Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / Nickel-and-Dimed: Taxes, TIFs, and Tickets

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Nickel-and-Dimed: Taxes, TIFs, and Tickets · The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I am your current host of this great show that
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: we have just started the last week. For the ten
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: to eleven hour, I was going to say I just
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: used to work for the City of Omaha instead of
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: going through all those things that I used to do.
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: But I want to hear the listeners feedback, your comments,
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: your concerns, your complaints. Really anything goes on this show,
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: whether it's city, state, national, or the world. And of
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: course you will get plenty of opinions from me, Jean
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: stother but it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
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  Speaker 1: So you can send your emails and you to your
• 0:32
  Speaker 1: emails to comments. Comment at kfab dot com. Just comment,
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: not comments, although you can comments and then or you
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: can call four two, five, five, eight eleven ten. Before
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  Speaker 1: we get into today's show, I did want to give
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: a little additional information. One of the callers yesterday I
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: hope you're still listening, called in about the traffic signals
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  Speaker 1: and the timing of the traffic signals, and I said,
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  Speaker 1: I experienced the same thing everybody else does. It is
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  Speaker 1: for us, but we are and I talked a little
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: bit about the plan that we have and it is
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  Speaker 1: called the Signal Master Plan, and it is about eighty
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  Speaker 1: five percent complete right now. I said public Works yesterday
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  Speaker 1: controls the signal timing, and it is traffic engineering manages
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  Speaker 1: the signal timing under public Works. But just a little
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  Speaker 1: more information. Some of our quarters are coordinated to limit
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  Speaker 1: the stops in a queue, but eventually the drivers will
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  Speaker 1: have to stop. But still it's being done for smooth sailing.
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  Speaker 1: Like I said, as you go east in the morning
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  Speaker 1: and west in the afternoon. The goal is really to
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  Speaker 1: manage intersection traffic as efficiently as possible while allowing phases
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  Speaker 1: at all legs without too long of a wait. So
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  Speaker 1: we can observe this now also with cameras and sometimes
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  Speaker 1: we use drones, particularly at rush hour. But this is important.
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  Speaker 1: If anyone submits a request because they think an intersection
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  Speaker 1: isn't properly working right, then we will evaluate it. So
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  Speaker 1: I want the listeners to understand that, so you can
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  Speaker 1: call in. You can call the MARES hotline at four
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  Speaker 1: four four five five five five and request that, or
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  Speaker 1: you can call public Works. One other comment I wanted
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  Speaker 1: to make is when I made a comment yesterday that
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  Speaker 1: I was actually mistaken, so I will always miss I
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  Speaker 1: always admit my mistakes, but I said, we are working
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  Speaker 1: with Hawkins Construction to have hot asphalt all year round.
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  Speaker 1: And I said, we were still using the coal patch. Actually,
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  Speaker 1: Hawkins asphalt plant has been up and running for just
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  Speaker 1: about a year now and they have provided hot asphalt
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  Speaker 1: over the winter this year, so the hot asphalt is
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  Speaker 1: available early on, I said yesterday. Usually our asphalt plant
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  Speaker 1: doesn't fire up until April, but we do have it now.
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  Speaker 1: And thank you to Hawkins Construction. Very good that they
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  Speaker 1: were working with the city to provide this so those
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  Speaker 1: do last those patches a little bit longer. And this
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  Speaker 1: was in a conversation about my favorite subject, potholes, every
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: mayor's nightmare. But Peyton is here with me again today.
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  Speaker 1: Good morning, Peyton, Good morning Gina.
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  Speaker 2: Good to be with you.
• 3:06
  Speaker 1: Thank you me too. It's good to see you too.
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  Speaker 1: Peyton is a former soccer player. We had a lot
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  Speaker 1: of talk about that yesterday because my son was a
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  Speaker 1: soccer player too. And I see I heard you this morning.
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  Speaker 1: You gave the disclaimer after Chris Baker commercial and you're
• 3:20
  Speaker 1: really catching on at that because you did all that.
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  Speaker 3: Yes, just in case anybody's curious, I do not talk
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  Speaker 3: that fast. They speed it up in production. Oh do
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  Speaker 3: they Because I heard it my son. I was like,
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  Speaker 3: I did not talk like that, but it sounds really good.
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  Speaker 1: I know you got it, I said. I always think
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  Speaker 1: those disclaimers sound so crazy when they go and that's
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  Speaker 1: what you were.
• 3:41
  Speaker 2: Doing this morning.
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  Speaker 1: So I have a guest to start out this morning.
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  Speaker 1: Brink Harding is here with me. Brinker Harding is City
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  Speaker 1: council member for District six. I worked with him quite
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  Speaker 1: often when I was Mayor of Omaha, which is my
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  Speaker 1: former job with the city, and this morning we wanted
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  Speaker 1: to talk a little bit about the front article in
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  Speaker 1: the World Herald yesterday that council member Festerson is proposing
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  Speaker 1: TIFF projects that are awarded to developers should have affordable units. Now,
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  Speaker 1: Brinker and I talked a little bit about this this
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  Speaker 1: morning already, but typically I don't like to give my
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  Speaker 1: opinion until I know all the details, and I will
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  Speaker 1: admit I don't know all the details with this, and
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  Speaker 1: I'm not sure what he is proposing. But typically historically
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  Speaker 1: I have been against something like this because I have
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  Speaker 1: talked to mayors in other cities where this has happened,
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  Speaker 1: where there was a mandate that a certain amount of
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  Speaker 1: affordable housing units had to be included in every development
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  Speaker 1: project or they could not get incentives or other benefits
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  Speaker 1: like TIFF. And we could talk about TIFF too. Tiff
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  Speaker 1: is a development tool that we have by allowed by
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  Speaker 1: state law. But typically what happens when there is a
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  Speaker 1: mandate that developers will stop developing in that city and
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  Speaker 1: they might go and develop and build in an other city.
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  Speaker 1: The reason is developers have to have a return on
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  Speaker 1: their investment and they are not going to build apartments
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  Speaker 1: or they're not going to do of development if there
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  Speaker 1: is a mandate in there that could possibly potentially disrupt
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  Speaker 1: what they want to achieve, and that is they have
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  Speaker 1: to have a return on their investment to go forward
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  Speaker 1: and do this development. And we don't want that happening
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  Speaker 1: in Omaha. So I know we talked many times about
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  Speaker 1: is there other incentives that can be used? What is
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  Speaker 1: other things that the city can do to encourage developers
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  Speaker 1: with more affordable housing units? To make it a mandate
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  Speaker 1: that is still something that I think I would not support.
