Latest / The KFAB Comment Line with Jean Stothert / No Soliciting means NO SOLICITING!!
Transcript
- 0:00Speaker 1: We are so happy that you are with us, Peyton.
- 0:02Speaker 1: I thought it was going to take me forever to
- 0:04Speaker 1: get here. Today, I usually am here by at least
- 0:07Speaker 1: nine thirty. I was driving down Underwood and I got
- 0:09Speaker 1: behind some old grandma going twenty miles an hour. Of course,
- 0:12Speaker 1: I'm an old grandma, so people probably say that about
- 0:15Speaker 1: me too. But anyway, I've got here. You're here, and
- 0:19Speaker 1: we are ready to go right on time. Here we go,
- 0:21Speaker 1: Here we go. You know, yesterday, if you are listening, Gerald,
- 0:26Speaker 1: we had a caller by the name of Gerald, and
- 0:29Speaker 1: he was expressing He sounded upset to me, and he
- 0:32Speaker 1: was expressing some real concern about a county sheriff's department.
- 0:38Speaker 1: He was a little elusive at where it was. He
- 0:40Speaker 1: didn't even really want to say what county it was.
- 0:45Speaker 1: I finally I figured out what congressman congressional district he
- 0:51Speaker 1: was in, because I said, if it's Central Nebraska, I
- 0:53Speaker 1: assume Adrian Smith and he said, no, Mike Flood. So
- 0:56Speaker 1: at least I know he's in Mike Flood's congressional district.
- 1:00Speaker 1: But it concerned me, and you know, I Gerald, if
- 1:03Speaker 1: you are listening, I looked into it and if you
- 1:06Speaker 1: could either call the show back or if you could
- 1:09Speaker 1: email us today and that would again be at kfab
- 1:12Speaker 1: dot com. I have some suggestions for you of what
- 1:15Speaker 1: you could do for that issue that you are so
- 1:18Speaker 1: concerned about in the county that you are living in,
- 1:21Speaker 1: because you know, if there's anything I hate to hear
- 1:24Speaker 1: and anything anybody hates to hear is I hate to
- 1:28Speaker 1: use this word, but dirty cops problems. You know, we
- 1:33Speaker 1: have tons and tons and tons of good police officers
- 1:36Speaker 1: in Nebraska and Omaha all over the country, but sometimes
- 1:39Speaker 1: one bad apple can cause a problem. So I don't
- 1:42Speaker 1: want to leave his concerns unanswered. And so, Gerald, if
- 1:47Speaker 1: you are listening, if you could get back with us.
- 1:49Speaker 1: Since it was a call in, we can't follow up,
- 1:51Speaker 1: but I do remember your name was Gerald. I have
- 1:54Speaker 1: some suggestions for you.
- 1:56Speaker 2: Yes, Gene, this is the essence of the kfab comment line.
- 2:00Speaker 2: We want to hear these things and we want to
- 2:02Speaker 2: help you get to the bottom of them, whether it's
- 2:04Speaker 2: answering a question or learning some more information. We have
- 2:07Speaker 2: some things that we can talk about today, but let's
- 2:09Speaker 2: go to Mary real quick on the phone lines before
- 2:11Speaker 2: we get into it. Mary, you're live here on news
- 2:13Speaker 2: radio eleven ten KFAB with jeanst Author.
- 2:17Speaker 1: Good morning, Hi Jeane, this.
- 2:20Speaker 3: Is Mary and I have a question about the fence
- 2:22Speaker 3: that's being erected at the corner of ninetieth and Dodge
- 2:25Speaker 3: by Swanson Library. I all though mad about it a
- 2:30Speaker 3: year ago, and gosh, it's just kind of unsafe and
- 2:33Speaker 3: kind of a nice wore. What do you know about it?
- 2:36Speaker 1: You know, I drive by that ninetieth and Dodge every
- 2:39Speaker 1: single morning and I noticed that too. I am not sure,
- 2:44Speaker 1: my what is going on with that. I will find
- 2:46Speaker 1: out and I will get back with you. But there
- 2:49Speaker 1: is nothing that is happening or nothing that is planned
- 2:52Speaker 1: to happen for the library itself. I know that is
- 2:54Speaker 1: a concern of people, especially since the new Central Library
- 2:58Speaker 1: opened up at seventy second and Dodge, and ninetieth and
- 3:01Speaker 1: Dodge isn't that far away. Whether they were going to
- 3:03Speaker 1: keep Swanson open, There is no plans at all. My
- 3:07Speaker 1: only hunch right now is that they are redoing the
- 3:10Speaker 1: parking lots. It could be that that's the only thing
- 3:14Speaker 1: I could think of, or possibly some utility work that
- 3:17Speaker 1: is underground. But I will find out for sure. But
- 3:21Speaker 1: that's too in my opinion here, that could be the
- 3:24Speaker 1: only two things that is going on there, because there
- 3:27Speaker 1: is I think people are afraid of, oh are they
- 3:29Speaker 1: going to demo that library or what's happening and they're
- 3:31Speaker 1: currently is no plans for that at all, So I
- 3:35Speaker 1: will make sure I can give you a direct answer.
- 3:38Speaker 1: But I assume it's either parking lot or utility works
- 3:40Speaker 1: that is going on there, because that's a pretty old
- 3:42Speaker 1: library right there, and you know that's a hot spot too.
- 3:45Speaker 1: I know people you know here. Walgreens is right across
- 3:48Speaker 1: the street. I'm sure CBS would like to put CVS
- 3:52Speaker 1: right there, right across the street, and they would like
- 3:54Speaker 1: that spot. And there are libraries close, but Swanson is
- 3:57Speaker 1: pretty iconic and people wanted to stay there too.
- 4:00Speaker 2: Absolutely, thank you for the call, Mary, We appreciate it.
- 4:03Speaker 2: Phone lines are open four zero, two, five, five, eight
- 4:05Speaker 2: eleven ten. Comment at kfab dot com. The radio talkback
- 4:09Speaker 2: is always a fun option. Hit that little microphone on
- 4:12Speaker 2: the kfab app and you can send a message to
- 4:15Speaker 2: us up to thirty seconds and boom, you're done.
- 4:17Speaker 4: I got to email here. Let's see. This is from
- 4:20Speaker 4: Sharon soliciting everybody's favorites.
- 4:26Speaker 1: Some people. We're talking We're not talking about soliciting prostitution here,
- 4:29Speaker 1: we're talking about door to door.
- 4:31Speaker 4: Yes, door to door sales soliciting.
- 4:33Speaker 2: Yes, you sometimes see the stickers on people's front doors
- 4:37Speaker 2: or their windows.
- 4:39Speaker 4: This message was addressed to Scott. Okay, I'm okay with that. Whatever.
- 4:43Speaker 1: Yeah, I think he gave that to us this morning.
- 4:46Speaker 1: He wanted me to address that.
- 4:47Speaker 2: What part of no soliciting do door to door sales
- 4:50Speaker 2: people not understand?
