March 24, 2025 • 16 mins
Candidate for Omaha Mayor: Incumbent Jean Stothert
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
The first of several interviews we're hoping to have this
week is with the current mayor, Jeans Stother, who's joining
us on our phone line today. Mayor Stothard, thanks so
much for being back on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You bet, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Okay, I know that it's politics is a weird place,
but we a lot of times just kind of sensationalized
national politics, a lot of local politics. You are among
the people all the time. So what has been the
last couple of months been like? Is you started to
ramp up the campaign on the reelection trail?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh? You know what, I love campaigning, I really do.
You know. One thing I have liked so much since
I've been mayor is getting out there and connecting with
the voters. You know, I'm sure you know this, but
I love having town hall meetings. I completed over seventy
town hall meetings since I have been mayor. That's seventy.
So we get out in the community a lot. But
(00:49):
when I'm campaigning, you know, it keeps me very busy
because obviously I have a big city to run at
the same time. But I you know, I'm walking door
to door. I walked all day yesterday I love justknocking
on people's doors, connecting with them, being able to answer
questions face to face. There's a lot of you know,
there's been two debates, there's a lot of forums. So
I really enjoy doing that. I mean, it's kind of
(01:11):
what I love about my job. I love to get
out there and talk about things and you know, and
answer people's questions. So this is really really busy, but
I still enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
When you talk about, you know, your career as mayor specifically,
it's been over a decade that you've been you want
to re election a couple of times already, so this
is nothing new for you as far as this process goes.
How do you best describe Omaha's political makeup? Because you
are a Republican, Omaha itself seems to identify a little
bit more Democrat, at least in the presidential election the
(01:44):
last couple of times. How can you best describe that
kind of relationship between the Democrat and Republican voters here
in this state?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Sure, and you know I've said this before. I mean,
obviously I'm the mayor of the Blue dot because that's
what they that's what they call Omaha. Now, so when
I became mayor, I said, and everybody knows I'm a Republican,
everybody knows I'm a conservative, but I did say I
will be the mayor for everyone. It didn't matter to
me your political party, your gender, your race, that I
(02:15):
will represent all of you. And I hope I have
shown that in the last twelve years since I have
been mayor. This actually obviously it is a nonpartisan elections
as far as mayor and city council. But again everybody knows,
but Omaha is a Democrat town. There's proximately twenty I
would say, twenty four thousand more Democrat voters in Omaha
(02:38):
right now than Republican. But obviously, since I won in
twenty thirteen against the Democrat incumbent and then I want
to gain in seventeen against Teith Mellow and twenty one
against R. J. Neary, I get a lot of votes
from Democrats, Republicans and independents because I have said I
(02:58):
represent them all. So I really hope that that shows
that how I make decisions. I managed the budget very
very conservatively, and you know, people recognize what my policies
are and what direction that I always want to go
with the city we're speaking.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
With Mayor Jeene Stothart here this afternoon. We're eight days
away from the primary, and you mentioned nonpartisans, so there's
a chance that you could be up against another fellow Republican.
We'll get to that in a second with some of
your challengers, but a couple of the things that I
know have have been very important to you is the
growth of Omaha and kind of the long scope of
(03:36):
some of the projects. You've seen that with kind of downtown.
You're seeing that with the big skyscraper that's going up.
You see that with the Jean Leahy mal and the
whole riverfront area. And of course part of that also
is the street car. And we've talked a lot about
the street car. I know that you've had to answer
a lot of questions over the years about the street car.
