Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Aimee Melton to discuss $15 Minimum Wage

Transcript

Aimee Melton to discuss $15 Minimum Wage · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

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Speaker 1: I am your host, Jean Stoth Peyton high Locked. My
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Speaker 1: producer is also here.
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Speaker 2: Good morning Peyton, Good morning gen And we are guaranteed
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Speaker 2: human always, Yes we are, and.
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Speaker 1: We want to hear from you. We want to get
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Speaker 1: your feedback and hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, really,
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Speaker 1: anything goes.
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Speaker 2: We won't back away from anything, will we, Peyton, never
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Speaker 2: and whether it's.
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Speaker 1: City, state, national, or the world. And we will have
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Speaker 1: great guests. I have a great guest today, but we
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Speaker 1: want to hear from you, and you're gonna hear plenty
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Speaker 1: of opinions from me too. It's your chance to speak
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Speaker 1: up and sound off. Send your emails to comment at
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Speaker 1: kfab dot com or you can call us at four
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Speaker 1: h two five five eight eleven ten. We are so
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Speaker 1: happy that you are with us, and today I have
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Speaker 1: Councilwoman Amy Melton with us. Good morning Amy, Good morning
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Speaker 1: Jean and I you know Amy was first elected in
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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen when I was first elected mayor, so we
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Speaker 1: work together a long time and I truly truly look
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Speaker 1: at you as a colleague. You are so helpful and
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Speaker 1: so good. The whole time we were on city council,
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Speaker 1: you were on city Council and I served as mayor.
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Speaker 1: But you know what, before we start in, because we
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Speaker 1: have a lot to talk about. We have some sad
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Speaker 1: news this morning too. And a woman that was a
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Speaker 1: council staff named Liz Letty, and by the way, my
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Speaker 1: daughter is also named Liz Letty. They are married to brothers,
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Speaker 1: so Liz Letty in the council office and my daughter
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Speaker 1: Liz Letty are married to two brothers. But Liz Letty
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Speaker 1: is forty three years old and she had a massive
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Speaker 1: heart attack on Tuesday and she did pass away last night.
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Speaker 3: She did, and she's been part of our I call
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Speaker 3: it the city council family. Yes, everything that you see
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Speaker 3: with parks, everything that the city council is able to do,
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Speaker 3: Liz help with. And I think she was there even
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Speaker 3: when you were on council. She's served the City of
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Speaker 3: Omaha very well and she's going to be very.
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Speaker 1: Mess she will be, And it's just the whole thing
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Speaker 1: is so sad. I do know from her, my daughter
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Speaker 1: being in the family, that they were leaving the next
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Speaker 1: morning for a vacation in Hawaii, her and her husband
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Speaker 1: and her two boys. Her oldest boy is fifteen, and
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Speaker 1: it just makes you really stop and think how precious
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Speaker 1: life is and how life can turn on a dime,
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Speaker 1: and and you got to you know, I always say
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Speaker 1: you got to play the hand, your dealt. But it
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Speaker 1: just really shows you how precious life is and how
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Speaker 1: much we should appreciate each other, appreciate what we have.
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Speaker 4: It really does.
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Speaker 3: And I just prayers, prayers, thoughts and prayers are going
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Speaker 3: to her family and her husband, her children, absolutely and
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Speaker 3: the whole Leddy family.
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Speaker 1: So and I know your very heartbroken. The whole staff
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Speaker 1: is this morning, So I really appreciate you coming on
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Speaker 1: this show to talk about other things. But Liz Letty
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Speaker 1: was also an organ do downer, and so you know,
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Speaker 1: we know that that there's going to be a lot
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Speaker 1: of good that comes out of this tragedy. So my
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Speaker 1: thoughts and prayers are with the family too. Liz Letty great,
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Speaker 1: great person and really an asset to the city of Omaha. Yes,
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Speaker 1: died at forty three, after all. Yes, Amy Milton is
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Speaker 1: here today though, and we have so much to talk about.
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Speaker 1: But you know, I'm going to take just a minute
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Speaker 1: and talk and praise a little bit about Amy Milton
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Speaker 1: because she will never do this herself. Everybody knows her
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Speaker 1: for being a strong, will tenacious school board member. She
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Speaker 1: is a Republican, she's a fighter, she is an attorney.
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Speaker 1: But I'm going to just spend a few seconds telling
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Speaker 1: people about what Amy Milton is really about, because you
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Speaker 1: won't do this. But years ago, here's my little speel
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Speaker 1: on Amy. I'm going to say this. Years and years ago, Amy,
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Speaker 1: she didn't have a college degree. She was working at
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Speaker 1: Eddie Bauer. She was married with a six year old,
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Speaker 1: and she was pregnant, and her husband left her and
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Speaker 1: her marriage fell apart, and Amy moved back with her parents,
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Speaker 1: and she decided she had to make something of herself
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Speaker 1: and be able to take care of those little kids.
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Speaker 1: And she worked her way through you and O. She
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Speaker 1: was short about eighteen hours. Then she worked her way
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Speaker 1: through Creighton Law School while caring for her kids. And
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Speaker 1: I believe you worked at a bar at night too.
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Speaker 1: You did whatever you could. Graduated from Creighton Law with
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Speaker 1: a jd in two thousand and four. And I will say, Amy,
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Speaker 1: your determination and your tenacity and your strength has always
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Speaker 1: impressed me. But talking about your background really is really something,
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Speaker 1: and I know you don't want to talk about it.
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Speaker 3: I wasn't expecting my no life history. I didn't though.
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Speaker 3: Working at the bar, that's where I met my current husband.
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Speaker 3: We've been married twenty one years. I was his cocktail waitress.
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Speaker 1: Isn't that great?
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Speaker 4: You know what? There's good that comes out of everything.
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Speaker 1: Absolutely and always said Amy as tough as nails. But
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Speaker 1: you know what, Amy, you have a very very big
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Speaker 1: heart too, and you're just a very very good all
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Speaker 1: around person.
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Speaker 4: So my gosh, thank you.
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Speaker 1: I really appreciate you being here today. Well, you know,
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Speaker 1: we both are in this same position as an elected official.
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Speaker 1: It's not that we do this to get compliments, so
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Speaker 1: we don't hear too many compliments. We do not so
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Speaker 1: when I get a chance to compliment somebody, and you know,
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Speaker 1: I certainly will, and you're somebody that I really respect.
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Speaker 1: So let's let's let's move on. We've praised Amy Mountain
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Speaker 1: enough to know we're good, but we still we still know.
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Speaker 1: It's what you do is a really hard job. Being
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Speaker 1: a city council member is a very hard job. And
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Speaker 1: you represent District seven, which is in northwest Omaha. Tell
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Speaker 1: us the boundaries of your district so people know what
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Speaker 1: what you represent.
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Speaker 3: Kind of just generally it's west of six eighty north
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Speaker 3: of Dodge Street, and then my district goes to about
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Speaker 3: one hundred and eightieth and that's where then Brinker Harding's
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Speaker 3: district is elkorn.
