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March 28, 2025 • 13 mins
Candidate for Omaha Mayor: Jasmine Harris
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Episode Transcript

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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I have my fourth and final interview with one of
the Omaha mayoral candidates. Joining me in the studio today
is Jasmine Harris. She is sitting right next to me.
First of all, Jazmin, thank you so much for being
in here.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Well, thank you for having me. Imri, Hello, everyone, Good afternoon.

Speaker 1 (00:13):
Okay, so let's go ahead and start. I know that
I'm credit cram as much as I can into fifteen minutes.
Give us kind of background on your life in Omaha
and some of the things that you've done to get
you to a point where you think mayor is the
next step for you.

Speaker 2 (00:26):
Most definitely thank you Emory again for having me. Jasmine Harris.
I am a native Omaha and I still live in
North Omaha raising my family with my husband. We have
three children, twenty three, eleven, and seven eighths. She'll be
twelve here shortly and ten years old. And for me,
running for mayor was not something that I just decided overnight.

(00:48):
All of the work that I've done has been around
community and trying to ensure people have a better life.
I started a lot of my community work after I
graduated from UNMC with my master's in public health, and
I was focused on community health education, and I did
a lot of substance use prevention work here in the city,
and we really worked with the colleges to address high
risk drinking and college age students and so working with

(01:10):
you and know when they developed their mav Nights programming
and creating university and things like that, and then moved
over into tobacco prevention and that work. What I started
seeing was that a lot of folks were coming over
to the prevention side from our justice side and saying,
we want to do prevention, and I'm all for prevention,
and you know, being from North Omaha and seeing how
the criminal justice system impacts a lot of folks, you know,

(01:33):
personal and people in my family, things like that, and saying, Okay,
if we have a lot of people who are coming
from this side and working with youth, then what are
we doing on the other side. So marrying the passions
that I have to ensure that people have resources when
they're coming back from incarceration, because we talk about go
do your time, pay your debt to society, come back

(01:54):
be a productive community member, and there's ways that we
aren't set up for people to be productive when they
come back. A lot of my focus has been on
removing barriers for people to get jobs, housing, transportation, and
so being an advocate and a policy director and working
down at the legislature to remove barriers and on law,
so working with elected officials on that, I see how
much can be done at a local level. So a

(02:16):
lot of the things that I've done over the past
few years is like passing the Nebraska Justice Reinvestment Initiative,
working with senators on that and centering the voice of
people who have gone through this and how it impacts
their daily lives. So that was one of the biggest
reform packages since twenty fifteen that we worked on, and
then last year worked on LB sixteen, which was to

(02:37):
remove barriers at the occupational licensing level, so there's guidelines
that they have in place that weren't allowing for folks
to come in to have meaningful careers because they were
just boxed out. And then also LB twenty where we
passed for people to get their voting rights back, so
removing the two year waiting period for over seven thousand
Nebraskas that have their voting rights back. And so for me,

(02:59):
a lot of that, you know, it's not upfront and
in your face work. It's the background because I see
what's happening and how we can improve lives on a
daily level. So that's what made me say why may
or why now? So I ran in twenty twenty one
and I was eleven hundred votees shy from advancing then,
and I said, we need to continue the movement. For me,
it's not a career move. It's not about trying to
be a career politician. It's ensuring that people have their

(03:22):
voices heard in our state and local government, where it
really is important.

Speaker 1 (03:26):
Jasmine Harris joining us here in the studio, kind of
you answered a lot of the next question for me there,
but it's what needs to change the most in Omaha.
And certainly your platform is very people oriented and family oriented,
but there's going to be a lot of questions about
infrastructure and roads and business and economic development. What from

(03:47):
your perspective in your experience, do you hope to achieve
with all of those other factors that you know maybe
are weighing on the mind. And we'll get to a
certain s word very quickly about that, but what kind
of you know, what would you like to see change
in Omaha?

