive and we need to get through this construction period.
• 27:10
  Speaker 3: So understand what you're saying. You're not the only one
• 27:13
  Speaker 3: that has said that to me. But when it is done,
• 27:16
  Speaker 3: it is going to be very, very very valuable for
• 27:19
  Speaker 3: entire Omaha.
• 27:20
  Speaker 6: I have a talk back here and this is maybe
• 27:23
  Speaker 6: not necessarily something you need to comment on, but it's
• 27:25
  Speaker 6: just in regards a little bit to the parking situation
• 27:27
  Speaker 6: and a little bit of the help that it might relieve.
• 27:32
  Speaker 8: Yeah, this is for the guy that called in that
• 27:34
  Speaker 8: said that nobody goes downtown and that the street car
• 27:37
  Speaker 8: doesn't need to be there. Have him try to go
• 27:41
  Speaker 8: down on a weekend Friday or Saturday or Sunday and
• 27:44
  Speaker 8: try to get parking. That place is packed. Downtown area
• 27:51
  Speaker 8: is way too busy. Actually, the streetcar will probably do
• 27:55
  Speaker 8: some good. Thanks Gene Well.
• 27:57
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that comment too, because you know, the city
• 28:00
  Speaker 3: we can keep track of these things too.
• 28:02
  Speaker 1: They can keep track of.
• 28:03
  Speaker 3: The restaurant tax, which is on all prepared food and beverage,
• 28:06
  Speaker 3: so they know if people are coming downtown. They can
• 28:08
  Speaker 3: keep track of what's going on and who's using their
• 28:11
  Speaker 3: parking garages, the city's parking garages. You know, there's a
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: lot of ways the city can tell what the activity
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: in the downtown area is and it's only increasing. It's
• 28:22
  Speaker 3: very busy down there, and there is a lot going
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: on the What you don't want is a vacant downtown
• 28:27
  Speaker 3: that nobody wants to go to, and that's one of
• 28:30
  Speaker 3: the main reasons the street car is going in. You know,
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: just yesterday the city council gave their first approval for
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: one hundred and forty million dollars soccer stadium that is
• 28:41
  Speaker 3: going to be right in that downtown area, very close
• 28:44
  Speaker 3: to where the ballpark is. That's just going to bring
• 28:46
  Speaker 3: more people in around and out of downtown, and that's
• 28:49
  Speaker 3: when people are really going to be using the streetcar.
• 28:52
  Speaker 6: Speaking of buildings downtown, I'm going to go to the
• 28:54
  Speaker 6: phone lines here with Tim and then we're going to
• 28:55
  Speaker 6: go to break and wrap up the show with some
• 28:57
  Speaker 6: of your thoughts about yesterday's events. So, Tim, you are
• 29:00
  Speaker 6: live on news radio eleven to ten kfab with Jeen stouth.
• 29:05
  Speaker 7: A. Geen, I think you still should be there, but
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: the Dems riggedda election, but that's another story.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: That's another story.
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: I just want to ask if there is any plans
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: about building another skyscraper downtown, and what's the status on
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: the grocery store.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, the no, they're not another skyscraper being
• 29:25
  Speaker 3: planned right now. I mean, we worked really hard to
• 29:28
  Speaker 3: get Mutual down there. I felt very strongly that a
• 29:31
  Speaker 3: skyscraper definitely belonged downtown to enhance our skyline now and
• 29:35
  Speaker 3: forever in the future. And they'll have that big sign
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: on the top of it saying Mutual of Omaha. But
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: they could have gone anywhere, really, anywhere in the country.
• 29:44
  Speaker 3: They didn't belong out in West Omaha. So but right now,
• 29:47
  Speaker 3: there is no plan that I'm aware of for any
• 29:51
  Speaker 3: other skyscraper. Now, there is a couple areas blocks downtown
• 29:57
  Speaker 3: that it's just begging for a new or higher building.
