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Bike Lanes and Streetcar Tracks · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: Peyton, the producer is sitting at his station and ready
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Speaker 1: to go today. How are you, Peyton?
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Speaker 2: Doing really good? It's a great morning sitting at my
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Speaker 2: station here with you, Jeane's author it is.
0:10
Speaker 3: It'd be a good day. It's freezing.
0:12
Speaker 2: It is cold.
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Speaker 3: What's the deal?
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Speaker 1: I took walked in here and told Scott Vorhies it
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Speaker 1: feels like a meat locker in here. But I would
0:19
Speaker 1: rather have it this cold than too warm any day.
0:22
Speaker 3: So I will take it.
0:24
Speaker 1: And you know, Peyton, I wasn't going to start out
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Speaker 1: with this today, but now Scott Vorhees was talking about
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Speaker 1: it this morning and I heard it, and so I
0:33
Speaker 1: can't help myself. I've got to talk about Mary Ewing's
0:36
Speaker 1: gag order again. I think it's important to talk about it.
0:40
Speaker 1: And this is the issue if you haven't been listening
0:42
Speaker 1: of city department directors and staff being told that they
0:46
Speaker 1: would not be allowed to be interviewed.
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Speaker 3: On my show.
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Speaker 1: And Mary Ewing put out a statement the other day
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Speaker 1: and he started out with this of saying, before I
0:58
Speaker 1: even took office, I assessed the city to department heads
1:00
Speaker 1: and decided to keep all of them, along with the
1:03
Speaker 1: mayor's staff. I value their contributions. This act was rather
1:07
Speaker 1: novel for Omaha, and the former mayor Gene Stother criticized it. Well,
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Speaker 1: it wasn't just novel, it was really unprecedented and unheard of.
1:17
Speaker 1: Every mayor comes on and picks their own staff able
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Speaker 1: to assemble the group that they want to work with
1:24
Speaker 1: for the next four years, which I did too. And
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Speaker 1: the thing that was so unusual that I criticized was
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Speaker 1: not the directors. It was Mayor Ewing for criticizing for
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Speaker 1: months and months and months of a campaign just about
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Speaker 1: everything I and my staff did. And you know, you
1:43
Speaker 1: don't do this mayor's job in a vacuum. It was
1:46
Speaker 1: a team. We were a team. All of the directors
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Speaker 1: that are in question now are directors that I hired,
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Speaker 1: with the exception of two that would be police chief
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Speaker 1: and public Works director. I hired them, worked with most
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Speaker 1: of them for twelve had a great relationship with them,
2:02
Speaker 1: but was bitterly criticized during the campaign again for just
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Speaker 1: about everything we did do, because again, this is not
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Speaker 1: done in a vacuum.
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Speaker 3: This is teamwork.
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Speaker 1: And then as soon as he was elected, he said,
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Speaker 1: let's just keep them all on business as usual, keep
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Speaker 1: doing what you're doing. That's what I criticized, and I said,
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Speaker 1: not the directors themselves. These are a group of very talented,
2:25
Speaker 1: professional people that know how to run their department. I've
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Speaker 1: said probably a hundred times when I was mayor, is
2:32
Speaker 1: I don't know how to run a police department or
2:34
Speaker 1: a fire department or a public works department. But you
2:37
Speaker 1: hire the best people you possibly can and you let
2:40
Speaker 1: them run their department. And that's exactly what I did,
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Speaker 1: so not criticizing the directors there, but criticizing the mayor
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Speaker 1: for being so critical and then just saying, Okay, just
2:51
Speaker 1: keep on doing what you're doing. I really didn't mean
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Speaker 1: what I said during the campaign. Otherwise I said things
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Speaker 1: just to get elected that concerned me, and that's what
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Speaker 1: I criticized. But then he went on to say, I quote,
3:02
Speaker 1: sending senior leaders to defend my administration's actions to a
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Speaker 1: hardly objective host, that's me puts them in an awkward
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Speaker 1: and potentially compromising position. Now I don't know what compromising means.
3:18
Speaker 1: I don't know if he means they would he would
3:20
Speaker 1: terminate them, or what if they were on the show.
3:22
Speaker 1: I don't know what that means. So I'm just guessing here,
3:26
Speaker 1: but department directors. And when I talk about them, what
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Speaker 1: I'm talking about is public works director, library director, planning director,
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Speaker 1: fire chief, police chief, all of those people that run
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Speaker 1: their own departments. They would not be asked to come
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Speaker 1: on this show, or I don't think any media show
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Speaker 1: to defend the mayor's positions on things. The mayor needs
3:51
Speaker 1: to defend his own positions on things, and that's the
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Speaker 1: job of a mayor. The mayor can't hide behind directors.
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Speaker 1: The mayor should be out there and public defending positions.
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Speaker 1: The only reason I would ask these he calls them
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Speaker 1: senior leaders, I call them department directors on is to
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Speaker 1: talk about things that are important to the public. If
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Speaker 1: there is a snowstorm, why wouldn't you want public works
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Speaker 1: to come on and say what they've done. If there
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Speaker 1: is a public safety issue, fire chief or police chief.
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Speaker 1: If there's a planning issue, a new development, a rezoning question,
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Speaker 1: why wouldn't you want these group of talented people to
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Speaker 1: come on and inform the public. And when he says
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Speaker 1: a hardly what does he say? A host that was
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Speaker 1: hardly objective host that's me would put them in an
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Speaker 1: awkward position. I will say, I would say that there
4:47
Speaker 1: is no one that would be more objective than me,
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Speaker 1: because I understand what each of these departments are doing.
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Speaker 1: I understand what the director is doing, and I support
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Speaker 1: what they are doing. Lots of calls that we have
5:00
Speaker 1: received about the streetcar, for example, and I know everyone
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Speaker 1: on this show will say I've done nothing but defend
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Speaker 1: the streetcar. I said I will own the streetcar. Steve
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Speaker 1: Jensen and I did over. I don't know how many
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Speaker 1: presentations a PowerPoint on the streetcar, but we figured probably two,
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Speaker 1: about eight thousand people. I know a lot about the streetcar,
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Speaker 1: and you have heard me on the air. I defend it,
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Speaker 1: and so it's not that I'm hardly objective. It's just
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Speaker 1: I have the experience of twelve years of being mayor
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Speaker 1: as opposed to ten months of being mayor and being
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Speaker 1: able to say, this is what the city is doing,
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Speaker 1: and this is the public needs to be kept informed
5:41
Speaker 1: about what they are doing. And again, I'm not criticizing
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Speaker 1: those directors. I'm criticizing the mayor for being so critical
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Speaker 1: for months and months and months during a campaign and
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Speaker 1: then coming around and saying, oh, but business as usual,
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Speaker 1: just keep on doing what she was doing. That is
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Speaker 1: what I was critical about. I'd like to hear what
6:00
Speaker 1: people have to say about that. You know, so far,
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Speaker 1: the only director that I have asked to be on
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Speaker 1: the show was the fire chief to talk about Western
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Speaker 1: Nebraska fires. I mean, there was nothing that I wasn't
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Speaker 1: objective about. There was nothing that I was asking the
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Speaker 1: fire chief to come on and defend the mayor about.