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  Speaker 1: So Bricker, welcome, Good morning, Jane. I'm pretty chatty here.
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  Speaker 1: All Okay, you can call me whatever you want. I
• 5:47
  Speaker 1: said on this show I've been called a lot worse.
• 5:49
  Speaker 1: There are people that still call me mayor, and that's okay.
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: As you know, you earn that title forever, once, always, once, always,
• 5:57
  Speaker 1: just like the President, I still call held out mayor
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: job whenever I call mayor fahee mayor. I called Jim
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  Speaker 1: Subtle mayor when I see him. But people can call
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  Speaker 1: me what really whatever they want. But most people call
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  Speaker 1: me Gene and I like that.
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  Speaker 2: That's my name.
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  Speaker 4: Well, it's good to see you, and uh, I think, uh,
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  Speaker 4: this radio show has been fantastic. I've had a chance
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  Speaker 4: to listen to it from time to time. This is actually,
• 6:20
  Speaker 4: I think your one week anniversary.
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: Oh it is, yes, it is. Oh boy, I've been
• 6:24
  Speaker 1: doing five days. I've been doing this already. And Scott
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: said yesterday that he was weaning me off of him.
• 6:31
  Speaker 1: I don't know what he really means by that, but
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  Speaker 1: I think, yeah, Peyton and I we can handle this.
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  Speaker 1: So here, Scott is here this morning, so he's he's
• 6:39
  Speaker 1: roaming around. But so I just wanted to ask you.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: Brinker is a city council member for District six, which
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  Speaker 1: is West Omaha. He is also a candidate for congressional
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  Speaker 1: District two. So he's a candidate right now. He works
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  Speaker 1: for callers. That's your real job. Well, yeah, that's your
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  Speaker 1: real job. So he knows a lot about development in
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  Speaker 1: real estate in the city of Omaha. So, Brinker, I
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  Speaker 1: don't know if you know any more details about Council
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  Speaker 1: Infesterson's proposal, but I kind of would love to know
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  Speaker 1: what your thoughts are right now.
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  Speaker 4: Well, you kind of hit a lot of those same
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  Speaker 4: thoughts and feelings I have about mandating something like that.
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  Speaker 4: I mean, right now, I think you know, whatever estimates
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  Speaker 4: you look at, if we have a thirty thousand unit
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  Speaker 4: shortage of housing in the Omaha area, the metropolitan area,
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  Speaker 4: I mean something like this is to me, it's a
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  Speaker 4: show pony.
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  Speaker 2: It doesn't really mean that much.
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  Speaker 4: It doesn't accomplish anything other than you know, for example,
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  Speaker 4: if it's a if you mandate the multifamily development that
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  Speaker 4: was requesting, Tiff, put ten percent of the units in
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  Speaker 4: for affordable housing. Again, if it's one hundred and eighty units,
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  Speaker 4: that's eighteen units. If we have a thirty thousand shortage
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  Speaker 4: in affordable housing, I think eighteen units really doesn't do
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  Speaker 4: much to make a mark in that So I would
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  Speaker 4: really encourage us to look at some of the things
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  Speaker 4: that you suggested, maybe some other incentives or other ways
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  Speaker 4: that we can encourage developers to do affordable housing, both
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  Speaker 4: in the single unit housing units as well as multifamily.
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  Speaker 4: But this really doesn't mean again, I think it's kind
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  Speaker 4: of a show pony. It really doesn't do much to accomplish,
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  Speaker 4: you know, really addressing the issue that we have at hand.
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  Speaker 4: I find it interesting too that, well two things. One
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  Speaker 4: that this resolution is being put on our agenda for
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  Speaker 4: next Tuesday. Actually Amy Melton and I are both out
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  Speaker 4: of it, won't be at the meeting next week.
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  Speaker 1: Oh that's interesting.
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  Speaker 2: Kind of interesting. I'm sure it's not once a day,
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  Speaker 2: but it may be it maybe.
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  Speaker 4: But I also think it's interesting too, is we're talking
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  Speaker 4: about affordability, and I think, you know, you and I
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  Speaker 4: might talk a little bit about the Housing Affordability Action Plan.
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  Speaker 4: But you know, we had an opportunity just a month
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  Speaker 4: or two ago. And actually when you were still in office,
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  Speaker 4: you remember the electrical code the state had adopted and
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  Speaker 4: there were some amendments in the electrical code and then
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  Speaker 4: the city has to adopt a code to be compliant
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  Speaker 4: with the state now they can do something that is
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  Speaker 4: the same as a state, or more restrictive than state,
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  Speaker 4: which is what the council tried to do. They tried
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  Speaker 4: to add back in those amendments that were taken out.
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  Speaker 4: It passed at that time four to three. Amy, Milton
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  Speaker 4: don Roe and I voted against it. And I'll say
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  Speaker 4: why here in a minute, and then you vetoed it.
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  Speaker 4: They did not have the votes to override the veto.
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  Speaker 4: And then after the new administration's in they brought U
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  Speaker 4: because we still had to be in compliance with the state,
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  Speaker 4: and it passed four to three, and this time there's
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  Speaker 4: no veto, so it went into effect. Now why is
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  Speaker 4: that important because as we're talking about housing affordability and
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  Speaker 4: something that surfesorson could have voted for something that would
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  Speaker 4: make housing more affordable. Is that for every thousand dollars
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  Speaker 4: that you add to the cost of a house at
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  Speaker 4: the time when it was in front of us, when
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  Speaker 4: you were in Indian when you were the mayor, we
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  Speaker 4: were told that it took out four hundred and fifty
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  Speaker 4: potential home buyers. When it came back to us this
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  Speaker 4: last time, just eight months later, that number had jumped
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  Speaker 4: to five hundred and fifty and now in discussions with
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  Speaker 4: some of the homebuilders and homehall area border realtors and
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  Speaker 4: other subject matter experts, it's over a thousand. So by
• 10:54
  Speaker 4: adding again and what we were what they added back in,
• 10:59
  Speaker 4: you could you know, there were estimates of what it was,
• 11:01
  Speaker 4: but at the bare minimum it was like eight hundred
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  Speaker 4: dollars to you know, maybe two thousand dollars. That takes
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  Speaker 4: out people being able to afford a home.