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Speaker 1: Okay and Brinker is City Council District six, and then
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Speaker 1: don Roe is City Council District five. Right, So those five, six,
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Speaker 1: and seven are the western council districts. Five is is
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Speaker 1: a district which don represents now that I represented when
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Speaker 1: I was on the city council too, so very familiar.
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Speaker 1: That area of town tends to be more Republican. They
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Speaker 1: tend to be more Republican five.
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Speaker 2: And six two, but they had exceptionally low voter turnout
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Speaker 2: in the last election, and hopefully we'll have time to
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Speaker 2: get to that.
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Speaker 1: But the one thing I really wanted to talk to
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Speaker 1: you about today was the city council did a vote
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Speaker 1: on just Tuesday a few days ago. It passed four
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Speaker 1: to three, and it was raising the higher base wage
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Speaker 1: or the minimum wage ordinance for the City of Omaha
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Speaker 1: now the state of Nebraska. They it was just last year,
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Speaker 1: wasn't it that they raised the minimum wage to fifteen
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Speaker 1: dollars for most workers However, they did have some adjustments
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Speaker 1: that were made I believe last year. I think the
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Speaker 1: voters approved this in twenty two. They made some adjustments
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Speaker 1: last year that people that were lower than the sixteen
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Speaker 1: years or younger go ahead and explained what team they did.
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Speaker 3: Fourteen and fifteen year olds, okay, can be paid last
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Speaker 3: their minimum I think was thirteen thirteen to fifty, right.
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Speaker 3: And then the state also instead of just doing every
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Speaker 3: year the minimum wage would change based on inflation, they
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Speaker 3: capped it. I believe it was at one point seven.
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Speaker 3: But that's to give businesses so that they can plan
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Speaker 3: and budget. Otherwise you don't know what the minimum wage
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Speaker 3: is going to be every year.
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Speaker 1: The one point seventy five was the limits on future
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Speaker 1: wage increases, correct, Okay, all right, So that came up.
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Speaker 1: This was supported by Danny Bagley, who's the council president.
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Speaker 1: And I know it was quite controversial. Why don't you
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Speaker 1: just talk about what was going on here? And you
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Speaker 1: voted against it. You were very much opposed to it.
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Speaker 1: Baguley said that his defense was at seventy percent of
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Speaker 1: Omaha voters, including a majority in all seven city council districts,
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Speaker 1: approved in November twenty to the ballot initiative, and he says,
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Speaker 1: I want voters to listen to me. Clearly, I'm fighting
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Speaker 1: for you. But he is saying this minimum wage for
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Speaker 1: these younger workers. It makes me scratch my head too,
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Speaker 1: because I think this is a minimum wagees never meant
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Speaker 1: to be a living wage, and we're talking fourteen, fifteen,
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Speaker 1: sixteen year olds. So go ahead and talk about Yeah.
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Speaker 3: Well, first, the voters voted for the minimum wage, I agree,
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Speaker 3: and the legislature implemented it. The voters did not vote
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Speaker 3: to allow cities to choose their own minimum wage.
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Speaker 4: This vote was not about minimum wage.
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Speaker 3: The vote for me, my vote no vote was cities
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Speaker 3: should not and do not, in my opinion, under the
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Speaker 3: Nebraska Constitution have the ability to set their own minimum wages.
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Speaker 3: That is something that is reserved for the states. The
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Speaker 3: states have not given us the jurisdiction to do so,
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Speaker 3: and I believe it's going to be overturned in court.
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Speaker 4: Now.
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Speaker 3: To get overturned in court, we've already been told they're
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Speaker 3: going to hire outside council. One of the big corporate
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Speaker 3: firms is going to be hired to now defend this.
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Speaker 3: When we get sued by the Attorney General because the
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Speaker 3: Attorney General is sued Lincoln for doing the very same thing.
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Speaker 3: We should have just waited for the Lincoln case to
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Speaker 3: go through the court system. Instead, we're going to waste
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Speaker 3: hundreds of thousands of dollars in legal fees, in your
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Speaker 3: taxpayer dollars, your property taxes that are way too high.
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Speaker 3: We are going to use money to now try to
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Speaker 3: toy this. But get this, if the city is successful,
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Speaker 3: it doesn't mean that minimum wage will just be fifteen
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Speaker 3: dollars an hour. You better bet that if the city
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Speaker 3: of Omaha's allowed to set their own minimum wage, we
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Speaker 3: are going to have another ordinance that comes back and
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Speaker 3: they're going to set it at a living wage, and
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Speaker 3: who knows what that's going to be. That could be
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Speaker 3: twenty dollars, it could be twenty five thirty dollars an hour.
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Speaker 3: So this is much bigger than whether you support fifteen
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Speaker 3: dollars an hour minimum wage for thirteen and fourteen year olds.
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Speaker 3: The vote on this and the outcome of this case
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Speaker 3: is going to be a lot more significant for the
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Speaker 3: citizens of Omaha.
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Speaker 1: So Amy Milton City council woman from District seven, is
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Speaker 1: with us today. So by adopting a different local standard
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Speaker 1: than what the state of Nebraska had set, and this
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Speaker 1: is approved by the legislature. The city sets the stage
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Speaker 1: for a legal challenge. Absolutely, and Nebraska Attorney General Mike
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Speaker 1: Kilgers has already sued the City of Lincoln for something similar. Yes,
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Speaker 1: and I think he has sent the message to Omaha
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Speaker 1: if you do something similar, I'm going to sue you too.
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Speaker 4: So we know that correct.
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Speaker 1: And I heard Danny Bakley said, well, if you want
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Speaker 1: to fight Attorney General, I'm ready for the fight.
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Speaker 4: That's what he said. But I did so. I did
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Speaker 4: my own legal brief.
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Speaker 3: By the way, I've never done this, and all the
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Speaker 3: time I've been on council thirteen years, we didn't have
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Speaker 3: a legal opinion. Mister Coosey respect him a lot, but
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Speaker 3: he says he kind of argued both sides.
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Speaker 4: I see both sides.
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Speaker 3: I did my own legal research and submitted a brief
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Speaker 3: to the council on Tuesday. There's case president at least
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Speaker 3: three different cases against the City of Omaha where we lost,
10:48
Speaker 3: where we tried to set our own labor standards. We
10:51
Speaker 3: tried to set wages for our private contractors, and the
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Speaker 3: Supreme Court has said, the city does not have the
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Speaker 3: ability to do that under the home charter rule.
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Speaker 4: So we have vice presidents.
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Speaker 1: Already out there, so explain that to the listeners. Nebraska
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Speaker 1: constitution will always trump local absolutely, okay. And so the
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Speaker 1: homeroom home rule Charter basically says the City of Omaha
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Speaker 1: can make up their own rules, except it's restricted on
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Speaker 1: certain things. Explain it to the writers.
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Speaker 3: We have a home rule charter where we can set
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Speaker 3: laws ordinances related to local issues that impact us locally. However,
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Speaker 3: we are preempted by any state law.
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Speaker 4: We can't violate any state statutes. So state law would.