• 30:00
  Speaker 3: And one is that old up site that we call it,
• 30:03
  Speaker 3: which is right across the street Communion Pacific, that Hawkins
• 30:08
  Speaker 3: is using that now as a lay down site, So
• 30:10
  Speaker 3: you see a lot of equipment there now and they're
• 30:13
  Speaker 3: using that as a lay down site to do the
• 30:15
  Speaker 3: bridges for the street car. But and then the old
• 30:18
  Speaker 3: Civic Auditorium site are two sites that I think are
• 30:21
  Speaker 3: just crying for taller buildings downtown. So there is two
• 30:25
  Speaker 3: big sites right now downtown that they could do something
• 30:30
  Speaker 3: as far as a taller building downtown.
• 30:32
  Speaker 6: Did you watch the Masters It all this weekend, Oh
• 30:34
  Speaker 6: for sure. So in the final pairing, Rory McElroy won
• 30:39
  Speaker 6: the Masters. But his pair on the final day was
• 30:41
  Speaker 6: a guy named Cameron Young. And I don't know if
• 30:44
  Speaker 6: you noticed this, but he had a Mutual of Omaha logo.
• 30:47
  Speaker 3: Oh I did notice that, Yes, yeah, and he went,
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: you know, and that's the most time, most watched time
• 30:53
  Speaker 3: of the Masters right there that final day, those last
• 30:55
  Speaker 3: few holes.
• 30:56
  Speaker 1: I just thought that was super cool. It is, and
• 30:58
  Speaker 1: you see it.
• 30:58
  Speaker 3: Mutual of Omaha is a Fortune five company. We have
• 31:01
  Speaker 3: four left in Omaha. We had five. One was ConAgra.
• 31:05
  Speaker 3: They still have at presence in Omaha, a lot of
• 31:07
  Speaker 3: employees in Omaha, but their headquarters moved up to Chicago.
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: But we want to keep Mutual here.
• 31:11
  Speaker 3: And like I said, Mutual could go just like Conagora,
• 31:13
  Speaker 3: they could go anywhere they want, but we want them here.
• 31:17
  Speaker 3: Mutual of Omaha belongs here in Omaha. And so I'm
• 31:19
  Speaker 3: glad they're building that skyscraper downtown. An exciting afternoon. Yes,
• 31:25
  Speaker 3: oh boy, here we go and guess what it's supposed
• 31:27
  Speaker 3: to snow.
• 31:29
  Speaker 6: Snow on Saturday?
• 31:31
  Speaker 5: What that?
• 31:32
  Speaker 1: What's going on around here?
• 31:34
  Speaker 3: But you know, I know we've talked a lot about
• 31:37
  Speaker 3: the shooting at Omaha Walmart yesterday left one person did
• 31:43
  Speaker 3: and I know everybody has read about it, heard about
• 31:45
  Speaker 3: it on the news, knows the specifics that we know
• 31:48
  Speaker 3: now because of what the police are letting out after
• 31:51
  Speaker 3: their investigation, and I just want to say they will
• 31:53
  Speaker 3: do a thorough investigation as they always do, and as
• 31:57
  Speaker 3: new information comes out, they definitely well let the public know.
• 32:02
  Speaker 3: The Almaha Police Department has always been really really found
• 32:07
  Speaker 3: that being transparent with the public was as important as
• 32:10
  Speaker 3: it could be. I know there has been some people
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: that have criticized the release to those two still photos
• 32:17
  Speaker 3: of the suspect, but a picture is worth a thousand
• 32:21
  Speaker 3: words because we already I already saw on social media
• 32:24
  Speaker 3: the police haters on social media are already out in
• 32:28
  Speaker 3: force saying why didn't the police just use a taser?
• 32:31
  Speaker 3: Why did they have to shoot? Well, again, a picture's
• 32:34
  Speaker 3: worth a thousand words, and this was somebody clearly that
• 32:37
  Speaker 3: put that child in danger, clearly had mental issues, now
• 32:41
  Speaker 3: we know had mental issues in the past. But I
• 32:44
  Speaker 3: just want to say this really really re emphasizes the
• 32:48
  Speaker 3: delicate and dangerous work that law enforcement do every single day,
• 32:53
  Speaker 3: and when these police officers, whether they're veterans or whether
• 32:57
  Speaker 3: they're new on the job, you know, they say goodbye
• 33:00
  Speaker 3: their wife and kids, or their husband and kids in
• 33:02
  Speaker 3: the morning, or their partner and kids in the morning,
• 33:04
  Speaker 3: they take off and they may never come home again.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: And that's just the facts about police work. Whether we're
• 33:12
  Speaker 3: talking about Braden Artzer with the Douglas County Sheriff's Department,
• 33:16
  Speaker 3: what happened with him, the shooting, this that happened just
• 33:20
  Speaker 3: the other day. You know, all of these things are
• 33:24
  Speaker 3: just examples of the danger.
