Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Metro Transit CEO

Transcript

Metro Transit CEO · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your host, Gene Stothard. Peyton Hihlock, my producer,
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: is also here. Good morning Peyton, Good morning Gene.
• 0:06
  Speaker 2: I'm a sucker for a Friday.
• 0:07
  Speaker 3: At me too, although it's going to be a busy weekend.
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: But we're still both of us are still into soccer,
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: so we'll talk about that later. But thank you all
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: for being with us today, and we want to hear
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: from you. We want to get your feedback, We want
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: to hear your comments, concerns, questions, complaints, anything goes. We
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: won't back away from anything, whether it's city, state, national,
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: or the world. And we will have plenty of great
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: guests too, which we have today, and of course you're
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: going to hear a lot of opinions from me too.
• 0:35
  Speaker 1: But it is your chance to speak up and sound off.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: You can send your emails to comment at kfab dot
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: com or you can call us at four two, five five,
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: eight eleven ten.
• 0:45
  Speaker 3: And if I forget to mention this.
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: But if you miss our show and have a desire
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: to listen to it, the podcast is usually up every
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: day by about noon. That's Peyton's job, So Peyton, you're
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: going to get that up about noon.
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: Oh, I try my best Genie always get that podcast
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: day there with go dot com.
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: So if you hear it's something that you want to
• 1:03
  Speaker 1: listen to it, you can do that later on or
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: any time during the day. Today, I'm really happy to
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: have Lauren Censeic with us. She is the CEO of
• 1:11
  Speaker 1: Metro Transit, and also with her is Nicole Ebat and
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: she is a Communication and community relation manager for Metro Transit.
• 1:21
  Speaker 1: Good morning to both of you.
• 1:23
  Speaker 4: Good morning.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: We're glad that you are here. There's so much I
• 1:26
  Speaker 1: want to talk to you about because but first of all, well,
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: I was gonna say, because there's a lot of questions
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: about the bus system and Metro Transit. I hear it
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: all the time. We're gonna get that all straightened out today.
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: But first I want people to know who you are.
• 1:41
  Speaker 3: Lauren. You were formerly from Omaha.
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: But when you are hired for this job, and you
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: were hired to replace Kurt Simon that had been in
• 1:50
  Speaker 1: this position for thirty three years, I believe, holy cow, you.
• 1:55
  Speaker 5: Were in la I was so. I am a self
• 2:00
  Speaker 5: profess transit nerd. I've been in transit for almost twenty
• 2:03
  Speaker 5: years now, but really have had two very exciting opportunities
• 2:08
  Speaker 5: here in Omaha. So I actually worked in Omaha when
• 2:12
  Speaker 5: we first were starting the Orbit BRT project on Dodge Street.
• 2:16
  Speaker 5: So I got the grant for that and was able
• 2:18
  Speaker 5: to do the initial project planning. Just really helped cement
• 2:21
  Speaker 5: my love for transit overall in the project planning process.
• 2:25
  Speaker 3: And then I was in twenty twenty. Correct, you became CEO.
• 2:29
  Speaker 5: In twenty twenty, I became CEO. So after my first
• 2:32
  Speaker 5: stint in Omaha, I went and spent some time in
• 2:35
  Speaker 5: Los Angeles doing some corridor major project planning, and then
• 2:39
  Speaker 5: was thrilled to be able.
• 2:40
  Speaker 4: To come back and be the CEO starting in training twenty.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: That was fun in LA.
• 2:43
  Speaker 4: It was fun in Lay was it?
• 2:45
  Speaker 6: Really?
• 2:46
  Speaker 3: It was facetious? You were, but yeah, but wow, that's
• 2:49
  Speaker 3: a big job.
• 2:50
  Speaker 5: Well, I've got to really build some bike projects, some
• 2:54
  Speaker 5: bus projects, and also some light rail projects.
• 2:56
  Speaker 4: So really learned a lot.
• 2:58
  Speaker 5: It was great to have that amount of resources available
• 3:01
  Speaker 5: to really do transit right.
• 3:02
  Speaker 4: So I enjoyed it.
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: And what was your title in LA you were with
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: La Metro Transit. Were you a director then considered a
• 3:09
  Speaker 1: senior director or something? Yes, I was a senior director.
• 3:12
  Speaker 3: Okay, all right.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: And you know, the one thing I heard about you
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: when you were first hired was your visionary And I
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: love to hear that word about people because we got
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: to think now and forward and not think what happened
• 3:24
  Speaker 1: in the past. So, Metro Transit, let's get this straightened
• 3:28
  Speaker 1: out right off the bat. Everybody thinks, not everybody, A
• 3:32
  Speaker 1: lot of people think because for twelve years I got
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: calls all the time that the city owns the bus system.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: The city does not. It is run by Metro Transit.
• 3:42
  Speaker 1: So talk about that. What is the mission of Metro Transit.
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: What does Metro Transit do?
• 3:48
  Speaker 5: So Metro Transit connects people, places and opportunities through quality
• 3:51
  Speaker 5: transit services. We are actually an independent political subdivision that
• 3:56
  Speaker 5: was created by a state statute. We're governed by an
• 3:59
  Speaker 5: elected board of and our role is really to be
• 4:02
  Speaker 5: the planner, the builder and the operator of public transit
• 4:07
  Speaker 5: in the Omaha area.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: And so anything that has to do with transit, whether
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: it be buses or we're going to talk about micro
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: transit in a little bit, or the streetcar has to
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: have Metro Transit involved.
• 4:19
  Speaker 3: Correct, correct, And in.
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: The past, now Metro Transit Board of that the board governs,
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: and they established policy. They ensure the efforts are in
• 4:30
  Speaker 1: the best interest of the community. But I appointed the
• 4:33
  Speaker 1: board for many, many years and there was five members.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: And then back in I believe it was twenty twenty
• 4:41
  Speaker 1: four by state law. Am I right with the date?
• 4:44
  Speaker 1: So we did they became a regional metro transit.
• 4:47
  Speaker 5: So we became a regional transit in twenty twenty two.
• 4:50
  Speaker 5: In twenty four is when our elected board was seated.
• 4:53
  Speaker 4: Okay, you are right.
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: So it was a mayoral appointment of five and now
• 4:58
  Speaker 1: it is an elected board of seven. Correct, correct? All right, Nicole,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: you you look like you wanted to say something. Did
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: you want to add something here? No, you're just listening. Okay, Well,
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: you pipe in whenever you want, because Nicole sense your
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: communication and community relations, you probably have a lot to say.
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: So you just come in whenever you want to say
• 5:18
  Speaker 1: something here. But okay, so it's a regional metro transit. Now,
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: what's the benefit of that.
