Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / President/CEO of MECA and Union Omaha Stadium

Transcript

President/CEO of MECA and Union Omaha Stadium · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: With us today is Adam Straight. Good morning, Adam, good morning,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: how are you? And Adam is the new and the
• 0:08
  Speaker 1: only second president and CEO of MECCA since its conception
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: in two thousand. He is new to Omaha, and I
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: thought this is a great opportunity, Adam, to introduce you
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: to our listening audience, because you know, everyone in Omaha
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: listens to this show tunes in every day. But the
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: important work that you do, I think is very very
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: important for our audience to understand. Because Roger Dixon retired,
• 0:36
  Speaker 1: he was the first and the only president and CEO
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: of MECCA for about twenty five years. And what MECCA is,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: MECA is the Metropolitan Entertainment Convention Authority. And so let
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: me just review a little about what MECCA does and
• 0:52
  Speaker 1: what MECCA is before we get into your new job here.
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: And I hope you like it here so far.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Good good. I love you in that.
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: But what MECCA does is it oversees the operations of
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: city owned property, and that right now is the chi
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: Arena Convention Center. It is also the ballpark Charles schwab
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: Field and is also now the Riverfront Parks. But in
• 1:16
  Speaker 1: its inception, what MECHA was doing is managing and overseeing
• 1:22
  Speaker 1: the development of the convention Center. And that's what Roger
• 1:25
  Speaker 1: Dixon did. When you talk about these three projects together,
• 1:30
  Speaker 1: it is estimated that it brings in over thirty two
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: million visitors in about two billion in economic impacts. So
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: it's very important these three city owned facilities that is
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: managed by MECCA. Now, how MECCA came into existence is
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: back in two thousand.
• 1:49
  Speaker 2: It was a bond.
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: It was on the ballot to vote for the for
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: the citizens to approve the convention Center because it was
• 1:57
  Speaker 1: being paid for with general obligation bonds and that's taxpayer dollars.
• 2:02
  Speaker 1: So it had to go on the ballot for people
• 2:04
  Speaker 1: to approve. But there was a second ballot question on
• 2:08
  Speaker 1: that election and that was approved. And the second ballot
• 2:11
  Speaker 1: question was the creation of MECCA. And MECCA is a
• 2:14
  Speaker 1: nonprofit organization and like I said, there's a long term
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: agreement with the City of Omaha, and MECCA manages those
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: city owned properties. Now I'll just do a little more
• 2:24
  Speaker 1: review and then I'll hush up. But the original convention Center,
• 2:29
  Speaker 1: it was about two hundred and sixteen million dollars. It
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: was a partnership of city dollars and it was about
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: seventy five million of private dollars. It originally was scheduled
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: to be paid off in twenty twenty seven. The city
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: spends about of taxpayer dollars, about twenty million dollars a
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: year is what the debt is that the city pays,
• 2:52
  Speaker 1: but on the debt of the facility itself. But besides that,
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: MECCA is it's basically its own company and runs the place,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: from the hiring of the personnel to paying for all
• 3:03
  Speaker 1: of the costs it has to running that organization. And boy,
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: it is a big impact on the city of Omaha,
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: and it is so important. So Adam, here you are
• 3:15
  Speaker 1: spearheading now over a huge expansion of CHI about ninety
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: thousand square feet, but a lot of people don't even
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: know what's going on because it's on.
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: The back facing the river.
• 3:27
  Speaker 1: So first of all, before we dig into that, tell
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: us who Adam straight is and where have you come from?
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: What have you done in the past. I know these things,
• 3:37
  Speaker 1: but I think our audience really needs to know who
• 3:39
  Speaker 1: you are and where you've been and why you are
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: such a good new president and CEO.
• 3:45
  Speaker 3: Great.
• 3:45
  Speaker 4: Thank you so much for having me and being able
• 3:49
  Speaker 4: to tell our story as Mecca and also my story.
• 3:54
  Speaker 3: So Adam straight, who is that? So?
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: Born and raised in small town in West Virginia many
• 4:03
  Speaker 4: years ago. I got out as soon as I could
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  Speaker 4: not because it's a bad place or a bad thing,
• 4:08
  Speaker 4: but I.
• 4:09
  Speaker 3: Just knew there was a lot of opportunity out there.
• 4:12
  Speaker 4: So I joined the military at eighteen and really started
• 4:16
  Speaker 4: my life from from that point. That allowed me to
• 4:21
  Speaker 4: do a lot of good things within that that experience
• 4:26
  Speaker 4: United States Coast Guard. I spent nine years total, five
• 4:29
  Speaker 4: years active, four years reserves. Like I said, I was
• 4:33
  Speaker 4: able to learn so much about leadership, about being an
• 4:39
  Speaker 4: effective follower, which is sometimes more important than leadership because
• 4:43
  Speaker 4: if you can't follow, you can't lead. So yeah, at
• 4:47
  Speaker 4: a young age, I was put in those positions to
• 4:52
  Speaker 4: look back on now and you know, tap into in
• 4:55
  Speaker 4: those in those times of need, you know, going through
• 4:58
  Speaker 4: certain situations in the profession now. So, like I said,
• 5:03
  Speaker 4: spent some years in the military, got out, got a
• 5:08
  Speaker 4: job at the University of Maryland because it was far
• 5:12
  Speaker 4: enough away but close enough, but far enough away from
• 5:16
  Speaker 4: where I grew up, if you know what I mean,
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: but a lot more opportunity. Started as an electrician in
• 5:23
  Speaker 4: the shop at the.
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  Speaker 2: University of Really, I did not know that about you.
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  Speaker 4: I picked up that skill in the military as I
• 5:30
  Speaker 4: was waiting for school. At that point, the Coast Guard
• 5:34
  Speaker 4: only had like thirty two thousand people enrolled in the
• 5:37
  Speaker 4: entire Coast Guard. Put that in perspective, I think NYPD
• 5:42
  Speaker 4: had forty five thousand, so quite a difference. Yes, you
• 5:47
  Speaker 4: were able to do a lot of things, is the point.