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Speaker 3: Preempt anything that the city would do, but it's limited
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Speaker 3: to just local issues such as zoning, you know, zoning ordinances,
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Speaker 3: planning ordinances, things that would be specific to the city.
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Speaker 3: Labor relations and wages are something of a statewide concern
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Speaker 3: that I believe the Supreme Court has made clear it
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Speaker 3: would not be part of what home charter rule for
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Speaker 3: a city.
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Speaker 1: Then, Matt Cousey, and just being the Devil's advocate, he
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Speaker 1: said that there are competing legal opinions on whether state
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Speaker 1: law trumps the city's authority in this issue. But you
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Speaker 1: think it's clear well.
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Speaker 3: I couldn't find any and I was the only one
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Speaker 3: that submitted any case law or even cited any case
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Speaker 3: law at the hearing on Tuesday, So I don't know
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Speaker 3: what those cases are.
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Speaker 1: When do you think that the Lincoln ruling will come
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Speaker 1: about soon? Won't it?
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Speaker 4: It should?
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Speaker 3: We should have the District Court's opinion should be out.
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Speaker 3: I was thinking or hoping it would be out this
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Speaker 3: week because I believe Lincoln's ordinance is supposed.
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Speaker 4: To take effect tomorrow.
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Speaker 3: So I would guess that the district court judge would
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Speaker 3: probably release her opinion in the next week, but that
12:44
Speaker 3: would be a district court judge's opinion, and whatever the
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Speaker 3: opinion is, the other side could then appeal it, and
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Speaker 3: I would assume it would go to the Court of Appeals.
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Speaker 3: I would assume on this when the Supreme Court will
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Speaker 3: probably just take it.
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Speaker 1: Okay. Have you talked to the Attorney General Mike Hilgers
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Speaker 1: about this?
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Speaker 3: Yes, I have had some discussions, okay with attorney With
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Speaker 3: the Attorney General, I think he was kind of hoping
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Speaker 3: Omaha would just wait and so that there would just
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Speaker 3: be one case.
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Speaker 1: And so I think both you and the Attorney General
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Speaker 1: Mike Hilgers have made comments saying that the city council members,
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Speaker 1: in your opinion, should go through the legislature to lobby
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Speaker 1: their case instead of making their own rules in the
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Speaker 1: city of Omaha.
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Speaker 4: Exactly.
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Speaker 3: And I compared it to the voters voted for medical
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Speaker 3: marijuana many years ago. It's taken the state many many
13:34
Speaker 3: years to try and get there. That doesn't mean that
13:36
Speaker 3: the citizens of Omaha or that the city Council can
13:39
Speaker 3: then go pass our own medical marijuana ordinances because the
13:44
Speaker 3: voters voted for it. It's something that needs to be
13:46
Speaker 3: done at the state level. And if you don't like
13:49
Speaker 3: what the state is doing, contact your state senators.
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Speaker 1: And you know that. I mean the minimum wage here
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Speaker 1: that was set by the legislature at fifteen dollars. That's
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Speaker 1: probably I can't remember exactly what the national minimum wages,
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Speaker 1: but it's like twice as much, isn't It isn't national
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Speaker 1: seven dollars in something I.
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Speaker 4: Think it was. I think the national is about seven
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Speaker 4: to fifty. Yeah, if I'm right, Yes, that is correct,
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Speaker 4: it's okay for that.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And so it's about twice what it is, twice
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Speaker 1: what the national is already. And and again like we
14:20
Speaker 1: said in the beginning this minimum wage and saying it's
14:23
Speaker 1: important that fourteen fifteen sixteen year olds get fifteen dollars
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Speaker 1: an hour. Two. There's not many fourteen fifteen sixteen year
14:31
Speaker 1: olds that need a living wage that are trying to
14:33
Speaker 1: raise four kids or a family in a house. I
14:35
Speaker 1: really hope not. There's some bigger issues there than minimum wage.
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Speaker 1: I have that exactly, And so this it really makes
14:41
Speaker 1: you wonder. And I always said minimum wage should be
14:44
Speaker 1: determined by by the market, by what's out there right now, absolutely,
14:48
Speaker 1: and not this individual. So what that means then for
14:52
Speaker 1: the voters and the taxpayers is they're going to have
14:55
Speaker 1: to foot the bill to fight this now.
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Speaker 3: Yes, And that's what I was probably most upset about, is,
15:01
Speaker 3: you know, we've got roads that need to be improved,
15:04
Speaker 3: we've got parks that need to be improved, and we
15:07
Speaker 3: have people complaining my taxes are too high, exactly. And
15:10
Speaker 3: so you know, to me, I think I'm a fiduciary
15:14
Speaker 3: of those taxpayer dollars. You were a fiduciary as mayor
15:18
Speaker 3: when you literally are wasting money because you just want
15:22
Speaker 3: to make a political point or show that I'm fighting
15:25
Speaker 3: for you.
15:26
Speaker 4: Well, don't waste my money fighting.
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Speaker 3: For me, especially when there's a case that's being fought
15:32
Speaker 3: by the City of Lincoln. Let them pay for it
15:33
Speaker 3: and then we can wait and see what the outcome
15:35
Speaker 3: is exactly.
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Speaker 1: And you know, for Danny Bagley to say, you know,
15:38
Speaker 1: I'm ready to fight this, it's it's it baffled me
15:41
Speaker 1: because I thought he knows what he's up against. He
15:45
Speaker 1: knows the city's going to have to spend a lot
15:47
Speaker 1: of money fighting this, and I would assume he knows
15:50
Speaker 1: it's probably going to be a loss for the city,
15:53
Speaker 1: But he always portrays himself as being the union guy,
15:57
Speaker 1: and so I guess that's what he thinks he's fighting
15:59
Speaker 1: for now. Amy, I've gotten several questions that were sent
16:03
Speaker 1: into the station saying that I'd been involved in labor
16:06
Speaker 1: negotiations for quite a while, obviously about sixteen years with
16:10
Speaker 1: the City of Omaha. How is this gonna affect labor negotiations?
16:13
Speaker 1: And it really won't with the City of Omaha, because
16:16
Speaker 1: we don't hire anyone at minimum wage. Even our lifeguards
16:19
Speaker 1: in our summer help, our counselors for our camps, none
16:22
Speaker 1: of them are hired.
16:24
Speaker 4: I actually texted my niece. She works.
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Speaker 3: She works at one of our parks, at the at
16:29
Speaker 3: the swimming.
16:29
Speaker 4: Pool, and I was like, how how much is the
16:31
Speaker 4: city paying you?
16:32
Speaker 3: And yes, nobody was over fifteen, right, and so she's
16:36
Speaker 3: she was in high.
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Speaker 1: School right, And so nobody with the City of Omaha.
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Speaker 1: None of our employees, like I said, even the seasonal ones,
16:43
Speaker 1: the kids in the summer, they're already hired more than that.