• 5:25
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 5:25
  Speaker 5: So, one thing I think it's important for people to
• 5:28
  Speaker 5: know is that our jurisdictional boundary is the City of
• 5:32
  Speaker 5: Omaha limits. Currently, what is important about us being regional
• 5:36
  Speaker 5: is that we now have the ability to expand to
• 5:39
  Speaker 5: other regions and other cities if those cities want to
• 5:42
  Speaker 5: take advantage of that opportunity. So nearby cities can now
• 5:46
  Speaker 5: vote to join and become a part of our service area,
• 5:49
  Speaker 5: whereas before we didn't have that ability to grow.
• 5:52
  Speaker 1: Okay, and Metro Transit again, people will say, well, the
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: buses are owned by the City of Omaha, they are not.
• 5:59
  Speaker 1: Metro trans It has its own elected board, which we
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: just said, their own CEO, and you have your own
• 6:04
  Speaker 1: leving authority.
• 6:05
  Speaker 3: We do.
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: So when you look at your property tax bill and
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: you look at all those taxing entities, Metro Transit is
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: one of those. So it's so we need to make
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: sure the listeners understand that those are not city owned buses,
• 6:20
  Speaker 1: city run buses. And if you have an issue with
• 6:23
  Speaker 1: the buses, quick calling the mayor's office. Right there you go.
• 6:26
  Speaker 1: We got a lot of calls about the bus system
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: when I was mayor, and especially like if it was
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: snowing or ice and people would say what about the
• 6:34
  Speaker 1: bus stops? They would always call the mayor's office. But
• 6:37
  Speaker 1: this is one point that I really wanted to make
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: on this show today. Also there is and I'm going
• 6:43
  Speaker 1: to bring this up just to explain to people the
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: Omaha Streetcar Authority. Now that also the Omaha street Car
• 6:50
  Speaker 1: Authority oversees the design, implementation, and operation of the streetcar.
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: It is a seven member board. But because of what
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: Lauren just said, anything trans that Metro Transit has to
• 7:01
  Speaker 1: be involved. There is by state law three members of
• 7:05
  Speaker 1: that Omaha street Car Authority that is appointed by the
• 7:07
  Speaker 1: Mayor's office, three members that are appointed by you and
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: Metro Transit, and then one appointed by the Chamber. That
• 7:14
  Speaker 1: is correct, Okay, So, and the reason that there are
• 7:17
  Speaker 1: there are people from Metro Transit and Lauren, you sit
• 7:20
  Speaker 1: on that board too, it's because of what state laws.
• 7:23
  Speaker 1: Is anything involved in transit you have to be involved with.
• 7:27
  Speaker 5: Yeah, So Metro has a jurisdiction over public transit. So
• 7:31
  Speaker 5: we were able to delegate that to the Streetcar Authority
• 7:34
  Speaker 5: by creating this new innerlocal government agency.
• 7:37
  Speaker 3: And I was going to bring that up.
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: The Omaha street Car Authority was created in twenty twenty
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: two with an interlocal agreement between Metro Transit and of
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: course the City of Omaha. So when we talked about
• 7:49
  Speaker 1: the mission and the vision, let's get down to the
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: question that I hear all the time. It was brought
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: up on this show many many times, and it is
• 8:00
  Speaker 1: nobody ever rides those buses. Every time I see a bus,
• 8:02
  Speaker 1: it's empty. Nobody rides the buses, And I would say
• 8:05
  Speaker 1: that is not correct. There are millions of people that
• 8:09
  Speaker 1: depend on our public transportation system that we have here.
• 8:13
  Speaker 1: When it was first launched. It was launched in twenty twenty,
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: and guess what happened. Everybody COVID hit and people were
• 8:21
  Speaker 1: not riding the buses, but they weren't flying in our
• 8:23
  Speaker 1: airplanes either, and nobody said, well, let's get rid of
• 8:26
  Speaker 1: the airport. I mean, that's what happened when it was
• 8:29
  Speaker 1: first launched. Talk about how what the ridership is for
• 8:33
  Speaker 1: your bus system, and then for the BRT, which is
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: the bus rapid Transit, which are those big articulated buses
• 8:40
  Speaker 1: that go from eighth Street, I believe downtown eighth or
• 8:43
  Speaker 1: tenth downtown all the way out to the West Roads.
• 8:46
  Speaker 1: People look separate them and talk about how that ridership
• 8:49
  Speaker 1: when it was first launched and then what it is now.
• 8:51
  Speaker 1: And Nicole, I think you're pretty good with numbers too.
• 8:55
  Speaker 6: Yes, well, and I do want to say even even
• 8:58
  Speaker 6: during COVID. In the first six weeks of Orbit launching.
• 9:02
  Speaker 6: It launched in late November, we had about forty thousand
• 9:06
  Speaker 6: rides even in just those first couple of weeks.
• 9:09
  Speaker 3: The worst time ever to launch it. But yeahs you had.
• 9:12
  Speaker 6: The federal government actively telling people stay home, don't take
• 9:16
  Speaker 6: public transit, don't go anywhere if you don't have to,
• 9:19
  Speaker 6: and we still had forty thousand rides right then. And
• 9:22
  Speaker 6: then in the first year we had four hundred and
• 9:25
  Speaker 6: forty thousand, and just year after year after year, that
• 9:29
  Speaker 6: is growing. And that is more than the number of
• 9:32
  Speaker 6: rides that were on Route two, which came before Orbit
• 9:35
  Speaker 6: ran a similar route.
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: But wait, I'm sorry, just to clarify when you said
• 9:40
  Speaker 1: four hundred and forty thousand, is.
• 9:42
  Speaker 3: That the Orbit the bus system are all together, just
• 9:45
  Speaker 3: Orbit just.
• 9:47
  Speaker 6: In twenty twenty one, so if we want to talk
• 9:49
  Speaker 6: overall the entire network, last year we hit three and
• 9:52
  Speaker 6: a half million rides. Year before that we were three
• 9:55
  Speaker 6: point four. Year before that we were three point two.
• 9:58
  Speaker 6: So you can see we are having that study growth.
• 10:00
  Speaker 3: Year over year over year. Now say that again.
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: Last year that was twenty twenty five, you had three
• 10:07
  Speaker 1: and a half million rides yes. With Metro Transit, yes,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: And so I mean that just shows folks that when
• 10:14
  Speaker 1: they say the buses are empty, you know, that just
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: shows you there are so many people in this city
• 10:19
  Speaker 1: and in this community that absolutely depend on the public
• 10:23
  Speaker 1: transportation to get around, whether it be to their job,
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: to school, whatever. I mean, people truly depend on it.
• 10:32
  Speaker 1: That's absolutely true.
• 10:34
  Speaker 5: And just back to your COVID comment for a minute,
• 10:36
  Speaker 5: I just wanted to point out that, you know, I
• 10:38
  Speaker 5: also decided that was a great idea to take my
• 10:40
  Speaker 5: first ever CEO job during COVID and launch.
• 10:43
  Speaker 3: The City Last Orbits.
• 10:44
  Speaker 5: So yes, that was a very interesting year for us.