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  Speaker 1: It makes homes less affordable, and that's exactly what we
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  Speaker 1: are trying to address right now. It sounded good because
• 11:19
  Speaker 1: it was the unions that were really pushing this in
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  Speaker 1: the Electrical Union, and it sounded good, and that was
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  Speaker 1: all about Their big push was it's all about safety.
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  Speaker 1: But at the same time, our codes are safe as
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  Speaker 1: they are, and when we were trying to debate something
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  Speaker 1: that was going to make building a house or buying
• 11:40
  Speaker 1: a house more expensive, you know, we're just doing the
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: opposite of what we are trying to achieve. And that's
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  Speaker 1: why I vetoed it. Now it doesn't surprise me at
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  Speaker 1: all how it came back again. I always hated those
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  Speaker 1: four to three votes, you know, and that's just the
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  Speaker 1: way it is. You have four Democrats, you have three
• 11:58
  Speaker 1: Republicans on this city Council, and that's just the way
• 12:02
  Speaker 1: it goes a lot of the times. The vote is
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: the vote. That's what I mean. The majority rules here.
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  Speaker 1: But I always hate it when it comes back and
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  Speaker 1: they passed by such a slight margin. That means there
• 12:13
  Speaker 1: are people that really don't want to go forward with that.
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  Speaker 1: The HAT plan I wanted to bring up, we call
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  Speaker 1: it hap HAAP. It's Housing Affordability Affordable Action Plan that
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  Speaker 1: was created in twenty twenty two when I was mayor
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  Speaker 1: by the Planning Department, and you know, the goal was
• 12:34
  Speaker 1: is to have a plan to have more affordable housing units.
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  Speaker 1: But I think that there was about ten percent of
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  Speaker 1: affordable housing in the past five years that were considered
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  Speaker 1: affordable with that plan. But I thought we had a
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: good plan in line. And we do have a partner.
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: The City of Omaha works with Front Porch, and I
• 12:51
  Speaker 1: mean they have put in a lot of money to
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  Speaker 1: help developers, give them an incentive to build more affordable
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  Speaker 1: housing units, but to mandate and to say that we
• 13:03
  Speaker 1: will not award tiff projects, which you know, and we
• 13:08
  Speaker 1: follow what the state law says with tiff. Tiff isn't
• 13:11
  Speaker 1: hard for people to understand, but I always go back
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  Speaker 1: to that phrase within the state law that is called
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: the butt for phrase, and that means when somebody applies
• 13:23
  Speaker 1: for tiff for a development, they go through a tiff
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: committee before it goes to the city council, and that
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  Speaker 1: tiff committee makes sure that they are tiff eligible expenses
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  Speaker 1: that are awarded, and that also they satisfied the butt for.
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  Speaker 1: If they didn't get tiff, they weren't going to do it, basically,
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  Speaker 1: And I always give the example with tiff of say
• 13:45
  Speaker 1: we have an old vacant filling station, gas station on
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  Speaker 1: a corner somewhere. It's vacant, and say it's worth I'm
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: going to make up a number, say it's worth one
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  Speaker 1: hundred thousand dollars, and that owner is going to pay
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: property taxes on a hundhundred thousand dollars and he will
• 14:02
  Speaker 1: continue doing it. A developer comes in and he says,
• 14:05
  Speaker 1: I'm going to develop this area. I want to buy it,
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: I'm going to develop it. I'm going to put in
• 14:09
  Speaker 1: three hundred apartments here. When that development is done, let's
• 14:14
  Speaker 1: say it's worth ten million dollars. Then that developer is
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: going to be paying property taxes on ten million dollars
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: instead of one hundred thousand dollars. But that developer is
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: going to say, I can't afford to do this without TIFF,
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: and he will satisfy the butt for then if we
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: don't get TIFF, then that means he's not going to
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: develop it, and that old vacant gas station is still
• 14:38
  Speaker 1: going to sit there and still getting taxes paid on
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: one hundred thousand dollars. The way TIFF works then is
• 14:43
  Speaker 1: the city and the city council will award them that
• 14:46
  Speaker 1: the tax increment financing based on what is allowed by
• 14:50
  Speaker 1: state law, and as the value of that property goes
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: up and up, that new owner is going to pay
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: those additional taxes going up and up. The the city
• 15:00
  Speaker 1: then will basically return some of that money to the
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: developer of what was a proof for TIFF eligible expenses
• 15:07
  Speaker 1: to pay for the development. That's how it works. And
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: you know, the school districts aren't losing any money when
• 15:14
  Speaker 1: we award TIFF because they're not going to lose anything
• 15:16
  Speaker 1: they don't have. Don't you agree with me with that?
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: I mean it's really hard.
• 15:20
  Speaker 4: It's alone essentially it's a it's a loan to the developer.
• 15:24
  Speaker 4: And to kind of bring it back to the article
• 15:26
  Speaker 4: that was in the paper yesterday, I actually hosted a
• 15:31
  Speaker 4: business roundtable luncheon yesterday with a number of developers, real
• 15:36
  Speaker 4: estate attorneys, architects, engineers, and this actually the subject came up.
• 15:42
  Speaker 4: And as you mentioned, there are other cities that you
• 15:45
  Speaker 4: talked to, and you know, there are other examples where
• 15:50
  Speaker 4: it helped it stemied some of the development and some
• 15:53
  Speaker 4: of the developers I was talking to yesterday said the
• 15:55
  Speaker 4: same thing. I find it interesting too, and I don't
• 15:58
  Speaker 4: know everything that uh Pete has in his resolution, but
• 16:04
  Speaker 4: in the article it mentioned that, well maybe they could
• 16:07
  Speaker 4: instead of having the affordable units within the project, they
• 16:11
  Speaker 4: could do a payment in lieu of tax.
• 16:13
  Speaker 2: Well, you just brought up that the BUTT four.
• 16:16
  Speaker 4: Okay, if if there's if they've proven the BUTT four
• 16:21
  Speaker 4: and and you're having then to pay out more cash
• 16:28
  Speaker 4: as if you're not doing the affordable units within it,
• 16:30
  Speaker 4: then that seems to work against the BUTT four. Then
• 16:33
  Speaker 4: you're saying, well, I have extra money, so I didn't
• 16:37
  Speaker 4: need to do it, yeah, or I could do it
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: without yeah, And that's what the whole debate is usually
• 16:43
  Speaker 4: and even some of the folks, our legislators were debating
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: with me when we decided to fund the street car
• 16:51
  Speaker 4: by using TIFF, and you know, they would say, well,
• 16:55
  Speaker 4: these all these this is going to happen, All this
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: development around the streetcar line is going to happen anyway,
• 17:00
  Speaker 4: So the schools would not get this additional property tax
• 17:04
  Speaker 4: because of all this development.