16:46
Speaker 1: So it won't affect our labor negotiations. Call now one
16:49
Speaker 1: last thing, the mayor. It's a four to three vote,
16:52
Speaker 1: so the mayor could veto the mayor could vetail do
16:55
Speaker 1: you have any idea what the mayor is thinking? Or
16:58
Speaker 1: We're just gonna have to wait and see. When it
16:59
Speaker 1: crossed his.
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Speaker 3: Desk, I've heard two different things, so I think he
17:05
Speaker 3: was waiting for another legal opinion, okay, which I presented
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Speaker 3: on Tuesday. I don't know if he's going to consider
17:10
Speaker 3: my legal opinion or not, but we'll wait and see.
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Speaker 1: Well, you know, I would as mayor, I would always say,
17:16
Speaker 1: you know, it's our job to follow the law. What
17:17
Speaker 1: the law is. We always would depend on our city attorney,
17:21
Speaker 1: which is Matt Couzy in this case, to give us
17:24
Speaker 1: legal advice. I mean, that's what their job is. But
17:26
Speaker 1: their job is to give the council legal advice to
17:29
Speaker 1: The city attorney is not the attorney for the mayor.
17:32
Speaker 1: The city attorney is the attorney for the city Council
17:34
Speaker 1: and the mayor.
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Speaker 3: Correct, yeah, I mean really the attorney for the citizens
17:38
Speaker 3: of Omaha.
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Speaker 4: Yeah, he doesn't.
17:40
Speaker 3: He is not the attorney for one or the other,
17:42
Speaker 3: which puts mister Kuzy in a very difficult position when
17:45
Speaker 3: you have I guess competing legal issues or council members
17:49
Speaker 3: that are arguing competing legal issues.
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Speaker 1: It always does, and that's why the city attorney has
17:53
Speaker 1: civil service protection because he, I mean, he can be
17:56
Speaker 1: caught right in the middle a lot of times too.
17:58
Speaker 1: And for all of you to know, it's the city
18:00
Speaker 1: Law department that writes these ordinances, and they are writing
18:04
Speaker 1: them according to what they think is legal, but they
18:08
Speaker 1: are also writing them at the instructions of the city
18:10
Speaker 1: Council or the mayor. A lot of times that's.
18:12
Speaker 3: Correct, and they've had to draft a number of ordinances
18:15
Speaker 3: that I know the lawyer's drafting it didn't agree with.
18:17
Speaker 3: But their job is to draft an ordinance as requested
18:20
Speaker 3: by the council member, and it must be hard.
18:22
Speaker 1: You know, you're a city council member and that's your
18:24
Speaker 1: job with the City of Omaha. But being an attorney
18:26
Speaker 1: to you know the law and so, I mean, you
18:29
Speaker 1: know how the law, you know how to write briefs,
18:31
Speaker 1: you know how to study the law, and so to
18:33
Speaker 1: see something like this could be pretty pretty baffling for
18:37
Speaker 1: all of us. Peyton, did you have a question?
18:39
Speaker 2: I just have a few notes here. I got an email.
18:42
Speaker 2: This comes from Andrew Bigley. Is killing teen employment? Teens
18:46
Speaker 2: simply do not have experience or the skills for a
18:49
Speaker 2: high wage. And in addition, hours are often more important
18:53
Speaker 2: than the wage. Right, and then this goes into as well,
18:55
Speaker 2: just a little footnote to the conversation. Right now, currently
18:59
Speaker 2: in Washington, DC, senators are pushing for the quote Living
19:03
Speaker 2: Wage for All Act to wage the national minimum wage
19:07
Speaker 2: to twenty five an hour.
19:09
Speaker 1: Oh, that that will just kill employment. That'll kill businesses because.
19:13
Speaker 4: Imagine the cost of daycare.
19:15
Speaker 3: Yes, if you have to increase twenty five dollars an hour, unbelievable.
19:20
Speaker 1: And you know what's gonna happen if you take these say, say,
19:24
Speaker 1: I'm gonna give an example and I don't even know
19:25
Speaker 1: what they pay, but you take a Burger King or
19:27
Speaker 1: a McDonald's or a a Taco Bell dollars an hour. Yeah,
19:31
Speaker 1: if they have to pay these younger workers twenty four
19:35
Speaker 1: to twenty five dollars an hour, they have to make
19:37
Speaker 1: an income in revenue to survive, They're just going to
19:40
Speaker 1: hire less employees. It's gonna decrease employment, absolutely.
19:44
Speaker 3: I mean especially you see it already where you can
19:46
Speaker 3: walk into McDonald's and you're ordering yourself right now with
19:48
Speaker 3: a kiosk, right with those kiosks, And that's what's gonna happen.
19:51
Speaker 3: They're just gonna they're gonna not have those jobs available, right.
19:55
Speaker 1: It's going to increase unemployment. It's what's gonna happen. So
20:00
Speaker 1: I'm really glad to have you on here today. We
20:02
Speaker 1: probably we still have a few more minutes before we
20:05
Speaker 1: go to break because I want to get into another
20:07
Speaker 1: topic while I have you here today, and that is
20:09
Speaker 1: Tranquility Park that is in your district. You know, I
20:13
Speaker 1: had a lot of experience whether we first had to
20:15
Speaker 1: get the road done. We first had to get one
20:17
Speaker 1: hundred and twentieth down from Maple up to Fort that
20:21
Speaker 1: was done when I was still in down at City
20:24
Speaker 1: Hall and being mayor. People say, I always say when
20:27
Speaker 1: I was mayor too much, But how can we talk
20:29
Speaker 1: about this unless I say that. But anyway, we had
20:32
Speaker 1: a plan. We had a plan for what we were
20:36
Speaker 1: going to do out at Tranquility and the design came back.
20:41
Speaker 1: I think we had budgeted about fifty four million to
20:45
Speaker 1: do the park and then the mall holes are going
20:48
Speaker 1: to do a mixed use development north of that. Based
20:52
Speaker 1: on the number of soccer fields and baseball fields that
20:55
Speaker 1: were going to be put out at Tranquility. Well, the
20:58
Speaker 1: first when I was still mayor, and there was going
21:01
Speaker 1: to be originally and it's this was in twenty twenty three,
21:03
Speaker 1: fifteen soccer fields and ten baseball fields, and that's what
21:07
Speaker 1: the Mahos development was based on. I think there was
21:09
Speaker 1: going to be two hotels and a big mixed use development. However,
21:13
Speaker 1: the first design came back about twice as much is
21:17
Speaker 1: what we had budgeted for.
21:19
Speaker 3: Yes, I was pretty I remember sitting in your office
21:21
Speaker 3: when you gave me that figure.
21:22
Speaker 4: I was devastating. Yeah, going on, We've got to make.
21:25
Speaker 1: This going, Holy cow, what can we do here? So
21:28
Speaker 1: it was a bit of and this was Jeo and
21:32
Speaker 1: Key what was going to be the ones that was
21:34
Speaker 1: going to be building it. And so we kind of
21:37
Speaker 1: sent them back to the drawing board now and said, okay,
21:40
Speaker 1: you know, we either need to raise more philanthropic private dollars,
21:44
Speaker 1: but we need to get this cost down some too.