• 10:48
  Speaker 5: But you're absolutely right. You know, three and a half
• 10:50
  Speaker 5: million trips a year is absolutely nothing to sneeze about.
• 10:53
  Speaker 5: But what you really think about in that is how
• 10:55
  Speaker 5: much it's changing people's lives. We hear every single day
• 10:59
  Speaker 5: about people that would not be able to go to
• 11:01
  Speaker 5: the doctor's appointment, would not be able to get that
• 11:03
  Speaker 5: higher paying job, would not go to school, would not
• 11:05
  Speaker 5: visit their grandkids. And it is just about making sure
• 11:09
  Speaker 5: that we're connecting people, places and opportunities, just like our
• 11:12
  Speaker 5: mission statement.
• 11:13
  Speaker 3: Says, and along the.
• 11:18
  Speaker 1: Well first of all the Orbit, which is the bus
• 11:21
  Speaker 1: rapid transit system. It runs along Didde Street, we said,
• 11:25
  Speaker 1: from Eighth Street downtown all the way out to the
• 11:27
  Speaker 1: West Roads. There are if I recall, there's about twenty
• 11:31
  Speaker 1: twenty three or twenty four stations along the way.
• 11:34
  Speaker 3: The new stations, I.
• 11:35
  Speaker 4: Believe we have twenty six.
• 11:36
  Speaker 1: There are some that are full stations, and then there's
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: some that are just stops.
• 11:40
  Speaker 3: Is that correct? Correct? Okay? Who maintains those stations?
• 11:45
  Speaker 5: Metro maintains that, okay, because we have had We've had
• 11:49
  Speaker 5: calls before when I was still in the Mayor's office
• 11:51
  Speaker 5: about you know, graffiti, cleanliness, et cetera.
• 11:55
  Speaker 3: But that is a Metro transit responsibility.
• 11:59
  Speaker 5: It is so, especially the Orbit stations. Anywhere we have
• 12:02
  Speaker 5: a bus shelter, we maintain those. The difference that I
• 12:05
  Speaker 5: think a lot of people are confused where we have
• 12:09
  Speaker 5: bus benches without the shelters. Those are maintained and provided
• 12:12
  Speaker 5: by the city. Those are Metro. But the stations and
• 12:15
  Speaker 5: the shelters, Metro takes care of those. Same with our
• 12:18
  Speaker 5: transit centers, but with all of our bus stops throughout
• 12:21
  Speaker 5: the region. We actually rely very heavily on the local
• 12:25
  Speaker 5: property owners, especially in inclement weather, to help shovel those
• 12:29
  Speaker 5: and keep those safe for people, just like they're in
• 12:31
  Speaker 5: charge of their sidewalks.
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: And that's another thing I used to get questions about,
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: is you know, well, there's snow, there's eyes. Who maintains
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: those calls would come into the Mayor's Hotline, but people don't.
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: You're maintaining them and keeping them clean. But it's so
• 12:46
  Speaker 1: that is difficult to do. And I always bring up
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: to people the park bench at ninetieth and Dodge, we
• 12:52
  Speaker 1: had a metro. We had a park bench there that
• 12:54
  Speaker 1: the City of the Parks Department maintained. We had like
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: twelve of them throughout the city, and they were to
• 13:00
  Speaker 1: tell people about the Mayor's Hotline. And it had my
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: picture on it. That one at ninetieth and Dodge. Every
• 13:06
  Speaker 1: Monday morning it would have graffiti all over it and
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: it would have me with fangs and horns in it.
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: And they would go out there and they would clean
• 13:13
  Speaker 1: it and bye gosh, within two days it was messy again.
• 13:17
  Speaker 3: So things like that.
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: They if they look at your stations and they say, well,
• 13:21
  Speaker 1: that one isn't as clean as I want it to be.
• 13:24
  Speaker 1: These things happen overnight. I finally had the park bench removed.
• 13:28
  Speaker 1: It's like, okay, forget it. We're wasting time taking the
• 13:31
  Speaker 1: fangs and horns off me.
• 13:32
  Speaker 5: That is interesting side note, Yes, but no, they are
• 13:37
  Speaker 5: difficult to maintain and there they are in the public.
• 13:40
  Speaker 5: But we do encourage people that if they do see
• 13:43
  Speaker 5: any vandalism or a station that is dirty that we
• 13:46
  Speaker 5: need to take care of, we definitely want to hear
• 13:48
  Speaker 5: about that too. So you can submit a complaint on
• 13:50
  Speaker 5: ometro dot com or by calling four oh two three
• 13:54
  Speaker 5: four one zero eight zero zero. Let us know where
• 13:57
  Speaker 5: it is and we'll send somebody out right away to
• 13:59
  Speaker 5: clean it.
• 14:00
  Speaker 3: And that's the point I was just going to make.
• 14:01
  Speaker 1: If people have a question or a complaint you just gave,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: you can email or you can call in. Lauren Censik
• 14:08
  Speaker 1: is here. She's the CEO of Metro Transit all the
• 14:11
  Speaker 1: bus systems in town. And Nicole Ebot is here too,
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: she's communication and community relations manager. Let's talk when we
• 14:18
  Speaker 1: say people might have a concern or a complaint, what
• 14:22
  Speaker 1: about the routes.
• 14:24
  Speaker 3: I know you here.
• 14:25
  Speaker 1: I've heard as mayor people will say, well, I want
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: to ride the bus, but it's not convenient to me.
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: There's not a stop close enough to my house. I
• 14:33
  Speaker 1: still have to walk a mile or two miles with
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: my six year old if I want to take the bus.
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: Talk about how you decide where those bus stations are
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: and how often do you change it based on the
• 14:47
  Speaker 1: need that you're hearing.
• 14:48
  Speaker 5: Yeah, so we have a pretty thorough process where we
• 14:51
  Speaker 5: decide where to put bus routes. I will say first
• 14:54
  Speaker 5: off that we don't have the resources to put them
• 14:56
  Speaker 5: everywhere we'd want to. So there are some tough choices
• 14:59
  Speaker 5: that need to be made, and we have a fairly
• 15:01
  Speaker 5: constrained budget when you compare us to other peer cities,
• 15:05
  Speaker 5: So we work really hard to be as most effective
• 15:07
  Speaker 5: as we can with those resources we have. So we
• 15:10
  Speaker 5: use a lot of community feedback and public engagement and
• 15:13
  Speaker 5: setting those we have a strategic plan called metro necks
• 15:17
  Speaker 5: that really outlines are desired improvements for the project and
• 15:21
  Speaker 5: kind of for improvements and new routes and service improvements,
• 15:25
  Speaker 5: and really prioritizes those through twenty thirty. Just for example,
• 15:29
  Speaker 5: when we were putting that together, I think we had
• 15:31
  Speaker 5: something like twenty public meetings and like over twelve hundred
• 15:34
  Speaker 5: public comments that we gathered to help make those identifications
• 15:39
  Speaker 5: of where we're going to start, but really beyond that,
• 15:42
  Speaker 5: and this is I don't want to get too much
• 15:44
  Speaker 5: my transit nerd hat on on the radio because I
• 15:47
  Speaker 5: can't help myself. But that being said, you know, realistically,
• 15:51
  Speaker 5: this is where even though Metro is independent from the city,
• 15:55
  Speaker 5: we rely very heavily on our partnership with the city
• 15:58
  Speaker 5: and working very closely together because one of the things
• 16:01
  Speaker 5: that makes transit successful or doesn't is really how well
• 16:05
  Speaker 5: it's integrated into the land use planning, into the way
• 16:08
  Speaker 5: the city is built. Whether they're sidewalks, they're bikeable, walkable,
• 16:12
  Speaker 5: is going to have a huge impact on whether or
• 16:14
  Speaker 5: not trans it'll be successful. So in a lot of cases,
• 16:17
  Speaker 5: we are basing those decisions on where the infrastructure will
• 16:22
  Speaker 5: be conducive to having good public transit. That plus public feedback,
• 16:27
  Speaker 5: and we do a lot of information in terms of demographics.