• 17:06
  Speaker 1: No, they wouldn't around the streetcar these developments, and we
• 17:10
  Speaker 1: have probably now about one and a half billion dollars
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: worth of new developments that have either underway or already
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: or approved along the streetcar line and more in line.
• 17:21
  Speaker 1: And they're there because of the streetcar. I remember when
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: I did the press conference with Todd, heasted with new
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: style for Central Park Plaza, which are the two twin
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: towers downstairs, which is now going to be called Oh
• 17:35
  Speaker 1: remind me the duo that's right, do a clever name
• 17:38
  Speaker 1: because of the twin towers. And he said, I would
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: not be doing this development without TIFF. Now, this was
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: this building, although it looks pretty cool and I think
• 17:49
  Speaker 1: you all know what it is. It's at the end
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: of the gene Lehi Mal. It was about seventy five
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: percent vacant Class B office space soon to be one
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: hundred percent vacant. Todd, he said, is coming in and
• 18:01
  Speaker 1: he is building seven hundred and seven apartments. Some are affordable,
• 18:05
  Speaker 1: but he said, I could not do this without Tiff.
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: Without Tiff, he would not be doing that, and that
• 18:10
  Speaker 1: would be sitting there as a huge vacant building. So
• 18:13
  Speaker 1: Tiff is used very, very carefully.
• 18:15
  Speaker 4: I wanted to mention one other thing too, as it
• 18:17
  Speaker 4: relates to affordability. There's a group in Omaha called Welcome
• 18:21
  Speaker 4: Home that did a study, and that study found that
• 18:27
  Speaker 4: the cost of a newly constructed home there's about anywhere
• 18:32
  Speaker 4: from twenty four to thirty two percent or tied up
• 18:36
  Speaker 4: in regulations. Now, I'm not saying that all regulations can
• 18:39
  Speaker 4: go away, but what we need to do, what we
• 18:42
  Speaker 4: need to focus on, is eliminating those onerous or burdensome
• 18:47
  Speaker 4: regulations that are needlessly adding to the cost of construction
• 18:51
  Speaker 4: of homes. Absolutely, there are a number of a number
• 18:54
  Speaker 4: of ways that we can attack the affordability issue, and
• 18:59
  Speaker 4: I don't think it's solved by Again, you know, eighteen
• 19:03
  Speaker 4: units out of one hundred and eighty unit apartment complex
• 19:06
  Speaker 4: multifamily development that's going to really put a dent into
• 19:10
  Speaker 4: the thirty thousand shortage that we have here in the
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: metropolitan area.
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: Like we said, it sounds good on the surface, maybe,
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: but we always have to be worried about the unintended consequences,
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: and this is one of the unintended consequences. It's just
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: going to make it's I know, it's going to drive
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: development out. And you know, these developers, like I said,
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: they know what they are doing. I had people ask
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: me over and over what may or why are you
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: letting all these developers build all those apartments. They fill
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: up as quick as they're open. The developers know where
• 19:41
  Speaker 1: there's there the need is those apartments and the condos
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: they fill up right away, and they know what they're doing.
• 19:48
  Speaker 1: But they have to have a return on their investment.
• 19:50
  Speaker 1: They have to afford to be able to build those things.
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: I did want to give one more shout out to
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: Front Porch. I mentioned them earlier that that has been
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: our partner that I have wor worked with a lot.
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: They are great. I mean, they do a great job.
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: They are are a nonprofit It was established in twenty
• 20:05
  Speaker 1: twenty one. They provide low cost loans to builders that
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: help subsidize the cost of constructing housing and making the
• 20:14
  Speaker 1: units more affordable for those at lower income level. And
• 20:17
  Speaker 1: they do a great job doing that, and we have
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: a great partnership with them, so you know, and they
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: have been responsible for probably close to two thousand, maybe
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: more housing units that are considered affordable. But then we
• 20:29
  Speaker 1: always have that debate on what is affordable and what
• 20:32
  Speaker 1: does that mean. And we talked about that the other day,
• 20:35
  Speaker 1: but I thought it was important to have you on
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: because it's going to be a city council debate. It
• 20:39
  Speaker 1: was on the front page of the newspaper. And like
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I told everybody the other day, it sounds good. It
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: made front page, sounds good on the surface, but we always,
• 20:49
  Speaker 1: the mayor and the city council always has to look
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: at the unintended consequences. Now I have to bring this
• 20:54
  Speaker 1: up because affordable housing is Mayor ewings Number one priority
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: as mayor. I have said this before and I'm going
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: to say it again. Government's priority, and every mayor's priority
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: in the country should be public safety. It should be
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: keeping the citizens of Omaha safe. That is not even
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: on his list of priorities. My second priority was the
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: budget in keeping taxes as low as possible, and that
• 21:20
  Speaker 1: is not on his list of priorities either. Number one
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: is affordable housing. Hold your mayor accountable. That's all I'm saying.
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: You make up your own mind. You make up your
• 21:28
  Speaker 1: own mind if you agree with him or not. But
• 21:31
  Speaker 1: hold him accountable, just like you held me accountable, just
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: like you hold the city council accountable.
• 21:36
  Speaker 4: So thinking is say the city speech tomorrow too, So
• 21:41
  Speaker 4: we'll see some of those.
• 21:42
  Speaker 1: I'm going to be listening to the state of the
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: city because you know what, when the budget we did
• 21:46
  Speaker 1: his first budget speech, and I have to just say
• 21:49
  Speaker 1: this because it's the truth. A lot of it was
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: my last budget speech that Kerrie Murphy and I wrote verbatim,
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: so it was they used a lot that I gave
• 21:58
  Speaker 1: in my last budget speech. So we will see how
• 22:01
  Speaker 1: the state of the city is tomorrow. And you know what,
• 22:04
  Speaker 1: Peyton Monday, we're going to talk about the.
• 22:06
  Speaker 3: State of the city. That would be an excellent idea.
• 22:09
  Speaker 3: That would be an excellent idea. This week a kfab
• 22:11
  Speaker 3: comment line on news radio eleven ten KFAB reach out
• 22:15
  Speaker 3: to us via email comment at kfab dot com. The
• 22:18
  Speaker 3: radio talkback mic on your iHeartRadio app, or you can
• 22:21
  Speaker 3: give us a call for zero two five five eight
• 22:23
  Speaker 3: eleven ten. We'll be back in just a few minutes.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: Thanks Brinker for being on.
• 22:27
  Speaker 2: Thank you, Mayor.
• 22:28
  Speaker 3: Hi Larry, thank you for calling news radio eleven ten
• 22:30
  Speaker 3: KFAB you're talking to Genes author.
• 22:33
  Speaker 5: Hi Larry, Yeah, thank you for taking my call. I'd
• 22:37
  Speaker 5: like to ask you your impression of the open meeting
• 22:41
  Speaker 5: that stat statute and that relates to the way the
• 22:45
  Speaker 5: city council opened operates right now. I go there every week.
• 22:51
  Speaker 5: I'm about the only non connected citizen that's not on
• 22:55
  Speaker 5: the agenda but attends. And it seems to me that
• 22:59
  Speaker 5: they do every thing they can to structure their rules
• 23:03
  Speaker 5: to limit the citizens that are not there for that.
• 23:09
  Speaker 5: They are not on the agenda, they're not there for
• 23:12
  Speaker 5: a handout, they're there to participate, that they do everything
• 23:16
  Speaker 5: they can to restrict the participation.
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: Well, Larry, you know, first of all, I'm going to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: tell you I'm really glad citizens like you do attend
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: these public meetings. People have a lot to say about
• 23:28
  Speaker 1: what goes on at city Hall, about the decisions the
• 23:31
  Speaker 1: mayor makes, the decisions the city council makes, but very
• 23:34
  Speaker 1: few actually come to the meeting to really listen, so
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: we appreciate that. And I'm going to let Brinker say
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: a few things about this too, but I will say this,
• 23:43
  Speaker 1: we follow We follow Robert's rules of order. We follow
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: parliamentary procedure. We have a city Clerk there that is
• 23:50
  Speaker 1: supposed to maintain the parliamentary procedure and the city attorney
• 23:54
  Speaker 1: and make sure that the rules are followed. But it
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: does have a lot to do with who is the
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: president of the council and who is running the meeting.
• 24:04
  Speaker 1: It has a whole lot to do with that. You know,
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: Chris Jerrem when he was President of the City Council,
• 24:10
  Speaker 1: he ran a very tight, strict meeting and he restricted
• 24:15
  Speaker 1: the time anybody had to speak. Pete Festerson typically did
• 24:20
  Speaker 1: not and let people talk as long as they want.
• 24:23
  Speaker 1: Danny Bagley, I think he is enforcing the rules. Are
• 24:26
  Speaker 1: Robert's rules a little bit further? Brinker, what you said
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: they are through this? What do you think?
• 24:31
  Speaker 4: Well, yeah, we obviously welcome public's input on any item,
• 24:37
  Speaker 4: and everyone is afforded the same opportunity, everyone's treated the same.
• 24:43
  Speaker 4: You get three minutes on the subject, and we asked
• 24:47
  Speaker 4: that you stay on the subject, and if you wander
• 24:50
  Speaker 4: off the subject, then the President Danny usually make sure
• 24:56
  Speaker 4: that he tries to bring them back on subject, and
• 24:59
  Speaker 4: if they don't then then they're cut off.
• 25:01
  Speaker 1: And Breaker. You can still if somebody has a bigger issue,
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: they can still give you a written testimony, are a
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: written opinion or a written concern and give it to
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: the clerk and it would be shared with all city councils.
• 25:18
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and it's made a part of the permanent record
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: as well too. There and certainly if and again, look,
• 25:24
  Speaker 4: we also offer the opportunity for people to zoom in
• 25:28
  Speaker 4: with comments. They have to register with the Quirk obviously,
• 25:32
  Speaker 4: so that can be coordinated. But look, we encourage people
• 25:36
  Speaker 4: to voice their opinions.
• 25:37
  Speaker 2: We listen to them.
• 25:38
  Speaker 4: People can email us and as you said, they if
• 25:42
  Speaker 4: they have written testimony, if they can't be there that day,
• 25:45
  Speaker 4: they can cert and even if they are there that day,
• 25:48
  Speaker 4: they can hand it to the clerk. She will make
• 25:50
  Speaker 4: it part of the permanent record. So we do encourage
• 25:52
  Speaker 4: the public's input and we do listen to the public's input.
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: And Breaker remind of folks if they want to come
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: to the city Council meeting. Do they have to sign
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: up to speak? And then also what is available now
• 26:05
  Speaker 1: for those that are hard at hearing, because if I recall, right,
• 26:09
  Speaker 1: I know and I don't know Larry, And again Larry,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: thanks for calling. Larry does have some some challenges with hearing.
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: What's going on?
• 26:16
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we we do offer a couple of different opportunities
• 26:19
  Speaker 4: for people to view and take part in the meeting.
• 26:24
  Speaker 4: There are headphones that they can have from the I
• 26:28
  Speaker 4: believe it's from the Building Commission. Uh, and and we
• 26:33
  Speaker 4: have some the what is it that KROI I want
• 26:38
  Speaker 4: to say, it's Kroy to cross a bottom?
• 26:39
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I know it. Yeah, the close captioning close caption.
• 26:42
  Speaker 1: There we go. It took both of us to think
• 26:44
  Speaker 1: of that, but.
• 26:46
  Speaker 2: So we have.
• 26:46
  Speaker 4: You know, we have those opportunities, but we want to
• 26:49
  Speaker 4: make sure that the public has every opportunity to weigh
• 26:52
  Speaker 4: in and give us their opinions. And again, they can
• 26:56
  Speaker 4: contact us by email, they can call city council offices.
• 27:00
  Speaker 1: Do they have to sign up to speak before they
• 27:02
  Speaker 1: walk into the chamber?
• 27:04
  Speaker 4: You know, I think they sometimes, especially if it's a
• 27:07
  Speaker 4: controversial or a subject that's going to have a lot
• 27:11
  Speaker 4: of people there to testify. I think they do asset.
• 27:14
  Speaker 4: I don't think that you necessarily have to. I think
• 27:17
  Speaker 4: it's encouraged that just so that the court can know
• 27:21
  Speaker 4: about how much, you know, how many people are there
• 27:23
  Speaker 4: to testify it.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: And the one thing we do ask, I know you
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: all ask, is if they come up to speak, it
• 27:28
  Speaker 1: has to be germane to that subject.
• 27:30
  Speaker 2: They yes, yea.
• 27:32
  Speaker 1: I think that's very important. If they're talking about a
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: liquor license, are a development and they want to speak,
• 27:38
  Speaker 1: that is fine, They're welcome, but it has to be
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: related to that topic. Absolutely, and that's when I think
• 27:43
  Speaker 1: that's when a lot of times the President of the
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: Council will stop and say, hold on, this is what
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: we're talking about. This is the issue right now, and
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: that happens a lot. So thank you, thanks Breaker for
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: your two cents there. I know Brinker's got to run,
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: but we are here to take more of your calls.
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: And Peyton, do you another email another call?
• 28:01
  Speaker 3: Yes, I absolutely do, and thank you for joining us
• 28:04
  Speaker 3: as well today. So I have this one related for you.
• 28:07
  Speaker 3: This is this is in regards to Tiff Okay, yes,
• 28:10
  Speaker 3: and this one here is from a sports economics professor
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: at the University of Nebraska, Omaha, Okay, considering in her class,
• 28:21
  Speaker 3: they are considering the cost benefit analysis of the Omaha
• 28:24
  Speaker 3: Union Soccer Stadium. We've learned any area called a district
• 28:29
  Speaker 3: is code for proposed TIFF support. Does the city publish
• 28:32
  Speaker 3: details of proposed projects like these? And this might just
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: be a simple answer, but I thought it might be
• 28:38
  Speaker 3: good to know.
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: Details about projects like these once the details are available
• 28:43
  Speaker 1: and available to the council and they're not still in
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: discussion these these Yeah, absolutely, I mean I did. I
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: can't tell you how many press conferences that I did
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: with developers over new developments from Central Park Plaza downtown,
• 28:58
  Speaker 1: from the the Riverfront parks to all the way out
• 29:02
  Speaker 1: at one hundred and forty fourth and Dodge talking about
• 29:05
  Speaker 1: Heartwood Preserve. I mean, I've done many many press conferences
• 29:10
  Speaker 1: that I was there to answer any questions that the
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: media had and to show the details of a development
• 29:15
  Speaker 1: like that. The thing with the soccer stadium, and I
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: started working with Union Soccer a lot while I was
• 29:20
  Speaker 1: still there, is that I thought that soccer stadium would
• 29:25
  Speaker 1: be fabulous. I thought it is needed downtown, It needed
• 29:28
  Speaker 1: to be downtown, But it was We worked with them
• 29:31
  Speaker 1: to find the right spot downtown. And you know, this
• 29:35
  Speaker 1: is going to be not just a soccer stadium, but
• 29:37
  Speaker 1: what unions the soccer stadium in itself originally. And I
• 29:41
  Speaker 1: might have this figure a little bit wrong now it
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: might be totally different. But if I recall the soccer
• 29:46
  Speaker 1: stadium was maybe seventy to eighty million dollars for the
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: soccer stadium. Maybe I'm a little high on that. But
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: the district around there, which is going to be restaurants
• 29:56
  Speaker 1: and hotels, et cetera, that was going to be over
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: a three hundred million dollar district. And you've got to
• 30:03
  Speaker 1: stop and think of the benefit to the city for that.
• 30:06
  Speaker 1: There's going to be a lot more sales tax that
• 30:09
  Speaker 1: are going to come out of that district. But they
• 30:12
  Speaker 1: wouldn't be building it downtown if it wasn't for the
• 30:16
  Speaker 1: incentives that we are giving them. And so, you know,
• 30:19
  Speaker 1: because they've got they got to get their return on
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: their investment. But I wanted them downtown. Same thing with
• 30:25
  Speaker 1: Mutual of Omaha. Mutual of Omaha could have been built
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: out in Western Omaha and built some sort of a
• 30:32
  Speaker 1: campus out there at much less costs than they are,
• 30:35
  Speaker 1: but a fortune five hundred company. I felt and my
• 30:38
  Speaker 1: team felt needed to be downtown Omaha to really enhance
• 30:42
  Speaker 1: our sky skyline now and in the future. So those
• 30:45
  Speaker 1: details should be readily available once they are final.
• 30:49
  Speaker 3: I'm gonna be honest. I'm a soccer guy. We talked
• 30:52
  Speaker 3: about this earlier. I'm so excited for it. In my
• 30:54
  Speaker 3: mind too. There's not a single bad thing about that place. No,
• 30:57
  Speaker 3: I can't wait.
• 30:57
  Speaker 1: It's going to be great. And you know they're working
• 30:59
  Speaker 1: with state on turnback text two, which used to be
• 31:02
  Speaker 1: only around a given awarded around arena or convention center.
• 31:07
  Speaker 1: But we're working with the state on that too. But
• 31:09
  Speaker 1: you got to think again, the return on that investment.
• 31:13
  Speaker 1: We want them down there. They've got a spot that
• 31:16
  Speaker 1: they want to build. Obviously, like I said, I've been
• 31:19
  Speaker 1: the way for about eight months. I believe that's approved
• 31:22
  Speaker 1: right now. But what an addition to downtown. And you know,
• 31:28
  Speaker 1: people love soccer. I'm a soccer mom. I was telling Peyton,
• 31:33
  Speaker 1: my son played from kindergarten through college. So I think
• 31:36
  Speaker 1: it's just going to be another great addition to downtown
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: and it's going to bring more people downtown. It's going
• 31:41
  Speaker 1: to bring more revenue that's coming in for all over
• 31:43
  Speaker 1: the city. I had so many people say, well, I
• 31:46
  Speaker 1: don't like soccer, I'm never gonna I'm never going to
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: go to a soccer game. Why do I care if
• 31:50
  Speaker 1: there's a soccer stadium downtown. But you got to understand
• 31:53
  Speaker 1: the revenue that comes in from these big developments. It's
• 31:57
  Speaker 1: good for all of Omaha. It's just bringing in more
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: sales tax and more revenue. Sales tax is the number
• 32:03
  Speaker 1: one source of revenue for the city of Omaha. It's
• 32:06
  Speaker 1: sales tax, followed by property tax, followed by restaurant tax.
• 32:10
  Speaker 1: And we're going to get into that one day too.
• 32:13
  Speaker 3: Yes, a lot of people are are interested about that,
• 32:15
  Speaker 3: and we can get into that too.
• 32:16
  Speaker 1: But thanks for your thanks for your message. That was
• 32:19
  Speaker 1: that we're talking about.
• 32:20
  Speaker 3: Absolutely, We're going to go to one caller here. This
• 32:22
  Speaker 3: is Dan Dan, thank you for calling News Radio eleven
• 32:26
  Speaker 3: ten KFAB. You're on with Jean Stouthart.
• 32:30
  Speaker 6: Yeah, I just got a question. I live right pretty
• 32:32
  Speaker 6: much drive by the hospital, pretty nice area, but you
• 32:36
  Speaker 6: go anywhere south from that the parking and the crash,
• 32:41
  Speaker 6: what's going on with that? I know, I thought at
• 32:44
  Speaker 6: one time there was a law of that or they're
• 32:47
  Speaker 6: trying to make them all where you can't park there.
• 32:49
  Speaker 6: I understand when you have thirty people lived in a
• 32:51
  Speaker 6: house were five, you got to park somewhere, but that
• 32:54
  Speaker 6: is getting awful. It's got to be eyes or for
• 32:57
  Speaker 6: the for the neighborhoods. It's just driving me crazy size
• 33:02
  Speaker 6: kind of wondering what.
• 33:05
  Speaker 4: Right.
• 33:05
  Speaker 1: Thanks for the call, and you know, I'm not I'm
• 33:08
  Speaker 1: not sure specifically the area you're talking about, but I
• 33:10
  Speaker 1: assume you're talking about the housing area south of the
• 33:13
  Speaker 1: VA Hospital and you know, and which which really is
• 33:17
  Speaker 1: part of the South Omaha, which it is considered South Omaha,
• 33:21
  Speaker 1: And you know, for quite a while now, the councilman
• 33:25
  Speaker 1: that represents that area has been pondering some sort of
• 33:29
  Speaker 1: city ordinance that prevents people from parking in their yards.
• 33:35
  Speaker 1: The problem is where else are they gonna park? And
• 33:39
  Speaker 1: you know, a lot of those streets in that area
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: are older streets, they're narrower streets, some don't have sidewalks,
• 33:46
  Speaker 1: some don't have curbs. So the challenge for the city
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: council and the mayor is if there is going to
• 33:52
  Speaker 1: be an ordinance to prevent parking in yards, then again
• 33:57
  Speaker 1: we've got to look at how it is going to
• 33:59
  Speaker 1: be managed, in how it is going to be enforced.
• 34:02
  Speaker 1: I mean, if you see somebody parking in the yard,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: is the next step to call the Omaha Police Department
• 34:07
  Speaker 1: to come out. What kind of punishment goes along with that?
• 34:11
  Speaker 1: Some housing there is no place to park but on
• 34:14
  Speaker 1: the street, and that's why they end up parking in
• 34:16
  Speaker 1: the yards. And I know it doesn't The whole issue
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: is it looks bad if you're in a neighborhood and
• 34:22
  Speaker 1: you've got a pickup truck or a car or whatever
• 34:25
  Speaker 1: parked in somebody's front yard.
• 34:26
  Speaker 3: Well, one thing we talked about a few months ago,
• 34:28
  Speaker 3: this was in the news as well. But who's to
• 34:31
  Speaker 3: stop me from just parking in my front yard?
• 34:34
  Speaker 5: Right?
• 34:34
  Speaker 3: Who's to stop me? It's my yard right right?
• 34:37
  Speaker 1: Well right now? It could be stopped if you live
• 34:40
  Speaker 1: in an area where there's an HOA, a homeowner's association.
• 34:44
  Speaker 1: Homeowners association always have by laws that the incovenants that
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: apply to that area you're living.
• 34:51
  Speaker 3: And where I live, I.
• 34:53
  Speaker 1: Always say I live about one hundred and twenty. I think, Hugh,
• 34:55
  Speaker 1: that's where I live. We have an HOA, and they
• 34:58
  Speaker 1: not only say you can't park in your yard. But
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: they're saying you can't have an RV in your driveway,
• 35:02
  Speaker 1: and you can't paint your house bright purple, and you
• 35:05
  Speaker 1: have to have a certain kind of roof.
• 35:06
  Speaker 3: Do they tell you what to eat for dinner too.
• 35:08
  Speaker 1: Well, no, they don't go that far, but they do
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: have covenants. I mean, I put up a fence in
• 35:14
  Speaker 1: my backyard a few years ago, and I had to
• 35:18
  Speaker 1: get permission to put up the fence from the homeowners' association.
• 35:21
  Speaker 1: So if you live in an area with a homeowners
• 35:24
  Speaker 1: association or a neighborhood association, they are the ones that
• 35:28
  Speaker 1: sometimes can prohibit that parking. But like I said, in
• 35:30
  Speaker 1: South Omaha, some of these older neighborhoods, it is to
• 35:33
  Speaker 1: be a real challenge because there sometimes there is no
• 35:37
  Speaker 1: place to park. So I understand your concern. It is
• 35:40
  Speaker 1: something that the city council is considering.
• 35:42
  Speaker 3: Thank you for the call, Dan, We appreciate it. There's
• 35:45
  Speaker 3: one thing that we mentioned that you mentioned to me,
• 35:47
  Speaker 3: excuse me, that you wanted to talk about, So we're
• 35:49
  Speaker 3: gonna go to break here, we're gonna come back and
• 35:51
  Speaker 3: talk about that. And there's also a few callers that
• 35:53
  Speaker 3: have reached out about the restaurant tax Oh, I love it.
• 35:56
  Speaker 3: That up next, I love talking about it. You are
• 35:59
  Speaker 3: host of the show, g Stouther. I'm your producer Peyton Hilock,
• 36:03
  Speaker 3: and I got a good one for you here, Gene. Okay,
• 36:05
  Speaker 3: I'm ready this one. In Sunday's Omaha World, Harold, there's
• 36:10
  Speaker 3: an article on Mark Martinez not being able to run
• 36:13
  Speaker 3: for Douglas County Sheriff. The last paragraph of the article
• 36:16
  Speaker 3: stated that former Mayor Jean Stouth, according to Mark Martinez,
• 36:20
  Speaker 3: his campaign endorses Mark since the court has ruled that
• 36:25
  Speaker 3: Mark can run for Douglas County Sheriff. Who are you, Gene,
• 36:29
  Speaker 3: endorsing and why?
• 36:31
  Speaker 1: Well, Number one, I'm not endorsing anyone at this point.