Speaker 2 (04:06):
On those fronts most definitely. I think right now what
we see for people that they're not having their opinions
weighed in when we're deciding on what is the future
of our city. Like you said the s where people
didn't weigh in on the streetcar, right, They're starting to
see like a lot of the development that happens that
hasn't taken their points and their perspectives into consideration and

(04:27):
what that looks like. So one of my priorities for
the campaign and what I want to do as mayor
is ensure that we are people centered and having a
participation in how our budget is and making sure that
people have an option to say, how is a portion
of our city's budget spent on development in our community?
That goes into you know, I got a lot of

(04:49):
emails about roads and what can we do to improve roads.
I think for me, one of the biggest things when
we talk about transportation is ensuring that our public transportation
actually works for people that way they will use it
for their everyday lives. Right now, it's a lot of
disconnected transit systems that are happening in our city that
takes the relief off of people driving their cars on

(05:10):
the streets all the time, which you know, a contributor
to how the roads are deteriorating. I know we live
in Omaha that has the one of the wonkiest freestaw
cycles ever. I was just talking about eighty two to
day and Sunday it'll be thirty nine. It's okay, right,
but you know, I think that also plays into that.
So I'm ensuring that our public transportation system is set

(05:30):
up to serve more people and that they will actually
use it.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
I came from the Moines, so it's funny to hear
a lot of the road conversation here. It's like, you
don't think the Moin's also dealing with that. The weather
has a lot to do with it. Jasmine, you mentioned
the street car. It's top of mind for a lot
of people because it's kind of the next big project,
and it is divisive because there are a lot of
people who say there's no use for that. For me,

(05:54):
I'm not going to be using it. Where's that money
coming from? How is that money being spent? Here? A
lot and I've learned a lot about tax increment funding
and how that's going to be utilized for this project.
We've also heard from Mayor Stauth that it already has
basically made a profit based on the economic development that's
been pledged around where the street car is going to be.
Where are you on the street car and what the
future of that project looks like one way or the other.

Speaker 2 (06:17):
Yes, And like you said, everybody's this is the top
of mind. This is the issue of you know, the
twenty twenty five election cycle for mayor. We all have
our terms for it. I call it the streetcar to Nowhere.
You know, I've said that in debates and things because
for me, it's going to be in a localized area.
So you know, it's not going to serve the purpose
of everybody. It will serve the purpose of what the

(06:39):
economic development is coming along that area. You have Neutral
Lamas Port money into there. You're having apartment buildings you know,
built up over there. So yes, that's the development piece,
and that's the money that's going into there. But outside
of actually addressing an issue that is impacting so many
people in our city, it's not going to serve folks
as much as we would like to see it. As

(07:01):
far as stopping the street car, I think that's fiscally irresponsible.
I say that train has left the station. We need
to ensure that we are working to connect what that
streetcar is to the rest of the transportation systems here
in Omaha, and so that means working with Metro Area
Transit and the newly created Transit Authority Board. I have
two folks, no actually three folks who are on that

(07:23):
board who I know personally, one of them who has
endorsed me, and just making sure that we can work
together to connect what we have currently. As we're talking
about the growth of our city, there's no dedicated transportation
system that can get people from down the river up
out to Elkhorn, and we need to really focus on
what does that look like? And I say, for me,

(07:46):
have a vision for what the future of Omaha can
look like. We talk about retaining our young folks. We
talk about bringing people in to live here and raise
their families. Everybody who comes to Omaha from a bigger city,
it's like the transportation sucks because where they're from they
didn't rely on cars, and so we have to think
what does the future look like for us. I talk
about the light rail in twenty I think it's two

(08:07):
thousand and one. Our city Council had the opportunity to
vote on having a light row system here in Omaha.
It was the same time Denver had their vote. We
didn't get ours. Denver got theirs, and they've grown exponentially
using that light rail system. And I say, if that's
not the answer, we also need to think about regional connection.
What does it look like to have or train from

(08:28):
Omaha to Lincoln because we have people who are transporting
back and forth every day for jobs too, So I
think we have to make sure we're thinking outside of
just a couple of blocks when we talk about transportation
in our city.