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  Speaker 4: And while you're waiting for school, you were able to
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: learn on the job skills. So I had a really
• 5:54
  Speaker 4: good relationship with the chief electrician. I told him to
• 5:57
  Speaker 4: teach him everything you knew, so he tried to I
• 6:00
  Speaker 4: I I listened as much as I could and got
• 6:02
  Speaker 4: out with a skill just enough to be dangerous. So
• 6:06
  Speaker 4: got a job as an electrician, literally in the shop
• 6:10
  Speaker 4: about two weeks in.
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  Speaker 5: Uh.
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  Speaker 4: I answered two questions, and this is really the reason
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  Speaker 4: I'm in this business today. I was in the shop
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: h one night, left something in my locker and he
• 6:22
  Speaker 4: he said. The supervisor said, hey, new guy, do you
• 6:25
  Speaker 4: like sports? And I said, absolutely, I love sports.
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  Speaker 3: Uh. Second question was do you like overtime? I said,
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  Speaker 3: that's even better.
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  Speaker 4: I'm here to do to make as much money as
• 6:34
  Speaker 4: as I can, and UH to uh to learn as
• 6:36
  Speaker 4: much as I can. So that really spawned into uh
• 6:39
  Speaker 4: into a really wealth of knowledge inside the space, but
• 6:46
  Speaker 4: outside just being Electrician, So learning the qualities of of
• 6:52
  Speaker 4: audio visual you know, press conference setups and you know
• 6:55
  Speaker 4: scoreboard mating and all of these things that.
• 6:57
  Speaker 3: Are associated with big events.
• 6:58
  Speaker 4: So did that for eleven years again started as Electrician,
• 7:01
  Speaker 4: left as the director of all their athletic facilities on
• 7:05
  Speaker 4: campus and went through multiple renovations, opened up a new arena,
• 7:10
  Speaker 4: shut down an old arena. That turned into a position
• 7:14
  Speaker 4: opportunity in Georgia in Atlanta running the Georgia Dome the.
• 7:19
  Speaker 3: Day to day operations for Georgia.
• 7:21
  Speaker 4: So that got me into the professional setting, from collegiate
• 7:25
  Speaker 4: to professional. Still kept me in what I'd love to do,
• 7:28
  Speaker 4: this is large venue management.
• 7:29
  Speaker 2: But so how long were you at the Georgia Dome.
• 7:33
  Speaker 3: I was in Atlanta for eight years.
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  Speaker 4: Told so did the director of operations job.
• 7:40
  Speaker 3: For several years.
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  Speaker 4: We knew we were going to decommission the Georgia Dome
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: and build a new stadium from the Atlanta Falcons, they
• 7:45
  Speaker 4: were a tenant.
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  Speaker 3: That deal was struck.
• 7:48
  Speaker 4: The authority still in the asset, but the Falcons managed it.
• 7:51
  Speaker 4: So my CEO at the time put me in charge
• 7:54
  Speaker 4: the executive in charge of that project. So literally from
• 7:57
  Speaker 4: day one choosing the architect to day zero when we
• 7:59
  Speaker 4: opened the in twenty seventeen one point nine billion dollars
• 8:05
  Speaker 4: total project budget. Again, learned so much about different leadership
• 8:11
  Speaker 4: qualities as it relates to project management, as it relates
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  Speaker 4: to being a project executive, the finances behind everything. Again,
• 8:19
  Speaker 4: it kind of goes to the theme of I'm willing
• 8:21
  Speaker 4: and eager and willing to learn as much as I
• 8:24
  Speaker 4: can day in and day out. So once that was built,
• 8:28
  Speaker 4: I was asked to take a job to run that stadium,
• 8:32
  Speaker 4: and I respectfully declined that knew how much it took
• 8:35
  Speaker 4: to do that at that point of my career. In
• 8:37
  Speaker 4: that point of my life, we wanted to start a family,
• 8:40
  Speaker 4: so kind of took a step back, and my CEO
• 8:45
  Speaker 4: put me in charge of a new kind of department
• 8:52
  Speaker 4: to create a new department in project management that took
• 8:55
  Speaker 4: care of all of the new capital projects and new
• 8:59
  Speaker 4: development and strategies associated with our campus. Did that for
• 9:04
  Speaker 4: a couple of years, stood it up from ground zero,
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  Speaker 4: and then moved into an overall campus director of operations role.
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  Speaker 4: That took me to New Orleans.
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  Speaker 2: And then to New Orleans.
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  Speaker 1: And I was just telling Adams since I was there,
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  Speaker 1: I've told the audience I was there last weekend for
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: the jazz Fest. You know all about that. But tell
• 9:25
  Speaker 1: us what you did in New Orleans and then let's
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: get into what you're going to do here in Omaha. Yes,
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  Speaker 1: so you have a big job in Omaha.
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  Speaker 4: Absolutely so. New Orleans presented a lot of opportunities. Got
• 9:37
  Speaker 4: down there in the early part of twenty nineteen as
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  Speaker 4: the COO in charge of the day to day operations.
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  Speaker 4: You know, New Orleans, I had the luxury of being
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  Speaker 4: associated with two of the largest convention centers in the
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  Speaker 4: country to the top five, very large facility, a lot
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  Speaker 4: of large scale, highlighted events in the convention sector and
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  Speaker 4: the entertainment sports section.
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  Speaker 2: And you were.
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  Speaker 1: Were you in control of the management of the budget
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: there too, because I know there's a huge budget for
• 10:15
  Speaker 1: the New Orleans It was like seventy seventy three million.
• 10:18
  Speaker 3: Yeah that year, that was my operating budget.
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  Speaker 2: Okay, okay, all right.
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  Speaker 3: The luxury of New Orleans is our tax subsidies.
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  Speaker 4: A large hotel motel tax goes to the center through
• 10:30
  Speaker 4: the structured deal to the tune of some years around
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  Speaker 4: seventy five million. So I'm three million in the black
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: before we book a piece of business.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: So yeah, that's that's decent.
• 10:43
  Speaker 1: So you have so much experience at leading large scale venues.
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: You've had experience managing public private partnerships, and you've had
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: experience with long term construction projects too, absolutely and getting
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: them done on budget.
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  Speaker 3: Yeah.
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  Speaker 4: When I arrived in New Orleans, we had some work
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: to do. We had a facility that was aging built
• 11:03
  Speaker 4: in the eighties mid eighties, renovated, expanded throughout the years,
• 11:08
  Speaker 4: but it was starting to show and we needed to
• 11:11
  Speaker 4: catch up to remain competitive. We had the space, we
• 11:14
  Speaker 4: had the allocated space that could be programmed for these
• 11:17
  Speaker 4: large events, but it wasn't the best looking.