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Speaker 1: We were talking about western Nebraska fires because we had
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Speaker 1: brave firefighters out there fighting those fires. There was another
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Speaker 1: director that asked to be on the show. I didn't
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Speaker 1: ask him, he asked me. He was denied. I then
6:32
Speaker 1: I sent an email to the communication director, Aaron Grace,
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Speaker 1: and I asked in writing if he could be on
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Speaker 1: the show. And I was declined on that one. And
6:42
Speaker 1: so that's the extent of it so far. But again
6:46
Speaker 1: I will say this, as mayor for twelve years, city
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Speaker 1: council before that, school board before that, the media and
6:53
Speaker 1: we are media here. They could be your best friend
6:56
Speaker 1: and they could be your worst enemy. If you ignore them,
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Speaker 1: there's gonna be story. So why not be part of
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Speaker 1: the story. If you're the mayor of Omaha, get out there,
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Speaker 1: stand out there in front you defend your own policies,
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Speaker 1: You defend your own plans that you have, your vision,
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Speaker 1: your goals for the city. You defend your departments. It
7:14
Speaker 1: should be the mayor doing that, not the directors. The
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Speaker 1: directors are there to run their own department and keep
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Speaker 1: the public informed. Now, Scott talked about it a lot
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Speaker 1: this morning. I wasn't going to bring it up again,
7:25
Speaker 1: but I did. But any any thoughts, Peyton on your
7:29
Speaker 1: side here as you're sitting there shaking your head looking
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Speaker 1: at me.
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Speaker 2: Going h huh, Yes, I'm listening. I'm listening. And we
7:34
Speaker 2: actually spoke off the air before the show started today
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Speaker 2: about a conversation you had with an acting Well, there's one.
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Speaker 2: We don't have the parks director right now, there's an
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Speaker 2: acting but we had a question yesterday about some of
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Speaker 2: the parks that it was in regards to baseball fields.
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Speaker 2: And did you mention that you did a little bit
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Speaker 2: of research after the show?
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Speaker 1: Well, yeah, and you know, I think that's just the
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Speaker 1: benefit of my knowledge that I had of working with
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Speaker 1: this city as long as I did. Because there was
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Speaker 1: a caller yesterday and if she's listening, and if I
8:05
Speaker 1: don't have your name right, I apologize Sandy, I believe
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Speaker 1: it was. But she called about the parks, and she
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Speaker 1: called about why we didn't have more ball feels, and
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Speaker 1: she was specifically talking about baseball and softball, and I
8:17
Speaker 1: kind of went to the view of soccer because I've
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Speaker 1: my son played soccer forever, I think, and I knew
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Speaker 1: more about soccer. And she brought me back and said,
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Speaker 1: but you're talking about soccer. I want to talk about
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Speaker 1: baseball and softball. So I wasn't real happy with how
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Speaker 1: I answered her. I thought I didn't give her a
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Speaker 1: good enough answer, But I said, it all has to
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Speaker 1: do with prioritization. That's why I asked the parks director
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Speaker 1: to do a parks master Plan so we could look
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Speaker 1: at all the parks in Omaha, assess what our needs are,
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Speaker 1: prioritize them, and then find out a way to fund them.
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Speaker 1: But I thought yesterday, after the conversation on the air
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Speaker 1: with her, I thought, you know, I really would like
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Speaker 1: to see if I missed anything, if there's anything else
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Speaker 1: I could add to explain that better to her, because
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Speaker 1: I was going to come back like I am now
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Speaker 1: and talk a little bit more about it today. But
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Speaker 1: I couldn't call anybody there was number one, there is
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Speaker 1: no parks director and number two, there is an acting
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Speaker 1: parks director right now, but I felt like I couldn't
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Speaker 1: call him because the mayor told the department directors if
9:21
Speaker 1: I had questions, I had to do a public records request. Well,
9:24
Speaker 1: that takes forever, I mean not forever, but it takes
9:26
Speaker 1: a limited amount of time. And I wanted to get
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Speaker 1: back on the air today. So you know what I
9:30
Speaker 1: had to do. I had to call the former parks
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Speaker 1: director that doesn't even live in Nebraska anymore, Matt kalsovich
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Speaker 1: great parks director. I was the one that did a
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Speaker 1: national search for him. I was the one that hired him.
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Speaker 1: Mayor Ewing terminated him or gave him a chance to resign,
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Speaker 1: but he is no longer with us. He did that
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Speaker 1: within the first month or so of his administration. There
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Speaker 1: still is no parks director. But I had to call
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Speaker 1: him to say, here was the question on the air,
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Speaker 1: and did I answer everything? Did I give her a
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Speaker 1: complete enough answer? And I thought, this is what the
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Speaker 1: problem is of limiting and saying these current folks that
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Speaker 1: I know really, really well. Jake Linder is the acting
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Speaker 1: parks director now. From the time that one of the
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Speaker 1: parks directors I had, Brook Bench went out to Lake Cunningham.
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Speaker 1: Jake was my interim parks director, so I know him
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Speaker 1: real well enough, but I mean, I know him very well,
10:26
Speaker 1: but I will say this. You know, I did talk
10:29
Speaker 1: to Matt Kalsovich and he did basically reinforce what I said,
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Speaker 1: And if you're listening, Sandy, he said that you know
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Speaker 1: that there is a lot of work to maintaining those fields,
10:42
Speaker 1: and the main reason that we wanted to do the
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Speaker 1: park's master plan was to come back and reassess all
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Speaker 1: of our parks, reassess all of our facilities, including softball
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Speaker 1: baseball fields, and then get them in the master plan
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Speaker 1: and reprioritize them. And so it's just a matter of
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Speaker 1: what we need to be doing and how we can
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Speaker 1: fund it. And so, you know, soccer became something really important.