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: Of police work.
• 33:28
  Speaker 3: And you know, when we talk about mental illness and
• 33:31
  Speaker 3: we talk about the suspect yesterday that is now dead,
• 33:36
  Speaker 3: I go back to Nico Jenkins and doctor Anthony Garcia,
• 33:40
  Speaker 3: who are both serial killers out of Omaha, who are
• 33:44
  Speaker 3: now both in jail. And both of those men are
• 33:48
  Speaker 3: as nutty as they come. I mean, talk about mentally
• 33:51
  Speaker 3: ill and they are incarcerated, they are in prison. But
• 33:55
  Speaker 3: when you talk about these things that happen right here
• 33:58
  Speaker 3: in our community, these are dangerous, dangerous jobs. Now, one
• 34:04
  Speaker 3: thing I want to bring up is the worst day
• 34:07
  Speaker 3: of my entire twelve years as being mayor is when
• 34:11
  Speaker 3: Carrie Roscoe was shot and killed. If you all remember,
• 34:14
  Speaker 3: I remember it like it happened yesterday. It happened on
• 34:18
  Speaker 3: May twentieth. It was a Wednesday, It was twenty fifteen,
• 34:22
  Speaker 3: because my son was getting married in Florida on Friday,
• 34:25
  Speaker 3: and I got on an airplane Wednesday morning. I got
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: off the airplane and my phone was just blowing up
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: and it was Chie Schmater on the line and telling
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: me that this twenty nine year old, very young police
• 34:37
  Speaker 3: officer was shot and killed in the line of duty.
• 34:40
  Speaker 3: She had a baby that never made it out of
• 34:44
  Speaker 3: the neon Onate intensive care unit for her to bring home.
• 34:47
  Speaker 3: She was going to bring home the baby the very
• 34:49
  Speaker 3: next day. And when we talk about Brayden at Artzer
• 34:53
  Speaker 3: when he had one bullet lodged in his ballistic vest
• 34:57
  Speaker 3: just on his side panel, how close that was, because
• 35:00
  Speaker 3: the opposite happened with Carry Erosco. That bullet that killed
• 35:04
  Speaker 3: Carry Roscoe went right over the top of her ballistic.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: This so a fraction of an inch can make a
• 35:10
  Speaker 3: difference of life and death. They are trained, they are
• 35:13
  Speaker 3: trained how to respond to these incidences, but they have
• 35:17
  Speaker 3: split seconds to make decisions to so I just once
• 35:21
  Speaker 3: again have to say that was the worst day of
• 35:23
  Speaker 3: my career. Now I have to bring up that Mayor
• 35:26
  Speaker 3: John Ewing said the worst day of his career was
• 35:29
  Speaker 3: when Bud Crawford got his feeding ticket. You know, I
• 35:34
  Speaker 3: cringed when he said that, because I thought I love
• 35:36
  Speaker 3: Bud Crawford, he is the best. But a speeding ticket
• 35:39
  Speaker 3: cannot be the worst day of a mayor's career. This
• 35:43
  Speaker 3: was the worst day of my career and this could
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: happen any day, these things with these police officers. So
• 35:48
  Speaker 3: once again I appreciate what the Douglas County Sheriff's Department does,
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: and my opinion, they are not an occupying army, but
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: they work with the Omaha Police Department to help protect
• 36:00
  Speaker 3: and keep us all safe. And I can't say how
• 36:04
  Speaker 3: I mean, how grateful that we all should be for
• 36:06
  Speaker 3: the work they do. They have the opportunity to change lives,
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: and they have the opportunity to save lives, and I
• 36:12
  Speaker 3: always want to thank their families for sharing them with us,
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: because these these can be really, really hard times.