21:47
Speaker 1: And so that's how kind of I left it. Now.
21:50
Speaker 2: I was just up there the other day. They're grading it.
21:52
Speaker 2: They're doing a lot of grading.
21:53
Speaker 1: We get calls into the studio saying, what's going on
21:56
Speaker 1: at Tranquility, Can you give us any inside?
21:59
Speaker 3: Yeah, well, the project that you approved, that the city
22:02
Speaker 3: council approved and under your administration, is still proceeding. What
22:06
Speaker 3: the final project is going to be though has been
22:09
Speaker 3: scaled back. Okay, we do have at least we believe
22:14
Speaker 3: we have the bonding capacity at this point in the
22:16
Speaker 3: CIP to do sixteen.
22:18
Speaker 1: Fields, sixteen soccer fields.
22:21
Speaker 3: Soccer fields, but we're probably going to have to put
22:25
Speaker 3: the baseball fields right now. That's just kind of going
22:27
Speaker 3: to be maybe a second phase. So there's no plans
22:30
Speaker 3: right now. We don't have the funding for that. So
22:33
Speaker 3: you do see a lot of work going on with Tranquility.
22:35
Speaker 3: They want to have an open by next fall. Have
22:37
Speaker 3: those fields oh really done? Not not this fault like
22:43
Speaker 3: a year from now. Okay, Okay, they that's our plan
22:47
Speaker 3: right now. But because we were turned down for the
22:50
Speaker 3: turnback tax, we've had to scale the project back and
22:54
Speaker 3: we're going to have to do maybe a second phase
22:57
Speaker 3: and try and find funding for the baseball field.
22:59
Speaker 2: Okay, I have a little bit of a question of
23:01
Speaker 2: my own real quick. Either of you guys are welcome
23:02
Speaker 2: to answer this. As a soccer player growing up, Tranquility
23:06
Speaker 2: was one of the main complexes that I played at
23:08
Speaker 2: as a kid. A lot of times I had to
23:10
Speaker 2: travel across the Midwest to go play at other fields
23:13
Speaker 2: for bigger tournaments. Yes, what will Tranquility mean for the
23:18
Speaker 2: city of Omaha being the real, first premier athletic complex
23:22
Speaker 2: for sports and kids? What does that mean for bringing
23:25
Speaker 2: people in, increasing the likelihood of sports in the community.
23:29
Speaker 2: What is the impact going to look Mike, I'm gonna let.
23:32
Speaker 1: Amy talk too, but I'm going to jump right in
23:35
Speaker 1: on that one because that's the whole reason we wanted
23:38
Speaker 1: to do this. I'm a former soccer mom, I spent
23:40
Speaker 1: my life. It seems like Peyton out at tranquility watching
23:44
Speaker 1: my son play. But you know, there was the one
23:46
Speaker 1: big field out there with the bleachers and the lights,
23:49
Speaker 1: and the rest were not and some of those fields
23:51
Speaker 1: when it would rain, they would get underwater. If we
23:53
Speaker 1: would redo this like we first had it planned with
23:56
Speaker 1: the fifteen soccer fields and the ten baseball fields and
24:00
Speaker 1: the mall halls, would do that development north of there
24:02
Speaker 1: with hotels and restaurants and a mixed use development. It
24:06
Speaker 1: could open up a whole new thing for the city
24:10
Speaker 1: of Omaha that we then could start hosting these tournaments.
24:14
Speaker 1: And you don't have to drive to Des Moines and
24:17
Speaker 1: all over the Midwest to have these tournaments. We could
24:19
Speaker 1: have them here. And you know, when I first started
24:22
Speaker 1: talking to philanthropy about you know, would they be interested
24:26
Speaker 1: in putting some money that the thought was always would
24:29
Speaker 1: it be if we did, would this this soccer field
24:33
Speaker 1: in West Omaha be available for all kids in Omaha?
24:37
Speaker 1: And I would say that's the beauty of it, because
24:40
Speaker 1: so many kids that maybe cannot play soccer and cannot
24:44
Speaker 1: afford to go to Des Moines or to travel to
24:47
Speaker 1: Kansas City to play in a tournament. Now they can't.
24:50
Speaker 1: Now they can't it'll be right in Omaha.
24:52
Speaker 4: Yes.
24:53
Speaker 3: And the key to that and making sure that we
24:55
Speaker 3: could have the kind of the national the big tournaments,
24:58
Speaker 3: it's having that minimum of fifes teen and they're even
25:01
Speaker 3: saying sixteen fields is now kind of the key, which
25:03
Speaker 3: is why we're trying to do sixteen. It's the number
25:06
Speaker 3: of fields that you have in order to host those
25:08
Speaker 3: big ones. So that's why we're doing sixteen fields, and
25:12
Speaker 3: we're hoping then we will be able to attract those
25:15
Speaker 3: those big, big tournaments.
25:18
Speaker 1: So the soccer fields are pretty much the same as
25:21
Speaker 1: the original design. It's just that the ten baseball fields
25:24
Speaker 1: right now that you know that you could talk about
25:26
Speaker 1: are out as far as.
25:28
Speaker 3: Right now currently right now, we're going to have to
25:30
Speaker 3: figure out what that funding, what the funding sources will
25:34
Speaker 3: be for the baseball I don't we're not saying we're
25:37
Speaker 3: not going to do it, okay, it's just without the
25:39
Speaker 3: turnback tax, we're not going to be able to do
25:42
Speaker 3: everything like what we want to.
25:43
Speaker 1: And let's explain the turnback tax if we can, because
25:46
Speaker 1: the governor and his team decides basically who gets the
25:50
Speaker 1: turnback tax, and what a turnback tax is is that
25:54
Speaker 1: basically the development will get about half of this states
26:00
Speaker 1: portion of their new sales tax because of the development
26:05
Speaker 1: back to the developer to help pay for it. That
26:08
Speaker 1: that's why it's called the turnback tax.
26:10
Speaker 4: Correct.
26:10
Speaker 1: So the state sales tax is five and a half,
26:13
Speaker 1: So that would mean let me think here, that would
26:15
Speaker 1: mean that the state would get two point seventy five
26:19
Speaker 1: and the developer would get two point seventy five. That's
26:21
Speaker 1: called the turnback tax, right, that's correct.
26:24
Speaker 3: Okay, but the developer that turnback tax would help pay
26:28
Speaker 3: for Tranquility, right, and it's only new sales tax because
26:32
Speaker 3: of that development.
26:33
Speaker 2: So the state's not losing anything at all. Exact they're
26:36
Speaker 2: going to gain.
26:37
Speaker 4: Right because of the development. Wouldn't happen?
26:39
Speaker 3: I mean, the mobiles aren't going to develop that land
26:41
Speaker 3: unless we have the tournaments and the people that are
26:44
Speaker 3: going to come and stay in the hotel.
26:46
Speaker 1: Right now, that the new Union Soccer Stadium, the big
26:50
Speaker 1: stadium that they're planning on building downtown, did get approved
26:53
Speaker 1: for the turnback tax, it did, but Tranquility was denied.