- 4:51Speaker 1: Well, they don't. They ignore it because you know, people
- 4:54Speaker 1: just buy those little stickers or those little signs and
- 4:56Speaker 1: put them up there, meaning that is their wish. People
- 5:01Speaker 1: don't follow them generally. Now, I will say I don't
- 5:05Speaker 1: have where I live about one hundred and twentieth and
- 5:08Speaker 1: Q a lot of door to door solicitors. I had
- 5:10Speaker 1: won the other day that wanted to wash my windows.
- 5:13Speaker 1: But I don't have one of those little stickers on either.
- 5:15Speaker 1: But now that you bring this up, I got to
- 5:17Speaker 1: tell you some stories of campaigning door to door, because yeah,
- 5:22Speaker 1: this is so similar. Because you know, one thing I
- 5:26Speaker 1: believe very very strongly, and especially the first time I
- 5:29Speaker 1: ran for an office, which was I ran for school board,
- 5:31Speaker 1: and I was pretty new in Omaha at the time,
- 5:34Speaker 1: and I thought, I got to get out there and
- 5:36Speaker 1: I got to meet people and knock on doors. And
- 5:38Speaker 1: I'm a real strong believer in that and doing a
- 5:41Speaker 1: grassroots campaign. And I'm telling you it's something. When I
- 5:48Speaker 1: first ran for mayor, that was in twenty twelve, I
- 5:51Speaker 1: was elected in twenty thirteen, challenged the current mayor, Jim Subtle.
- 5:55Speaker 1: First time I ran for mayor, first woman. You know,
- 5:58Speaker 1: Brenda Council had run for mayor ten years before that,
- 6:01Speaker 1: a decade before that. But oh my goodness, it is
- 6:05Speaker 1: a challenge, folks. When you have somebody campaigning that knocks
- 6:09Speaker 1: on your door, whether they're your political party or you
- 6:13Speaker 1: like them or not, please be kind to them. It
- 6:16Speaker 1: is such hard work to go there and just put
- 6:19Speaker 1: yourself in front of everybody, knock on their door uninvited,
- 6:23Speaker 1: in the middle of the day, whatever in the morning,
- 6:26Speaker 1: in the middle of the day and say hi, I'm
- 6:29Speaker 1: Jean Stothard and I'm running for mayor. I had so
- 6:33Speaker 1: many doors honestly slammed in my face. I've had dogs
- 6:36Speaker 1: chase me, I had men make some negative, weird comments
- 6:44Speaker 1: that I had to say hard pass on that one
- 6:46Speaker 1: thank you. Yeah. Appropriate, But you know what, we made
- 6:50Speaker 1: it fun. I was always with a whole group. I
- 6:54Speaker 1: usually would take one side of the street. I'd have
- 6:55Speaker 1: a partner take the other, and they would always say,
- 6:57Speaker 1: I'm walking with Jean Stothard today, she's crossed the street.
- 7:00Speaker 1: If you want to talk to us, she'll come over.
- 7:01Speaker 1: And I would always say, Okay, we're gonna have fun today.
- 7:04Speaker 1: But it is, it is really difficult now. When I
- 7:07Speaker 1: was walking door to door, I'm going to be totally honest.
- 7:10Speaker 1: When I would see those no solicitation signs on the
- 7:12Speaker 1: door campaigning, I would ignore them because I felt like,
- 7:17Speaker 1: I'm not selling anything. I'm just trying to tell them
- 7:20Speaker 1: why I'm running and you know why they should have
- 7:25Speaker 1: consider electing me in these positions. So I myself ignored
- 7:30Speaker 1: the no solicitation signs on doors. But I felt like
- 7:33Speaker 1: as a political candidate it was a real different situation
- 7:38Speaker 1: and most of the people were very kind. When you
- 7:40Speaker 1: knock on their door, they're like And as I became
- 7:43Speaker 1: mayor and ran for my second and third and fourth
- 7:46Speaker 1: term and became more of a familiar face, it got
- 7:48Speaker 1: easier and easier to do because people would go, hey,
- 7:51Speaker 1: you know, John, come here. The mayor's at the door,
- 7:54Speaker 1: and a lot of people would want to talk. What
- 7:57Speaker 1: my key and walking door to door as a political
- 7:59Speaker 1: camp date is. I always told myself you are uninvited.
- 8:03Speaker 1: They did not invite you to be here today, so
- 8:05Speaker 1: make it quick. Don't stand at the door and try
- 8:07Speaker 1: to give your whole spiel. I would always just say,
- 8:10Speaker 1: I'm Jean stothardt I w'd appreciate your vote, I'm running
- 8:14Speaker 1: for mayor. Here's some information. Give them a pamphlet. If
- 8:16Speaker 1: you have any questions or concerns, give me a call.
- 8:19Speaker 1: And then if they wanted to engage, I would, But
- 8:22Speaker 1: if they didn't, I would say, have a good day.
- 8:25Speaker 1: Here's the rule of thumb, though, for all of you
- 8:27Speaker 1: considering political office or soliciting anything. Don't knock on a
- 8:32Speaker 1: door during a Husker game.
- 8:34Speaker 2: Terrible idea of football, basketball, volleyball.
- 8:37Speaker 1: You will go tell that so badly. And so that's
- 8:41Speaker 1: the only time I stopped knocking on doors is when
- 8:45Speaker 1: the Husker games were on or on a holiday. I mean,
- 8:47Speaker 1: you're not gonna knock on Easter Sunday or something like.
- 8:49Speaker 4: Sharon might have a little bit of a bone to pick.
- 8:51Speaker 2: She went on to then say they come out anyway,
- 8:55Speaker 2: Sorry I didn't see the sign. Or here's my favorite.
- 8:58Speaker 2: I'm not selling anything. I'm just bringing a awareness. She says,
- 9:01Speaker 2: no soliciting means don't ring my doorbell. I don't want
- 9:03Speaker 2: to talk to you.
- 9:04Speaker 1: Well, she's meaning business. And I don't blame her. I
- 9:07Speaker 1: mean because people, I'm honest with her. I ignored it
- 9:11Speaker 1: too if I was campaigning, and so I think people
- 9:15Speaker 1: just you know, they think, ah, maybe whatever, and they
- 9:17Speaker 1: go ahead and do it. But I agree, if you
- 9:20Speaker 1: put that sign on your door and you don't want
- 9:21Speaker 1: somebody asking to wash your windows or buy candy or
- 9:24Speaker 1: donate to some nonprofit, then if it says no solicitation,
- 9:29Speaker 1: it means no solicitation. But I found many things on
- 9:33Speaker 1: people's doors. I knocked on at least twenty thousand doors
- 9:36Speaker 1: the first time I ran for mayor. I walked door
- 9:39Speaker 1: to door for a year, and people would put all
- 9:42Speaker 1: sorts of signs on their door. I mean there would
- 9:44Speaker 1: be things like do not ring the bell, people sleeping,
- 9:48Speaker 1: you know, go to the side door, don't walk up
- 9:51Speaker 1: on my porch. I mean there would be all of
- 9:53Speaker 1: these different signs and things that people would put on
- 9:56Speaker 1: their front door, and you have to respect that. Like
- 9:58Speaker 1: I said, they didn't invite you over, and so you're
- 10:01Speaker 1: standing there on their porch, knocking on their door wanting something.
- 10:04Speaker 2: Last thing I'll say about this, If a girl Scout
- 10:08Speaker 2: comes up to my door, Oh that's different.