Can you give us kind of the pitch for why
the street car is a good idea for the city
(03:57):
of Omaha and where we are on the time line
for what the streetcar is and when it should be complete?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Sure, And you know, the streetcar has been discussed in
the City of Omaha for a good twenty years or so,
and several years ago with encouragement from the City of Omaha,
the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce created the Urban Core
Committee and their goal was to look at a defined
area of downtown and midtown and that's the Missouri River
(04:25):
out to Saddle Creek and then coming down to Leavenworth,
so we could have an organized, intentional development of downtown
and midtown. And they released their strategic plan in twenty
twenty two and the number one component that this group
and over one hundred people worked on that recommended was
(04:46):
to go ahead and build a streetcar. So I understood
the value. I understood that the streetcar is a tool
for economic development. We studied all other cities that built
streetcar and saw the unbelievable development that happened around the
streetcar lines, the rails of the corridor that the streetcar
was in. But I want to step further, and I said,
(05:07):
if you all could show me a funding model that
that would not require me to raise taxes, are at
a new tax that it wouldn't be any burden on
the taxpayers in Omaha, you got me on board, and
no pun intended with that, and they did, and so
they came up with a funding model for it that
is basically, it will be funded by the developers along
(05:29):
the route and the development along the route. And then
I took it even a step further and we hired
a company out of Baltimore called Municap, and this is
what they do all over the country. And they come
in came into Omaha for nine months and they studied
every parcel along the route. And what they came back
with is they said, you absolutely will have enough development
(05:50):
to fund the streetcar. The streetcar right now is three
hundred and eighty nine million, and that's where we are
right now. It's not five hundred million or eight I've
heard everything. I've heard of billion or whatever. And they
said enough economic development to fund it. And they said
they estimated conservatively that there would be two billion dollars
worth of economic development along the route in the first
(06:12):
fifteen years, well within the first like at the end
of twenty twenty four, we aren't even building it yet
and there's already one and a half billion of new development.
So now they've changed their estimates to four billion in
the first fifteen years. So we got you know, that
will generate about nine hundred million in revenue for the city.
(06:33):
The four billion of development and the streetcar three hundred
and eighty nine. So it's more than enough to pay
for the streetcar and also to pay for other things
like affordable housing. So I am very very confident in
this funding plan. It's legal, it is, it abides by
state law, and it is more than enough to pay
(06:54):
for the streetcar, and so the taxpayers will not be
paying for it. It will not be a new tax,
an increase in text. I will tell you the absolute
worst thing that would happen is if somebody would actually
try to stop the streetcar. That could be devastating. But
the streetcar should not be stopped, and it cannot be
(07:15):
stopped at this point in time. So I look at
it as an economic development tool. It'll have to get in,
around and out of downtown, and it will be good
for the entire city of Omaha.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
We're speaking with Mayor Jean Stoutht here and we've talked
about the route. We've talked about a lot of the
inns and the outs, and to me, you know, you
mentioned there are a lot of cities that in the
last twenty years, heck in the last decade, have built
their own streetcar projects. And as you alluded, to the development.
Number of dollars that it can generate are definitely there
(07:46):
for a lot of those places. But one thing that
it seems like your opponents keep mentioning is that this
didn't get brought to the voters for a chance for
them to have their voice heard on this. What do
you say to people that have that question about whether
or not the people actually had a voie for a choice.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Sure, and you know, if it required an increase in
tax or a new tax, I would have put it
on the ballot in New York minute. You know, I
put six bond issues on the ballot in November because
they were being funded with general obligation bonds that the
taxpayers paid for, and the one I did in November
did not require a tax increase. That's how we do
our city bond issues. When they built the Arena Convention Center,
(08:24):
it went to a vote to the people because the
way they were funding it and had general obligation bonds
in it, the taxpayers were paying for this project. The
taxpayers are not paying for the general taxpayers in Omaha,
no new tax, no increased tax. And that has happened
in the past in the City of Omaha, depending on
the funding source, you don't have to go to a
(08:46):
vote to the people. Let me give you an example,
the Riverfront Parks, who are magnificent. Over five million people
have visited them so far. So far, excuse me, five
or four hundred million dollars that project was that didn't
go to a vote to the people because of the
way it was funded. The new library at seventy second
in Dodge, one hundred and fifty eight million dollar project
(09:09):
that didn't go to a vote because the way it
was funded, and so and then I always bring up
the ballpark because if you recall the big controversy when
the ballpark moved from Rosenblatt to build a new stadium downtown,
that didn't go to a vote to the people because
of the way it was funded. So there's a lot
of initiatives, a lot of projects that happened within the
(09:31):
city that don't need to go to a vote because
because you don't take a vote to the people just
for an opinion. You take a vote to the people
to say yes or no. And my tax dollars are
going to go to pay for this, So it didn't
require a vote. But I will say this, the city
council and the Omaha street Car Authority have voted on
multiple contracts with the streetcar already in a public setting
(09:56):
that the public is welcome to come and speak out.