• 16:31
  Speaker 5: We look at population densities, new projects, new developments, all
• 16:36
  Speaker 5: of those things to kind of figure out what our
• 16:38
  Speaker 5: best use of our resources are.
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: And I remember when we built the new library downtown,
• 16:43
  Speaker 1: for example, we contacted Metro Transit and said, can there
• 16:47
  Speaker 1: be a bus station much closer to the new library
• 16:50
  Speaker 1: so that people can get down there and can use
• 16:52
  Speaker 1: it that everybody had access to it, Nicole, were you
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: going to say something.
• 16:56
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I think one thing I really want to touch
• 16:57
  Speaker 6: on is our partnership in ways of helping people access
• 17:02
  Speaker 6: our bus system overall. You know, one of the things
• 17:05
  Speaker 6: you mentioned is that maybe people feel like they're not
• 17:07
  Speaker 6: close enough to a bus stop. We do partner with
• 17:10
  Speaker 6: the Heartland Bike Share nonprofit here in town where we
• 17:15
  Speaker 6: placed docs at our orbit stations to help people use
• 17:18
  Speaker 6: those bike shares to get maybe that first mile or
• 17:21
  Speaker 6: that last mile. And we also right now are in
• 17:25
  Speaker 6: a pilot project with micro Transit and what that is
• 17:28
  Speaker 6: our little vans that kind of wander around in their
• 17:31
  Speaker 6: zones and they are designed to help people who maybe
• 17:35
  Speaker 6: live too far away or they have a doctor's appointment
• 17:37
  Speaker 6: that's too far away from the system, get closer.
• 17:40
  Speaker 3: To our buses.
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: So I was just going to ask you about that,
• 17:43
  Speaker 1: about the micro transit or you call it micro microflex. Okay,
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: So how do people find out more about that and
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: then how do they get access to It's I mean,
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: if they think that they need it from the bus
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: stop to their home.
• 17:57
  Speaker 3: How do they arrange for that.
• 17:59
  Speaker 6: It goes through an app and so that's Microflex. Omaha,
• 18:02
  Speaker 6: It's on Apple App Store, the Google play Store. We
• 18:04
  Speaker 6: have a lot of information on that on our website
• 18:07
  Speaker 6: and we also have materials that we are actually working
• 18:10
  Speaker 6: on getting those out into the community a little bit
• 18:12
  Speaker 6: better so people can get access to it and just
• 18:14
  Speaker 6: learn how to use the system and make the best
• 18:17
  Speaker 6: use of it for them.
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, and then talk about your budget. You brought up
• 18:21
  Speaker 1: your budget a little bit. The board I know sets
• 18:25
  Speaker 1: the levee and you said that. I think I will
• 18:29
  Speaker 1: use my own words, Lauren, but I think you said
• 18:31
  Speaker 1: compared to other cities of equal size or similar size,
• 18:36
  Speaker 1: we're I think you're saying we're underfunded. So has the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: board correct me if I'm wrong? Has the board talked
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: about raising the levee? Because if you look at your
• 18:47
  Speaker 1: tax statement, the amount of money that actually goes to
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: metro Transit is so small, I mean it's pennies. Really
• 18:55
  Speaker 1: about what you pay? Have you thought about that? And
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: then how much revenue do you bring in from your ridership?
• 19:01
  Speaker 4: Yes?
• 19:02
  Speaker 5: So lots in there. So let me see where to
• 19:05
  Speaker 5: start really looking at it. In terms of how much
• 19:08
  Speaker 5: we're spending. We look at it and spending per capita.
• 19:11
  Speaker 5: So just for some examples, this is twenty twenty three numbers,
• 19:14
  Speaker 5: but it's the most recent that I have in front
• 19:16
  Speaker 5: of me. We spent fifty one dollars per capita in
• 19:19
  Speaker 5: Omaha in transit, where somewhere like Des Moines spent sixty seven,
• 19:24
  Speaker 5: Kansas City sixty nine, Indianapolis seventy five, Minneapolis one hundred
• 19:29
  Speaker 5: and fifty six. So it's really, you know, kind of
• 19:33
  Speaker 5: small for the size of the city that Omaha is.
• 19:36
  Speaker 5: I'm very proud of how much service we are able
• 19:39
  Speaker 5: to provide with our budget.
• 19:41
  Speaker 4: And all of those things.
• 19:44
  Speaker 5: But you asked about raising our levee because our levee
• 19:46
  Speaker 5: is very small compared to some of the other plus
• 19:49
  Speaker 5: subdivisually is it's very small, but it's really governed by
• 19:53
  Speaker 5: state statute, so that limitation is placed on us by
• 19:56
  Speaker 5: the state. So really, yes, we have our hands are
• 20:00
  Speaker 5: fairly constrained in terms of the ability to grow at
• 20:02
  Speaker 5: this point.
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: So there's a levee limit established by the state of Nebraska.
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: There is, and are you at that limit? We are, Okay,
• 20:08
  Speaker 1: I didn't realize that, so okay, so you can't go
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: any higher with your with your levee then.
• 20:14
  Speaker 5: Now, But we do get very interesting in terms of
• 20:16
  Speaker 5: we try to supplement that as much as we can.
• 20:19
  Speaker 5: We are very very grateful that this micro flex project,
• 20:23
  Speaker 5: this pilot project, is funded by very generous philanthropic support.
• 20:27
  Speaker 5: We are very good at going after competitive grants. We
• 20:31
  Speaker 5: do everything we can to maximize our resources.
• 20:34
  Speaker 4: I was going to add, the bulk is really that taxi.
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: I was going to ask about the micro flex because
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: you did get a grant, didn't You did to test
• 20:41
  Speaker 1: that and a lot is paid for by philanthropy with that.
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: What about your ridership itself? The cost of riding the bus?