- 10:10Speaker 4: You're gonna answer it. I'm gonna buy it. Okay.
- 10:12Speaker 2: So if you're a girl Scout and you're and you're
- 10:13Speaker 2: in my neighborhood, ring, please come knock.
- 10:16Speaker 1: I know, I you know, I do the same thing
- 10:17Speaker 1: with the girl Scouts and those little girls are out
- 10:19Speaker 1: there of course. And then but I have this dog Jack.
- 10:23Speaker 1: I call him Jack, and that's a human name, Jack
- 10:25Speaker 1: and Stein is his nickname because he's so he's so
- 10:29Speaker 1: bad at times. He's an Australian shepherd and he's very
- 10:32Speaker 1: protective and he like barks his head off when anybody
- 10:36Speaker 1: rings the bell. I don't know what bothers him so much.
- 10:38Speaker 1: The dog's eight years old. Nobody's ever heard him knocking
- 10:41Speaker 1: on the door. My dog hates people ringing the doorbell.
- 10:44Speaker 1: He hates golfers and he hates squirrels. Other than that,
- 10:47Speaker 1: he's a real good dog.
- 10:48Speaker 2: Rob says I ask for their peddlers permit. When they
- 10:51Speaker 2: don't have it, I tell them I will call the police,
- 10:54Speaker 2: and I have.
- 10:55Speaker 1: Well, I mean he's got the right to do that
- 10:57Speaker 1: to you.
- 10:57Speaker 5: Yeah.
- 10:57Speaker 1: And you know, some neighborhoods, evenihborhood associations, they will put
- 11:02Speaker 1: up signs that will say no soliciting in this neighborhood,
- 11:05Speaker 1: and people do tend to ignore it too. Now I
- 11:08Speaker 1: don't the one thing I do want to say, it's
- 11:10Speaker 1: not a crime. And so you know, calling nine one
- 11:13Speaker 1: one or calling the police because somebody is soliciting. If
- 11:17Speaker 1: you put your own sign on the door saying you
- 11:20Speaker 1: don't wan anybody knocking on your door, that's your right,
- 11:22Speaker 1: but it's not a crime. So I mean, I would
- 11:25Speaker 1: not suggest people calling nine to one one.
- 11:27Speaker 4: Terry says, it's a great day.
- 11:30Speaker 2: I'm just coming up out of Nebraska City from running
- 11:33Speaker 2: a service call, headed back into Omaha. I had a wonderful,
- 11:36Speaker 2: beautiful bald eagle fly across the road in front of me.
- 11:40Speaker 4: It's such a great day.
- 11:41Speaker 1: Well, that would make that would set your day off fine.
- 11:44Speaker 1: You know I've said this before. I grew up in
- 11:46Speaker 1: Wood River, Illinois, which is right there along where the
- 11:49Speaker 1: Mississippi River is and in the Missouri River too, but
- 11:53Speaker 1: we used to see eagles right along the Mississippi River.
- 11:56Speaker 1: And when you see an eagle fly, I mean it
- 11:59Speaker 1: is really something. Because you see them on TV, you
- 12:01Speaker 1: don't really have a chance to see it. And those
- 12:03Speaker 1: eagles nest are huge. And then there was this really
- 12:07Speaker 1: beautiful area in Alton, Illinois, very right next to Wood River,
- 12:11Speaker 1: which is right along the river too, and they had
- 12:13Speaker 1: a river road they called it, and there were bluffs
- 12:16Speaker 1: on one side in the Mississippi on the other and
- 12:18Speaker 1: you would always see eagles flying around there and I
- 12:20Speaker 1: mean it just felt like it gave you a good look. Okay,
- 12:23Speaker 1: it made you feel patriotic too. It's there. They're awesome.
- 12:26Speaker 1: I could see why he would say.
- 12:27Speaker 4: That, such beautiful, beautiful creatures.
- 12:29Speaker 2: And it also sometimes feel like when you see a
- 12:31Speaker 2: bald eagle, it can be symbolic of something more, yes,
- 12:34Speaker 2: which makes you feel a certain kind of way, something big.
- 12:37Speaker 2: Thank you for that, Terry, I really appreciate that email.
- 12:39Speaker 2: We're going to cut to the phone lines now. Four zero, two, five, five,
- 12:42Speaker 2: eight eleven ten. Randy, you are live with Jean Stouffard
- 12:45Speaker 2: on KFAB good morning.
- 12:49Speaker 6: How are you today.
- 12:49Speaker 1: I'm good, Thank you. Good.
- 12:52Speaker 7: Hey.
- 12:53Speaker 6: I'm curious what's going on with Tranquility Park. It looks
- 12:56Speaker 6: like it slowed way down and there's no building at
- 12:59Speaker 6: all at one hundred and twenty.
- 13:02Speaker 1: You are very correct. Let me tell you about Tranquility
- 13:05Speaker 1: and so that was, you know, a big project that
- 13:09Speaker 1: I was involved in. The first thing that we wanted
- 13:12Speaker 1: to do before we really started the construction is to
- 13:15Speaker 1: get one hundred and twentieth resurfaced and rehabilitated, which was
- 13:20Speaker 1: from Maple North, and got that done. We developed a
- 13:26Speaker 1: plan for Tranquility. We the city budgeted about fifty four
- 13:31Speaker 1: million dollars that that we felt like that we could
- 13:34Speaker 1: budget for that project. We had we're working with a
- 13:39Speaker 1: group that we're going to design it. The mall Holes
- 13:43Speaker 1: got very involved in that. That own a lot of
- 13:45Speaker 1: property north of there. They were going to do a great,
- 13:49Speaker 1: great development in that area. But the one of the
- 13:53Speaker 1: things that they were really hoping for is to get
- 13:57Speaker 1: some of the turnback tax proved from the state in
- 14:01Speaker 1: Nebraska that would help with the cost of that development.
- 14:06Speaker 1: Two things have happened that have really slowed it down.
- 14:09Speaker 1: Just recently, a couple weeks ago that request for the
- 14:13Speaker 1: turnback tax for that development north of Tranquility was denied
- 14:19Speaker 1: by the state. So now they have to rethink that
- 14:23Speaker 1: great development that they wanted to do there. And the
- 14:25Speaker 1: reason they wanted to do a development is because they
- 14:28Speaker 1: wanted to make those fields at Tranquility so good that
- 14:32Speaker 1: we could have big tournaments, soccer tournaments in Omaha, and
- 14:37Speaker 1: that we would have plenty of hotels and restaurants and
- 14:39Speaker 1: things right around that area to serve the people that
- 14:42Speaker 1: were coming in from Iowa, Des Moines or whatever that
- 14:45Speaker 1: are playing soccer. I'm a soccer mom. Peyton here is
- 14:49Speaker 1: a soccer player. We know what it's like. We travel
- 14:51Speaker 1: when we play soccer out of Omaha in this area.