People can come to the City Council at any time,
people can come to the Streetcar Authority, So people are
invited to get their comments or you know, if they
approve or disapprove. But the streetcar is moving forward because
it just it didn't require a vote because of the
way it was funded. So and that's why it didn't
(10:18):
go now to go to a vote. Now, a new
mayor cannot put it to a vote, you know, only
the city council can approve something going on a ballot
for the vote. And the city council has approved every
every contract or every approval they needed to already, the
Omaha City Council supports the streetcar, and so they're not
(10:38):
they are not going to change and go ahead and
put it on a ballot. Plus, if we would have
even a special election that was a rite in election
to just to vote opinion on the streetcar, even though
it's already moving forward, it would cost the taxpayers probably
five hundred thousand dollars, probably half a million dollars just
(10:59):
for to pay the election office, just for election. So
it doesn't make sense since it's already on its way,
it's already successful, it's already moving forward to say, oh no,
I'm going to now put it on the ballot for
a vote just to get people's opinions. If it required
a new tax or an increase in tax, it would
(11:19):
definitely go on a ballot, just like I did in November.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Very interesting speaking with Mayor Jean Stothart here. And it's
the world of politics, right, everybody's going to try to
paint every single thing that we're you know, any type
of topic or issue is going to be painted in
political lenses. But I want to let you finish here.
I got a couple of minutes, Mayor, if you'd like
to talk about what you think people need to know
(11:43):
about how Amaha has improved since you've taken office in
twenty thirteen and to where we're sitting now as you
seek reelection.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yes, and you know, I mean we just have momentum
now that it's just unprecedented. It's you know, I have
cut the tax levy twelve percent five times since I
have been mayor. The city is a much safer city.
We are one of the safest large cities in the
country right now. Our violent crime last year was down
(12:11):
twenty one percent. All crime was down seventeen percent. That
is just unprecedented. Our homicides last year, we're nineteen a
city of Omaha size almost five hundred thousand people, we
had nineteen homicides. They were all sold. In comparison, Kansas
City had around one hundred and seventy. I mean, this
is a very, very safe city. It took a lot
(12:33):
of hard work. The chief and I have been together
now for thirteen years. He was appointed by Mayor Settle
when I was on the city council, and we have
one of the best trained, certified police departments in the
country right now. The economic development again is uncreceded now
with everything going on in the city now and within
(12:55):
development and our roads is another thing I'm particularly proud of.
In May of twenty twenty, I did put a two
hundred million dollar bond issue on the ballot. COVID hit
right at the same time. I was really worried that
it wouldn't pass, but it did overwhelmingly, and then we
have reissued those bonds several times since and since then
(13:15):
we have had an additional eight hundred lane miles of
streets rehabilitated, not just potholes, but rehabilitated in the city
of Omaha. So I think we have a real record
of success, of progress determination. We have the momentum to
build Omaha to a city of the future. I always
(13:36):
say cities never stand still. They are either growing and
moving forward or declining and falling behind. And Omaha is
a city on the move right now. And this momentum
starts with strong leadership, and we were able to turn
vision into results and empower citizens and set and exceed goals.