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Speaker 1: Baseball did too. She asked about softball. So I think
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Speaker 1: the answer I gave her yesterday, Sandy, if you're listening,
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Speaker 1: is probably the best I can and that is that
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Speaker 1: that there will be a parks master plan and try
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Speaker 1: to prioritize all of our parks and all the fields
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Speaker 1: within our parks and hopefully improve them.
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Speaker 2: In the future with proper funding. The cafa B comment Line,
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Speaker 2: your host of the show, Jean Stouthart, I'm paid a
11:30
Speaker 2: high lot control on the board. Feel free to reach
11:33
Speaker 2: out to us, give us a call four zero two
11:35
Speaker 2: five five eight eleven ten, email us at comment at
11:38
Speaker 2: CAFAB dot com, or the radio talkback on the iHeartRadio app. So, Gina,
11:43
Speaker 2: there's been a little bit of a theme this morning,
11:44
Speaker 2: a lot of road questions, traffic questions. This one comes
11:48
Speaker 2: from Brian. I think you've talked about developing a smart city.
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Speaker 2: How can we talk about a smart city when we
11:54
Speaker 2: have dumb street lights? And then Brian goes on to
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Speaker 2: give an example of one hundred and thirty second Blondo
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Speaker 2: waits there, waits there, waits there. Nobody's there with him,
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Speaker 2: He's only one at the light.
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Speaker 3: Oh my.
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Speaker 1: You know what that is exactly what the City of
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Speaker 1: Omaha is doing, and what we started doing quite a
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Speaker 1: few years ago is our street light Signal master Plan
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Speaker 1: and that comes out of the Public Works Department too,
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Speaker 1: And we talked about this before on the on the show,
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Speaker 1: and there's probably at least a thousand signals within this
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Speaker 1: city of Omaha, and the master plan is to get
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Speaker 1: those signals so that they coordinate and they talk to
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Speaker 1: each other. And the best example that I could give
12:38
Speaker 1: you is to is ninetieth and Dodge. That is one
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Speaker 1: of the busiest intersections in town. There's a pedestrian crosswalk
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Speaker 1: in there. The traffic is heavy going from west to
12:48
Speaker 1: east every morning. And in the past, if one person
12:52
Speaker 1: would hit that pedestrian crosswalk at ninetieth and Dodge, it
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Speaker 1: would mess the whole thing up all the way down
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Speaker 1: towards downtown. And now the new system that we have,
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Speaker 1: street light by street light, they will talk to each
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Speaker 1: other and coordinate, so if one light is tripped with
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Speaker 1: a pedestrian crosswalk, the others will respond to keep the
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Speaker 1: flow of traffic flowing. That is probably I think they
13:14
Speaker 1: told me recently at least eighty percent done. And again
13:18
Speaker 1: this is the issue I have. I wish I could
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Speaker 1: call somebody right now and get an answer right now,
13:24
Speaker 1: to say are we eighty percent done or eighty five
13:27
Speaker 1: percent done? A simple question, but I will be told
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Speaker 1: to do a public record request now and not to
13:32
Speaker 1: be able to talk to anybody in the city, which
13:35
Speaker 1: is disappointing and frustrating for all of us. But that
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Speaker 1: is what we are working on now.
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Speaker 3: Now.
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Speaker 1: If there is a particular signal, like I have one,
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Speaker 1: I always say I live about one hundred and twentieth
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Speaker 1: in Q.
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Speaker 3: I have one there. If you come off.
13:51
Speaker 1: The I eighty ramp there at Q Street and you
13:54
Speaker 1: go up to one hundred and twentieth and Q, that
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Speaker 1: light can be really annoying.
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Speaker 3: And if you have a light that in.
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Speaker 1: Particular that you say, like the caller, that you're the
14:04
Speaker 1: only one there and you don't think it's timed right,
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Speaker 1: you can call the Public Works department. If you don't
14:10
Speaker 1: know the number to call, you can call the hotline
14:12
Speaker 1: and they will guide you on and report that light
14:15
Speaker 1: and say, you know, I think this needs attention. The
14:17
Speaker 1: one thing I brought up before, but I will again
14:20
Speaker 1: with the new street lights signals not street lights. Street
14:24
Speaker 1: lights are run and managed by OPPD street lights. I'm
14:28
Speaker 1: talking about signals, traffic signals, and I'm talking about if
14:32
Speaker 1: the traffic signal you have a problem with one to call.
14:35
Speaker 1: But with the replacement of the new ones, they're LEDs
14:38
Speaker 1: and they're cool, and that is a problem during snowstorms,
14:41
Speaker 1: especially if it's windy, because the snow gets on those
14:44
Speaker 1: and the old bulbs in the past were hot and
14:47
Speaker 1: it would melt them off. And now if we have
14:49
Speaker 1: a snowstorm and snow gets on those LEDs on the signals,
14:53
Speaker 1: they can just stick there and stay there and they
14:56
Speaker 1: literally have to come out with like these big long
14:58
Speaker 1: brooms and brush them all off. So anytime you have
15:02
Speaker 1: an area that is a major concern with you with
15:05
Speaker 1: for you, please call and let them know because they
15:08
Speaker 1: will take care of it. Public Works is good at
15:10
Speaker 1: responding to those things.
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Speaker 2: We're going to move to the phone lines now. Thank
15:13
Speaker 2: you for being patient. Connie, you are on the KFAB
15:16
Speaker 2: comment line with Jean's author.
15:18
Speaker 4: Good morning, Good morning. My husband and I were a
15:22
Speaker 4: little shocked when we saw a bike lane built on
15:24
Speaker 4: one hundred and eighths just north of Maple. And we're
15:29
Speaker 4: trying to figure out when we are driving on pothole
15:32
Speaker 4: Leyden streets that shake your teeth out and bend your
15:36
Speaker 4: tire rims, how did is it that we are taking
15:41
Speaker 4: up driving lanes because going east and north and south
15:46
Speaker 4: is already a nightmare in Omaha. And then we get
15:49
Speaker 4: one hundred and eighth street down to one lane both ways,
15:52
Speaker 4: And did we vote for this, And I mean, I understand,
15:58
Speaker 4: I just to me by lanes are I can see
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Speaker 4: him downtown where you're trying to do a or in
16:04
Speaker 4: some of these new developments where you're actually trying to
16:06
Speaker 4: make it a But we're not that one hundred and
16:08
Speaker 4: eighth and Maple is not that it is easier so
16:14
Speaker 4: the sunny slope kids can get to McDonald's. I don't understand.
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Speaker 4: How did this happen?
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Speaker 3: You know, that's a good question.