- 14:54Speaker 1: We go to Des Moines, we go to Kansas City,
- 14:56Speaker 1: we go all over the place because we really don't
- 14:59Speaker 1: have the facilities. The second thing that happened is the
- 15:03Speaker 1: first design that came back was about twice what we
- 15:07Speaker 1: had budgeted. I mean, it was over one hundred million,
- 15:10Speaker 1: and we without really getting a lot more private money
- 15:15Speaker 1: and philanthropic money to help the city, had to go
- 15:18Speaker 1: back to the drawing board and say, okay, designers, we
- 15:22Speaker 1: don't have the budget to double the cost of tranquility.
- 15:27Speaker 1: And so now I've been out of city Hall for
- 15:30Speaker 1: a year, I am not sure where they are at
- 15:34Speaker 1: as far as the redesign of that facility, but it
- 15:37Speaker 1: obviously has put a halt to what is going on
- 15:40Speaker 1: out there now, and that is a shame.
- 15:42Speaker 2: Yeah, Geen, And I always tell people this. When I
- 15:45Speaker 2: was a kid growing up, my family didn't go on
- 15:49Speaker 2: many vacations. Instead, it was soccer tournaments to driveable cities
- 15:55Speaker 2: is how our weekends were spent.
- 15:57Speaker 4: And so I know that that's a need in the community. Now.
- 16:00Speaker 4: I don't know the numbers and the finances behind it, but.
- 16:02Speaker 2: From a viewpoint of a soccer player and an athlete,
- 16:05Speaker 2: that's definitely needed.
- 16:06Speaker 1: And I did the same thing. I mean, my son,
- 16:09Speaker 1: I was a goalkeeper from kindergarten through college, and I
- 16:12Speaker 1: spent almost all my weekends traveling with that kid, going
- 16:16Speaker 1: to his soccer games. And like I said, Kansas City,
- 16:19Speaker 1: Iowa all over the place and this facility. The thing
- 16:23Speaker 1: of this facility that and I gotta be honest with
- 16:26Speaker 1: everybody that the philanthropic community had to take a pause
- 16:30Speaker 1: to say, do we really want to put our money
- 16:33Speaker 1: into a soccer facility in West Omaha because they wanted
- 16:39Speaker 1: what they put their money in. They wanted to best
- 16:41Speaker 1: serve the community where the need is the most. And
- 16:44Speaker 1: I think they were concerned that it was out in
- 16:47Speaker 1: West Omaha and it wouldn't serve the community in East
- 16:51Speaker 1: Omaha well enough. But in my opinion, it would because
- 16:55Speaker 1: a lot of these younger kids, especially in the eastern
- 16:59Speaker 1: part of our city, they don't have the opportunity to
- 17:02Speaker 1: travel on the weekend with their parents and if they
- 17:05Speaker 1: want to play soccer and they want to take part
- 17:08Speaker 1: in tournaments and be very competitive, to have that facility
- 17:12Speaker 1: just here in Omaha, just in West Omaha, and that
- 17:15Speaker 1: we would be able to provide them transportation to get
- 17:18Speaker 1: to tranquility, it would be good for all of Omaha.
- 17:22Speaker 1: So I hope that they are back to the drawing
- 17:24Speaker 1: board redesigning, coming in with a budget that the City
- 17:28Speaker 1: of Omaha can afford, and that they can get that done.
- 17:31Speaker 1: But I think it was a big blow to not
- 17:35Speaker 1: get the turnback tax. And you know, to explain what
- 17:38Speaker 1: the turnback tax is, it has to be approved by
- 17:40Speaker 1: the state. The governor is on the committee. But the
- 17:43Speaker 1: turnback tax is a portion of the state's sales tax.
- 17:48Speaker 1: You get that half of the state's sales tax would
- 17:52Speaker 1: stay with the development and half would go to the state.
- 17:56Speaker 1: But it is only the new sales tax that is
- 17:59Speaker 1: general rated because of the development. So nobody's losing anything.
- 18:03Speaker 1: But because of that development, more sales tax will come
- 18:06Speaker 1: in and the developer keeps basically half of it to
- 18:09Speaker 1: help pay for the development. And it used to be
- 18:12Speaker 1: only applicable to the Arena convention Center, and now it
- 18:15Speaker 1: has expanded. For example, Union Soccer got it approved for
- 18:20Speaker 1: the new soccer stadium downtown. They got their turnback approve
- 18:24Speaker 1: because it's in that area the Arena convention Center in
- 18:27Speaker 1: the ballpark that was approved, but Tranquility was not. That's
- 18:31Speaker 1: a blow to that development north of where all those
- 18:34Speaker 1: fields are going to be.
- 18:35Speaker 2: Thank you for the topic, Randy. For Tranquility. Douglas is
- 18:38Speaker 2: on the line. He would like to add something. Douglas,
- 18:41Speaker 2: Welcome to KFAB, Good morning, Thank you.
- 18:46Speaker 8: Hey, well I know I had soccer players too, Yes,
- 18:51Speaker 8: we went out of town. I've always wondered why we
- 18:54Speaker 8: didn't take care of this earlier. You know that that
- 18:57Speaker 8: big soccer field would be down there in Kansas City,
- 19:00Speaker 8: very first one they built. Yes, they built that for
- 19:02Speaker 8: twenty six million, and in two years it got paid
- 19:05Speaker 8: back just with the taxes and the concessions and everything
- 19:09Speaker 8: else that happened there and all the tournaments. So why
- 19:14Speaker 8: is it that we've waited just long to where it
- 19:17Speaker 8: costs five times what it costs down there.
- 19:20Speaker 1: You know, I think it's just that thing.
- 19:21Speaker 8: I mean you this. We are centrally located in the
- 19:27Speaker 8: United States. This is a place that people can come
- 19:33Speaker 8: and not like in Minnesota, not have to go to
- 19:35Speaker 8: Kansas City, Denver, not go to Kansas City. We could
- 19:40Speaker 8: have done all this and we could have made tons
- 19:42Speaker 8: of money, but we chose to wait and wait and wait.
- 19:46Speaker 8: This is why we get on the bandwagon.
- 19:49Speaker 7: If it was the part of the College World Series,
- 19:51Speaker 7: we'd have bend our bottoms over to get things done,
- 19:54Speaker 7: which we did, but because this was not something and
- 20:00Speaker 7: it would give money year around, not just one ten
- 20:04Speaker 7: days in a year, ten days out of the year.
- 20:08Speaker 1: Agree, I no, I agree with. I agree with what
- 20:11Speaker 1: you're saying. It is always a matter of prioritization, though,
- 20:15Speaker 1: and you know that to me that was very important
- 20:18Speaker 1: because I was out there a lot and those fields,
- 20:21Speaker 1: you know, some of those fields, especially to the north,
- 20:23Speaker 1: they were always underwater. If it rained, the grass wasn't good.
- 20:26Speaker 1: There was just that one big field that the city
- 20:28Speaker 1: did redo the main field, oh gosh, maybe ten years ago,
- 20:34Speaker 1: that they put new bleachers in and new lights in
- 20:37Speaker 1: out there. But you got to stop and think too
- 20:40Speaker 1: that there we would hear the same thing from the
- 20:43Speaker 1: baseball community, and we would hear the same thing from
- 20:46Speaker 1: the softball community. You know, you need more feels, you
- 20:49Speaker 1: need better feels, and it comes down to it's it's
- 20:53Speaker 1: just prioritization. And there was at Tranquility, just to let
- 20:57Speaker 1: you know, there was a big effort probably at least
- 21:02Speaker 1: ten years ago of a local businessman that really wanted
- 21:07Speaker 1: to change it more into a swimming area out at Tranquility.