• 11:20
  Speaker 3: Right, right.
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: And talk a little bit about some of these big
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: venues that were into Orleans that you were involved in,
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: NCAA Final Fours, the Super Bowl, that's right. So you
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: were involved with a lot of that, the college football playoffs,
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  Speaker 1: I mean a lot of things that you have been
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: involved with.
• 11:38
  Speaker 4: The correct Yeah, of course those events are held in
• 11:40
  Speaker 4: the Superdome, which is not one of our properties, but
• 11:43
  Speaker 4: through the partnership and the citywide involvement of those large
• 11:46
  Speaker 4: scale events, we were always at the table and had
• 11:49
  Speaker 4: a huge hand and presenting our city and our venues.
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: Okay, so after a long search, the Mecca board did
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: hire Adam to take over after Rodger Dickson retire, And
• 12:00
  Speaker 1: like I said, you were only the second president and
• 12:04
  Speaker 1: CEO of Mecca. Now Mecca not only runs and manages
• 12:09
  Speaker 1: Arena Convention Center, but also Charles Schwab Ballpark and then
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: the Riverfront parks. So you have a big job now
• 12:16
  Speaker 1: in Omaha. One of the things I want to get
• 12:18
  Speaker 1: to though, because it is voter approved. Back in twenty
• 12:21
  Speaker 1: twenty four, it was on the ballot. I put it
• 12:24
  Speaker 1: on the ballot to approve bonds to begin a two
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: hundred million dollar renovation of our arena Convention Center, and
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: with the goals were to boost the city's ability to
• 12:35
  Speaker 1: host larger and more lucrative conventions. So talk about the
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: difference between the arena side, where it's a Homa crateon basketball.
• 12:43
  Speaker 1: We have all these great concerts and things, but the
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: convention side is where we were coming up short and
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: explain why it is necessary. First of all, that passed,
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the voters approved the bond issue. It was going to
• 12:59
  Speaker 1: be about the two million dollar renovation was going to
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: be about half from the city and about half from
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: philanthropy from private So that's where you are now. It's
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: under construction currently. We have sixteen about sixteen if I'm right,
• 13:12
  Speaker 1: if I remember right, meeting rooms, we're going to go
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: up to twenty four. Talk about how important that is
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: for Omaha and for that area.
• 13:22
  Speaker 4: Sure, so a little correction, there'ren we're gonna expand, and
• 13:24
  Speaker 4: the expansion is twenty five additional, so we'll go up
• 13:27
  Speaker 4: to forty one total, right, bating rooms, which is a game.
• 13:30
  Speaker 1: Changer, and you're adding twenty four more to the sixteen.
• 13:34
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so very important.
• 13:36
  Speaker 4: So that puts us in a different market set, and
• 13:39
  Speaker 4: that allows us to become attractive to those clients and
• 13:44
  Speaker 4: those those shows that couldn't necessarily fit within the walls.
• 13:50
  Speaker 4: Gives them more flex space, gives them more breakout space,
• 13:54
  Speaker 4: allows them to kind of spread out a little more
• 13:55
  Speaker 4: so they're not so compact, but allows them to grow
• 13:58
  Speaker 4: in the future. Oh I'm sorry, go ahead, No, that's
• 14:01
  Speaker 4: the beauty of it. It's attracting clients that we can
• 14:03
  Speaker 4: grow with.
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: Now I know you book things way into the future,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: so anticipating that this will be done in twenty eight,
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: this will be complete in twenty eight.
• 14:13
  Speaker 3: Fall of twenty seven, we're starting to book shows.
• 14:17
  Speaker 2: And that's what I was going to ask you.
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: Are you already booking conventionssolutely for bigger size convention.
• 14:22
  Speaker 3: That's right.
• 14:23
  Speaker 1: So what that means to the to Omaha's economy is
• 14:26
  Speaker 1: more people coming into town, more people meeting in our restaurants,
• 14:30
  Speaker 1: going to our bars, buying things in our stores. So
• 14:34
  Speaker 1: then what does that increase the needs in that area?
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: Will we be building and is it necessary to build
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: another full service hotel down there besides the Marriott.
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: In the Hilton.
• 14:43
  Speaker 4: Absolutely since I've been here, that's the one thing that
• 14:47
  Speaker 4: I've consistently pointed out that we need a headquarter hotel
• 14:52
  Speaker 4: attached to the convention center. Okay, the statistics, the data
• 14:56
  Speaker 4: is out there. Will certainly phne that up and update that.
• 15:00
  Speaker 4: But our clients and customers are are just singing from
• 15:04
  Speaker 4: the rooftops of hey, this would be great if we
• 15:06
  Speaker 4: did this and the and this means a eight hundred
• 15:09
  Speaker 4: key minimum hotel.
• 15:10
  Speaker 1: So do you so it would be attached like with
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: a walkway. Do you have any thoughts? Have you talked
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: with the Mecca board about what your what they I
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: guess the plan or the vision is of where to
• 15:21
  Speaker 1: put this hotel. Is it going to be on Lot D?
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Is it going to be on Lot B? What's your
• 15:25
  Speaker 1: thoughts on that?
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: There are several different locations out there. I think it's
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: the most optimal, not in Lot D, but to the north.
• 15:36
  Speaker 3: There's an area.
• 15:37
  Speaker 4: Right outside of our exhibit walls that we call the
• 15:39
  Speaker 4: Great Lawn. It's right now it's laid down yard for
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: the construction and the expansion. But I think a nice
• 15:46
  Speaker 4: size tower and podium would fit beautifully on that end
• 15:51
  Speaker 4: and not disrupt our parking in D but create another
• 15:57
  Speaker 4: really anchor to that end of the of the city
• 16:01
  Speaker 4: to add to the skyline.
• 16:02
  Speaker 1: You know what I'm amazed with though, with the Arena
• 16:04
  Speaker 1: Convention Center is how versatile it is. I mean, you know,
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: we have concerts, we have sporting events, we have conventions.