16:20
Speaker 1: And there are bike trails that they have been working
16:24
Speaker 1: on in Omaha to connect four years that can basically
16:28
Speaker 1: get you from North Omaha down to Bellevue practically, and
16:32
Speaker 1: there are those that commute by bike. Now I brought
16:36
Speaker 1: this up before that it's worth repeating.
16:40
Speaker 3: In Omaha.
16:41
Speaker 1: When I was mayor, I thought we had to look
16:43
Speaker 1: at every way people commute. It is true in Omaha
16:46
Speaker 1: at least eighty to eighty five percent of people commute
16:49
Speaker 1: by car. There is no doubt, and no matter how
16:52
Speaker 1: many bike lanes are put in, they will still primarily
16:56
Speaker 1: commute by car. But we have to look at walkability.
16:59
Speaker 1: We have to look at bikes, we have to look
17:01
Speaker 1: you know, pedestrians, we have to look at public transportation,
17:05
Speaker 1: and we have to look at cars. The one thing
17:08
Speaker 1: that I when and I hate to just always refer
17:11
Speaker 1: when I was mayor, but that's what I know the
17:12
Speaker 1: most about is I did not I could not see
17:16
Speaker 1: putting in especially protected bike lanes and spending taxpayer dollars
17:21
Speaker 1: when our streets, as you said, were laden with potholes
17:25
Speaker 1: and particularly some of them just blown up and needing
17:28
Speaker 1: the attention there. So that's why before we started really developing,
17:34
Speaker 1: what we would do is expanding the bike lanes. Is
17:37
Speaker 1: we got in Maya twenty twenty, a two hundred million
17:40
Speaker 1: dollars bond issue, road bond issue passed by a vote
17:44
Speaker 1: of the people. The people did vote on that, and
17:48
Speaker 1: I don't know if you remember that, but I sure do.
17:51
Speaker 1: Is the voters also with approving that bond issue, they
17:56
Speaker 1: approved a three and a half penny property tax increase
18:01
Speaker 1: to pay the bonds. They approved a tax increase. The
18:04
Speaker 1: voters did. I never had to do that. I was
18:08
Speaker 1: able to manage the budget in such a way after
18:11
Speaker 1: twenty twenty when that was passed that we were able
18:14
Speaker 1: to pay the bonds without doing that voter approved tax increase.
18:19
Speaker 3: So that's just managing the budget.
18:22
Speaker 1: And so then in November excuse me, of twenty twenty four,
18:27
Speaker 1: we got that by a vote of the people reauthorized
18:30
Speaker 1: that bond issue for basically essentially another two hundred million.
18:34
Speaker 1: So we are doing more work on the streets that.
18:37
Speaker 3: We have ever done.
18:38
Speaker 1: And it can't just be patching a pothole, you know,
18:41
Speaker 1: to rehabilitate the streets and get them so we're not
18:44
Speaker 1: just chasing our tails every winter patching potholes. We need
18:48
Speaker 1: to resurface and rehabilitate those streets and so that's what
18:52
Speaker 1: the bond issue is doing. We have over five thousand
18:56
Speaker 1: lane miles a road in Omaha. It's actually about fifty
18:59
Speaker 1: five hundred lane and Omaha, so this will take a while.
19:03
Speaker 1: You can't get every street done at once, but there
19:05
Speaker 1: is a process that the Public Works Department is using
19:08
Speaker 1: to prioritize streets and every single city council district all
19:12
Speaker 1: over the city get the worst streets first, and so
19:15
Speaker 1: those are getting more attention than they ever have. Hopefully
19:18
Speaker 1: the voters will continue approving and reauthorizing that bond issue,
19:23
Speaker 1: so more and more money is going into the roads
19:25
Speaker 1: than they ever did. Now back to the bike lanes,
19:28
Speaker 1: this is something like I said, that some people do
19:32
Speaker 1: depend on. But all of the bike lane, a lot
19:35
Speaker 1: of the bike lanes that we looked at and did
19:37
Speaker 1: a pilot downtown and are being put in downtown are
19:41
Speaker 1: being paid privately by philanthropy. They're not being paid with
19:44
Speaker 1: taxpayer dollars. But with our new plan that we have,
19:49
Speaker 1: with our master plan and our road master plan too,
19:52
Speaker 1: like I said, we are looking at always that people commute,
19:55
Speaker 1: and I think it's important people will bring up to
19:57
Speaker 1: me all the time. I saw that metro bus today,
20:00
Speaker 1: but he was on it. So therefore we don't need buses.
20:03
Speaker 1: But you can't have a growing, thriving community and attract
20:07
Speaker 1: people and keep young professionals here and attract to new
20:11
Speaker 1: businesses if we don't have all those options available. So
20:15
Speaker 1: there is more attention being placed on the roads. And
20:18
Speaker 1: I know exactly what you mean by how frustrating it
20:22
Speaker 1: is when you see a bike lane being put in
20:24
Speaker 1: and the road is full of potholes. But those roads
20:26
Speaker 1: are being prioritized and those roads will eventually be done.
20:30
Speaker 2: Gene, you had a little update about the streetcar.
20:32
Speaker 1: Well, yes, and you know that's that subject. Everybody loves
20:35
Speaker 1: to talk about but I do love to talk about it.
20:37
Speaker 1: And once again I said this many times, I will
20:40
Speaker 1: take ownership of this streetcar.
20:42
Speaker 3: I will defend it.
20:43
Speaker 1: And I could only be of help to the current
20:46
Speaker 1: administration with the streetcar because you know, although the city
20:50
Speaker 1: Council approved it, the almost Streetcar Authority has a lot
20:53
Speaker 1: to do with it, but it would never admit it
20:55
Speaker 1: to the council if I wasn't the one that said
20:57
Speaker 1: let's go forward and do it. But the two rails
21:01
Speaker 1: have been put in and they're each about one hundred
21:04
Speaker 1: and sixty feet long. There is a big stockpile of
21:07
Speaker 1: rails and we did that. We bought him a long
21:09
Speaker 1: time ago because we got a good price and we
21:11
Speaker 1: thought the price of steal was going to go up.
21:14
Speaker 1: But Steve Jensen, he's, you know, one of the deputy
21:17
Speaker 1: chiefs of staff that I brought on that always used
21:19
Speaker 1: to kiddy me. Knows he's been dealing with the street
21:22
Speaker 1: car for at least one hundred years. And then I
21:24
Speaker 1: have to admit he's younger than me, so no, it's
21:26
Speaker 1: not been one hundred years. But he knows we've been
21:29
Speaker 1: talking about it since the nineteen nineties. Steve Jensen and
21:32
Speaker 1: I are the ones that went all over Omaha and
21:34
Speaker 1: did a PowerPoint. I swear we did it probably to
21:37
Speaker 1: at least seven thousand people to give the background and
21:42
Speaker 1: how it's going to be paid for, et cetera. But
21:45
Speaker 1: now this is the first real infrastructure as far as
21:48
Speaker 1: the streetcar itself being put in.