- 21:12Speaker 1: And he had bought the pool from the Olympic swim
- 21:16Speaker 1: trials that we had here for four times four years,
- 21:19Speaker 1: you know, every four years, and he wanted to make
- 21:22Speaker 1: a big indoor outdoor swim facility out at Tranquility, and
- 21:28Speaker 1: that was something that was being considered. So other people
- 21:32Speaker 1: were looking at Tranquility of what else could be done
- 21:35Speaker 1: out there. But it's always you know, when you're dealing
- 21:38Speaker 1: with city government, it's always a matter of prioritization in dollars.
- 21:43Speaker 1: That is another reason why I had asked the Parks
- 21:46Speaker 1: Department to do a Parks master Plan. Tranquility is a
- 21:50Speaker 1: City of Omaha park. When we talked the other day
- 21:54Speaker 1: about some of these other parks, like Miller Park in
- 21:56Speaker 1: Northeast Omaha, we talked about Cunningham and Northeast Omaha, that
- 22:00Speaker 1: the philanthropic community got very involved the Riverfront parks downtown.
- 22:05Speaker 1: They put in four hundred million of private money. They
- 22:08Speaker 1: got involved in these parks. But you've got to have
- 22:10Speaker 1: a plan, and you got to say, you know this,
- 22:13Speaker 1: these ten parks are our priority and this year or
- 22:17Speaker 1: the next five years, and Tranquility is one of them,
- 22:19Speaker 1: and we need to upgrade this. And we need those
- 22:21Speaker 1: soccer fields there, and we need those that mixed use
- 22:24Speaker 1: development there. And I hope they continue with that. I
- 22:28Speaker 1: know it's frustrating when people say, well, you could have
- 22:30Speaker 1: had this done a long time ago, it could have
- 22:32Speaker 1: been cheaper. You're absolutely right. Every year everything gets more
- 22:35Speaker 1: and more and more expensive. But there was other ideas,
- 22:39Speaker 1: and there were other people looking at Tranquility for other
- 22:42Speaker 1: things besides soccer for a while.
- 22:44Speaker 2: We are back on the kfab comment line, your host
- 22:48Speaker 2: Jean Stouther. I'm Peyton Highlock and that liner right there
- 22:52Speaker 2: said Baker is back and speaking of that unplanned But Kurt,
- 22:56Speaker 2: let's go to you on the phone lines really quick.
- 22:58Speaker 4: Kurt, welcome into kfab.
- 23:01Speaker 8: Thank you very much.
- 23:02Speaker 1: Good morning.
- 23:04Speaker 5: Yep.
- 23:07Speaker 1: What you got on your mind?
- 23:09Speaker 7: Well, I was wondering if Jean who was gonna show
- 23:12Speaker 7: up at Chris.
- 23:13Speaker 8: Baker's party party Monday.
- 23:15Speaker 1: You know what, I'm so glad you said that because
- 23:18Speaker 1: I was just gonna tell Peyton that I was gonna say, Peyton,
- 23:20Speaker 1: you and I better be there. And so my plan
- 23:23Speaker 1: is I will be there, Peyton and Chris will be
- 23:25Speaker 1: on the air till six. Yeah, and so I guess
- 23:28Speaker 1: if you want to go before six, you got to
- 23:30Speaker 1: deal with Scott voorh He's playing the piano and singing.
- 23:32Speaker 1: But you could put up with that for a little.
- 23:34Speaker 4: Yeah.
- 23:34Speaker 2: You know, Scott has a piano in his office and
- 23:38Speaker 2: I've never seen him play it, but he's good.
- 23:40Speaker 4: Rumor houses he's pretty good on the keys.
- 23:42Speaker 1: He's quite talented. And so don't count on Jean Star
- 23:45Speaker 1: Thered Singing, but I think both Peyton and I are
- 23:48Speaker 1: going to be showing up there.
- 23:50Speaker 2: Yes, this is Lanski's on fiftieth and l This is
- 23:53Speaker 2: on Monday, starting at four o'clock until seven. Scott Voorhees
- 23:58Speaker 2: will be there at four o'clock and then Chris Baker.
- 24:01Speaker 2: I think I'll make an appearance after the show as well,
- 24:03Speaker 2: when we get off at six somewhere between six fifteen
- 24:06Speaker 2: six thirty that we'll be there. And you know, Geneal
- 24:08Speaker 2: sounds like you might be there too.
- 24:10Speaker 1: We'll be there too. And I'm going to drag Kevin
- 24:12Speaker 1: oh Rourke my husband there with me too, so my tall,
- 24:15Speaker 1: smart and handsome husband. So if anybody wants to meet him,
- 24:19Speaker 1: see the person that puts up with me at home,
- 24:21Speaker 1: you can go and meet him too. But it'll be
- 24:23Speaker 1: fun come by everybody. And you know, one thing that
- 24:25Speaker 1: Scott was talking about this morning, he actually had the
- 24:28Speaker 1: governor on. There was a judge that ordered the Douglas
- 24:31Speaker 1: County sheriff to get control or take care of these
- 24:36Speaker 1: folks that were judged not guilty by reason of insanity.
- 24:42Speaker 1: The conversation got into mental health. What we have is
- 24:47Speaker 1: in our area as far as those that are struggling
- 24:49Speaker 1: with mental health issues, and I think everybody knows I
- 24:52Speaker 1: personally dealt with that with my former husband. But what
- 24:58Speaker 1: I wanted to bring up is this is so important
- 25:01Speaker 1: to all of us, and when I was married, it
- 25:03Speaker 1: was so important to me not to take care of
- 25:06Speaker 1: our law enforcement. You know that the judge ordered Sheriff
- 25:10Speaker 1: Hanson in his department to kind of take care of things,
- 25:13Speaker 1: But let's think about Sheriff Hanson's department, and let's think
- 25:17Speaker 1: about the Omaha Police Department, and let's think about what
- 25:20Speaker 1: they deal with the men and women of those departments
- 25:23Speaker 1: every single day. You don't have to be a member
- 25:26Speaker 1: of the Fugitive Task Force or the SWAT team to
- 25:29Speaker 1: feel like you're in danger every day. You could be
- 25:31Speaker 1: a traffic cop on a routine traffic stop. You could
- 25:34Speaker 1: be a resource officer at a middle school and something
- 25:37Speaker 1: could happen and put your life in danger. And every
- 25:40Speaker 1: one of these law enforcement understand that and realize that
- 25:44Speaker 1: every day when they go to work, and so do
- 25:46Speaker 1: their families when they say goodbye to them every morning.