• 16:12
  Speaker 1: But when I see that go from a Creighton basketball
• 16:15
  Speaker 1: floor to an Olympic swimming pool to a concert there,
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: it's amazing what they can do and use that space,
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: and it's so versatile.
• 16:26
  Speaker 2: It's just amazing.
• 16:27
  Speaker 1: Now since it is opened the Arena Convention Center in
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: two thousand and three, which was long before I was mayor,
• 16:34
  Speaker 1: but I was here then, we have seen a real
• 16:36
  Speaker 1: influx down in that area of hotels, apartments, condos, restaurants,
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: office space. I mean right now, you know the builder's
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: district where Keiwit's headquarter is, is north of the ballpark.
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: The new soccer stadium looks like it's going to go
• 16:51
  Speaker 1: ahead right now. The millworks district is down there too,
• 16:56
  Speaker 1: so much is being filled up in infrastructure too. Got
• 17:00
  Speaker 1: to ask you my favorite project, the street car. So
• 17:04
  Speaker 1: the streetcar at the east terminus is going to be
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: right at Capital and tenth Street. Right are right at
• 17:11
  Speaker 1: Capital and yeah, tenth Street, right in front of the
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: Arena Convention Center.
• 17:15
  Speaker 2: And I'm sure you know this.
• 17:16
  Speaker 1: Originally we are going to swing it around and have
• 17:18
  Speaker 1: the east terminus be at Mike Fahey and Tenth Street,
• 17:22
  Speaker 1: but because we're studying a northern route, hopefully up to
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: the airport, we stopped it right where it is.
• 17:28
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: There's a lot of construction going on down there. Now,
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: tell me your thoughts about the College World Series and
• 17:33
  Speaker 1: the construction of the street car?
• 17:35
  Speaker 2: Are you concerned? Is the board concerned? Right now? Tell
• 17:40
  Speaker 2: me your thoughts about the College World Series.
• 17:42
  Speaker 4: So first I'll dip into the construction side of it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 4: I've been part of construction and part of large markets
• 17:49
  Speaker 4: my entire career.
• 17:53
  Speaker 2: Inconvenience is the name of the game for a while.
• 17:55
  Speaker 4: It is absolutely and you know, I always say, I've
• 17:59
  Speaker 4: seen the movie, I know ends, and it's going to
• 18:01
  Speaker 4: be fabulous once it's once it's completed. It is hard
• 18:05
  Speaker 4: right now, and there are a lot of impacts that
• 18:07
  Speaker 4: are out there. But again, we have to do certain
• 18:13
  Speaker 4: things to push ourselves forward and to make ourselves more competitive,
• 18:16
  Speaker 4: and this is just one of those things.
• 18:17
  Speaker 3: So I look forward to it.
• 18:19
  Speaker 4: I'm staying on the proverbial third rail of any opinion
• 18:22
  Speaker 4: on the streetcar because I'm the new guy.
• 18:24
  Speaker 1: Move there on your part, because I you know, I
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: spear hitted the streetcar.
• 18:29
  Speaker 2: I will still be its biggest champion.
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: And I know there's a lot of inconvenience going on
• 18:34
  Speaker 1: downtown now. But when it is all done and everything's
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: working fine, I know people are gonna love it, just
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: like they did in other cities.
• 18:42
  Speaker 3: I mean from a streetcar city, it is a tremendous
• 18:45
  Speaker 3: asset in.
• 18:45
  Speaker 2: The streetcar in New Orleans.
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: I mean you could take that street car around and
• 18:49
  Speaker 1: do everything and see the whole town.
• 18:51
  Speaker 2: So it is. It is really great.
• 18:53
  Speaker 4: Well in with the with the interruptions or potential interruptions.
• 18:58
  Speaker 4: You know, we just went through the kind of a
• 19:00
  Speaker 4: trial run with Berkshire and absolutely turned out great.
• 19:03
  Speaker 3: I mean people got around.
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: Sure there was some you know, jockey in here and there,
• 19:08
  Speaker 4: but you know, with with good communication plans and a
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: set of wayfinding, a nice robust wayfinding package, we'll get
• 19:19
  Speaker 4: through it.
• 19:19
  Speaker 3: I think people understand. People understand the benefit of it.
• 19:22
  Speaker 1: They do, and we have managed it, with the help
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: of Macca obviously in guidance and management, handled it so well.
• 19:28
  Speaker 1: I remember we have been the home of the USA
• 19:31
  Speaker 1: or US Olympic Swim Trials four different times and that
• 19:34
  Speaker 1: was going on the same time the College World Series
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: was and I remember Jack deezing with the College World
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Series was like, oh my lord, how are we going
• 19:43
  Speaker 1: to manage all this? It was managed fine. It was
• 19:46
  Speaker 1: managed just fine. And you know what the work that
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: the police do down there, I mean they clear them out.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: They do such a good job, and so I think
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: that it'll be a little inconvenience this year for sure
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: because it is downtown too, But then hopefully all of
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: those people coming in are really going to help those
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: businesses downtown too that I think have been suffering a
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: little bit a lot with that construction going on down there.
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: So looking ahead, Adam, what message do you have for
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the people of Omaha about and all the people in
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: Omaha and all the people in the surrounding area that
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: really enjoy our arena, convention Center, the baseball field, Schwab
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: the baseball field, and of course our riverfront parks. And
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: that's the one thing that I am so proud of
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: of what we've done with those riverfront parks.
• 20:36
  Speaker 4: I was very impressed, you know, even flying over into
• 20:39
  Speaker 4: the city for the first time during the interview and
• 20:43
  Speaker 4: looking down and seeing, you know, the twer cranes in
• 20:46
  Speaker 4: the sky and everything that's happened and is happening, is
• 20:50
  Speaker 4: just really impressive. And it just goes to show you
• 20:53
  Speaker 4: that we're committed to Omaha's committed to putting ourselves out
• 20:56
  Speaker 4: there and putting ourselves on the map and attracting people
• 20:59
  Speaker 4: that have not necessarily again been attracted for whatever reason.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: So my goal is to get people here.
• 21:07
  Speaker 4: My goal is to get people here, and then they
• 21:09
  Speaker 4: go back and tell somebody, that tell somebody that tells somebody,
• 21:12
  Speaker 4: and then organically that grows into a destination city. Because
• 21:16
  Speaker 4: everyone I've talked to before, that before I landed here,
• 21:20
  Speaker 4: and even during, everyone that I've talked to that's been
• 21:24
  Speaker 4: to Omaha loves it. Yes, people that don't know anything
• 21:28
  Speaker 4: about Omaha.