• 20:47
  Speaker 1: Talk about that and is it different for the bus
• 20:50
  Speaker 1: system as meant as the.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: Orbit NOE on orbit.
• 20:54
  Speaker 5: In the bus system, the fare is a dollar twenty
• 20:56
  Speaker 5: five plus twenty five cents for a transfer. One of
• 20:59
  Speaker 5: the things we're incredibly proud of is that we have
• 21:02
  Speaker 5: not raised our fares in over a decade and one
• 21:05
  Speaker 5: of and the reason we haven't is twofold one. We
• 21:09
  Speaker 5: know how important it is to people's lives and a
• 21:11
  Speaker 5: lot of our riders would really struggle to pay higher fares.
• 21:16
  Speaker 5: But beyond that, there's a pretty pretty common transit number
• 21:22
  Speaker 5: you look at in terms of if you as you
• 21:25
  Speaker 5: raise fares, your ridership actually goes down. So you raise
• 21:28
  Speaker 5: fares too much and you almost end up at the
• 21:30
  Speaker 5: exact same amount of revenue just because your ridership goes down.
• 21:34
  Speaker 4: You know, And it's there's a burden to it.
• 21:35
  Speaker 5: If you think every time you started your car you
• 21:37
  Speaker 5: had to put a dollar twenty five into the dashboard,
• 21:40
  Speaker 5: it's going to limit how you know, whether you take
• 21:42
  Speaker 5: that trip to the store. You're just going to wait
• 21:44
  Speaker 5: and go the next day when you're going out kind
• 21:46
  Speaker 5: of thing.
• 21:46
  Speaker 3: So, Lauren Censic is here with Metro Transit.
• 21:50
  Speaker 1: Are there any programs that you have for people that
• 21:53
  Speaker 1: really want to rely on the bus system to get
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: around but just can't afford that.
• 21:57
  Speaker 5: Then there's certainly there is a half fair application that
• 22:01
  Speaker 5: people can submit. There's certainly income thresholds and other things
• 22:04
  Speaker 5: that they would need to meet, but that information is
• 22:07
  Speaker 5: available on our website as well ohmetro dot com. We
• 22:10
  Speaker 5: also there's a lot of our partners throughout the region
• 22:13
  Speaker 5: who help support bus passes for their clients and their
• 22:17
  Speaker 5: customers and their those that they serve, so there's a
• 22:20
  Speaker 5: lot of resources that way. One thing we did that
• 22:23
  Speaker 5: I am so proud of a few years ago is
• 22:26
  Speaker 5: we switched to a monthly fair capping pass. So we've
• 22:31
  Speaker 5: always had unlimited rides for fifty five dollars a month.
• 22:34
  Speaker 5: But when we looked at how often people were riding,
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: and almost half of our riders are riding five days
• 22:39
  Speaker 5: a week or more, they were not taking advantage of
• 22:43
  Speaker 5: that fifty five dollars pass and would have been saving
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: a lot of money. So what we did is when
• 22:47
  Speaker 5: we instituted our new fair payment system, we made it
• 22:50
  Speaker 5: a kind of pay as you go, and it calculated
• 22:53
  Speaker 5: every time they paid a dollar twenty five. When they
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: hit that fifty five dollars for the month, it stopped
• 22:58
  Speaker 5: charging them, so they got to use that month they
• 23:00
  Speaker 5: passed by paying for it incrementally. And the number of
• 23:02
  Speaker 5: people that have benefited from that fifty five dollars unlimited
• 23:06
  Speaker 5: ride has skyrocketed.
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: That that's good news. Talk about MOBI a little bit.
• 23:10
  Speaker 1: Is MOBI under that's for citizens with disability? Talk a
• 23:14
  Speaker 1: little bit about what you offer the services with MOBI?
• 23:17
  Speaker 4: Yes, so is that an.
• 23:18
  Speaker 3: Acronym mobi moby?
• 23:20
  Speaker 5: It is not to my knowledgeation that that name far
• 23:23
  Speaker 5: predates me. We had a lot of conversations around the
• 23:26
  Speaker 5: office of where the what the history.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: Of MOBI is?
• 23:29
  Speaker 4: Right?
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: I know, I thought it was an acronym, but I
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: could not I could never find what it was an
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: acronym for. So we're just going to call it moby.
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: But talk about what MOBI does. It's a shared ride
• 23:39
  Speaker 1: service for individuals with disability.
• 23:42
  Speaker 3: Is that correct?
• 23:43
  Speaker 4: That is correct?
• 23:43
  Speaker 5: So MOBI is really meant to provide similar level of
• 23:49
  Speaker 5: service as the bus route for those who have a
• 23:51
  Speaker 5: disability that prevents them riding their regular bus.
• 23:53
  Speaker 3: Okay.
• 23:54
  Speaker 4: And so you would apply for it.
• 23:56
  Speaker 5: You will need some medical provider and that will help
• 24:01
  Speaker 5: certify that you aren't able to ride the bus. And
• 24:04
  Speaker 5: then you can book your trip the day before and
• 24:07
  Speaker 5: actually schedule so that we'll actually take pick you up
• 24:09
  Speaker 5: at your home and take you to your destination as
• 24:12
  Speaker 5: long as it's near a bus route.
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: Okay. And you said that they can they can apply
• 24:16
  Speaker 1: to use MOBI. And there's a charge for MOBI to
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: MOBI is two fifty per ride okay. And it operates
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: seven days a week.
• 24:24
  Speaker 5: It matches the bus route, so wherever the bus goes,
• 24:27
  Speaker 5: MOBI operates in that same area at the same time.
• 24:29
  Speaker 5: So places where maybe there isn't a bus on Sundays,
• 24:33
  Speaker 5: MOBI wouldn't operate there on Sundays, but it matches the bus.
• 24:36
  Speaker 1: So thank you so much for being here. I still
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: want to let's with both of you, Nicole and Lauren.
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: Let's get this really clear right now. Many many people
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: in Omaha depend on our bus system, and many from
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: what you show with your ridership, many millions depend on
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: it the ridership every year and use it, and that
• 24:55
  Speaker 1: ridership goes up every single year.
• 24:58
  Speaker 6: Correct, it has been going up steadily, And I do
• 25:01
  Speaker 6: want to point out it's not just people who depend
• 25:03
  Speaker 6: on the bus. There are a lot of people who
• 25:05
  Speaker 6: use it for special events, one off public transit. Overall, Yes,
• 25:11
  Speaker 6: it is there as a very valuable resource for people.
• 25:14
  Speaker 6: There are a lot of people who would not be
• 25:16
  Speaker 6: able to go grocery shopping, would not be able to
• 25:18
  Speaker 6: make the doctor's appointments, wouldn't be able to get to
• 25:20
  Speaker 6: work without the bus. And there are also people who
• 25:23
  Speaker 6: take public transit because they want to, Yes, because it
• 25:25
  Speaker 6: is so much better than sitting in traffic and hav
• 25:28
  Speaker 6: absolute attention to that steering wheel and waiting for the
• 25:32
  Speaker 6: waiting for the draffic lights to go. You can just
• 25:35
  Speaker 6: sit on the bus, read the book, listen to a podcast.