(13:57):
And my focus will remain on public safety, affordability, housing, transit,
jobs and development, and Omaha will offer the quality of
life for families and young professionals and those that we
are looking for. And so you know, I will say
this over and over again. I love working with the
citizens of Omaha. I love working for them, and I
(14:20):
would appreciate their vote, and I really look forward. I'm
excited about four more years in this office because we're
really getting things done and we couldn't do it alone.
I have a great staff, all of the city directors
which could be replaced with a new mayor, they're the
best I think the city's ever had, and we work together.
And one more thing I have to add is the
(14:42):
public private partnerships that I've developed, I think is extraordinary.
When I talk to other mayors, they can't believe these
partnerships that we have that Omaha can achieve things we
couldn't do on our own with just taxpayer money. And
the Riverfront Parks are a good example, so is the
new library I brought up before. The Riverfront parks are
(15:03):
four hundred million. The city put in sixty million, and
the rest is private. If you look at the library
at seventy second Dodge, one hundred and fifty eight million
dollar library, the city put in twenty million, and it
will be owned and operated with our employees. It's these
partnerships that I've developed with my staff that develop over
(15:25):
time with trust, and you know, a new mayor just
doesn't get those, those will slow down or stop within
the first four years of the new mayor. And I
know this to be true because it happened to me.
I didn't have a lot of good public private partnerships
in the beginning. So these are all things that I
think really make Omaha. It very extraordinary and we have
greater achievements ahead. And like I said, I really look
(15:47):
forward to continuing my service to Omaha.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Mayor Jean Stouthor really appreciate you being so generous with
your time today and we thank you so much for
sharing information so candidly with us. Good luck next.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Week, Thanks so much, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, that is, Mayor Stothard. We'll get your thoughts
on what we just heard coming up on news Radio
eleven ten KFA B and Rays Songer
The first of several interviews we're hoping to have this
week is with the current mayor, Jeans Stother, who's joining
us on our phone line today. Mayor Stothard, thanks so
much for being back on our show today.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
You bet, thanks for having me.
Speaker 1 (00:10):
Okay, I know that it's politics is a weird place,
but we a lot of times just kind of sensationalized
national politics, a lot of local politics. You are among
the people all the time. So what has been the
last couple of months been like? Is you started to
ramp up the campaign on the reelection trail?
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Oh? You know what, I love campaigning, I really do.
You know. One thing I have liked so much since
I've been mayor is getting out there and connecting with
the voters. You know, I'm sure you know this, but
I love having town hall meetings. I completed over seventy
town hall meetings since I have been mayor. That's seventy.
So we get out in the community a lot. But
(00:49):
when I'm campaigning, you know, it keeps me very busy
because obviously I have a big city to run at
the same time. But I you know, I'm walking door
to door. I walked all day yesterday I love justknocking
on people's doors, connecting with them, being able to answer
questions face to face. There's a lot of you know,
there's been two debates, there's a lot of forums. So
I really enjoy doing that. I mean, it's kind of
(01:11):
what I love about my job. I love to get
out there and talk about things and you know, and
answer people's questions. So this is really really busy, but
I still enjoy it.
Speaker 1 (01:22):
When you talk about, you know, your career as mayor specifically,
it's been over a decade that you've been you want
to re election a couple of times already, so this
is nothing new for you as far as this process goes.
How do you best describe Omaha's political makeup? Because you
are a Republican, Omaha itself seems to identify a little
bit more Democrat, at least in the presidential election the
(01:44):
last couple of times. How can you best describe that
kind of relationship between the Democrat and Republican voters here
in this state?