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: I had the same thing we're here with Adam straight
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: who's the new president and CEO of Mecca. I had
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: the same experience when my husband at the time was
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: offered a position up here at Creighton. He was a
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: surgeon and I had grown up in the Saint Louis area.
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: I grew up in Illinois that I've moved around, and
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: this was the fifth state I had moved to. But
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: I thought, Omaha, what why do I want to move
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: to Omaha. The first day I was here, I loved it.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: And I came from Houston and it was like one
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: hundred and twenty degrees out. It was April. I got
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: off the plane here and it was a blizzard. It
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: was like twenty degrees and it was snowing, and I thought,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: what is he asking me to do? But after I
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: was here one day, I loved it here. And I've
• 22:11
  Speaker 1: heard the same with the colonel, the commander down at
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Air Force Base at office and they will say it's
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: hard to get people to want to come here, and
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: once they're here, they don't int a link. So but
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: but you know this from being in Atlanta, from being
• 22:23
  Speaker 1: in New Orleans. New Orleans, you you cannot have a
• 22:28
  Speaker 1: vibrant growing city without a vibrant growing downtown. And that's
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: why I focused so much when I was mayor on
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: downtown in midtown.
• 22:34
  Speaker 2: And it's happening now, and it's.
• 22:36
  Speaker 4: It's going to it's happening continuine and to your earlier
• 22:39
  Speaker 4: point of you know, how that's growing north, how that's expanding. Absolutely,
• 22:44
  Speaker 4: it's a It truly is a sports and entertainment district
• 22:47
  Speaker 4: and an arts district.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: And just think with all those new meeting rooms there,
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: if we get that street car going up to the airport,
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: all these big conventions come in, they hop on the
• 22:56
  Speaker 1: street car, they go right down right to the convention
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: center there.
• 22:59
  Speaker 2: So Adam, straight, thank you.
• 23:01
  Speaker 1: I could talk to you for an hour but here
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: you are managing an arena convention center that has had
• 23:05
  Speaker 1: Paul McCartney, James Taylor, YouTube, Rolling Stones, Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen,
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Garth Brooks that justin Timberlake. I mean, think of all
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: of the great entertainers that we have and there's only
• 23:16
  Speaker 1: more to come. Thank you for being here, Thank you
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: for your leadership. I think it's so important people understand
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: what Mecca does because these are city owned properties. Good
• 23:25
  Speaker 1: luck and I'm glad you're loving Omaha. Thank you so
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: much for being here.
• 23:29
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much.
• 23:30
  Speaker 2: Yeah, you bet. I do want to.
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: Thank Adam Straight, the new CEO and president of Mecca.
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: I think it's important to review what Mecca does because
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: people will say Mecca. But when we have this incredible
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: arena convention center, doing a two hundred million dollar expansion,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: the ballpark and then the Riverfront parks, and he is
• 23:51
  Speaker 1: head of the business Mecca that is voter approved, that
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: runs all of this and makes tons of economic impact
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: for the city of Omaha. I think it's important for
• 24:01
  Speaker 1: people to review that and to understand how important that is.
• 24:05
  Speaker 1: These are city owned buildings and like I said, the
• 24:09
  Speaker 1: city was paying about twenty million dollars a year every
• 24:12
  Speaker 1: since Serena Convention Center was built.
• 24:14
  Speaker 2: To pay the debt on it.
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: Now with the new bond issue, it's about seven million
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: a year. But that's all worked in the budget and
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: so and but what we get in return is unbelievable.
• 24:25
  Speaker 1: But you know another thing that I want to bring
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: up that what we are talking about everything going on
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: in that area because of the builder's district, which is
• 24:35
  Speaker 1: north of the ballpark, kind of west of it where
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: Keywitz new headquarters is. The millworks district is down there,
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: a lot of activity down there. We it looks like
• 24:44
  Speaker 1: now it's pretty much a go ahead for the proposed
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: soccer stadium because just yesterday this one hundred and forty
• 24:51
  Speaker 1: million dollar professional soccer stadium in North Downtown received approval.
• 24:57
  Speaker 2: To get of the turnback tax.
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: One of the things I wanted to explain is what
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: turnback tax means. So right now where that soccer stadium
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: is going to go is an old rail yard. There
• 25:09
  Speaker 1: is nothing there. It was owned by Union Pacific. Obviously
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the city is buying that land and will lease it
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: basically to the Union Soccer. But there is nothing there,
• 25:23
  Speaker 1: so there is no sales tax being created. Generated there
• 25:27
  Speaker 1: in that area. So what turnback tax means is when
• 25:32
  Speaker 1: that soccer stadium is there and there's a big development
• 25:35
  Speaker 1: around there with hotels, with restaurants, with bars, with retail,
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: the new sales tax that is generated that wouldn't be
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: would be zero if that development wasn't there. What it
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: means is of the state's five point five percent sales tax.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: That's what the state sales tax is. The turnback tax
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: means is is that that development keeps half of the
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: new sales tax, so that's two point seventy five, and
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: then the state still gets the other two point seventy five.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: Both of those together make the five point five. So
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: the state benefits because they're not getting anything now and
• 26:18
  Speaker 1: now of the new sales tax, they're going to get
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: two point seventy five. But the development also will get
• 26:24
  Speaker 1: the two point seventy five which will go into their
• 26:27
  Speaker 1: capital stack to help pay for the development itself.
• 26:30
  Speaker 2: And so I think there was.
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: A caller on Scott's show that says, you know, they
• 26:33
  Speaker 1: should pay for it themselves, or why don't these private
• 26:35
  Speaker 1: businesses pay they are you know, Union Soccer is putting
• 26:39
  Speaker 1: about twenty three million of their own in and there
• 26:43
  Speaker 1: are the businesses that will be created there in that
• 26:47
  Speaker 1: area and that will develop there, such as hotels and
• 26:51
  Speaker 1: such as bars and restaurants. Those are all private and
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: they will all benefit from that too. It's not that
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: the taxpayers and Omaha are paying for those businesses. They will,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: like I said, own the land and they will lease it.