• 25:37
  Speaker 6: Is a much calmer way to get around.
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: It's like taking my train. You just get on there
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: and you and you're very calm. Do you still have
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: the Millard Express? Yes? Yes, yeah, because I live in
• 25:48
  Speaker 1: Millard and I wanted to try the bus system out
• 25:50
  Speaker 1: and I took the Millard Express down to City Hall
• 25:53
  Speaker 1: several times.
• 25:53
  Speaker 3: The Millard Express was packed. I mean, so there are.
• 25:57
  Speaker 1: Many of the if you're looking to see what the
• 26:00
  Speaker 1: buses are full, you look in the time that you
• 26:03
  Speaker 1: see the traffic usually being the heaviest, you know, to
• 26:06
  Speaker 1: go to work, to come back from work, et cetera.
• 26:08
  Speaker 1: So thank you both so much for being here today.
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: I have so many other questions I wanted to talk about,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: but I think you really laid it out what Metro
• 26:16
  Speaker 1: Transit does. And it's here for convenience and for public transportation,
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: and you're always trying to make it better. And I
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: really appreciate what you guys do. You have a big job,
• 26:26
  Speaker 1: a really big job. So Lauren Censek and Nicole Ibat,
• 26:29
  Speaker 1: thank you so much for being here today. I really
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: appreciate it. Thank you so much, absolutely, thank you. And
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: I wanted to mention one more thing that we didn't
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: get to but Lauren and I talked to when we
• 26:38
  Speaker 1: went off the air is there is a program with
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: that they have with OPS, and it is a program
• 26:48
  Speaker 1: that the kids K through twelve with OPS can ride
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: the Metro Transit buses for free. All they have to
• 26:57
  Speaker 1: do is show their student ID. And since this program
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: was launched in May of twenty twenty one, over two
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: point four million OPS students have taken advantage of this program.
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: Last year, she said, over six hundred thousand of OPS
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: students took had had involvement with this program, and it
• 27:19
  Speaker 1: could be anything from going to their jobs, to going
• 27:22
  Speaker 1: to school to go on field trips. So it's very
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: very flexible of what the students can do K through twelve.
• 27:30
  Speaker 1: The rides are free with Metro Transit. Again, if you
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: want more information, you can call them or look at
• 27:36
  Speaker 1: their web page. But they also have different programs for
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: college students and they're different ones for U and O,
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: the for Creighton, and so those are all available for
• 27:47
  Speaker 1: you to look at and see if any of those programs.
• 27:50
  Speaker 3: Might work for you.
• 27:51
  Speaker 1: Now we have another guest here and we have Joe Saco.
• 27:55
  Speaker 3: Hi Joe, Hi, Jean.
• 27:57
  Speaker 7: Thanks for me.
• 27:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, welcome to the program.
• 27:59
  Speaker 1: And I asked Joe to be on because there is
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: an event this weekend. It is on Sunday, and I
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: want Joe to come and tell you all about it.
• 28:08
  Speaker 1: They have a press release with the details. There is
• 28:12
  Speaker 1: a full page ad in the Omaha World Herald and
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: it says democracy it ain't no picnic. And so Joe,
• 28:19
  Speaker 1: it's four to nine pm. It's going to be in
• 28:21
  Speaker 1: the gene Lahy Mall, centered around where the pavilion is.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: And Joe, why don't you just take it away and
• 28:27
  Speaker 1: talk about who organize this and why you're doing it.
• 28:33
  Speaker 7: Thanks Jane. This is put on by the Free Speech Society,
• 28:36
  Speaker 7: which is an organization that we started back in twenty sixteen.
• 28:40
  Speaker 7: The goal was to bring back conversation amongst people who
• 28:46
  Speaker 7: might have disagreements and to give some civic engagement education
• 28:52
  Speaker 7: around that and get people to just kind of understand
• 28:56
  Speaker 7: that by talking to one another, I think we're better
• 28:59
  Speaker 7: for it. This whole event is centered around that concept
• 29:02
  Speaker 7: because it's kind of a traditional American picnic, very much
• 29:08
  Speaker 7: like what I was just at last night at Jazz
• 29:10
  Speaker 7: on the Green. It's going to be just like that.
• 29:13
  Speaker 7: Come and bring lawn chairs in your own picnic. There
• 29:16
  Speaker 7: will be food trucks there if you're so inclined. And
• 29:20
  Speaker 7: we're using the stage there in that beautiful pavilion, Leahy
• 29:24
  Speaker 7: Mall our premiere Omaha Park, one of wonderful, wonderful space,
• 29:30
  Speaker 7: and it's going to be from four to nine. It's
• 29:33
  Speaker 7: going to be music, it's going to be some presentations.
• 29:37
  Speaker 7: There is actually going to be a couple of things
• 29:39
  Speaker 7: that we're going to give to the Durham Museum to
• 29:42
  Speaker 7: put in their permanent collection, and it'll be part of
• 29:44
  Speaker 7: Omaha's record, which you know, fifty years from now, one
• 29:48
  Speaker 7: hundred years from now, that'll be pretty important. One of
• 29:50
  Speaker 7: them is a mayoral proclamation that is signed by all
• 29:54
  Speaker 7: seven living Omaha mayors.
• 29:56
  Speaker 3: There you go, you were part of that, Yes, I was.
• 30:00
  Speaker 7: And we're going to have a presentation from some of
• 30:02
  Speaker 7: those individuals, some of those mayors up on the stage
• 30:06
  Speaker 7: on Sunday night. And then we're also going to involve
• 30:09
  Speaker 7: some youth groups with that, so it's going to be
• 30:12
  Speaker 7: a variety of ages there will also be another presentation
• 30:16
  Speaker 7: up there. It's a vision statement that was put together
• 30:19
  Speaker 7: by Secretary Hegel and Senator Carrey, okay, and it's a
• 30:24
  Speaker 7: vision statement for us. It's called a Statement for America's
• 30:28
  Speaker 7: two hundred and fiftieth Birthday. Okay, you know what a
• 30:31
  Speaker 7: tremendous milestone.
• 30:33
  Speaker 1: Right And I know this is a nonpartisan, non policy
• 30:37
  Speaker 1: focused events absolutely, and so it's designed basically to uplift
• 30:41
  Speaker 1: the community and to uplift citizenship cooperation with each other.
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: Of course, it probably its origins had to be with
• 30:48
  Speaker 1: the vitriol and what is going on between political parties
• 30:52
  Speaker 1: right now, but this is a non partisan and so
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: we want people to know that. You know, who's going
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: to be reading the proclamation on stage will be myself,
• 31:04
  Speaker 1: Jim Subtle, PJ.
• 31:06
  Speaker 3: Morgan, hal Dobb.