Speaker 2 (01:52):
Sure, and you know I've said this before. I mean,
obviously I'm the mayor of the Blue dot because that's
what they that's what they call Omaha. Now, so when
I became mayor, I said, and everybody knows I'm a Republican,
everybody knows I'm a conservative, but I did say I
will be the mayor for everyone. It didn't matter to
me your political party, your gender, your race, that I
(02:15):
will represent all of you. And I hope I have
shown that in the last twelve years since I have
been mayor. This actually obviously it is a nonpartisan elections
as far as mayor and city council. But again everybody knows,
but Omaha is a Democrat town. There's proximately twenty I
would say, twenty four thousand more Democrat voters in Omaha
(02:38):
right now than Republican. But obviously, since I won in
twenty thirteen against the Democrat incumbent and then I want
to gain in seventeen against Teith Mellow and twenty one
against R. J. Neary, I get a lot of votes
from Democrats, Republicans and independents because I have said I
(02:58):
represent them all. So I really hope that that shows
that how I make decisions. I managed the budget very
very conservatively, and you know, people recognize what my policies
are and what direction that I always want to go
with the city we're speaking.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
With Mayor Jeene Stothart here this afternoon. We're eight days
away from the primary, and you mentioned nonpartisans, so there's
a chance that you could be up against another fellow Republican.
We'll get to that in a second with some of
your challengers, but a couple of the things that I
know have have been very important to you is the
growth of Omaha and kind of the long scope of
(03:36):
some of the projects. You've seen that with kind of downtown.
You're seeing that with the big skyscraper that's going up.
You see that with the Jean Leahy mal and the
whole riverfront area. And of course part of that also
is the street car. And we've talked a lot about
the street car. I know that you've had to answer
a lot of questions over the years about the street car.
Can you give us kind of the pitch for why
the street car is a good idea for the city
(03:57):
of Omaha and where we are on the time line
for what the streetcar is and when it should be complete?
Speaker 2 (04:03):
Sure, And you know, the streetcar has been discussed in
the City of Omaha for a good twenty years or so,
and several years ago with encouragement from the City of Omaha,
the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce created the Urban Core
Committee and their goal was to look at a defined
area of downtown and midtown and that's the Missouri River
(04:25):
out to Saddle Creek and then coming down to Leavenworth,
so we could have an organized, intentional development of downtown
and midtown. And they released their strategic plan in twenty
twenty two and the number one component that this group
and over one hundred people worked on that recommended was
(04:46):
to go ahead and build a streetcar. So I understood
the value. I understood that the streetcar is a tool
for economic development. We studied all other cities that built
streetcar and saw the unbelievable development that happened around the
streetcar lines, the rails of the corridor that the streetcar
was in. But I want to step further, and I said,
(05:07):
if you all could show me a funding model that
that would not require me to raise taxes, are at
a new tax that it wouldn't be any burden on
the taxpayers in Omaha, you got me on board, and
no pun intended with that, and they did, and so
they came up with a funding model for it that
is basically, it will be funded by the developers along
(05:29):
the route and the development along the route. And then
I took it even a step further and we hired
a company out of Baltimore called Municap, and this is
what they do all over the country. And they come
in came into Omaha for nine months and they studied
every parcel along the route. And what they came back
with is they said, you absolutely will have enough development
(05:50):
to fund the streetcar. The streetcar right now is three
hundred and eighty nine million, and that's where we are
right now. It's not five hundred million or eight I've
heard everything. I've heard of billion or whatever. And they
said enough economic development to fund it. And they said
they estimated conservatively that there would be two billion dollars
worth of economic development along the route in the first
(06:12):
fifteen years, well within the first like at the end
of twenty twenty four, we aren't even building it yet
and there's already one and a half billion of new development.
So now they've changed their estimates to four billion in
the first fifteen years. So we got you know, that
will generate about nine hundred million in revenue for the city.