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: There is TIFF. There's about forty eight million in TIFF
• 27:06
  Speaker 1: tax increment financing. But I can explain TIFF over and
• 27:10
  Speaker 1: over and over again. But TIFF is not a risk
• 27:12
  Speaker 1: to the taxpayers either. When when the city council approves TIFF,
• 27:16
  Speaker 1: that's tax increment financing. It would not occur if the
• 27:20
  Speaker 1: development wasn't there. Again, and there's nothing there now, and
• 27:25
  Speaker 1: so with TIFF, the developer goes to the bank and
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: he takes the loan out. All the risk is between
• 27:31
  Speaker 1: the bank and the developer, not the City of Omaha.
• 27:34
  Speaker 1: Right now, once again, there is no taxes being generated
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: in that area are very very little because it's just
• 27:41
  Speaker 1: it was a raal yard. So it's going to be
• 27:44
  Speaker 1: taking just pretty much a vacant raal yard that wasn't
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: being used into an incredible development. And you Peyton high
• 27:52
  Speaker 1: Locks soccer player. I bet you you are going to
• 27:55
  Speaker 1: be one that's gonna love this down there and just
• 27:57
  Speaker 1: will add to the excitement in the business and the
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: people that are to come to our urban core.
• 28:03
  Speaker 6: Most definitely Gene And you know, I live right near
• 28:05
  Speaker 6: Warner Park where Union Omaha has been playing for many, many,
• 28:09
  Speaker 6: many seasons, and they do such a good job, but
• 28:13
  Speaker 6: they struggle so much to try and coordinate. I know
• 28:16
  Speaker 6: they're not playing there anymore. They're playing it mor so
• 28:19
  Speaker 6: this season and I think next as well. They struggle
• 28:21
  Speaker 6: so much. They got to work out with the baseball schedule,
• 28:24
  Speaker 6: They got to turn it from a soccer field to
• 28:26
  Speaker 6: a baseball field, and it's just a lot of work.
• 28:28
  Speaker 6: But they've done their time and they've battled it out.
• 28:31
  Speaker 6: One thing I get nervous about one hundred and forty million,
• 28:34
  Speaker 6: very expensive, and whenever you hear about taxes, Oh, it's
• 28:38
  Speaker 6: is it going to go on my taxes? This allows
• 28:40
  Speaker 6: seventy percent of the state sales tax generated at these
• 28:45
  Speaker 6: sites to fund the construction. So this is not going
• 28:48
  Speaker 6: to be coming in on my taxes and anything else.
• 28:51
  Speaker 6: It's already so high here, so it's not going to
• 28:53
  Speaker 6: come to us it's just at these sites.
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: Well most of the time that those you know with
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: the turnback tax too, with a new development, a lot
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: of it is out of towners that are eating in
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: the restaurants, going to the bars, buying the retail, staying
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: in the hotels, renting cars, and a lot of it
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: is out of town generated sales tax because of people
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: coming in to go to these venues.
• 29:18
  Speaker 2: The same thing with the two hundred.
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: Million dollar expansion of the Arena Convention Center, like Adam Strait,
• 29:24
  Speaker 1: our new CEO president, just said, is you know when
• 29:27
  Speaker 1: they're going to add twenty four more meeting rooms to
• 29:30
  Speaker 1: the sixteen we already have. That just opens up the
• 29:34
  Speaker 1: opportunity for much much bigger conventions to come to Omaha,
• 29:38
  Speaker 1: meaning much much more activity, more people, more people stand
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: in hotels, needing a new hotel down there. All of
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: that is really going to help our economy down there.
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: And when you help the economy in one part of
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: the city, you're helping all of Omaha. You know, I
• 29:54
  Speaker 1: have said a million times the only way to truly
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: lower your taxes, I will get a lot of people
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: in West Omaha saying I don't go downtown, I don't care.
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: I don't care about the street car, I don't care
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: about the soccer stadium. But the only way to really
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: lower your taxes and keep them down is to broaden
• 30:10
  Speaker 1: your tax base. And you broaden your tax pace by
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: bringing more people in, more businesses in, more economic impact in.
• 30:17
  Speaker 1: And that's exactly what's happened. You know, when the Arena
• 30:20
  Speaker 1: Convention Center was first open in two thousand and three,
• 30:23
  Speaker 1: it was expected that there would be a lot of
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: activity in that area, and there really wasn't for a while,
• 30:29
  Speaker 1: and now there is. It's just booming now. And I
• 30:31
  Speaker 1: mentioned the builder's district where key what is the millworks district,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: Paul Smith's project down there, just north at the ballpark,
• 30:39
  Speaker 1: the soccer stadium down there, a new hotel down there.
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: Just think of that activity down there. It's going to
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: be really great.
• 30:46
  Speaker 6: It's going to be absolutely flourishing once we get this
• 30:48
  Speaker 6: all completed. Very very similar to this gene and I
• 30:51
  Speaker 6: don't know how familiar you are with it, but along
• 30:53
  Speaker 6: with this Omaha Union soccer Stadium, a seventeen million dollar
• 30:59
  Speaker 6: volleyball centric youth sports complex in Lincoln was also passed
• 31:06
  Speaker 6: to be used with the same turnback tax but this
• 31:08
  Speaker 6: is for the city of Lincoln.
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: That's for the city of Lincoln. But that's that's gonna
• 31:11
  Speaker 1: help Lincoln a lot too. Now, the one thing that
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: was not approved, which disappoints me greatly is Tranquility Park
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: because in their capital stack figuring out how this was
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: all going to be paid for, Tranquility Park is a
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: City of Omaha park going to redo the soccer fields redo,
• 31:29
  Speaker 1: you know, they were going to just do redo the
• 31:31
  Speaker 1: entire thing. But there was going to be a great
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: development that the Moholes were involved in north of that,
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: so that we can host these big soccer tournaments, which
• 31:40
  Speaker 1: I'm sure you were used to doing going over to
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: Iowa a lot good. They were going to build restaurants
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: and hotels up there, so it would really be a
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: hub that people could, you know, have these big soccer
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: tournaments or baseball tournaments and have a place to stay.