• 36:34
  Speaker 1: But that article, and I was gonna call the World, Harold,
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: I could tell you, I'm going to paraphrase exactly what
• 36:40
  Speaker 1: it said, and it was misleading, and it was and
• 36:44
  Speaker 1: a lot of people asked me about it and were
• 36:47
  Speaker 1: misled by it. So, first of all, I have not
• 36:50
  Speaker 1: and will not endorse Mark Martinez. Okay, So that is out.
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: What the article said is it said that Tom Warren
• 37:00
  Speaker 1: has endorsed Mark Martinez. So the way it said it.
• 37:03
  Speaker 1: It said Tom Warren, former chief or. It said Tom Warren,
• 37:07
  Speaker 1: chief of staff for Mayor John Ewing, and former Mayor
• 37:12
  Speaker 1: Jean Stothard has also endorsed Mark Martinez. What it meant
• 37:17
  Speaker 1: was Tom Warren was my chief of staff and John
• 37:21
  Speaker 1: Ewing's chief of staff, and Tom Warren endorsed Mark Martinez.
• 37:25
  Speaker 1: But the way it was written, my name was last
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: and right after it said and Jean Stothard also endorsed
• 37:31
  Speaker 1: Mark Martinez. So that was not that is not true,
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: and it was it was worded poorly by the World Harold,
• 37:39
  Speaker 1: but a lot of people misread it. And I was
• 37:42
  Speaker 1: going to make an attempt to ask the World Harold
• 37:44
  Speaker 1: to rephrase it. But I have asked the World Harold
• 37:47
  Speaker 1: many times to rephrase things and they don't do it.
• 37:50
  Speaker 1: So I just want to make that really clear. I
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: have not endorsed him. When I read it at first,
• 37:55
  Speaker 1: I had to read it twice. But the paragraph starts
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: out with Tom Warren. Tom Warren was the subject of
• 38:00
  Speaker 1: that paragraph. He's the one that endorsed Mark Martinez. I
• 38:04
  Speaker 1: when I heard about it at first, I immediately went
• 38:06
  Speaker 1: to mart Martinez's campaign Facebook and they had all his endorsements,
• 38:11
  Speaker 1: and they had Mary John Ewing, they had Tom Warren.
• 38:13
  Speaker 1: They did not have me on there. So you know,
• 38:16
  Speaker 1: you can look at what his endorsement page is. I'm
• 38:19
  Speaker 1: not on there, but no I did not, and I'm
• 38:20
  Speaker 1: so glad somebody called in and asked about it, because
• 38:23
  Speaker 1: that was misleading the way the World Herald wrote it.
• 38:26
  Speaker 3: Yes, I agree, and again thank you for emailing out
• 38:29
  Speaker 3: and reaching out to us. This one now is restaurant tax.
• 38:32
  Speaker 3: We're switching lanes here.
• 38:33
  Speaker 1: Oh do we have like three hours?
• 38:36
  Speaker 3: I know, right, I mean I look down at the
• 38:38
  Speaker 3: clock and it's over our right.
• 38:39
  Speaker 1: We can bring this back tomorrow.
• 38:40
  Speaker 2: But go ahead, we can.
• 38:41
  Speaker 3: Bring it back tomorrow.
• 38:42
  Speaker 2: But here I go.
• 38:42
  Speaker 3: I know this is an old issue, but I have
• 38:44
  Speaker 3: this comment. We were very disappointed that this was supposed
• 38:46
  Speaker 3: to be a temporary tax. But then of course it
• 38:49
  Speaker 3: was never removed.
• 38:51
  Speaker 1: It was never a temporary tax, and that is a
• 38:54
  Speaker 1: rumor out there, and that is not true. You could
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: go on the City of Omaha web page. You could
• 38:59
  Speaker 1: look and read every ordinance that the City of Omaha
• 39:03
  Speaker 1: has ever passed. The restaurant tax was passed in twenty ten.
• 39:07
  Speaker 1: It was never supposed to be temporary. Nothing in that
• 39:11
  Speaker 1: ordinance says anything about it being temporary. And also the
• 39:16
  Speaker 1: restaurant tax is two and a half percent. That is
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: the third largest amount of revenue the city gets. When
• 39:24
  Speaker 1: I was running for mayor the first time, I said
• 39:26
  Speaker 1: I wanted to get rid of our lower the subtle
• 39:30
  Speaker 1: tax increases. Subtle raised both property tax and impose the
• 39:35
  Speaker 1: restaurant tax. When I got in office, the restaurant tax
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: was bringing in so much revenue the first year, twice
• 39:41
  Speaker 1: as much was originally estimated it would bring in. Do
• 39:44
  Speaker 1: you know how much the restaurant tax is bringing in now,
• 39:46
  Speaker 1: almost fifty million a year. Can you imagine if we.
• 39:50
  Speaker 3: Took get some of that.
• 39:51
  Speaker 1: Yeah, at fifty million out of the general fund, that
• 39:54
  Speaker 1: is a huge chunk. It would be financially irresponsible to
• 39:58
  Speaker 1: get rid of it now. But it was never supposed
• 40:00
  Speaker 1: to be temporary. It is a occupation tax also, and
• 40:05
  Speaker 1: all occupation taxes by law going to the general fund.
• 40:09
  Speaker 1: It's dumped into the general fund, just like sales tax
• 40:12
  Speaker 1: and property taxes are, and that general fund goes to
• 40:16
  Speaker 1: fund every city department. It was also never meant just
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: to go into the fire and police pension and This
• 40:23
  Speaker 1: is what we could talk about a lot. And I
• 40:24
  Speaker 1: want Jim Rose on my show sometime because he always
• 40:28
  Speaker 1: brings that up. It was always supposed to go into
• 40:30
  Speaker 1: fire and police pension, and we could talk at linked
• 40:32
  Speaker 1: about that at another show.
• 40:34
  Speaker 3: I know, there's always so much to talk about, and
• 40:36
  Speaker 3: you look down at the clock and the show's over.
• 40:38
  Speaker 1: Time flies.
• 40:39
  Speaker 3: When you're having fun, the show's over. But we had
• 40:41
  Speaker 3: some good callers today, good emails. I just like hearing
• 40:45
  Speaker 3: about the city.
• 40:45
  Speaker 1: And I do too, And you know what, we welcome everybody.
• 40:48
  Speaker 1: Please keep on listening and I'll take all your call,
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: like I said, or your email. Anything goes. I'm happy
• 40:53
  Speaker 1: to talk about what your issues are, your concerns, your
• 40:57
  Speaker 1: issues are, just to make a statement. Please keep on
• 40:59
  Speaker 1: call and we I love being here. This is great.