- 25:48Speaker 1: They may not come home at night. And so it
- 25:51Speaker 1: was really really important to both Chief Schmater and I
- 25:54Speaker 1: to take care of our cops and take care of
- 25:59Speaker 1: their mental health. Within the city of Omaha, we do
- 26:04Speaker 1: have a peer support program for our police officers. We
- 26:08Speaker 1: have behavioral health programs for our officers. We have a
- 26:12Speaker 1: chaplain program for our officers, and after any critical incident,
- 26:17Speaker 1: an officer has to be cleared by a psychologist before
- 26:21Speaker 1: they go back to work. And the other thing that
- 26:24Speaker 1: we did that I think has been very helpful for
- 26:27Speaker 1: the community and the officers. We started out with a
- 26:30Speaker 1: pilot and then now it is budgeted, but in every
- 26:33Speaker 1: police precinct we have a mental health professional that is
- 26:38Speaker 1: part of our budget. And any nine one one call
- 26:41Speaker 1: that comes in to nine to one one that is
- 26:43Speaker 1: dealing with any any type of mental health issues, whether
- 26:47Speaker 1: it be some guy that is barricaded as family with
- 26:51Speaker 1: a gun, or whether it could be some domestic violence,
- 26:54Speaker 1: that mental health professional accompanies the police officer to that
- 26:59Speaker 1: scene really helps him out to deal with that with
- 27:02Speaker 1: that issue, because those issues can turn dangerous in a
- 27:06Speaker 1: New York minute, And so I just really want people
- 27:08Speaker 1: to know that that was something that was on Chies
- 27:12Speaker 1: Schmater in my mind the whole time, and we wanted
- 27:15Speaker 1: to do whatever we could to protect not only the public,
- 27:19Speaker 1: but to collect to protect and take care of our
- 27:21Speaker 1: police officers.
- 27:22Speaker 2: And on that same note, in regards to the Douglas
- 27:25Speaker 2: County Sheriff's Office, we had a gentleman call in yesterday, Gerald,
- 27:28Speaker 2: if you're listening, and he had some he raised some
- 27:31Speaker 2: concerns about a county in central Nebraska. And I'm just
- 27:36Speaker 2: going to keep it brief with some with some concerns
- 27:39Speaker 2: that he had. And we don't have contact information with Gerald,
- 27:41Speaker 2: but Jerald, if you were to email comment at kfab
- 27:45Speaker 2: dot com or give us a call in the studio,
- 27:47Speaker 2: we'd love to get you in contact with the Sheriff's
- 27:49Speaker 2: office and see what we can do to help you
- 27:51Speaker 2: out here. And uh, that's the that's the point of
- 27:55Speaker 2: the comment line. You know, we want to we want
- 27:57Speaker 2: to give you guys the resources to be able to
- 28:00Speaker 2: absolutely manage these things.
- 28:02Speaker 4: I want to cut to the phone lines really quick. Gene.
- 28:04Speaker 2: I know you have some things you want to talk about,
- 28:05Speaker 2: but maybe some rapid fire construction projects around the metro area.
- 28:10Speaker 2: We'll start with Jase. You are live here on kfab
- 28:13Speaker 2: with Jeens South.
- 28:15Speaker 4: I'm sorry, am I on yes, you are welcome.
- 28:19Speaker 8: Sorry about that, my phone cut out.
- 28:20Speaker 1: Good morning, Good morning, good morning.
- 28:23Speaker 7: Hey.
- 28:24Speaker 6: I was kind of curious.
- 28:26Speaker 5: I got two questions.
- 28:27Speaker 6: I was wondering, do you think they'll ever make two
- 28:29Speaker 6: hundred and fourth like a dodge, Like we'll just get
- 28:31Speaker 6: rid of all the lights and I'll make off and
- 28:33Speaker 6: on ramps. Or do you think they'll make like a
- 28:35Speaker 6: bypass down in the bottom somewhere along like go down
- 28:38Speaker 6: Maple and then go down by Waterloo and then down
- 28:41Speaker 6: to Ashland or something, you know.
- 28:42Speaker 1: And then it's hard to tell.
- 28:46Speaker 6: And then my other question was, I'm pretty sure I
- 28:49Speaker 6: might have seen you on my flight down to Tennessee
- 28:51Speaker 6: last weekend. I was going down on Thursday last week
- 28:55Speaker 6: and I wanted to say hi, but I never got
- 28:56Speaker 6: a chance to that.
- 28:58Speaker 1: That was me. I went from Arizona on a vacation
- 29:02Speaker 1: back to Omaha for a few hours, repack my suitcase,
- 29:06Speaker 1: and then got on a plane and went to Baltimore
- 29:09Speaker 1: via Nashville. Crazy, but that's what we did. But yes,
- 29:14Speaker 1: I did go That was me. Yes, it was But
- 29:17Speaker 1: you know, go ahead.
- 29:21Speaker 6: Omaha World Herald newspaper on your lap.
- 29:24Speaker 1: And I to laugh at me because I always have
- 29:28Speaker 1: Omaha World Herald, and I always have a Wall Street
- 29:30Speaker 1: Journal in my lap because I read them judiciously every day.
- 29:35Speaker 1: But yes, that was me, and I wish you would
- 29:37Speaker 1: have said hello, But you know, I wanted to bring
- 29:39Speaker 1: I wanted to bring something up when you ask about
- 29:41Speaker 1: two hundred and four Street. I brought this up yesterday too.
- 29:45Speaker 1: And since I'm not in the Mayor's office now, I
- 29:48Speaker 1: don't keep up with the projects as much as I
- 29:51Speaker 1: used to. But there is two really good resources that
- 29:55Speaker 1: you could see. One is it's a web page that
- 29:58Speaker 1: the Public Works Department puts out and it's called keep
- 30:01Speaker 1: Omaha Moving dot com. And if you go on there,
- 30:04Speaker 1: you will see a list of all of the current
- 30:07Speaker 1: road projects. And then if you go on the Finance
- 30:10Speaker 1: Department web page and look under the Capital Improvement Plan,
- 30:15Speaker 1: there is a six year plan. You look under transportation
- 30:19Speaker 1: bonds and it will show what is being planned to
- 30:22Speaker 1: be done with our roads for the next six years.
- 30:25Speaker 1: And so those are two really good resources that you
- 30:28Speaker 1: could look at.
- 30:29Speaker 2: Thank you for the call, Jase. We really appreciate you
- 30:31Speaker 2: tuning into the comment line.
- 30:33Speaker 4: Mike. You are now live here on eleven ten KFAB.
- 30:38Speaker 5: Good morning, good, Good morning, Mayor. How are you today,
- 30:43Speaker 5: I'm really good, Thank you good. First of all, I
- 30:46Speaker 5: want to thank you for your three terms in office.
- 30:49Speaker 5: I'm very kind of you to spend your time with Omaha. Thought.
- 30:54Speaker 5: I thought you did a great job.
- 30:55Speaker 1: Thank you. I love doing it. I love doing it.
- 30:59Speaker 1: It was it was really really fun and I love
- 31:01Speaker 1: being mayor.
- 31:02Speaker 5: Well, we saw a lot of changes, and I think
- 31:04Speaker 5: most of them were pretty darn good. So maybe maybe
- 31:07Speaker 5: you'll run again, maybe you'll think about it again.
- 31:09Speaker 1: Maybe not, but thanks for the comment. Yes, I love
- 31:14Speaker 1: doing it, but I'm not running again.
- 31:17Speaker 5: Well, you did a great job.
- 31:18Speaker 1: Thanks you.
- 31:19Speaker 5: Here's my question and I can just hang up after
- 31:21Speaker 5: I'm done. What's going on with the development on behind
- 31:25Speaker 5: Banker's and Levenworth Street, the big apartment complex or condo units?