• 31:08
  Speaker 1: But all the living mayors actually have signed this proclamation,
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: and the proclamation is very nonpartisan. So this event here
• 31:18
  Speaker 1: in like you said, the Statement for America by Hegel
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: and by Carrie.
• 31:24
  Speaker 3: This also I think.
• 31:25
  Speaker 1: Should celebrate Omaha because Omaha was founded on July fourth
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: in eighteen fifty four. We haven't made our two hundred
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: and fiftieth yet, but that would make us one hundred
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: and seventy two years old. It is yea And so
• 31:39
  Speaker 1: hopefully when we're two hundred and fifty years old, we're
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: going to have another celebration. But just think this goes
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: along with this massive celebration out throughout the country. You know,
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: I always decorate my house for the Fourth of July,
• 31:51
  Speaker 1: but this year it's staying up all July, just to
• 31:54
  Speaker 1: celebrate what we have here.
• 31:56
  Speaker 3: And we have to celebrate what we have here in
• 31:58
  Speaker 3: Omaha too, absolutely.
• 32:00
  Speaker 1: And I think the whole point of this is, boy,
• 32:02
  Speaker 1: if we could get together, all get together, have a
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: good time and not be fighting about policy and fighting
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: about politics, what an uplifting thing.
• 32:11
  Speaker 3: For the whole community. So everybody is invited, right.
• 32:14
  Speaker 7: Joe, everyone, And it's free. It is absolutely free. And
• 32:18
  Speaker 7: you know, the way to think about it is it's
• 32:20
  Speaker 7: jazz on the Green with a little bit different music
• 32:24
  Speaker 7: and some presentations and a reason for us to all
• 32:27
  Speaker 7: come together and celebrate what unites us. Hell Dobb had
• 32:32
  Speaker 7: said he thinks it's about America's principles. I absolutely agree
• 32:36
  Speaker 7: with him, and it's about America's optimistic spirit. And if
• 32:40
  Speaker 7: everyone thinks of it that way, come out and have
• 32:42
  Speaker 7: some fun on a wonderful It's going to be beautiful
• 32:45
  Speaker 7: Sunday night in our premiere Omaha Park.
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: Love the Jeene Leahi Mal, the pavilions very nice. So
• 32:51
  Speaker 1: we've got in the statements that are going to be made.
• 32:54
  Speaker 1: The proclamations very short, because I think people if there's
• 32:57
  Speaker 1: a big, long program sometimes they're like, oh, good, gosh, okay,
• 33:01
  Speaker 1: And there's gonna be live music. You said there's going
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: to be dancing. I did read that the Union soccer
• 33:06
  Speaker 1: team might.
• 33:07
  Speaker 3: Be of around Union.
• 33:09
  Speaker 7: Omaha will have some players out there and a presence
• 33:13
  Speaker 7: there and that will be wonderful and that and you
• 33:15
  Speaker 7: know they love to see kids, and you know, so
• 33:18
  Speaker 7: bring your.
• 33:18
  Speaker 1: Families, okay, And just who are some of the live
• 33:22
  Speaker 1: music you want to talk about?
• 33:23
  Speaker 3: Who is gonna be featured?
• 33:25
  Speaker 7: I do Omaha's Jade Dorsey and Justin Payne will be there,
• 33:30
  Speaker 7: two tremendous talents. There will also be an award winning
• 33:35
  Speaker 7: barbershop quartet. And if you haven't heard barbershop quartets, think
• 33:39
  Speaker 7: of like Crosby Stills, Nash wonderful beautiful.
• 33:43
  Speaker 3: Harmony, incredible harmony, that's what it is. Uh huh.
• 33:45
  Speaker 7: And then The headliners are Dom Flemens and Brian b E.
• 33:50
  Speaker 7: Farrow and Brian is actually from Omaha, Okay, and he
• 33:54
  Speaker 7: plays at a hip hop bluegrass group called Gangsta Grass.
• 33:59
  Speaker 7: And Flemmons is known as America's songster. And what he
• 34:04
  Speaker 7: does is he's revived a lot of old time music
• 34:08
  Speaker 7: and been nominated for Grammys many times. He had an
• 34:12
  Speaker 7: album out not too long ago called Black Cowboys and
• 34:16
  Speaker 7: it was kind of an ode to black cowboys who
• 34:20
  Speaker 7: helped develop the West in America.
• 34:23
  Speaker 3: And so a good old fashioned variety show we got
• 34:27
  Speaker 3: going on here. It is It's Americana, okay.
• 34:30
  Speaker 1: And so again that is this Sunday, July the twelfth,
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: from four to nine pm in the Gene, lay them
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: all down to the really free, absolutely free for everybody.
• 34:41
  Speaker 1: Bring You could bring your food, you could bring your chairs,
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: and just have a good time with everybody, celebrating America's
• 34:48
  Speaker 1: two hundred and fiftieth, celebrating Omaha's one hundred and seventy second.
• 34:52
  Speaker 3: It'll be a lot of fun.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: I will be there and hope we see everybody else
• 34:56
  Speaker 1: there too. Joe, thank you for being here to talk
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: about it. Any wonderful, Any last words about the event
• 35:03
  Speaker 1: except oh.
• 35:04
  Speaker 7: Just come and have fun with one another and celebrate
• 35:06
  Speaker 7: what's what unites.
• 35:07
  Speaker 3: Us and hope mother nature cooperates.
• 35:09
  Speaker 7: It's going to be perfect.
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: I think it'll be warm, but that's what we like
• 35:12
  Speaker 1: about summer in Omaha. All right, this Sunday, four to
• 35:15
  Speaker 1: nine pm, July twelfth, in the Jen lahiml Joe Sacho.
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: Thank you so much for being here today. Thanks Jeane, Yeah,
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: you bet, but anyway, thank you Lauren for being here today,
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: and thanks for our guests this week. You know, we
• 35:26
  Speaker 1: had a variety had Mary Jane Trumper, who is the
• 35:29
  Speaker 1: state GOP chair, and we had the newly elected mayor
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: of Council Bluffs, Jill shoot Act that was here on
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: Wednesday too, So we had a good variety of guests.
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: And I'll just wait and tell you who's going to
• 35:43
  Speaker 1: be on next week later because I'm still working on it.
• 35:47
  Speaker 2: Yes, well, Gine, you mentioned Mary Jane Trumper on the
• 35:50
  Speaker 2: show yesterday, and like you said, we had Jill shut Ack,
• 35:54
  Speaker 2: Democrat mayor of Council Bluffs who got in office in January.
• 35:57
  Speaker 2: We have a lot of diverse guests on this on
• 36:00
  Speaker 2: this program. I got an email yesterday from Bob, and
• 36:03
  Speaker 2: he said, this hour of the Genstauthor Comment Line program
• 36:08
  Speaker 2: was brought to you by the Nebraska Republican Party. I'm
• 36:11
  Speaker 2: a registered independent. I'm pretty open minded, but had to
• 36:14
  Speaker 2: shut my radio off after ten minutes. Well, Bob, you
• 36:18
  Speaker 2: probably had to get into the store or something. So
• 36:20
  Speaker 2: you can always find the podcast jfab dot com.