26:57
Speaker 1: And let me say, the turnback tax was originally developed
27:02
Speaker 1: in Nebraska for the Gretna Malls. The Gretna outlet malls, correct,
27:08
Speaker 1: I believe so, or the convention.
27:11
Speaker 4: I mean because we had turnback tax. I think for
27:12
Speaker 4: the Convention centers, their sports arenas was the initial.
27:16
Speaker 1: And then they broadened it. Yes, yeah, they broadened it.
27:18
Speaker 1: They broadened it out to allow outside It.
27:21
Speaker 3: Was just kind of the indoor arenas, and then they
27:24
Speaker 3: broadened it so that you could have outdoor sports complexes.
27:27
Speaker 4: Right, get the turnback tax.
27:29
Speaker 1: But again turnback means it's only it's only the new
27:33
Speaker 1: sales tax because of that development. So the state gains
27:37
Speaker 1: and the city gains too, or the developer gains.
27:39
Speaker 4: It's a win win.
27:40
Speaker 3: I mean, it helps pay for a needed project, and
27:44
Speaker 3: we would have never received those taxes to begin with.
27:46
Speaker 3: And then the state is still receiving their taxes, which
27:49
Speaker 3: will and.
27:49
Speaker 1: I found it disappointing that that was denied. Tranquility was
27:52
Speaker 1: denied because I just thought the great benefit to all
27:55
Speaker 1: kids in Omaha. Yes, and so we don't I mean,
27:58
Speaker 1: we really don't know why. And so that was pretty
28:01
Speaker 1: much the governor's decision and we're not really sure why.
28:04
Speaker 1: Is there a chance they can't apply for turn back again?
28:06
Speaker 1: Can they? I don't remember that you can apply again.
28:10
Speaker 3: Okay, So I believe you can always resubmit it next year. Okay,
28:15
Speaker 3: but we're already proceeding with this project, so I I
28:19
Speaker 3: don't know that it would be worth it that, but
28:21
Speaker 3: you're still literally maybe maybe for the new project, maybe
28:24
Speaker 3: for the baseball field.
28:25
Speaker 2: Well, I know that Tranquility was originally just just baseball sorry,
28:29
Speaker 2: just soccer fields to begin with.
28:31
Speaker 4: There was never baseball fields there.
28:33
Speaker 2: So right now it's almost just whatever Tranquility was before,
28:36
Speaker 2: just making it bigger and better. And then maybe the
28:39
Speaker 2: baseball fields down the line, after we see some of
28:42
Speaker 2: the results of the new Tranquility with the soccer fields,
28:45
Speaker 2: that might help initiate the turnback talk saying hey, guys,
28:48
Speaker 2: look what this has done so far.
28:49
Speaker 3: Right, and yeah, that Kelly Complex on the other side,
28:53
Speaker 3: on the other side of Fort Street, we need we
28:56
Speaker 3: really do need improvements over there and that and so
28:59
Speaker 3: though improvements and then adding baseball fields on that side,
29:03
Speaker 3: and there's really nothing else we can do where that
29:06
Speaker 3: because of the land and the floodplaine right everything else.
29:10
Speaker 1: So the flood plane or the flood fringe or whatever
29:13
Speaker 1: the blood problem is up there. Amy Moultain is with
29:16
Speaker 1: us today Omaha City Council. And another thing, Amy, we
29:18
Speaker 1: do get a lot of questions about is Fort Street,
29:21
Speaker 1: which is just north of all of that. Right now.
29:24
Speaker 1: Fort Street from one hundred and second to one hundred
29:26
Speaker 1: and twentieth is going undergoing a major redevelopment. I mean,
29:31
Speaker 1: it's it's pretty much torn up there, and that stretch
29:34
Speaker 1: of Fort Street it was actually done by a company
29:38
Speaker 1: about twenty twenty five years ago, and it's just the
29:41
Speaker 1: concrete is just it's just destroyed right now. But I
29:45
Speaker 1: did find out that from one hundred twentieth to one
29:48
Speaker 1: hundred and twenty fourth where the park entrance actually is
29:51
Speaker 1: one hundred and twenty fourth, they're going to start reconstruction
29:54
Speaker 1: on that stretch in October. So that is news for
29:59
Speaker 1: the listener. Somebody asked that about that the other day.
30:02
Speaker 1: I know Peyton has giving us the stink eye over here.
30:05
Speaker 1: He's telling us it's time for a break. So, Amy,
30:08
Speaker 1: Melton City Council Member from City Council District seven in
30:13
Speaker 1: northwest Omaha, I'm so glad that you're here today. Well,
30:16
Speaker 1: thanks for having me, and tell the staff too. You know.
30:18
Speaker 1: My heart goes out to him about Liz Letty. That's
30:20
Speaker 1: very very sad. I know it's going to be a
30:22
Speaker 1: sad day downtown for everybody, but thank you for what
30:25
Speaker 1: you do and what you fight for. Like I said,
30:27
Speaker 1: I think a lot about you, Amy, and I think
30:30
Speaker 1: a lot about what you're still doing for the city
30:32
Speaker 1: of Omaha. And she she is tenacious and she will
30:36
Speaker 1: get things done. So I really appreciate you being here.
30:39
Speaker 1: And your anniversary is coming up soon, yes, so happy
30:42
Speaker 1: anniversary to you in scott.
30:43
Speaker 3: Thank you so much, and thanks for doing this show.
30:46
Speaker 3: It's a great show. I listened to it almost every
30:48
Speaker 3: day and I love it.
30:49
Speaker 1: It's fun all right, Thanks Amy, Amy Milton, Omaha City Council.
30:52
Speaker 4: Thank you, and we are back.
30:54
Speaker 1: I started talking before my microphone was on. Thanks again
30:57
Speaker 1: to Amy Milton for coming on the show. It's off
31:00
Speaker 1: for them in the council office. They lost to you know,
31:02
Speaker 1: one of their staff members, forty three years old woman
31:07
Speaker 1: of a heart attack, and that's just so sad. But
31:10
Speaker 1: again it shows how delicate and fragile life is. We
31:13
Speaker 1: should be grateful for every single day we have. But
31:16
Speaker 1: there was a question that came in after we went
31:19
Speaker 1: off the air, but it did ask about the mountain bike.
31:23
Speaker 1: The mountain walking trails on the south side of forty. Yes,
31:27
Speaker 1: those will still exist, and they are doing some maintenance
31:30
Speaker 1: work on those areas up there too, so that will
31:34
Speaker 1: be completed upgraded. And then that's not BMX though, and
31:39
Speaker 1: the BMX is at Heflinger and so just to let
31:42
Speaker 1: you know that are interested in the biking and the
31:45
Speaker 1: mountain bikes and walking trails and things. So that's all
31:48
Speaker 1: underway too. The big question is, like we want to
31:51
Speaker 1: do that we talked about is because they were hoping
31:54
Speaker 1: they would get the turnback tacks that would really help
31:56
Speaker 1: pay for the additional fields. Now that they were doing
32:00
Speaker 1: it's like, okay, we went back to the drawing board
32:03
Speaker 1: to try to design something that wasn't you know. It
32:05
Speaker 1: came back at over one hundred and twenty million and
32:07
Speaker 1: we had budgeted fifty four and we're like, holy cow.
32:11
Speaker 1: So taking out all of those baseball fields is a concern.
32:15
Speaker 1: I just am concerned. I hope they're doing all this
32:17
Speaker 1: grading that they will at least get those sixteen soccer
32:20
Speaker 1: fields in there, because if they go down to say
32:22
Speaker 1: twelve soccer fields, they're not going to be set up
32:25
Speaker 1: for tournaments.
32:26
Speaker 2: No, and Gene I just hope that you guys listening
32:29
Speaker 2: out there understand that this is expensive and it's a
32:33
Speaker 2: lot of money to get done. But when this becomes available,
32:38
Speaker 2: this is going to be so beneficial to the local economy.
32:41
Speaker 1: It will and to the youth in our community here because,
32:45
Speaker 1: like I said, there are so many kids that love soccer,
32:48
Speaker 1: that want to play soccer, that would love to go
32:51
Speaker 1: to a soccer tournament, but really don't have the ability
32:54
Speaker 1: to afford to be traveling all over the place to
32:58
Speaker 1: Des Moines and to Kansas City, and some even go
33:01
Speaker 1: out to Colorado to play in these tournaments. And then
33:05
Speaker 1: we would have the ability to do that here.
33:07
Speaker 2: And it's not only just the fields, you know, it's
33:10
Speaker 2: new restrooms, it's the bleachers, it's the lighting, it's the
33:14
Speaker 2: concession stands. All of that is part of this development.
33:18
Speaker 2: So I don't know where they're at with it now
33:21
Speaker 2: with the redesign. That's why I wanted to ask Amy.
33:24
Speaker 2: And you know, like I said before, the Moholls had
33:26
Speaker 2: this great mixed use development north of there, which only
33:30
Speaker 2: benefits that development too, because if there's hotels up there,
33:33
Speaker 2: in restaurants and you're coming into town for your kid
33:36
Speaker 2: to have a soccer tournament. Everything's right there, and that's
33:39
Speaker 2: the beauty of it. Absolutely. I want to get one
33:41
Speaker 2: phone call here from Jeff. He's been real patient on
33:43
Speaker 2: the line. We're going to cut back to minimum wage
33:45
Speaker 2: real quick. Gene. Jeff, thank you so much for hanging
33:47
Speaker 2: on for me. You are live on eleven ten KFAB
33:50
Speaker 2: with Jeans South.
33:51
Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning.
33:54
Speaker 5: I was listening to your comments and the consolewoman's comments
33:57
Speaker 5: on the minimum wage. I want to start with my
34:00
Speaker 5: grandsons who are both under eighteen, and they both started
34:03
Speaker 5: at sixteen dollars an hour, and now one at Minars
34:06
Speaker 5: is making more than that. One it runs is making
34:08
Speaker 5: more than that, and both of those companies have a
34:12
Speaker 5: trouble finding people to work kids, basically kids. That's the
34:16
Speaker 5: first thing. The second thing is the voters of the
34:19
Speaker 5: state in Nebraska voted for a certain wage rule, and
34:23
Speaker 5: the legislature, in their wisdom, in their infinite wisdom, said
34:27
Speaker 5: now the voters are wrong. We're going to change it.
34:29
Speaker 5: We're going to make it more difficult.
34:30
Speaker 2: Whatever.
34:31
Speaker 5: I started working when I was eleven for twenty five
34:33
Speaker 5: cents an hour, I'm eighty three years old. That's a copy.
34:37
Speaker 2: But at any rate.
34:38
Speaker 5: The labor market is the labor market, and right now
34:42
Speaker 5: they're having trouble finding people to work, whether they're fourteen, fifteen, sixteen,
34:46
Speaker 5: or seventeen. You've got to pay people to work. And
34:50
Speaker 5: the worst thing is the seven to fifty hour, seven
34:54
Speaker 5: fifteen hour wage rate by the nation is utilized by
34:58
Speaker 5: the prisons in Alabama, Mississippi and those places where they
35:02
Speaker 5: have prisoners working out of their state prisons, and it
35:06
Speaker 5: just screws up the whole economy in those states. And
35:08
Speaker 5: that's why Alabama and Mississippi, Georgia, Alabama, Missippi in particular
35:15
Speaker 5: have screwed up economies because of this way situation. Absolutely,
35:20
Speaker 5: work needs to be done, but you and Amy need
35:22
Speaker 5: to get together and plus and now ended with the lifeguards.
35:25
Speaker 5: The city of Oha is always having trouble hiring lifeguards,
35:29
Speaker 5: which are fifteen, sixteen, seventeen year old kids. Yes, but
35:32
Speaker 5: they they pay seventeen dollars an hour. Eighteen dollars an hour,
35:35
Speaker 5: which is the city wage. Your conversation was one sided
35:39
Speaker 5: or lopsided. You need to look at you need to
35:42
Speaker 5: talk to some of the seventeen year old kids out
35:44
Speaker 5: there working and see what they say.
35:46
Speaker 1: That's a good idea. It really is good idea. Thank
35:49
Speaker 1: you for your comments. Very good idea. But like I said,
35:51
Speaker 1: it's not going to it's not going to hurt any
35:53
Speaker 1: with our labor negotiations with the city because we do pay,
35:56
Speaker 1: but to your point, a lot of the fast food
35:59
Speaker 1: restaurants pay more than that anyway. And the point that
36:02
Speaker 1: Amy was trying to say is that you know, we
36:06
Speaker 1: want to help working families, but good intentions do not
36:12
Speaker 1: confer legal authority that the city charter does not grant
36:16
Speaker 1: and that the legislature doesn't have authorization to do. That's
36:20
Speaker 1: her big point right there, that they're trying to go
36:22
Speaker 1: above and beyond what the Attorney General says a city
36:26
Speaker 1: can do, and for their intentions, it doesn't make a
36:31
Speaker 1: whole lot of sense because there's not many fourteen, fifteen,
36:34
Speaker 1: sixteen year olds, like we said earlier, that need a
36:36
Speaker 1: living wage, that are trying to support a family, and
36:39
Speaker 1: yet they are having still a hard time. We had
36:42
Speaker 1: a hard time finding lifeguards, you know, and I know
36:45
Speaker 1: that so and that's when we did raise a lifeguards salary.
36:48
Speaker 1: So good point, and we would love to hear what
36:53
Speaker 1: everybody else has to think about this what the city
36:55
Speaker 1: council has done here on a four to three vote.
36:57
Speaker 1: But keep in mind there will be a loss. The
37:00
Speaker 1: Attorney General says they will sue the City of Omaha.
37:03
Speaker 1: So now all of this taxpayer dollars, you know, a
37:06
Speaker 1: couple hundred thousand minimum to hide an outside council because
37:11
Speaker 1: there would be a conflict of interest if our own
37:13
Speaker 1: city or city attorneys defended the city because they wrote
37:17
Speaker 1: the ordinance. Now it's a waste of money to try
37:20
Speaker 1: to make a point, and I just I don't understand
37:22
Speaker 1: it at all. But you know, Peyton, did you have
37:25
Speaker 1: something else? What I was going to bring up is
37:28
Speaker 1: change the subject real quickly. I was because Tom Becka,
37:31
Speaker 1: good old Tom Becka, was on yesterday and I think
37:34
Speaker 1: we got quite a few calls about some of the
37:37
Speaker 1: comments that he had made. But we'll get into those
37:39
Speaker 1: maybe on Monday. But one point I wanted to bring
37:42
Speaker 1: up with Tom and he did about what Tom asked me,
37:45
Speaker 1: and we go Tom and I have a history. We
37:47
Speaker 1: go back and forth all the time. He challenges me.
37:49
Speaker 1: I challenged him. But when he said to me, why
37:52
Speaker 1: are you a Republican? Why do you support the Republican Party?
37:56
Speaker 1: Still and you know, he did bring up that he
37:58
Speaker 1: went to Denise Pal's event the other.
38:01
Speaker 2: Day and he had had coffee with her at a
38:02
Speaker 2: time before.
38:03
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, okay, And he did say it was packed,
38:06
Speaker 1: and he said there were people waiting in line to
38:08
Speaker 1: get in. Do you know because Mayor Pete was there too. Now,
38:13
Speaker 1: let me just bring back something that happened to me
38:15
Speaker 1: in twenty seventeen. Heath Mellow was my challenger for the
38:19
Speaker 1: mayor of Omaha. I love Heath Mellow. Now we are
38:22
Speaker 1: very very good friends. So this isn't criticizing him at all,
38:25
Speaker 1: but just to give you an example, he had Heath
38:29
Speaker 1: Mellow had Bernie Sander come in town after the primary
38:34
Speaker 1: before the general election, and they absolutely filled the Baxter Arena.
38:40
Speaker 1: People were waiting outside to get in. And we were
38:43
Speaker 1: with my campaign, We're thinking, oh boy, we're sunk. You know,
38:47
Speaker 1: Baxter Arena is full to see to see Heath Mellow.
38:50
Speaker 1: They're waiting outside. They've got somebody famous like Mayor Pete.
38:55
Speaker 1: I would say Bernie was more famous than Mayor Pete
38:58
Speaker 1: was for Denise. That doesn't mean a thing because many
39:02
Speaker 1: of those people were not coming to see Heath Mellow.
39:05
Speaker 1: They were not coming to see Denise pal They were
39:08
Speaker 1: coming to see Mayor Pete, or they were coming to
39:10
Speaker 1: see Bernie Sanders. And a lot of those people that
39:14
Speaker 1: came when they filled up backs to arena, they weren't
39:17
Speaker 1: Omaha voters. There were tons of students from out of town.
39:21
Speaker 1: They just wanted to be there to see it. So
39:23
Speaker 1: that doesn't necessarily mean that all of those people that
39:27
Speaker 1: went into that were waiting in line to see Denise
39:29
Speaker 1: Paell and Secretary Pete I guess I should call him now,
39:33
Speaker 1: were actually Omaha voters, meaning she's going to get the
39:36
Speaker 1: majority of the votes because of that. But one thing
39:39
Speaker 1: I got to get in before the end of this
39:41
Speaker 1: show is when he said, why are you Republican? You know,
39:44
Speaker 1: I'm Republican for all the tenets of the Republican Party.
39:47
Speaker 1: That's why. And he said, but what are those? Well,
39:50
Speaker 1: I mean, we all know what they are. If you
39:52
Speaker 1: are Republican, it's limited government. It's a free market economy,
39:56
Speaker 1: strong national defense. It's traditional values meaning pro life. It's
40:00
Speaker 1: personal responsibility meaning a lot of self reliance that less
40:04
Speaker 1: government programs. This is the tenets of the Republican Party,
40:08
Speaker 1: and this is why I'm a Republican. Now. Have we
40:10
Speaker 1: swayed away from it? Some people have, but look at
40:13
Speaker 1: what the Democrat Party stands for now too. Love to
40:16
Speaker 1: hear your opinions on all of that. Also, it's going
40:19
Speaker 1: to be a hot one today and a hot weekend,
40:21
Speaker 1: so everybody do what you can to stay cool and
40:25
Speaker 1: enjoy the sunshine. I love hot weather. I truly do
40:28
Speaker 1: it too. I'm solar power.
40:30
Speaker 4: I love it.
40:30
Speaker 2: Gene, I wanted to ask you one question, real Chrick.
40:32
Speaker 2: Linda gave me a call. Linda, thank you for your
40:35
Speaker 2: call this morning. She has a question about an abandoned
40:37
Speaker 2: house in her neighborhood. It is a second one. The
40:41
Speaker 2: first one has been abandoned for about six to eight years.
40:44
Speaker 4: She said.
40:44
Speaker 2: She wants to know who's responsible for this? Should this
40:47
Speaker 2: take this long? What's the timeline? Is this costing anybody anything?
40:52
Speaker 2: She's mentioned that she's called the Mayor's hotline multiple times
40:55
Speaker 2: to try to find a solution. What do you recommend
40:57
Speaker 2: here with our final two minutes?
40:58
Speaker 1: Well, if you're not getting any answers with the Mayor's hotline,
41:01
Speaker 1: which is very disappointing to me, here's the deal that
41:06
Speaker 1: the who is responsible is the homeowner, whoever owns that home.
41:11
Speaker 1: And if it's an abandoned house and it's just sitting
41:13
Speaker 1: there abandoned it they're not violating anything. That The issue
41:18
Speaker 1: I would ask you is it depends on the condition
41:21
Speaker 1: of the house, because then there could be a lot
41:24
Speaker 1: of code violations. You know, is the grass growing, is
41:27
Speaker 1: there weeds all over the place, is they're broken windows,
41:30
Speaker 1: is the roof caven in? You know, it depends on
41:32
Speaker 1: the condition of the house, if there are code violations,
41:36
Speaker 1: and if anyone's living there, if there's a squatter in
41:39
Speaker 1: there too. If you are not getting any results from
41:42
Speaker 1: calling the mayor's hotline, which is four four four five
41:45
Speaker 1: five five five, I don't know where the area is,
41:48
Speaker 1: but you could call your city council member. And I
41:50
Speaker 1: would absolutely do that and call your city council member,
41:54
Speaker 1: tell them that you want some action. Tell them to
41:57
Speaker 1: look into this. It might be an issue of them
42:00
Speaker 1: calling the Omaha Police Department if it is some code
42:03
Speaker 1: violations too. So that would be my recommendation for you.
42:06
Speaker 1: And that is it for us today. So thank you
42:09
Speaker 1: for spending this hour with us, Thank you all for listening,
42:13
Speaker 1: and we'd love for you to join us again on Monday.
42:15
Speaker 1: I am Jean Stothard and this is eleven ten kfab
42:23
Speaker 1: Adoptee ADOPTI