21:50
Speaker 3: You know, all that work that has been done so
21:52
Speaker 3: far is under the ground.
21:54
Speaker 1: It's it's utility work right now that overall twenty twenty
21:58
Speaker 1: six this year is going to be the construction year
22:01
Speaker 1: for that line, since most of that utility work is
22:05
Speaker 1: slated to wrap up by the end of the year,
22:07
Speaker 1: as well as the bridge construction too. But the reason
22:10
Speaker 1: we're starting here, the first rails are going in at
22:13
Speaker 1: tenth and Capital, and the reason that is the eastern
22:17
Speaker 1: terminus of the streetcar. Originally it was going to turn
22:21
Speaker 1: at tenth and Capital, go down tenth and end in
22:25
Speaker 1: front of the Arina Convention Center at tenth and Mike Fahey.
22:30
Speaker 1: The reason that we pulled it back and didn't run
22:33
Speaker 1: it in front of the Convention Center down to where
22:36
Speaker 1: the ballpark is is because we wanted to make it
22:40
Speaker 1: easier to make that future extension the northern extension up
22:45
Speaker 1: into hopefully where the airport is. So at tenth and Capitol,
22:50
Speaker 1: it would be much easier to take off from tenth
22:52
Speaker 1: and Capital and go north than it would from Mike
22:55
Speaker 1: Fahe and tenth Street. So that's why we're starting there.
22:59
Speaker 1: And like I said on the air, is that we
23:02
Speaker 1: had already applied for and received a grant to study
23:06
Speaker 1: a future expansion of the street car, hopefully up to
23:09
Speaker 1: the airport, and how it would be paid for.
23:12
Speaker 3: But that's where it's starting.
23:13
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a lot more information that can
23:17
Speaker 1: be found about the street car. There's a there's a
23:19
Speaker 1: web page called Omaha streetcar dot org and people can
23:22
Speaker 1: find out a lot more about it. But that that
23:27
Speaker 1: streetcar line, just to remind people, it's going to be
23:29
Speaker 1: roughly five miles. It's going to run from tenth and
23:32
Speaker 1: Capital where they're putting the rails in today to eighth
23:36
Speaker 1: and Farnham, up Farnham to thirty ninth Street, back east
23:40
Speaker 1: to Turner Boulevard, and then back into downtown via Harney Street.
23:44
Speaker 1: So it's going to make one big loop. And so
23:46
Speaker 1: it is. The work itself is starting, and you know
23:50
Speaker 1: what I will tell everybody, I know there's a lot
23:53
Speaker 1: of people skeptical about it, but just look at it
23:56
Speaker 1: this way. Number one, the taxpayers are not paying for it.
23:59
Speaker 1: The tax are not going to see their taxes go
24:01
Speaker 1: up for the streetcar. It's going to bring incredible economic development,
24:06
Speaker 1: growth jobs, so much construction work and jobs with this
24:10
Speaker 1: whole project. It's going to be good for the entire
24:14
Speaker 1: city of Omaha. And it'll be just like the Arena
24:16
Speaker 1: Convention Center, just like the ballpark, just like the Dodge Expressway,
24:20
Speaker 1: just like the Riverfront parks and all those new things
24:23
Speaker 1: that were being done that people were real skeptical about.
24:26
Speaker 1: But I think once it's up and running, people are
24:28
Speaker 1: going to really see the value and appreciate it.
24:30
Speaker 2: All the kids that played with train tracks as kids
24:33
Speaker 2: are fulfilling their dreams today.
24:35
Speaker 1: Well, I don't know, but I think it's going to
24:37
Speaker 1: be great. And like I said, the cities that we
24:40
Speaker 1: studied in our nearest city, nearest neighbor that we could
24:43
Speaker 1: study is Kansas City, and it is so popular down
24:47
Speaker 1: there they are expanding it already. And so I think
24:51
Speaker 1: that that just shows you that the development around that streetcar,
24:55
Speaker 1: it's already happening in Omaha. There's almost one hundred, no
24:58
Speaker 1: one point five billion dollars worth of new development or
25:03
Speaker 1: development underway along the streetcar corridor because of the streetcar,
25:07
Speaker 1: and it's only going to continue. And that's good for
25:10
Speaker 1: all of us. And you know, the one way people
25:12
Speaker 1: say my taxes are too high, and they are. The
25:15
Speaker 1: way that you lower taxes and keep them low is
25:17
Speaker 1: you broaden your tax base. You broaden your tax base
25:21
Speaker 1: by new developments, new to businesses coming into town and
25:25
Speaker 1: paying those taxes. So when that happens, it's good for.
25:28
Speaker 2: All of Omaha. Tim says, will there be ris Aroni
25:31
Speaker 2: at the end of the line for starving passengers?
25:33
Speaker 3: Well, I don't know.
25:34
Speaker 1: Maybe you know, like the San Francisco treat right, and
25:39
Speaker 1: they still I've rode the cable cars. Have you been
25:42
Speaker 1: on the cable cars in San Francisco? There still is
25:45
Speaker 1: Rice Ernis side on the cable cars. I don't know,
25:48
Speaker 1: but I'll tell you this, it's I've been. I've had
25:52
Speaker 1: a lot of people mock me about this and say,
25:54
Speaker 1: what do you want to name it the gene or something?
25:56
Speaker 2: No Stofford street car.
25:58
Speaker 3: No, no, no, it's not going to be named that.
26:00
Speaker 1: And again you can't have something a city owned facility permanently,
26:04
Speaker 1: and I would call it a facility. It's a street
26:06
Speaker 1: car permanently named after you until you are dead. So
26:10
Speaker 1: I would rather not have something named after me.
26:12
Speaker 2: That is that is a very good point. Four zero two, five, five,
26:15
Speaker 2: eight eleven ten. This is Jeff. You are on the
26:18
Speaker 2: KFAB comment line with Jean Stouthard.
26:20
Speaker 3: Good morning.
26:22
Speaker 5: You want to gene. Hey, I've called in a few
26:24
Speaker 5: times and ask questions and then it'll get cut off.
26:28
Speaker 5: And sometimes I feel like I'll ask a question and
26:32
Speaker 5: then you'll answer. You won't answer my question, you'll answer
26:35
Speaker 5: your question. And uh, when it comes to the callers
26:39
Speaker 5: that I'm hearing calling in over and over, like say
26:42
Speaker 5: the bike leans. And you know, we can reference the
26:45
Speaker 5: studies and all we've we've done these studies and they've
26:48
Speaker 5: proven that their benefit and and there's a saying a
26:52
Speaker 5: comment that we want to attract people to Omaha and
26:56
Speaker 5: we want to grow. Well. One of the things that
26:59
Speaker 5: you know, we can look at studies, which I don't
27:02
Speaker 5: think just because something is done with a study, I
27:05
Speaker 5: think you can see that many studies are wrong. First
27:08
Speaker 5: of all, and then if there's a study that is incorrect. Listen,
27:13
Speaker 5: listen to the your constituents out here. I don't have
27:17
Speaker 5: I don't hear anybody calling the radio show saying we
27:20
Speaker 5: thank God for this. The bike leans, the bike lanes
27:23
Speaker 5: are a benefit. They helped me get to working back.
27:25
Speaker 5: I wouldn't have come to Omaha, so it wasn't for
27:27
Speaker 5: the bike lanes. What we hear over and over and
27:29
Speaker 5: over and people are just tone deaf is that they're
27:33
Speaker 5: they're choking the streets there, they make traffic more difficult.
27:37
Speaker 5: We want to attract people that have the ability to
27:39
Speaker 5: drive a vehicle. We want to they could put gas
27:42
Speaker 5: in their vehicle. We can get gas taxes from those
27:45
Speaker 5: people moving here. I don't know any people moving in
27:48
Speaker 5: uh to Omaha that are going to move here based
27:51
Speaker 5: on the bike lanes, and that I don't even know
27:54
Speaker 5: if that's the people we want to attract, because they're not.
27:58
Speaker 5: I'm not seeing that. I'm not here that anywhere. But
28:00
Speaker 5: I'm hearing the exact opposite, that we do not like them,
28:04
Speaker 5: that they're a problem, that they're they make Omaha more difficult.
28:07
Speaker 5: And with your point earlier, the taxes, if you really
28:11
Speaker 5: want to attract people here, have this be a Tennessee
28:15
Speaker 5: of Florida, a South Dakota, a low tax state, not
28:19
Speaker 5: a high tax state. So get rid of them and
28:21
Speaker 5: lower the taxes.
28:23
Speaker 1: Well, thanks for your comments, and I don't disagree with
28:26
Speaker 1: you at all. You know, and sometimes I do get
28:28
Speaker 1: off on a rant. I think because I'm telling you
28:31
Speaker 1: things that I know and that I'm aware of, people
28:34
Speaker 1: will have differences of opinion.
28:36
Speaker 3: And that's that's what makes us.
28:38
Speaker 1: You know, a good city and a good mayor and
28:41
Speaker 1: a good administration will be open to listening to you.
28:45
Speaker 3: I will say, there are some that feel.
28:48
Speaker 1: Passionately about bike lanes, but like I said before, eighty
28:53
Speaker 1: eighty five percent of the people in Omaha do commute
28:56
Speaker 1: by roads by car, just like you said, and I
28:59
Speaker 1: think that's why it's most important to put our emphasis
29:03
Speaker 1: on fixing our roads first. The bike lanes that we
29:08
Speaker 1: studied when I was mayor, and again I use that
29:10
Speaker 1: word study, but we had to see are they really needed,
29:14
Speaker 1: and if they are really needed, where would we put
29:16
Speaker 1: them and would they be safe? Those are things we
29:19
Speaker 1: need to know. But I did not want the taxpayers
29:23
Speaker 1: paying for them, and so therefore that's why philanthropy has
29:27
Speaker 1: come in and said, well, we feel strongly about bike lanes,
29:31
Speaker 1: so we're going to put our money in where our
29:32
Speaker 1: mouth is. So I mean, there are it's not that
29:36
Speaker 1: we get everybody to call into a radio station, either
29:39
Speaker 1: a talk show radio station. There are a lot of
29:41
Speaker 1: people with differing opinions that never call in. So I
29:45
Speaker 1: appreciate what you're saying, and I understand what you're saying.
29:48
Speaker 1: I really do, because it's I drive around town. I
29:51
Speaker 1: see the same thing you do, and I see, you know,
29:53
Speaker 1: I see bike lanes that are taking up parking as
29:57
Speaker 1: well as as a traffic lane, and I see no.
30:00
Speaker 3: One on it.
30:01
Speaker 1: I also see buses just like you do. That you
30:04
Speaker 1: don't see a lot of people on them sometime. But
30:06
Speaker 1: that doesn't mean that they're not beneficial, and it doesn't
30:09
Speaker 1: mean that some people will use them. But as long
30:12
Speaker 1: as we're not going to turn around and say, Okay,
30:15
Speaker 1: we're going to raise everybody's taxes to put these bike
30:18
Speaker 1: lanes in, you know, and we're going to find out
30:20
Speaker 1: for those who want them another way to fund them,
30:23
Speaker 1: that's the direction I'm going. But I do appreciate what
30:26
Speaker 1: you're saying, and I think there's a lot of people
30:28
Speaker 1: who feel exactly like you do.
30:31
Speaker 2: We want to bring people to Omahon, allowed to keep growing.
30:34
Speaker 2: But at the same time, do we want to think
30:37
Speaker 2: to ourselves, man, we shouldn't put bike bike lanes in
30:40
Speaker 2: so that people who drive cars can come to Omaha
30:43
Speaker 2: and pay our gas tax for us. You know, like,
30:45
Speaker 2: is that really the frame of mind that we should
30:47
Speaker 2: be coming into the conversation with.
30:49
Speaker 1: Well, you need public transportation, there's no doubt about that,
30:53
Speaker 1: and we were sorely lacking that. And you know, we're working.
30:57
Speaker 1: The City of Omaha does not run Metro Transit. People
31:00
Speaker 1: think the City of Omaha runs the bus system.
31:02
Speaker 3: We don't.
31:02
Speaker 1: It's Metro Transit that runs the bus system. The only
31:05
Speaker 1: thing that I did or the mayor did, was a
31:09
Speaker 1: point to the Metro Transit board. And now the mayor
31:11
Speaker 1: doesn't do that because they're elected, and so you know,
31:14
Speaker 1: you've got to work. Let me back up a minute.
31:18
Speaker 1: What I have said many times before, and it's so true.