• 36:23
  Speaker 1: Yeah, sorry, Bob, but you know what, again, we try
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: this show is a chance for people to call in
• 36:29
  Speaker 1: and sound off. And you know, I had Dennis Crawford
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: on a few weeks ago, who was a lifelong Republican
• 36:35
  Speaker 1: became a Democrat and I let him sound off for
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: a good thirty five minutes about anti Republican sentiments that
• 36:43
  Speaker 1: he had. So you know, on Monday, I had the
• 36:46
  Speaker 1: new Democrat mayor of Council Bluffs on. So no, this
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: show was not brought to you by the Nebraska Republican Party.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: Was brought to you by Jean Stothard and that was
• 36:56
  Speaker 1: one of my guests, and I wanted to talk about
• 36:59
  Speaker 1: what we talked about yesterday. So if you don't like
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: it and you want to turn it off, that is fine.
• 37:04
  Speaker 1: But our guests are a variety and it's not just
• 37:08
  Speaker 1: a Republican Party show. Although everybody knows and I think
• 37:13
  Speaker 1: everybody understands that I am a Republican. I mean everybody
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: knows that. But I also said when I was mayor
• 37:19
  Speaker 1: that I will represent everyone, including Democrats. I have a
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: lot of Democrats that are friends, and although I don't
• 37:26
  Speaker 1: agree with all of their policies, I don't agree with
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of their agenda, that doesn't mean I'm going
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: to treat them badly.
• 37:33
  Speaker 3: My son's a Democrat. I don't hate him.
• 37:36
  Speaker 1: So you know, that's just the way I am, and
• 37:38
  Speaker 1: I'm not going to change the way I am, you know,
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: for a vote or for anything else. So I will
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: be honest with you. I told you i'd be honest
• 37:46
  Speaker 1: with you on the show, and we.
• 37:48
  Speaker 3: Are so well that solves that, then, I hope. So,
• 37:52
  Speaker 3: I hope. So.
• 37:53
  Speaker 2: I got another email yesterday and from Kathy, and this
• 37:56
  Speaker 2: is more directed to the conversation that we had. I
• 38:01
  Speaker 2: don't agree, Jean. I don't agree with your statement that
• 38:03
  Speaker 2: the DCRP would not endorse you in the primary election.
• 38:08
  Speaker 2: You were endorsed in the general election. You attended our meeting.
• 38:11
  Speaker 2: Our by law stated you need to ask in person.
• 38:15
  Speaker 2: I remember we were told you were coming before the primary,
• 38:18
  Speaker 2: so I waited for you, but I guess your plans changed.
• 38:22
  Speaker 3: Well, you know, I.
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: Don't agree with your statement either, Kathy, did you say,
• 38:28
  Speaker 1: because I think the Douglas County Republican Party's endorsement approach
• 38:32
  Speaker 1: and process has much room for improvement. I mean to
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: say that they, like I said yesterday, they endorsed in
• 38:41
  Speaker 1: the primary Mike McDonald, lifelong Democrat, new Republican author of
• 38:46
  Speaker 1: pension spiking, couldn't manage a fire department budget over a
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: twelve year incumbent Republican mayor because I didn't go and
• 38:55
  Speaker 1: ask in person. Really, I mean, there is a like
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: you said, the state party used to always just stick
• 39:02
  Speaker 1: with who was the incumbent. You know what, this last May,
• 39:06
  Speaker 1: the Douglas County Republican Party didn't endorse Don Bacon either,
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: the only Republican that was in the race, because he
• 39:15
  Speaker 1: didn't follow the rules and the procedures. They didn't endorse
• 39:20
  Speaker 1: Don Bacon in the primary. Yeah, I did get endorsed
• 39:23
  Speaker 1: in the general, but in the general it was me
• 39:25
  Speaker 1: against John Ewing, and I hope the Douglas County Republican
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: Party wouldn't have endorsed John Ewing. But I think you know,
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: at the end of the day, Kathy, the dcrp's approach
• 39:37
  Speaker 1: and process and bylaws needs much room for improvement. And
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: I think the bylaws need to be changed because I
• 39:43
  Speaker 1: think that the positions that they are taking and take
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: me out of the picture. Like I said, they didn't
• 39:48
  Speaker 1: endorse Don Bacon for Congress in the primary because he
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: didn't follow the rules in the bylaws, Well, then the
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: bylaws need to be changed.
• 39:58
  Speaker 3: This is the cafeb comment line.
• 40:00
  Speaker 2: If your host of the show, Gene Stothard, Gene, I've
• 40:03
  Speaker 2: gotten some messages in the past about Okay, well, this
• 40:06
  Speaker 2: is supposed to be a comment line you have guests
• 40:08
  Speaker 2: on and we're not allowed to get our comments and
• 40:13
  Speaker 2: questions and concerns off. But here's what I have to
• 40:15
  Speaker 2: say about it, real quick. Just like this email from
• 40:18
  Speaker 2: Kathy and from Bob earlier, and plenty of other emails,
• 40:21
  Speaker 2: these come in and we source back to them. We
• 40:24
  Speaker 2: come back to them as well. So our goal is
• 40:26
  Speaker 2: to answer all questions that come in, regardless of the topic.
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: Right, And I said this on the show many times.
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: I always tell Peyton take them as they come, don't
• 40:35
  Speaker 1: screen them. Don't just bring the good ones on the
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: positive ones. We want to take them and we want
• 40:40
  Speaker 1: people to be able to sound off whether you like
• 40:43
  Speaker 1: what we're saying or not, we will get to them.
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: You know, if the show lasts long or the guests
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: lasts a long time and we don't get to them
• 40:49
  Speaker 1: that day. I always Peyton and I will always talk
• 40:52
  Speaker 1: ahead of time and say let's bring them on today,
• 40:54
  Speaker 1: and we want to get your questions answered and let
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: you be able to talk and sound off as much,
• 41:00
  Speaker 1: which is you want to, because that's.
• 41:01
  Speaker 3: What this show is all about.
• 41:03
  Speaker 1: So I know today was very busy because I brought
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the second guest on kind of at the last minute,
• 41:09
  Speaker 1: but I thought it was important for everybody to know
• 41:11
  Speaker 1: and understand. So that is it for us today, and
• 41:15
  Speaker 1: that is it for us this week.
• 41:16
  Speaker 3: We will be back on Monday.
• 41:18
  Speaker 1: I want to thank you for spending this hour with
• 41:20
  Speaker 1: us and thanks for listening. We'd love for you to
• 41:23
  Speaker 1: join us again on Monday. And I am Jean Stothard
• 41:26
  Speaker 1: and this is eleven ten kfab