(06:33):
The four billion of development and the streetcar three hundred
and eighty nine. So it's more than enough to pay
for the streetcar and also to pay for other things
like affordable housing. So I am very very confident in
this funding plan. It's legal, it is, it abides by
state law, and it is more than enough to pay
(06:54):
for the streetcar, and so the taxpayers will not be
paying for it. It will not be a new tax,
an increase in text. I will tell you the absolute
worst thing that would happen is if somebody would actually
try to stop the streetcar. That could be devastating. But
the streetcar should not be stopped, and it cannot be
(07:15):
stopped at this point in time. So I look at
it as an economic development tool. It'll have to get in,
around and out of downtown, and it will be good
for the entire city of Omaha.
Speaker 1 (07:26):
We're speaking with Mayor Jean Stoutht here and we've talked
about the route. We've talked about a lot of the
inns and the outs, and to me, you know, you
mentioned there are a lot of cities that in the
last twenty years, heck in the last decade, have built
their own streetcar projects. And as you alluded, to the development.
Number of dollars that it can generate are definitely there
(07:46):
for a lot of those places. But one thing that
it seems like your opponents keep mentioning is that this
didn't get brought to the voters for a chance for
them to have their voice heard on this. What do
you say to people that have that question about whether
or not the people actually had a voie for a choice.
Speaker 2 (08:00):
Sure, and you know, if it required an increase in
tax or a new tax, I would have put it
on the ballot in New York minute. You know, I
put six bond issues on the ballot in November because
they were being funded with general obligation bonds that the
taxpayers paid for, and the one I did in November
did not require a tax increase. That's how we do
our city bond issues. When they built the Arena Convention Center,
(08:24):
it went to a vote to the people because the
way they were funding it and had general obligation bonds
in it, the taxpayers were paying for this project. The
taxpayers are not paying for the general taxpayers in Omaha,
no new tax, no increased tax. And that has happened
in the past in the City of Omaha, depending on
the funding source, you don't have to go to a
(08:46):
vote to the people. Let me give you an example,
the Riverfront Parks, who are magnificent. Over five million people
have visited them so far. So far, excuse me, five
or four hundred million dollars that project was that didn't
go to a vote to the people because of the
way it was funded. The new library at seventy second
in Dodge, one hundred and fifty eight million dollar project
(09:09):
that didn't go to a vote because the way it
was funded, and so and then I always bring up
the ballpark because if you recall the big controversy when
the ballpark moved from Rosenblatt to build a new stadium downtown,
that didn't go to a vote to the people because
of the way it was funded. So there's a lot
of initiatives, a lot of projects that happened within the
(09:31):
city that don't need to go to a vote because
because you don't take a vote to the people just
for an opinion. You take a vote to the people
to say yes or no. And my tax dollars are
going to go to pay for this, So it didn't
require a vote. But I will say this, the city
council and the Omaha street Car Authority have voted on
multiple contracts with the streetcar already in a public setting
(09:56):
that the public is welcome to come and speak out.
People can come to the City Council at any time,
people can come to the Streetcar Authority, So people are
invited to get their comments or you know, if they
approve or disapprove. But the streetcar is moving forward because
it just it didn't require a vote because of the
way it was funded. So and that's why it didn't
(10:18):
go now to go to a vote. Now, a new
mayor cannot put it to a vote, you know, only
the city council can approve something going on a ballot
for the vote. And the city council has approved every
every contract or every approval they needed to already, the
Omaha City Council supports the streetcar, and so they're not
(10:38):
they are not going to change and go ahead and
put it on a ballot. Plus, if we would have
even a special election that was a rite in election
to just to vote opinion on the streetcar, even though
it's already moving forward, it would cost the taxpayers probably
five hundred thousand dollars, probably half a million dollars just
(10:59):
for to pay the election office, just for election. So
it doesn't make sense since it's already on its way,
it's already successful, it's already moving forward to say, oh no,
I'm going to now put it on the ballot for
a vote just to get people's opinions. If it required
a new tax or an increase in tax, it would
(11:19):
definitely go on a ballot, just like I did in November.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Very interesting speaking with Mayor Jean Stothart here. And it's
the world of politics, right, everybody's going to try to
paint every single thing that we're you know, any type
of topic or issue is going to be painted in
political lenses. But I want to let you finish here.