31:21
Speaker 1: If you want to attract new businesses, and we want
31:25
Speaker 1: that in Omaha. We don't want the businesses leaving. We
31:28
Speaker 1: want to maintain the businesses we have, do what we
31:32
Speaker 1: can to make them thrive and we want to bring
31:34
Speaker 1: new businesses and new talent and new people into Omaha.
31:38
Speaker 1: That's how you grow your city. Otherwise it just gets stagnant.
31:41
Speaker 1: Property values go down. And so what do you do
31:45
Speaker 1: if you want to attract young professionals or you want
31:48
Speaker 1: to prevent this brain drain. Then I know I'm going
31:50
Speaker 1: off on a tangent here, but you give the young
31:54
Speaker 1: professionals and the young workers and the young talent what
31:58
Speaker 1: they're looking for, and what are they looking looking for.
32:00
Speaker 1: When you're looking at younger talent, you're looking at urban living,
32:04
Speaker 1: You're looking at public transportation, you're looking at walkability, you're
32:09
Speaker 1: looking at entertainment, You're looking at all of those things
32:13
Speaker 1: that a real thriving downtown has. And that's why we
32:17
Speaker 1: had that Urban coret Committee developed and concentrated on downtown
32:21
Speaker 1: in midtown so it all works together. And that's what
32:25
Speaker 1: I'm trying to say, that you have to have all
32:27
Speaker 1: these things that work together and work together for the
32:30
Speaker 1: benefit of all the citizens.
32:32
Speaker 2: We don't have too much time here, but I have
32:34
Speaker 2: Bob on the line, who's going to add to this conversation.
32:36
Speaker 2: You are on the KFABE comment line with Jean Stoutht.
32:39
Speaker 2: You are live, Bob.
32:41
Speaker 6: Hi Jean, Thanks thanks for taking the time. Yeah, as
32:45
Speaker 6: I'm listening to the Agier comments here, there's a similar
32:49
Speaker 6: problem in Des Moines that there exists in Omaha. You
32:53
Speaker 6: have a small core of people who are these kind
32:57
Speaker 6: of narcissistic urbanists who have this of a utopia where
33:01
Speaker 6: everybody's going to ride a bicycle and it's going to
33:04
Speaker 6: be green and it's wonderful. But they're not really the
33:07
Speaker 6: ones creating or sustaining that ecosystem. It's on everybody else,
33:12
Speaker 6: but it's forced on everybody, and it's really disingenuous, especially
33:16
Speaker 6: from their viewpoint that it's inclusive, but it really just
33:20
Speaker 6: serves them. And we're not supposed to talk about that
33:24
Speaker 6: in that way, but I guess that's how I see it.
33:27
Speaker 6: It's very selfish, and I think it gives them too
33:29
Speaker 6: much credit to say they're looking for the greater good.
33:32
Speaker 2: They're not.
33:32
Speaker 6: It's just it's their vibe and they want everybody else
33:35
Speaker 6: to support it at our expense.
33:37
Speaker 1: I cannot disagree with what you're saying there at all,
33:41
Speaker 1: because I look at myself. You know, I'm You're not
33:43
Speaker 1: going to see me on a hun a bike riding
33:45
Speaker 1: in a bike line. It's something I just I don't do.
33:49
Speaker 1: And I think I've tried to take public transportation in
33:52
Speaker 1: Omaha once and didn't have a good experience.
33:55
Speaker 3: And so I understand what you're saying. I really do.
33:59
Speaker 1: And you know, there's a lot of different of opinions,
34:03
Speaker 1: and that's why we have this show. I want to
34:05
Speaker 1: hear from you, and I want you to be able
34:07
Speaker 1: to say what you feel and for you to be
34:09
Speaker 1: able to sound off. I don't disagree with what you're saying, though.
34:12
Speaker 1: It seems like a lot of cities cater to just
34:15
Speaker 1: a very very small vocal group, the vocal minority. And
34:19
Speaker 1: you know, you got to you got to work with
34:22
Speaker 1: the masses to and do what's best for the greater good.
34:25
Speaker 3: And that's what a city should be doing. And so
34:28
Speaker 3: I will I will add to that.
34:29
Speaker 1: I will say the issue with affordable housing that is
34:33
Speaker 1: a buzzword right now, and people will say, a lot
34:37
Speaker 1: of people will say, my priority is affordable housing. Mayor
34:42
Speaker 1: there are new Mayor ewing his number one priority is
34:45
Speaker 1: affordable housing. But a lot of people don't understand what
34:48
Speaker 1: affordable housing really is, and they think it's just cheap
34:52
Speaker 1: good housing and it's not. And so you know, there
34:55
Speaker 1: there's a difference of opinion, but there's also a lot
34:58
Speaker 1: of misunderstanding of some the things that some of our
35:02
Speaker 1: elected officials are making a priority. I think affordable housing
35:06
Speaker 1: is important to some but not the masses. And so
35:11
Speaker 1: you know, we want need to have a good housing
35:13
Speaker 1: stock in Omaha. You know, we need our city to
35:16
Speaker 1: continue to grow. We want to keep our house values up.
35:21
Speaker 1: You know, those things are all important for a good, growing,
35:24
Speaker 1: thriving community. So I appreciate all of your comments. That's
35:28
Speaker 1: why we're doing this show. We want you to come on,
35:30
Speaker 1: whether you agree or disagree, and give me your opinion
35:34
Speaker 1: on things going on in the city of Omaha, because
35:36
Speaker 1: I think everybody needs to hear it. And there definitely
35:39
Speaker 1: is difference of opinion. And you know, people don't always.
35:43
Speaker 3: Agree with me.
35:44
Speaker 1: Peyton, I was mayor twelve years. I said, I have
35:46
Speaker 1: been criticized for just about everything that we have done.
35:51
Speaker 3: But that's okay.
35:52
Speaker 1: I mean, again, the mayor is the chief executive of
35:55
Speaker 1: the city. Not everybody's going to agree with you, but
35:58
Speaker 1: the mayor needs to be out there and listen to people,
36:01
Speaker 1: whether they're getting a compliment or whether they're getting a criticism.
36:05
Speaker 1: I told you, I've gotten so many criticisms. One of
36:07
Speaker 1: the funniest things I think that I have ever had
36:11
Speaker 1: said to me, though, and it was somebody called in.