• 36:19
  Speaker 6: So Geane, I don't know how much you can speak
• 36:20
  Speaker 6: on this, but I know that you know Brandon art
• 36:24
  Speaker 6: Ser He's went to the hospital he's in recovery, what
• 36:27
  Speaker 6: what might the next period of time look like for
• 36:29
  Speaker 6: him as he not only recovers but looks to get
• 36:32
  Speaker 6: back in the field. But then also somebody like the
• 36:36
  Speaker 6: officer who pulled the trigger yesterday, I mean, what is
• 36:40
  Speaker 6: the process like for an officer that goes through a
• 36:43
  Speaker 6: traumatic event like that, right?
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: I mean, you don't expect them to just be all right,
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: I'll see tomorrow on the job.
• 36:47
  Speaker 6: You know, there's a lot of emotion and lifelong trauma
• 36:51
  Speaker 6: that goes into.
• 36:51
  Speaker 3: That, absolutely, and they recognize that. And there's there's trauma
• 36:54
  Speaker 3: that that happens with all the officers that were at
• 36:57
  Speaker 3: that scene too. Just imagine being the officers that were
• 37:00
  Speaker 3: on the scene with Carrie Arosco. And you know, I mean,
• 37:04
  Speaker 3: so they are put on paid leave immediately when there's
• 37:07
  Speaker 3: an officer involved shooting, not that they are guilty at all,
• 37:12
  Speaker 3: but they have to do a thorough investigation, and that's
• 37:14
  Speaker 3: what they do with all officer involves shootings. They will
• 37:18
  Speaker 3: also make sure that they receive any type of counseling,
• 37:22
  Speaker 3: any type of help that they need, because again, I mean,
• 37:26
  Speaker 3: you know what happens with these cops yesterday, for example,
• 37:30
  Speaker 3: it was the right thing to do. They have it
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: on body camera what happened, which the body cameras are
• 37:35
  Speaker 3: there to protect not only the public but the officers.
• 37:38
  Speaker 3: They will do a thorough investigation, but they will remember
• 37:42
  Speaker 3: this for the rest of their lives. That is what
• 37:45
  Speaker 3: they're trained to do. That is what a police officer.
• 37:47
  Speaker 3: Any police officer may have to do that during the
• 37:49
  Speaker 3: career their career.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: But if you think.
• 37:51
  Speaker 3: About it, and I don't know the true statistics, but
• 37:54
  Speaker 3: in a police officer's career, it is very rare that
• 37:59
  Speaker 3: this happens to them, that they actually have to fire
• 38:01
  Speaker 3: their weapon and they have to kill someone, and they
• 38:03
  Speaker 3: you know, they don't shoot to meime somebody. If they
• 38:06
  Speaker 3: shoot their weapons, their service guns, they have to shoot
• 38:11
  Speaker 3: according to the policy, and they shoot to kill.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: They don't.
• 38:14
  Speaker 3: They don't shoot to just maim somebody. Somebody said the
• 38:17
  Speaker 3: other day on my social media that they should have
• 38:19
  Speaker 3: just tased this woman. Well, no, this woman was a
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: danger to that child and there was evidence that she
• 38:25
  Speaker 3: was hurting that child. So they will be put on
• 38:27
  Speaker 3: a paid leave. They will do a thorough internal investigation.
• 38:30
  Speaker 3: I mean Brayden Artzer was twenty three years old. He
• 38:34
  Speaker 3: was very, very very young, and like I said, a
• 38:37
  Speaker 3: lot of cops their entire career, they could retire when
• 38:40
  Speaker 3: they're sixty and they've never fired their service weapon at all.
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: So that's what's going to happen. And you know, hope
• 38:48
  Speaker 3: these guys are all doing well. Everybody doing well is
• 38:51
  Speaker 3: with the our Olmhall Police Department. Thank you for all
• 38:53
  Speaker 3: that you do along with the Sheriff's Department, all l
• 38:55
  Speaker 3: law enforcement, and.
• 38:57
  Speaker 1: We will be back tomorrow.
• 38:58
  Speaker 3: I wanted to get more of your comments about Senator
• 39:01
  Speaker 3: Kauf her interview talking about taxes and everything else, but
• 39:05
  Speaker 3: I want to hear what you have to say about
• 39:07
  Speaker 3: our conversations that we had today too, So please.
• 39:09
  Speaker 1: Join us again tomorrow. Thanks for listening, and thanks for
• 39:12
  Speaker 1: being with us.