I got a couple of minutes, Mayor, if you'd like
to talk about what you think people need to know
(11:43):
about how Amaha has improved since you've taken office in
twenty thirteen and to where we're sitting now as you
seek reelection.
Speaker 2 (11:50):
Yes, and you know, I mean we just have momentum
now that it's just unprecedented. It's you know, I have
cut the tax levy twelve percent five times since I
have been mayor. The city is a much safer city.
We are one of the safest large cities in the
country right now. Our violent crime last year was down
(12:11):
twenty one percent. All crime was down seventeen percent. That
is just unprecedented. Our homicides last year, we're nineteen a
city of Omaha size almost five hundred thousand people, we
had nineteen homicides. They were all sold. In comparison, Kansas
City had around one hundred and seventy. I mean, this
is a very, very safe city. It took a lot
(12:33):
of hard work. The chief and I have been together
now for thirteen years. He was appointed by Mayor Settle
when I was on the city council, and we have
one of the best trained, certified police departments in the
country right now. The economic development again is uncreceded now
with everything going on in the city now and within
(12:55):
development and our roads is another thing I'm particularly proud of.
In May of twenty twenty, I did put a two
hundred million dollar bond issue on the ballot. COVID hit
right at the same time. I was really worried that
it wouldn't pass, but it did overwhelmingly, and then we
have reissued those bonds several times since and since then
(13:15):
we have had an additional eight hundred lane miles of
streets rehabilitated, not just potholes, but rehabilitated in the city
of Omaha. So I think we have a real record
of success, of progress determination. We have the momentum to
build Omaha to a city of the future. I always
(13:36):
say cities never stand still. They are either growing and
moving forward or declining and falling behind. And Omaha is
a city on the move right now. And this momentum
starts with strong leadership, and we were able to turn
vision into results and empower citizens and set and exceed goals.
(13:57):
And my focus will remain on public safety, affordability, housing, transit,
jobs and development, and Omaha will offer the quality of
life for families and young professionals and those that we
are looking for. And so you know, I will say
this over and over again. I love working with the
citizens of Omaha. I love working for them, and I
(14:20):
would appreciate their vote, and I really look forward. I'm
excited about four more years in this office because we're
really getting things done and we couldn't do it alone.
I have a great staff, all of the city directors
which could be replaced with a new mayor, they're the
best I think the city's ever had, and we work together.
And one more thing I have to add is the
(14:42):
public private partnerships that I've developed, I think is extraordinary.
When I talk to other mayors, they can't believe these
partnerships that we have that Omaha can achieve things we
couldn't do on our own with just taxpayer money. And
the Riverfront Parks are a good example, so is the
new library I brought up before. The Riverfront parks are
(15:03):
four hundred million. The city put in sixty million, and
the rest is private. If you look at the library
at seventy second Dodge, one hundred and fifty eight million
dollar library, the city put in twenty million, and it
will be owned and operated with our employees. It's these
partnerships that I've developed with my staff that develop over
(15:25):
time with trust, and you know, a new mayor just
doesn't get those, those will slow down or stop within
the first four years of the new mayor. And I
know this to be true because it happened to me.
I didn't have a lot of good public private partnerships
in the beginning. So these are all things that I
think really make Omaha. It very extraordinary and we have
greater achievements ahead. And like I said, I really look
(15:47):
forward to continuing my service to Omaha.
Speaker 1 (15:50):
Mayor Jean Stouthor really appreciate you being so generous with
your time today and we thank you so much for
sharing information so candidly with us. Good luck next.
Speaker 2 (15:57):
Week, Thanks so much, Thanks for having me on.
Speaker 1 (16:00):
All right, that is, Mayor Stothard. We'll get your thoughts
on what we just heard coming up on news Radio
eleven ten KFA B and Rays Songer
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!