36:14
Speaker 1: I was on a Crash Davis show. I know a
36:16
Speaker 1: lot of people here listening, remember Crash Davis, And somebody
36:19
Speaker 1: said I was. You know, if people don't know me personally,
36:22
Speaker 1: I used to be six feet tall. Now I'm about
36:25
Speaker 1: barely five foot ten. I'm the incredible shrinking woman. But
36:28
Speaker 1: somebody called in and told me that I was too
36:31
Speaker 1: tall to be the mayor. And crash Davis about fell
36:34
Speaker 1: out of his chair. And to this day, you know,
36:36
Speaker 1: a lot of times he is like the MC at parades,
36:39
Speaker 1: Like sometimes he'll be down at the Saint Patti's Day
36:42
Speaker 1: Parade or the Elkhorn Day parade, and every time, when
36:44
Speaker 1: I was still in the parades, he would say, and
36:46
Speaker 1: here's the mayor of Omaha, but I think she's too
36:48
Speaker 1: tall to be the mayor. It's like, okay, I'll take
36:51
Speaker 1: it whatever. I have a funny Max story to tell you.
36:54
Speaker 1: Max is my six year old, very precocious grandson. I
36:58
Speaker 1: have two here in Omaha, Raymond and Max. Max is
37:01
Speaker 1: the one that I take care of every Wednesday afternoon,
37:04
Speaker 1: and he can say some of the funniest things. This
37:06
Speaker 1: kid is so smart for six years old. But my
37:10
Speaker 1: daughter told me on Easter Sunday, they were in line
37:12
Speaker 1: at church to go to communion, and you know, the
37:15
Speaker 1: little ones just go up and get blessed or they
37:18
Speaker 1: say a little prayer. And Raymond and Max were in
37:21
Speaker 1: line with my daughter Elizabeth and her husband Tom, and
37:25
Speaker 1: she said, all of a sudden, Max looked at her
37:27
Speaker 1: and said, I just can't do this.
37:29
Speaker 3: I can't do it. I need to go sit down.
37:31
Speaker 1: And my daughter said, you can't do what And he said,
37:34
Speaker 1: I can't go to communion And she said why you're
37:36
Speaker 1: just going up and get getting blessed And he said, mom,
37:39
Speaker 1: I have concerns and he went and set that down.
37:42
Speaker 3: I don't know what goes through this kid's.
37:44
Speaker 1: Mind for being six years old, but he went and
37:47
Speaker 1: sat down. He had concerns. So yes, he had concerns.
37:51
Speaker 1: So Max, I don't know what goes through your little mind,
37:54
Speaker 1: but boy, it's really something. But I thought that was hilarious.
37:57
Speaker 1: So anyway, I'm going to have to ask him when
37:59
Speaker 1: I watched on Wednesday what his real concerns were.
38:02
Speaker 2: We we love all of your input on all of
38:05
Speaker 2: these things, good, bad, positive, negative, fun and ugly. We
38:09
Speaker 2: love to hear it. And I've gotten a lot of
38:11
Speaker 2: emails today at comment at kfab dot com. We've had
38:15
Speaker 2: a lot of input today from the listeners, from you
38:18
Speaker 2: guys calling us and text emailing us. And I just
38:21
Speaker 2: think that one thing Kent says really summarizes it. Well,
38:25
Speaker 2: you say you understand the concerns about whatever, but you
38:29
Speaker 2: were in charge of our beloved city for years, yet
38:32
Speaker 2: the same problems exist, and you say you understand, what
38:35
Speaker 2: will you do?
38:37
Speaker 1: Well, I'm limited to what I can do now, but
38:40
Speaker 1: you know, but these things, I feel like we did
38:43
Speaker 1: listen and we did try to remedy a lot of issues.
38:47
Speaker 1: But for example, with the street bond issue, you know
38:52
Speaker 1: that's practically another four hundred million for the roads to
38:55
Speaker 1: say we need to permanently fix the roads and quit
38:58
Speaker 1: just filling these potholes. For another example, this cold patch
39:03
Speaker 1: we used to use for potholes. You know, we worked
39:05
Speaker 1: with Hawkins and we're making hot asphalt now. We have
39:09
Speaker 1: a new city master plan that is being developed called
39:12
Speaker 1: the Comprehensive Plan to look at future development in the city.
39:16
Speaker 1: We have a new Parks master Plan, and again these
39:18
Speaker 1: are I know you're saying plan, plan, plan, but you
39:21
Speaker 1: got to have you got to have a guideline. You
39:24
Speaker 1: have a guide of where you're going, and then decide
39:27
Speaker 1: where you're going to pay for it. I think the
39:29
Speaker 1: City of Omaha has progressed a lot in the last
39:33
Speaker 1: twelve years, but there's still a lot to do.
39:35
Speaker 3: It's a big city.
39:37
Speaker 1: And the one thing with mayor is you just get
39:39
Speaker 1: impatient because you want to get it all done at
39:41
Speaker 1: one time, but you are so restricted by what things cost.
39:46
Speaker 1: You have to balance your budget. You want to lower
39:48
Speaker 1: taxes at the same time, but you want to really
39:51
Speaker 1: really improve services. Another example is our new trash pickups
39:55
Speaker 1: system that we have. The one that we had with
39:57
Speaker 1: waste management it expired. We could not do that type
40:01
Speaker 1: of a trash collection anymore. Nobody would bid on it.
40:03
Speaker 1: We have a new trash collection system to try to
40:06
Speaker 1: remedy that problem. Some people liked it, some people didn't,
40:09
Speaker 1: but we had really no choice to do it.
40:11
Speaker 2: You can't just snap your finger, that's right, No I wish,
40:14
Speaker 2: So what about a wand they have a wands maybe tucked.
40:17
Speaker 3: In your person.
40:18
Speaker 1: No, no, And I wish we could, but we you know,
40:20
Speaker 1: things do. I mean, you're dealing with government, you know,
40:23
Speaker 1: I mean, things take a long time. But we really
40:27
Speaker 1: want you listening. We really want your comments, positive or negative.
40:32
Speaker 1: Like I said, it's your chance to speak up and
40:34
Speaker 1: sound off, whether you agree with what I'm saying or not.
40:37
Speaker 1: Come on the show, keep on listening, tell us what
40:39
Speaker 1: you think, and we're glad you're with us, and we
40:42
Speaker 1: hope you tune in tomorrow.
40:43
Speaker 3: I've got a great guest tomorrow.
40:45
Speaker 1: Jason Lanaha with Lanaha Development is going to be on
40:48
Speaker 1: and he's going to talk about Heartwood Preserve. He's going
40:50
Speaker 1: to talk about what's happening at Midtown in the All
40:53
Speaker 1: Mutual site, what's happening with the Mutual Tower downtown. He's
40:57
Speaker 1: a developer for those things. We're going to have a
40:59
Speaker 1: good time with Jason, and so listen in. Thanks for
41:01
Speaker 1: being with us.