- 31:29Speaker 5: It kind of seems like it's out of stand still.
- 31:31Speaker 1: Yeah, you know that one. I would have to do
- 31:34Speaker 1: a little bit of research and get back with you
- 31:36Speaker 1: on because, like I said, it's hard for me to
- 31:38Speaker 1: keep up with all these projects all over Omaha. And
- 31:41Speaker 1: I hate to say something inaccurate. I kind of want
- 31:43Speaker 1: to review in my mind who is doing that project
- 31:47Speaker 1: and where they're at. Right now. So I will answer
- 31:51Speaker 1: that question on Monday, because I'm not really sure. Like
- 31:53Speaker 1: I said, I hesitate to say anything that's that's inaccurate.
- 31:56Speaker 4: Thank you for the call, Mike.
- 31:58Speaker 2: We're going to go to the talk back here that
- 32:00Speaker 2: I was teasing earlier.
- 32:02Speaker 4: Here we go.
- 32:03Speaker 2: This is a talk back on the iHeartRadio app a
- 32:05Speaker 2: little microphone.
- 32:06Speaker 4: It can be fun, it can be serious, whatever you
- 32:08Speaker 4: want it to be.
- 32:10Speaker 8: Hey, Gen, love the show.
- 32:12Speaker 5: Keep up the good work.
- 32:14Speaker 8: Just so you know, we have a drinking game, and
- 32:17Speaker 8: every time you say you were mayor or elected official.
- 32:21Speaker 5: We take a drink.
- 32:22Speaker 1: Oh good.
- 32:23Speaker 5: They are generally hammered.
- 32:26Speaker 1: Job you don't think Maybe I don't need to say
- 32:29Speaker 1: that anymore. Well, you know what it is. It is
- 32:32Speaker 1: kind of I try not to to tell you the truth,
- 32:34Speaker 1: but when people ask questions about the city, I really
- 32:38Speaker 1: have to say, well, this is what I did. But
- 32:41Speaker 1: you know, I'm not in charge anymore, and so it
- 32:44Speaker 1: just rolls off my tongue. So I'm glad you are
- 32:48Speaker 1: enjoying the drinking game. Maybe that means at least you're
- 32:50Speaker 1: still listening, right, Yeah, maybe I maybe Peyton and I
- 32:54Speaker 1: should do that. Maybe every time I say that Peyton
- 32:56Speaker 1: should offer me a jello shot or something like that
- 32:59Speaker 1: over there. We'll be hammered by the end of the show,
- 33:02Speaker 1: that's for sure. But you know, one other thing I
- 33:04Speaker 1: wanted to bring up as we had that conversation with
- 33:07Speaker 1: the gentleman that called earlier about Tranquility and why we
- 33:11Speaker 1: didn't move forward with it sooner. It would have been
- 33:13Speaker 1: half the cost that it is.
- 33:15Speaker 5: Now.
- 33:16Speaker 1: It looks like it's stalled right now. But I do
- 33:19Speaker 1: want to talk just briefly as I can about the
- 33:22Speaker 1: city budget. Because the city budget will come out the
- 33:25Speaker 1: mayor has to get it to the city Council in
- 33:27Speaker 1: the summer. Takes about six to eight months to develop
- 33:29Speaker 1: a budget. But I want to stress what I said
- 33:32Speaker 1: the other day, this is how the city budget is done.
- 33:34Speaker 1: And I'm not going to say this is how I
- 33:36Speaker 1: did it. I'm just going to say this is how
- 33:37Speaker 1: it should be done, but this is how I did it.
- 33:40Speaker 1: But anyway, you get when you start in January developing
- 33:43Speaker 1: the budget, you start out with estimates of what your
- 33:46Speaker 1: sales tax, your property tax, your restaurant tax, et cetera.
- 33:49Speaker 1: Are going to be. So you're starting to develop this
- 33:51Speaker 1: budget with estimates and then we say that we have
- 33:56Speaker 1: an estimate of we're going to have five hundred and
- 33:58Speaker 1: fifty million dollars for the general fund. So then what
- 34:01Speaker 1: we did is we would give each department a target
- 34:04Speaker 1: to we look at their last year's budget. We would
- 34:07Speaker 1: give them a target to meet, and so that there
- 34:10Speaker 1: would that amount of estimated revenue coming in would be
- 34:14Speaker 1: dispersed to all the different departments. And if I wanted
- 34:17Speaker 1: to lower the levee, that was always in my mind too.
- 34:19Speaker 1: I never wanted to raise the levee, so I never
- 34:21Speaker 1: wanted to add more and more to everybody's budget. I
- 34:23Speaker 1: wanted to keep the growth about four percent or less.
- 34:26Speaker 1: But then I would sit down and I would work
- 34:28Speaker 1: with every department and say, for a parks department, we
- 34:31Speaker 1: would sit down with them and we would say, here's
- 34:34Speaker 1: your target. Can you know what do you need? Will
- 34:37Speaker 1: this work for you? Make sure you have all of
- 34:40Speaker 1: those necessary things, like you have the chemicals to treat
- 34:43Speaker 1: the weeds, you have the employees to mow the grass
- 34:47Speaker 1: and keep up the parks and keep them clean and
- 34:49Speaker 1: keep the litter up. Those are just fundamental and those
- 34:53Speaker 1: things should be in that budgeting process when you are
- 34:57Speaker 1: developing each of those departments budgets parks included. So I
- 35:02Speaker 1: just hate when I hear somebody said yesterday, oh, I
- 35:05Speaker 1: hear we don't have enough money for chemicals. That should
- 35:08Speaker 1: just be part of developing the budget, and that is
- 35:11Speaker 1: a fundamental part of the budget. And so I just
- 35:14Speaker 1: want to let people know that that budgeting process, it
- 35:17Speaker 1: isn't just hey, tell us whatever you need and we're
- 35:20Speaker 1: going to cut you. That's not the way it goes.
- 35:23Speaker 1: The only thing that makes it difficult is you don't
- 35:27Speaker 1: really know what the actual amount of revenue is going
- 35:30Speaker 1: to be until much later on, and you develop the
- 35:33Speaker 1: budget based on estimates. But for example, the general fund budget,
- 35:37Speaker 1: it's about five hundred and fifty million dollars. So I mean,
- 35:40Speaker 1: it takes a lot of work to sit down with
- 35:42Speaker 1: every department and say, okay, I went through it line
- 35:45Speaker 1: by line. Take a shot. I just said it again.
- 35:48Speaker 1: I went through the h departments line by line and
- 35:51Speaker 1: say do you need this, do you need that? Do
- 35:53Speaker 1: you need more of this? Do you need more of that?
- 35:55Speaker 1: And so it's a process. But all of that to
- 35:57Speaker 1: take care of our parks should be budgeted.
- 36:00Speaker 2: Okay, Gene, I need to go to break here, but
- 36:01Speaker 2: I had this question yesterday, so maybe just give me
- 36:03Speaker 2: a quick cliff notes answer on a number. Do we
- 36:08Speaker 2: know how much money is brought in every year with
- 36:11Speaker 2: the wheel tax?