Speaker 1 (08:40):
Definitely is one of the things about the streetcar. As
we speak with Jasmin Harris, candidate for mayor here in Omaha,
everybody says everything that you said as far as streetcar
and economic development, but it is limited to just kind
of Blackstone, Midtown, downtown kind of areas. A lot of
people are thinking, well, what about North Omaha, what about
South Omaha? What about you know when you get into

(09:01):
West oh there's all sorts of different pluses and minuses
for those people in what's going on right now? How
would you address some of those places that we don't
hear too much. Being talked about because it isn't downtown
or in these big business districts.

Speaker 2 (09:14):
Yes, so we've had the focus of the Dodge Street
Corridor and downtown and that's from the current administration and
that's where their priorities are. And for me, it's looking
beyond that and how do we make sure the rest
of our city feels connected to the development that's going on.
You mentioned tax increment financing when we were talking about
the streetcar, and what that tool was created for was

(09:35):
to develop in blighted and extremely blighted areas, and so
we still see some of those areas who are not
being developed intentionally, how downtown in the Dot Street Corridor
has been developed. So for me, that's a conversation of
let's use the tool for what it was for and
expand the development into these areas that really needed because
it can drive again economic development in those areas, which

(09:59):
impacts the whole city. It increases all of the economic
opportunity across the city when we don't leave out, you know,
specific areas of our city. So one of the things
I talk about is that out of the twenty three
tax increment financing projects that were approved last year, eleven
of them are in North Omaha, but combined at an

(10:20):
amount of twenty million dollars in comparison to seventy nine
million dollars that went towards the streetcar. So, you know,
that's a very disc you know, that's a disconnect for
me when we're talking about using that kind of tool
for funding, especially if we're saying, well, it's going to
be all this pledged economic development that's happening, there should
be more on that end that could go into the
streetcar and the tax decrement finance and can go into

(10:41):
the other parts of the city.

Speaker 1 (10:43):
It's an interesting way that all of that kind of
is intertwined and relates to the city. When you talk
about the general makeup of your campaign, I'll give you
the platform as long as you'd like here to kind
of explain why Jasmine Harris is the best choice for
mayor for the city of Omaha. As we, you know,
are just a few days away from this big primary

(11:04):
for what the leadership of the city will look like.

Speaker 2 (11:06):
Yes, thank you. So. My four priorities are public safety,
affordable safe and healthy housing, economic opportunities, and connecting our
city through our transportation. And for me, that's really important
because I live through these things every day. We all
want the same thing. We all want safer neighborhoods. We
want to be able to get around our city without
having to traverse roads that are torn up, and be

(11:28):
able to rely on trying to ensure that we have
great entertainment opportunities and pouring into our small local businesses.
And so for me, that's what the focus is. We
talk about how Omaha is the number one place to
raise families, but we want to ensure that that is
actually true and that people can feel like that in
every part of our city. And so why Jasmine, Here's

(11:50):
fremyre Again. This isn't a career move for me. It's
not about being a career politician. It is about ensuring
that people are centered and how we can say they
feel like their voices are being heard, that their concerns
are being addressed. And that's what I do. I'm a
leader of people again, being an advocate and a policy director.

(12:11):
We have went down to the legislature and got things
done and that's what I want to bring into the
city hall. I know people say, you know what qualifies
you do? You know how to look at a budget
and It's like I've dedicated my personal passion into understanding
how our state and our local governments work. I've been
looking at budgets from the state and from the city level.

(12:32):
I worked on our nonprofit boards where we are looking
at their budgets and directing that. In the organization that
I'm at, I'm on the executive team where we went
from a team of five to now a team of
thirty in eight years and went from a seven hundred
fifty thousand dollars budget to three and a half million
dollar budget. So I know what budgets are, I know
how to look at that, and I want to bring
that fresh eyes and fresh vision to what Omaha can do.

Speaker 1 (12:55):
It's one thing that we are going to learn about
what the voters think on Tuesday next week is part
of the mayor ole primary. Jasmine Harris, thank you so
much for coming in on your Friday and talking to
us today. Good luck next week, and I'm sure we'll
be talking again in the future.

Speaker 2 (13:09):
Awesome. Thank you so much. Emory, all right to.

Speaker 1 (13:11):
This two twenty one. We'll have more on the way
on your Friday on news Radio eleven ten kfab Emrie's
songer
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