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: That was not approved yesterday. Equility was not And so
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be anxious to talk to the folks
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: that are involved in that development and see if this
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: is going to cause it to stall or it to
• 32:11
  Speaker 1: not happen. I want to see how this denial of
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: the turnback tax for that area is going to affect
• 32:18
  Speaker 1: that development. So hopefully we could have Patrick mulhollan here
• 32:22
  Speaker 1: sometime to talk about it. But that was a project
• 32:24
  Speaker 1: that I was very much involved in. You know, we
• 32:27
  Speaker 1: had about fifty four million that we had planned that
• 32:31
  Speaker 1: budgeted for for the renovation of Tranquility. When the first
• 32:36
  Speaker 1: design came back, the design was about twice that much,
• 32:39
  Speaker 1: and we had to say, WHOA, let's go back to
• 32:42
  Speaker 1: the drawing board and look at see where we're at
• 32:44
  Speaker 1: and where we could come in on budget with that.
• 32:47
  Speaker 1: But at the same time, you know, we wanted to
• 32:50
  Speaker 1: move forward with it. So it's going to be a
• 32:53
  Speaker 1: big negative impact not getting that turnback tax approved. So well,
• 32:58
  Speaker 1: then that was a you know, a group that the
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: governor puts together that panel. The governor is on that
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: on that panel himself. So hopefully I'll be able to
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: get more information and share it with all of you.
• 33:09
  Speaker 6: All Right, I got a talk back here. This is
• 33:11
  Speaker 6: from Sean. Here we go, Geene.
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: Hello, this is Sean from Iowa. I've been working in
• 33:19
  Speaker 7: Omaha for about a month and a half.
• 33:21
  Speaker 5: Now.
• 33:22
  Speaker 7: I grew up in Omaha and I'm just curious what's
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: going on at the seventy second in L Street intersection.
• 33:30
  Speaker 7: Why is that overpass gone? Thanks?
• 33:34
  Speaker 2: Seventy second in L.
• 33:36
  Speaker 6: Seventy second in L And if you know that intersection, yeah,
• 33:41
  Speaker 6: you know how much of a pain in a butt
• 33:44
  Speaker 6: that has been in last few months? There was that
• 33:45
  Speaker 6: overpass L and they just ripped it down. Well, and
• 33:49
  Speaker 6: I feel like it's moving pretty quick.
• 33:50
  Speaker 1: And L Street is a state road, and so that
• 33:54
  Speaker 1: is one that before I would even attempt to answer you,
• 33:58
  Speaker 1: I would want to check what the state the Department
• 34:01
  Speaker 1: of Transportation because L Street is, like I said, it's
• 34:04
  Speaker 1: a state road, and the bridges and the overpasses are
• 34:08
  Speaker 1: also the state would be state work, and so that
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: would be a project of the DOT. So I'll have
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: to get back with you to see what the timeframe
• 34:17
  Speaker 1: is on that, because I'm sure that they are. You said, Peyton,
• 34:20
  Speaker 1: you drive that area, it's moving along pretty quickly.
• 34:24
  Speaker 6: Well, you know, I drove by there and it felt
• 34:26
  Speaker 6: like the next week I drove by the whole thing.
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: Was torn down.
• 34:29
  Speaker 2: Yeah, they go pretty quickly.
• 34:30
  Speaker 6: You know, And it just says here this was on
• 34:33
  Speaker 6: Channel six construction project is a major, multi phase, long
• 34:38
  Speaker 6: term project to replace the existing bridge interchange with a
• 34:43
  Speaker 6: quote at grade signalized intersection. Okay, all right, reconstructing the
• 34:49
  Speaker 6: pavement and creating a more traditional intersection expected to wrap
• 34:54
  Speaker 6: up by fall of twenty six. Now that is just
• 34:57
  Speaker 6: a very you know, textbook answer to that question. And Sean,
• 35:00
  Speaker 6: but you know, it's very interesting. It's a tough intersection.
• 35:03
  Speaker 6: It's a lot of you get down there during rush
• 35:05
  Speaker 6: hour and WHOI, you're sitting there for a while.
• 35:07
  Speaker 2: But right, what can you expect?
• 35:09
  Speaker 3: You know? Right?
• 35:10
  Speaker 1: And you know, I'm looking right now on the state
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: of Nebraska, the Department of Transportation, and they talk about
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: there it's called mtis a roadmap for Omaha's growing transportation needs,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: and they recognize that over the past decade, how the
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: Omaha metro has experienced significant growth both in population and
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: economic activity, and with this becomes increased congestion with major roadways,
• 35:35
  Speaker 1: rising safety concerns, growing demand from multimodal transportation, et cetera.
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: And so to address this, the Department of Transportation, this
• 35:44
  Speaker 1: is the DOOT that I talked about. And then also MAPPA,
• 35:47
  Speaker 1: which is Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, They conducted a study
• 35:52
  Speaker 1: back in twenty fourteen to twenty nineteen and this was
• 35:55
  Speaker 1: an effort to coordinate with all the other regional planning
• 35:58
  Speaker 1: agencies about what we really need here is far as transportation.
• 36:04
  Speaker 1: And that study covered a lot of miles, and it
• 36:07
  Speaker 1: covered the interstate freeways and the expressways, highways, bridges, and
• 36:13
  Speaker 1: so they have a plan.
• 36:15
  Speaker 2: Like I said, the two bridges, they go pretty quick.
• 36:18
  Speaker 1: Hawkins Construction, and I always praise Hawkins because I like
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: them a lot.
• 36:22
  Speaker 2: They're local. They do a great job.
• 36:24
  Speaker 1: They did the Farnham Street Bridge and the Harney Street
• 36:27
  Speaker 1: Bridge for the street car. That was done boom boom
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: right on. Actually it was ahead of time. They are
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: now doing that work on six eighty that you and
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: I have talked about, and that is they're adding a lane,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: widening it on each side and that should be done
• 36:41
  Speaker 1: by the end of the year. And so you know,
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: there's a lot of road work going on. Always inconvenient though.
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: I've had so many people tell me or ask me
• 36:51
  Speaker 1: when I was mayor about why in Omaha we don't
• 36:55
  Speaker 1: do the roads like the interstates and do it in
• 36:58
  Speaker 1: the middle of the night. Well, you can't do in
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: the middle of the night when you're in somebody's neighborhood.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: So you can't be out there banging around with concrete
• 37:05
  Speaker 1: in the middle of the night, so we have to
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: do it, you know, during the day. But with our
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: construction periods in the city of Omaha and in Nebraska
• 37:16
  Speaker 1: being short because of the weather, we just cram in
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: as much as we can until the snow starts falling.