- 36:12Speaker 4: Approximately?
- 36:13Speaker 1: Yes we do, and that is and one for one
- 36:17Speaker 1: thing the wheel tax brings in around. I think it
- 36:19Speaker 1: brings well, I will say the motor vehicle wheel tex.
- 36:22Speaker 1: I know that. It just popped into my brain. It's
- 36:24Speaker 1: about twenty four million a year. Twenty four it's twenty
- 36:27Speaker 1: four million a year, and all of that money has
- 36:30Speaker 1: to go back and stay in the roads. It's not
- 36:32Speaker 1: dumped into the general fund for everything else. So the
- 36:35Speaker 1: wheel tax is about twenty four million dollars a year,
- 36:38Speaker 1: and there is a late fee, and surprisingly enough people
- 36:42Speaker 1: still pay it late every year.
- 36:44Speaker 4: This is the Cafe by comment Line. Your host of
- 36:46Speaker 4: the show, Jean Stothard.
- 36:48Speaker 2: I'm Peyton Highlock and we are wrapping up the show
- 36:50Speaker 2: here on a Friday, and.
- 36:52Speaker 1: We've had a lot of comments today. This has been
- 36:55Speaker 1: fun today. We usually have a guest, well not usually,
- 36:58Speaker 1: but we have guests often. We're gonna have some great
- 37:00Speaker 1: guests next week. But it is fun just taking the
- 37:03Speaker 1: calls and the emails too. I enjoy doing it.
- 37:05Speaker 4: Yes, it's a lot of fun.
- 37:06Speaker 2: And I actually got an email here in reference to
- 37:10Speaker 2: our conversation about Sheriff Aaron Hanson in the Douglas County
- 37:14Speaker 2: Sheriff's Office.
- 37:15Speaker 4: I'm going to assume that Tom is being.
- 37:18Speaker 2: A little facetious when he says this, But he says
- 37:21Speaker 2: Hanson is running an occupying army in Omaha.
- 37:23Speaker 1: Oh please, No, I think that's a little a little
- 37:28Speaker 1: giving the mayor a little tease there since he used
- 37:31Speaker 1: that term. But no, they are not an occupying army.
- 37:34Speaker 1: Sheriff Hansen does a in the Sheriff's department, the Omah
- 37:38Speaker 1: Police Department. They all do a great job, they really do.
- 37:41Speaker 1: Sheriff Hansen is really digs in. He loves getting involved
- 37:44Speaker 1: in things. And that's that's just Tim. I mean before him,
- 37:47Speaker 1: it was Tim Dunning. Different personalities, There's been different police
- 37:51Speaker 1: chiefs in Omaha before Todd Schmad are completely different personalities,
- 37:54Speaker 1: but they're they're doing a good job, and obviously by
- 37:58Speaker 1: our crime statistics, they're doing a great job, all of
- 38:02Speaker 1: them together. So kudos to all of.
- 38:04Speaker 2: Them most definitely. And I also got an email here.
- 38:08Speaker 2: Where did it go from?
- 38:10Speaker 4: Greg? Is there an excessive noise ordinance in Omaha.
- 38:14Speaker 1: Yes, there is, And you know, it's really hard to
- 38:19Speaker 1: measure because the way the ordinance is written, it is
- 38:23Speaker 1: measured in decibels. So you can't just say, hey, I
- 38:27Speaker 1: got a noisy neighbor, come over here. You can. You can,
- 38:31Speaker 1: and if there is, I mean, that could be a
- 38:33Speaker 1: public disturbance and the police will come out. But say,
- 38:36Speaker 1: if it is a I'll give you an example of
- 38:39Speaker 1: a manufacturing plant or something like that, and the neighbors
- 38:43Speaker 1: around there are saying there's too much noise coming from here.
- 38:46Speaker 1: From there, there is ordinances there, which are laws that
- 38:49Speaker 1: govern that, and but they will the city would come
- 38:52Speaker 1: out and have to measure that. There was a business
- 38:57Speaker 1: that was about one hundred and thirty second f Street
- 39:01Speaker 1: or Ice Street several years ago Omaha Track, and there
- 39:05Speaker 1: was a lot of banging noises going on there, and
- 39:07Speaker 1: the neighbors around there were complaining, and I remember we
- 39:10Speaker 1: had to do a lot of work out there measuring
- 39:12Speaker 1: the decibels and how when it was happening, what time
- 39:15Speaker 1: of day it was happening. But there, yeah, there is
- 39:18Speaker 1: there is an ordinance.
- 39:19Speaker 2: Greg gave the example of a stoplight and car music,
- 39:24Speaker 2: noise and the bass behind home.
- 39:26Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's a public disturbance, you mean, like with
- 39:28Speaker 1: cars with their their radios going and their windows down
- 39:32Speaker 1: and all of that. That's that's hard to regulate too,
- 39:36Speaker 1: because by the time, you know, somebody would call it in,
- 39:38Speaker 1: they would say, I saw a car here at this intersection.
- 39:41Speaker 1: You send the cops out and they can't find them.
- 39:43Speaker 1: But it is it is very to me, it's very annoying.
- 39:46Speaker 5: You know.
- 39:47Speaker 1: When I was down in New Orleans a couple of
- 39:48Speaker 1: weeks ago at the Jazz festival, there is no noise
- 39:52Speaker 1: ordinance down on Bourbon Street. Let me tell you this.
- 39:55Speaker 1: These cars would just drive up and down Bourbon Street
- 39:58Speaker 1: at three in the morning with a radio blast and
- 40:01Speaker 1: their windows down, and the cops are up and down
- 40:04Speaker 1: the street and they just ignore it. So it's you know,
- 40:07Speaker 1: it's different things for different communities, but we like to
- 40:10Speaker 1: keep the peace in Omaha.
- 40:12Speaker 4: Absolutely.
- 40:12Speaker 2: And here we go, Gine about a minute left, wrapping
- 40:15Speaker 2: up on a Friday. Any closing remarks as we wrap
- 40:18Speaker 2: up the show, you.
- 40:19Speaker 1: Know, I have a lot I wanted to talk about
- 40:21Speaker 1: that I'm going to save it till Monday because this
- 40:23Speaker 1: is a longer conversation. There was a conversation on the
- 40:26Speaker 1: morning show about the new Central mallos old Central Mall
- 40:30Speaker 1: and the new proposal for a mixed use development which
- 40:33Speaker 1: is at forty Second Center, and the request by the
- 40:35Speaker 1: developer Lockwood for Tiff and the neighbors. We are upset
- 40:40Speaker 1: because to qualify for TIFF, you have to designate the
- 40:43Speaker 1: neighborhoods as blighted in substandard and I wanted to explain that,
- 40:47Speaker 1: and I can explain that, So that's going to take
- 40:49Speaker 1: a little bit longer. We'll do that on Monday. That
- 40:52Speaker 1: is it for us today. So thank you for spending
- 40:55Speaker 1: this hour with us. We hope you all have a
- 40:57Speaker 1: great weekend. We'd love for you to do join us
- 41:00Speaker 1: again on Monday. I am Jean Stothard and this is
- 41:03Speaker 1: eleven ten KFA B ADOPTI, adoptee, adoptee, ADOPTI