• 37:22
  Speaker 6: Let's cut to the phone lines really quick here as
• 37:24
  Speaker 6: we wrap up the show. Carla, you are live here
• 37:26
  Speaker 6: on news radio eleven ten.
• 37:27
  Speaker 2: Okfab good morning, Thanks, Good morning.
• 37:32
  Speaker 5: We have a neighbor on our block that has an
• 37:35
  Speaker 5: illegal car repair business running out of his house, and
• 37:39
  Speaker 5: every time one of the neighbors or myself calls the
• 37:43
  Speaker 5: Mayor's hotline if we call it in the morning, by
• 37:46
  Speaker 5: the afternoon, his cars he's moved all of his cars
• 37:50
  Speaker 5: and they don't show up for a day or two
• 37:52
  Speaker 5: and then he comes back. So I'm wondering, what when
• 37:56
  Speaker 5: you call the Mayor's hotline, what is the process that
• 38:00
  Speaker 5: the complaint goes through, because we can't figure out how
• 38:05
  Speaker 5: he knows that someone's going to come and check him out.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 38:08
  Speaker 1: See, I'm not sure on this specific incident. The issue
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: is I am not sure how mar Ewing is running
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: the hotline. I will tell you when I ran the
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: hot line, I had at least four people in there
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: Monday through Friday, all day long, and they would spend
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Monday morning answering the calls that were left over the weekend.
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: And they would always try to not just refer you
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: to another call or another line or another department, but
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: they would try to solve the problem for you. So
• 38:40
  Speaker 1: you know, if there was a complaint that was registered
• 38:44
  Speaker 1: and it would require calling the police department, that they
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: would do that, and so I am and then they
• 38:50
  Speaker 1: would follow up on it. If you call about a pothole,
• 38:53
  Speaker 1: they would call public Works, if you call about a
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: noisy neighbor, they would call the police department. And so
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure how many youing is working the hotline now.
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: I mean we would always every morning we would say
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: what are the main questions coming in, and we would
• 39:08
  Speaker 1: try to address them. So I would still recommend calling
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: four four four five five fivey five, which is the hotline,
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: and that that is why that they are there, and
• 39:18
  Speaker 1: they are there and they're required to have that hotline
• 39:21
  Speaker 1: by the city charter.
• 39:23
  Speaker 2: Mayor from the email inbox.
• 39:25
  Speaker 6: Mayor, why did you endorse Taylor Royal when he dodged you,
• 39:28
  Speaker 6: light about you and is now running for another office
• 39:30
  Speaker 6: after losing as mayoral candidate.
• 39:32
  Speaker 1: You know Taylor Royal is we have an interesting relation,
• 39:36
  Speaker 1: because I've told people before, which is another reason why
• 39:39
  Speaker 1: I don't understand why Mayor John Ewing is doing what
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: he's doing right now and have a gag order on
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: all of the department directors. Because Taylor was an opponent
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: of mine. He ran against me in twenty seventeen. He
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: did not get through the primary. You know you, I
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: always say you hate your opponent when you're running in
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: a campaign, and anybody that says they don't relying because
• 40:03
  Speaker 1: you just your opponent usually says things about you, and
• 40:06
  Speaker 1: you're like eh. But I admired Taylor Royal during this
• 40:10
  Speaker 1: campaign and I thought he had a good head on
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: his shoulders. And immediately after the primary, he came and
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: endorsed me, and he helped me all he possibly could.
• 40:19
  Speaker 1: He's a good Republican, he's a good candidate, he's very
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: very smart, he's a good family man. And when he
• 40:27
  Speaker 1: asked me to support him for his legislative race, I
• 40:31
  Speaker 1: said absolutely, I will.
• 40:34
  Speaker 2: Well, Gene, I got a few more things I got
• 40:36
  Speaker 2: to say it real quickly here, Hey, you have sixty.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Sevens again Denise Powell, which her commercials are just irritating
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: the heck out of me. But this newer commercial where
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: she said she has to carry her passport around because
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: she's afraid people will check her legal status. Here I
• 40:51
  Speaker 1: got some news information for Denise Palell. This Omaha Police
• 40:55
  Speaker 1: Department does not go around checking people's legal status. They
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: do not go going door to door and they are
• 41:01
  Speaker 1: not ice agents either. So you could put your passport
• 41:05
  Speaker 1: back in your pocket, Denise, you don't need to do
• 41:07
  Speaker 1: that in the city of Omaha. I was at the
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: Omaha Police Foundation Officer of the Year luncheon yesterday.
• 41:15
  Speaker 2: I was the date of tj.
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: Ewen, who is a police officer with homicide.
• 41:20
  Speaker 2: Now you just was moved.
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: To assault because we don't have a lot of homicides.
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: Good friend of mine that I went with him, he
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: was being honored. But thank you to every man and
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: woman in the Omaha Police Department that was honored yesterday
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: or that works every day to keep us safe. It's
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: National Nurses Week. Congratulations to all you nurses. Fellow nurses.
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: You do a great job. And happy Mother's Day to
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: all mothers out there, we are so glad that you
• 41:46
  Speaker 1: are with us today, spending time with us, and we
• 41:49
  Speaker 1: want you to join us again Monday. I'm Jean Stothard
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: and this is eleven ten kfab.
• 41:55
  Speaker 2: He's Donald Trump's number one enemy in Congress, Chicago politician
• 42:00
  Speaker 2: Dick Durbin. Now Durbin has a new scheme. He's doing
• 42:04
  Speaker 2: the dirty work to benefit corporate megastores.
• 42:06
  Speaker 1: Durbin's bill could cut corners on your credit card security,
• 42:09
  Speaker 1: putting your personal data at risk. Big chain retailers and
• 42:13
  Speaker 1: warehouse stores want to inflate their profits, and liberal Dick
• 42:17
  Speaker 1: Durbin would help them do it.
• 42:19
  Speaker 2: Tell senators say no to the megastores and Dick Durbin
• 42:23
  Speaker 2: paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition