April 29, 2025 • 47 mins
Mayor Jean Stothert and County Treasurer John Ewing address questions from our panel during this live debate, two weeks before Election Day in Omaha.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
It's decision time in Omaha. News Radio eleven ten KFAB
is bringing the candidates to you the issues and answers
you need before election day. Now the news Radio eleven
ten KFAB mayoral Debate, and good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you so much for being with us here on
Nebraska's news, weather and traffic station for this special event
here with limited commercial interruption for the next hour. We
are pleased to be welcomed by Douglas County Treasurer John
Ewing and Omaha mare Jen Stouthard for this mayoral debate,
and to our television partners and invited guests for being
here with us in our listener lounge here in the
(00:40):
Gary Sadelemeyer Building of Dundee, USA. And if you're on Facebook,
you can connect with KFAB on Facebook and watch this
live as well over the next hour. Due to a
coin flip beforehand, we determined that Treasurer Ewing gets the
last word in this debate, so as moderator, all work
(01:01):
to keep everyone on time and introduce our panel of
questionners throughout the morning as well. But mayrist author you
get the first word two minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, thank you and thank you for doing this this morning,
and thank you to KFAB. When I became mayor, I
said I would be the mayor for everyone, and I'm very,
very proud of our results. My priorities are based on
things that are important to you and make your quality
of life better. Number one public safety, to economic development
and job growth. Three managing the city budget, keeping taxes low,
(01:32):
and four is improving the taxpayer experience, and I'm proud
of the results that we have had in all of those.
Crime is at an all time low right now. Our
homicide rate is the lowest it's been in thirty years.
Overall crime is down nineteen percent, violent crime down twenty
one percent. Our finances are an excellent shape. Our bond
raiders every year cite strong financial management.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
With our budget.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We have increased our tax or our cash reserve. We
have lowered the property tax lie since I've been mayor
five times for a total of twelve percent, and the
finances of the city are very, very stable. Our economic
development is unprecedented now across the entire city from the
Missouri River to the Elkhorn River. And our job unemployment
(02:17):
rate right now in Omaha has dropped from four percent
when I first became mayor to two percent. We are
very much focused on rehabilitating our roads at a record
pace after a voter approved bond issue in twenty twenty,
which was just reauthorized in November of this year, looking
at neighborhoods, restoring preserving our historic neighborhoods in Omaha, and
(02:38):
bringing in things that really improve our quality of life,
like a new trash contract, improving our roads, a new
snow plowing plan. These are things that people care about,
and these are the things I am very very proud
that we have achieved. Cities are not defined by their government,
They are designed by or they are defined by their people.
And I want to continue this great partnership that we
(03:00):
have with the people of Omaha, the citizens of Omaha
and our community partners. I love my job. I hope
it shows. I look forward to your questions today.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Thank you all. Thank you very much. Maristotherton Now two minutes.
An opening statement by Douglas County Treasurer Johnny Wing.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Thank you very much, Scott, and thank you Kfab for
hosting this event. I'm John Ewing and I've been serving
this community for forty three years. I've served you with integrity,
and I've done the things that are necessary to.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Look at your quality of life issues. As the.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Tenant of the Special Victims Unit, I was actually looking
at some of the things that were happening to women
and children when I was there, and I saw things
happening to women and children that should have been prosecuted
as felonies and they were misdemeanors. I was actually able
to pull a group of folks together to get ten
stage statues passed in one legislative session to protect women
(03:57):
and children. Those are the types of things I've done
in this community because I care about people and I
care about their quality of life. As a Deputy chief
with the Omaha Police Department, I was co chair of
the Crime Prevention Covenant for the Empowerment Network, which has
led to an effort called three sixty, which thirty to
(04:17):
forty different cities across the country are contacting us about
and we've been able to reduce gun violence in this
community by seventy percent. As you're a Douglas County Treasurer,
when I ran for the office, I promised that I
would restore fiscal integrity. We've done that. We balance to
the penny every day. Despite commercials that you might have
(04:37):
seen We also said we would restore public trust, and
we've done that.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I've always told you the truth.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I tell you what happened, what we did, about what
we're going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And I would say I said we would utilize technology
to serve you better. We have completely transformed the Douglas
County Treasurer's Office and made it a customer service organization
by doing things internally as well as making those technology
(05:06):
things available to you, as well as partnering with the
state DMB to add other technology as well. I would
love to have your vote on May thirteenth to be
able to continue the progress in the service that I
have given this community.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Thank you very much, Treasurer. John Ewing like to now
welcome our panel of journalists. We'll be asking our questions.
We have our regional news director Wendy Wild with us,
Terry Lahey from the KFAB radio news team, and we'll
start off with our first Questionner, and you'd get to
decide to whom you're going to direct this first question,
and we'll give one minute for responses on these. We
(05:41):
have from First Alert wwt's six News Mike McKnight Jane.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
Last week and intersection Omaha made the national news again.
We're talking about fiftieth in Saddle Creek with the site
of not only a water rescue, but a dumpster floating
down the street. I remember twenty eight covering water rescues.
There is there anything that can be done engineering wise,
It's not.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Cost prohibitive to fix that.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Intersection when we have the flash flooding before there's a
tragic end there sometime.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And you know, Saddle Creek is called saddle Creek because
it is built on a creek, and so we know
that's been an area, it's a low area, and it's
been an issue for quite a few years. What happened
just last week was an unprecedented rainfall in a very
short period of time, and our sewers just could the
sewers that we have now just could not handle a
(06:37):
five inch rain and a very short period of time.
And that is exactly what happened. We all and we
do as soon as there are applications for development and
building in an area, we do have policies in place
that try to protect that. In fact, one of the
policies is is that that you can't have any more
(06:58):
runoff in an area of water, if you're building a
new development, then you currently have now. So when you're
building a new development, you look at all the impervious
surfaces that are going to be built, the parking lots, whatever,
and we have to make sure that they're not adding
to that problem. But to actually solve the problem on
a low lying saddle creek that's built over a street, yes,
(07:20):
it would take a lot of expense, a lot of effort,
and probably a lot of tax increase to do that.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
About flashing lights that warned people when there are they
can be turned on, and.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
If they were doing that, I mean there was notices
that were put out on alert. There was notices on
the television station, There were notices on radio saying that
there is flooding in this area and drivers beware, stay
home if you can avoid this area if you can.
But we know that area is a problem area. It's
been that way for years. So it's not that we
(07:53):
are putting off doing anything. It's a matter of where
we're at, where it's located. There's a creek running under it,
and to really engineer that and change that and elevate
that whole area would be a major construction issue, but
we do have policies in place that dictate future development
along those areas that would prevent increased flooding in that
(08:15):
area by increased runoff.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
All right, same issue for you, John Ewing, because we
had to follow up there. You've got a minute and
a half for your response on Saddle Creek.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Sure, thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
I believe it would be very expensive to be able
to repair that. It probably wasn't the best idea to
actually build a road on top of a creek. One
of the things I would look at is if there
were any things that could be done with the sewers
to try to increase capacity without it being an extremely
expensive ordeal. The second thing I would look at is
(08:48):
how do we stop people from driving on the street
when these conditions become present. And what I would look
at is something like almost like an electronic school guard
crawl or something.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Where you actually shut the streets off.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
And don't allow people to be able to drive on
those streets, because you've got to be proactive and do
things to actually keep people safe in spite of maybe
their lack of knowledge. If you haven't lived here in Omaha,
you may not know about Saddle Creek or fiftieth in
Saddle Creek, so you don't know not to be on
those streets. There may also be someone that just gets
(09:26):
caught because they weren't expecting it to flood that quickly.
So I think if you can do things to prevent
people from getting on the street, that certainly would be
very helpful as well.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Thank you very much, Treasurer Ewing for that. We have
Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing, Omaha Mara Jean Stothard. Thank
you to Mike mcnight from First Alert six News for
that question. We will take a quick two minute break
here and Wendy Wild from the KFAB radio news team
will be the next questioner of our candidates. I imagine
there'll be a bit more on streets and other issues
(10:00):
important to Omaha voters. I'm Scott vor He's here moderating
today's live mayoral debate on news radio eleven ten KFAB.
Good morning, I'm Scott Vorh. He's here in the news
radio eleven ten KFAB listener lounge with Omaha Marria Jean
Stothard and Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing. A live mayoral
debate here until eleven o'clock this morning, and the next
(10:21):
question from our panel of journalists happens to be our
KFAB News director Wendy wild Scott.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (10:28):
Let's go to John Ewing and ask you a more
broad question about streets in Omaha. And you know, it's
a perennial problem across all of us, kind of northern
Midwestern states, potholes and road conditions. It's almost hard to
keep up with them. And in Omaha people talk a
lot about the road conditions. What is your plan to
improve road conditions across the city. How much is it
(10:51):
going to cost and how long do you think it'll
take until people are happy with the roads.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Well, I think first of all that we have to
look at a comprehensive plant. The number one issue that
people talk to me are about are the street conditions.
And when I hear that, I heard from people in
East Omaha, North Omaha, South Omaha, as well as West Omaha.
I was just in the Skyline Ranches area on Saturday
(11:18):
and I drove on Bonanza Road and it really was
a very difficult drive, even at a slow speed, dodging potholes,
going over ridges and things of that nature, and that's
one of the things they wanted to talk to me about.
I believe we have to have a plan, recognizing first
of all that Omaha is really an east and west city.
(11:40):
So my thoughts would be that we certainly look at
the east and west streets first, looking at making sure
we do that in some manner of order, because one
of the things I see sometimes is we'll have several
streets closed at the same time. I was leaving my
office at one hundred and forty fourth and you one
(12:02):
day to go east, and I couldn't go east until
Harrison Street because one hundred and forty four Street was
closed and there was no way to get east until then.
But that's what I would look at first, and then
secondly I would look at the north and south streets
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We mayristout there's same issue for you. You got a minute
and a half here. It's an important issue Omaha's roads.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Thank you. We do have a comprehensive plan, and it
was developed after years of study, and we decided that
in May of twenty twenty we would put a road
bond issue on the ballot, which was overwhelmingly supported by
the taxpayers. It was a two hundred million dollars bond
issue so that we could not just be filling potholes
but rehabilitate our streets. We have concrete asphalt in brick
(12:48):
streets in Omaha. When I became mayor, there was no
money in the budget for the brick streets at all.
That passed overwhelmingly. We have five thousand lane miles of
road in Omaha. At the end of this year, well
we held will have rehabilitated over one thousand lane miles
of roads. Now that's rehabilitation, it's not just filling potholes.
(13:08):
Our plan is is that we will keep this pattern up.
Those bonds were reauthorized by the voters last November overwhelmingly
another two hundred million dollars, So now we have four
hundred million additional dollars to rehabilitate our streets. If we
keep this pattern up, every street in Omaha will be
touched once every twenty years, and that will prevent us
(13:30):
from ever getting in that cycle again. Before I was
mayor of letting the streets go into being ignored actually
and for many many years and crumbling like they were.
I will say this is that we have forty one
new road projects coming online this year, and how we
judge what is going to be done first is not
looking east and west. It's looking at where the streets
(13:51):
are that need the most work. We prioritize them by
doing a Paser rating on them, and the worst streets
get attention first. About Skyline, a lot of comments were made,
a lot of promises were made by my opponent out
there without having the facts and without knowing the history.
And there are about three hundred lane miles of unimproved
(14:12):
roads in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That is one of them.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And if we were to repair and rehabilitate all the
three hundred miles of lane miles of unimproved roads, it
would cost the taxpayers about three hundred million dollars. So
we created a cost sharing plan and that is working.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Treasure, are youwing? I want to give you a chance
to respond to that. And for those who aren't familiar
what specifically is going on with the skyline development that
has both of you talking about it.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Sure, they invited me out because they felt as if
they weren't being told the truth. When that two hundred
million dollar bond issue was done. They showed me paperwork
that indicated to them that they were going to be
one of the top priorities, and no work has been
done on their streets. So that's what they shared with me.
That's why they wanted to talk to me. When I
(15:00):
look at the streets of Omaha, I don't think you
can say that we're going to touch a street once
every twenty years. I think you have to be more
intentional than that, and I think you also do have
to look at east and west, looking at the streets
that are in most need of repair, obviously, but also
looking at a comprehensive plan that will allow you to
(15:24):
do that without having a number of streets closed. At
the same time that day that I was on one
hundred and forty fourth, I also had traffic that or
repairs that I encountered on Q Street, Center Street as well,
so as well as Harrison. So that's not a comprehensive
(15:44):
smart plan for the people of this city.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Mary Stouthard, I want to give you a chance to respond.
This is an issue about Skyline that Mike McKnight and
I were talking about yesterday. So the form of your
response is going to come from this question from WWT six.
Is Mike McKnight, Well, I.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Think we need to go be on skyline. It goes
beyond skyline because the residence there sued the city.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Yes they did. They lost, they lost, but they.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
Are appealing to Nebraska Supreme Court. Perhaps what this comes
down to is substandard roads. They have substandard roads out there.
They felt when they were annexed the city should still
fix him at one hundred percent. There is cost sharing,
but what cost sharing means is the people who live
along that street have to pay usually about fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Correct, and let me answer your question. Okay, So when
I became mayor, we had again, we had three hundred
lane miles of unimproved roads in Omaha. Of the five
thousand lane miles, those are the streets that we're talking
about in Elkhorn. And when I say unimproved, those are
roads that are asphalt without storm drains, curbs, and sewers.
(16:48):
When I became mayor, if those areas that three hundred
lane miles the houses had abutted on it wanted to
rehabilitate their street, meaning whether it's a concrete, asphalt or brick,
to rehabilitate them, they would pay one hundred percent. That
was a long standing policy with the City of Omaha.
I did not think that was fair. In twenty sixteen,
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I convened a group of citizens that met for a
good year and advised me on what their recommendation was
for a plan for the unimproved streets were and that
was a cost sharing plan. Since then, there has been
over almost five hundred people that property abutted to those
streets being rehabilitated that have done that cost sharing, and
(17:31):
there has been quite a few. There's been at least
a dozen of the asphalt streets and a dozen of
the concrete streets rehabilitated using that cost sharing. The folks
out in Elcorn are asking now for the city to
pay one hundred percent. Now, I created a new resolution
because this was passed by the city council. With this
(17:53):
new cost sharing, I created a new resolution. Brinker Harding
is the city council member out there. We were going
to put it on the city council agenda to say
that those areas out in Elcorn that were annexed in
two thousand and five, that the city would do those
streets at one hundred percent. We could not get the
city council to approve and agree because they're saying, hey,
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I've had residents and constituents in my district that have
already paid for that cost sharing. And so if we
again were in what my ordinance or resolution said, is
not just the streets on Skyline, it would have to
be every street in Elkhorn that was annexed that was substandard.
So those are those streets that aren't up to city
(18:35):
standards currently. It would cost three hundred million dollars if
the city would not do the cost sharing for all
of those unimproved streets that we have all over Omaha.
Many people in the Elkhorn area have already paid the
cost sharing and that's why the city council said we
wouldn't have the votes to pass it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Thank you very much, Mayor for this. I know we
could talk about this issue for a long time. I
want to get some other questions on here as well
before we get to another break and treasury ewing. You'll
have up to two minutes here in your response to
this question, which comes from Terry Lahey from the KFAB
radio news team, and.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
We'll start with Ms. Stouthard on this one. In my
lifetime in my hometown, annexation always a big story of
certainly advancing west from the river throughout the history of Omaha,
and what would be your plan for future annexations concepts
of annexations for into the City of Omaha.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I'm a strong believer in annexations because
if you really want to decrease the taxes, you broaden
the tax base. And that's exactly what we have been
doing since I have been mayor. Every year we get
a list of all the unincorporated areas, We get a
list of all the sid Street improvement districts, and we
look at them over a ten year period. We figure
out the acres of parkland, We know the lane miles
(19:53):
of road, and if it is not revenue positive for
the city, then that area is not ready to annext
because when you annex, you assume all the debt as
well as the asset. Since I have been mayor, we
have annexed almost forty thousand more residents into the City
of Omaha, and it's primarily out west because that's where
(20:13):
the sanitary improvement districts in the unincorporated areas are. That
has broadened our tax base. More people are paying into
our taxes and that's why we have been able to
lower taxes for everyone. There will be a time. We've
calculated in about twenty fifty that we will have annexed
as far west as we possibly can, because then we
come along the ridge line, and the ridge line is
(20:34):
out there and you can't bring your sewers across that.
So what happens when you've annexed as far as you can,
then you go back to where you started in the
urban core and you start building up again. And that's
exactly what we are doing.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Thank you, Mayors Douthor. This issue of annexation also incorporates
the topic of what's going on skyline. If you wanted
to take an extra minute to address that as well,
Johnny Wing.
Speaker 8 (20:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Well let me start with this. I don't make promises
that I can't keep, and I didn't make the people
of Elkhorn out there on Saturday any promises. And that's
the first thing I started when I was talking to them.
I'm not going to make you promises that I can't keep.
I said, I was going to look into the issue
and see if we could come up with a better
(21:16):
cost sharing method to make it affordable for the city
as well as affordable for the residents because they pay
a significant amount of money in property taxes and when
we annext we should be looking at all of those
issues as well. So that was what was said on Saturday. Secondly,
I believe we have to do a much better job
(21:39):
of not just looking at how much revenue we get,
but we also have to look at the fact that
we're extending our police services, we're extending our fire services,
and we have to make sure that we have adequate
police staffing. We have to make sure we have adequate
fire staffing and the locations so that if there's a fire,
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if there's a medical emergency, they can respond appropriately. I
don't believe we wait on redeveloping or increasing density in
the urban core until after we've gone all the way
to the Elkhorn Ridge. I believe there's both policies that
we should be looking at in terms of increasing density,
(22:22):
making Omaha more walkable, making it a more bikeable city,
versus just saying we're going to keep annexing as far
as we can and then we'll come back to the core.
I don't believe that's the answer. I believe it's both
at the same time. But as you're annexing out west,
you have to look at the city's ability to provide
(22:43):
services to the people of that community.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Thank you very much, treasure Ewing, you got the last
word Meyristothard on the last issue. We'll let John have
the last word on this issue, but I know the
concept of public safety is going to come up here
as we continue this live mayoral debate back in two
minutes here, I'm Scott Vorhees here with Mayor Jeen Stouth,
the Treasurer John Ewing, and our panel of journalists and
invited guests here, and thank you to those watching us
(23:08):
on kfab's Facebook page this morning back in two minutes
with this mayoral debate here live on news radio eleven
ten KFAB with Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing and Omaha
Mayor Jean Stouth for this live event here on news
radio eleven ten KFAB. The next question for our candidates
comes from KFAB news director Wendy Wild and Scott.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
We can thank one of our kfab listeners for this question.
They emailed it in knowing that we were going to
do the debate, and we decided to include it. And
it's a question that's been asked and probably answered, but
perhaps not clearly enough because it's still being asked. So
the question is and we'll address it to Gene first
and then John on the rebuttal tax revenue is not
supposed to be used for the street car project, but
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the listener wants to know what the plan is for
paying for street and bridge construction, such as the demolition
and rebuilding of the Harney Street Bridge underway right now. Now,
where is that money coming from? And who will pay
for future damages if something goes wrong with the streetcar
and property is damaged and the streetcar is found liable,
is it the city or who?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So Gene, okay, the streetcar is being paid by tiff
revenue from the developers along the quarrid. It is a
catalyst for economic development and because of the development along
the corridor, we look at three blocks from the streetcar
and six blocks from the streetcar. That is what pays
for the streetcar. They always ask, well, say, how do
(24:33):
you pay for a streetcar? You build a streetcar. Our
first estimates in our funding model were that we were
going to have about two billion dollars worth of development
in the first fifteen years. That would be more than
enough to pay for a three hundred and eighty nine
million dollar streetcar, and that's what the cost is. By
the end of twenty twenty four, we already had one
and a half billion of new development anticipating the streetcar.
(24:55):
So now the funding model says four billion in the
first fifteen years. That is enough to pay for the streetcar.
The infrastructure improvements, the utilities that we're doing, and the
bridges that are being done were already on the list
of the state in Nebraska to be removed and replaced,
and we could not see in the future like maybe
(25:16):
five years, maybe ten years, but we could not see
putting in new rails right now and then tearing it
up in the future. So that is a cost share
with the city of Omha because those are state bridges.
So it's a cost share between revenue from the streetcar
and the state. As far as the bridges go, those were,
like I said, those were already on the list though
(25:37):
to replace as well as other bridges, but we wanted
to do it sooner because we knew that the street
car was going to generate enough revenue to pay for
all of that.
Speaker 7 (25:46):
If I may just further ask, you mentioned tiff tax
increment financing, but that is tax money.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
No it's not tax dollars that are taken away from
the revenue that should be coming in to the city.
The way tiff works is that whatever that site is,
it couldn't be developed without the benefit of tiff. Whoever
owns it or buys it will continue to pay the
same amount of taxes to the citizens they do now,
(26:15):
but as the value goes up and they will continue
to pay more and more taxes on that value, but
some of that is returned to pay off the tiff.
Note when the tiff is paid off, which is about
fifteen years, then the biggest benefactors are the taxing entities
because that increase value then will go to them.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you very much, Mariston. The same issue for you
two minutes, John Wing the streetcar.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Thank you well. The mayor tells you that this is
going to be paid for in fifteen years. But if
I'm not mistaken, the designation for the area has been
reclassified to extremely blight it, which means that the tiff
will actually last twenty years. So we aren't getting accurate
(27:03):
numbers sometimes on what is actually going to occur, which
is one of the things that concerns the citizens in Omaha.
We also have a shorter route than what was originally planned,
and we have a more expensive streetcar than was initially
discussed with the people of this community. So there are
(27:23):
a lot of reasons that people are upset about the streetcar.
Another issue is the fact that people believed in twenty
seventeen that there was going to be a vote on
the streetcar. And we can say all the things we
want to say about it, and we can try to clarify,
but I think the time the promise was made was
(27:45):
when it should have been clarified.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
To the people of this community.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Secondly, the streetcar has almost one thousand properties in this tiff,
if I'm not mistaken, which means that all all of
the incremental value that these properties would have gotten over
a twenty year period will go to pay the tiff
(28:09):
and pay the expenses, but it will not be revenue
available to the City of Omaha, It will not be
revenue available to the public schools, it will not be
revenue available to Douglas County.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
So the reality is when you.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Have these huge tiff projects, and I believe this is
the biggest one we've ever had, there is some cost
to the people of this community who aren't in the tiff,
and because that incremental value is not going to the
city or the county or the school district, people who
are not in the tiff will actually pay a little
(28:47):
bit more.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
So that's just how this works.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And we say that no new tax dollars, but we're
also taking money from parking fees to pay fore or
maintenance and things of that nature as well. So we
have some things where when you take away that parking
revenue that used to go for one purpose, where you're
going to get the money for that purpose.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Now.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Secondly, when you look at it and you start looking
at how this all works together, it is just not
a transparent project.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Good conversation, Mari stouthor last word one minute on the streetcar,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I think it really shows my opponent has no understanding
of how we are using TIFF and how the City
of Omaha uses it. It's fifteen years or twenty years with
a TIFF application and a TIFF approval, depending on where
you are at. The shorter route is just by about
two blocks that started stopping on thirty ninth Street as
the West terminus now because the Medcenter wants the street
(29:48):
car to run into their campus and they weren't sure
which direction it was going into. We've said this over
and over, and my opponent knows this. In twenty seventeen,
I said, if the taxpayers are going to be paying
for the streetcar and their taxes will go up, then
I would put it.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
To a vote.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
There's no requirement for us to put it on a
ballot because there is no tax increase and there's no
additional taxes that will happen to the citizens of Omah
to pay for the streetcar. We didn't put the ballpark
on the ballot because of the way it's funded. We
didn't put the Dodge Expressway, we didn't put the Riverfront parks.
It's the way it is funded that it doesn't necessarily
(30:29):
or it doesn't have to go on a ballot for approval.
Promises were not made that it was going to go
on the ballot for an approval. The statement that was
made was if the taxpayers were paying for it, then
it would go on the ballot. Only revenue producing commercial
properties along the streetcar route would be paying for the streetcar,
(30:50):
and they agree to do that because the value of
their properties going up. No single family, no duplexus, no condominiums,
only revenue producing car commercial property is what will see
the value go up in that bump is what is
paying for the street.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Thank you very much, Mayor Treasurer. We've got our next
question from longtime KFAB radio news voice.
Speaker 8 (31:10):
Terry Lahey, and this has to do with a condemned properties.
What would be the plan for increasing the rate of
clearing or raising condemned properties in Omaha moving forward? And
we'll start with mister ewing on.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
That we have done a very poor job of addressing
this issue and we get complaints, We get people contacting
us about the hotel. I believe it's one hundred and
twelfth and L Street somewhere in that area where they
complain about the fact that nothing is being done, and
(31:46):
then it went through tax selling a whole lot of
other things. One of the things I'll have discussions with
the city council about is how we can create a
big enough fund to address these issues because it does
become an eyesore and a com unity and it becomes
a detriment to their property values and their quality of life.
At the end of the day, everything we do should
(32:08):
be about improving the quality of life for the people
in our community and That's what I've done for forty
three years. That's what I'm always going to do. I'm
always going to be responsive to the people of this
community and listen to their problems and not come with
it's not my fault, it's not my responsibility. I can't
(32:28):
do anything about it.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Condemned buildings. Mayri Stothard.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I think the city, especially the Planning Department, has done
an excellent job at dealing with properties, all properties that
needed to be condemned, demoed, or removed. When I became mayor,
I really increased that budget. In fact, for a while
it was over a million dollars a year to try
to play ketchup to a lot of buildings and homes
(32:53):
and commercial property that were on the demo list, but
the city didn't have the money to do it. So
we really increase that funding. In fact, we've caught up
so much right now we've decreased that to about eight
hundred thousand a year. We didn't need the million dollars anymore.
But at the same time, another thing that we have done,
instead of demoing properties, we have really put a lot
of focus into rehabilitating existing properties by using our entitlement funds,
(33:19):
CDBG funds, our home funds that we make available to
citizens to rehabilitate their existing home and not just go
in there and have to tear everything down. The other
thing mentioning the hotel off of El Street, we got
to remember too that that is owned privately, and private
property owners have rights. The city just can't go in
(33:42):
there and start demoing a building that somebody else owns.
So our planning department or law department, but has been
in many conversations about that hotel, and right now we
feel like we have a plan of how we're going
to address it. But that hotel is secure right now.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Thank you very much, mayor Treasure youwing you get the
last word on this topic one minute.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
I think it's interesting that we always have a plan
but we don't hear about it.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
The reality is those.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Neighbors are very concerned about the condition of that property.
They're very concerned about how it impacts their property taxes.
They're very concerned about how it looks visually as they
have to drive by it every day on their way
to and from places in this community. If there is
a plan, then they should know about it. And that's
(34:31):
one of the issues that we have to address when
it comes to transparency, not having plans that are made
in meetings and then never communicate it, but talking very
clearly to the people of this community about the issues
they face, and then they will know what the plan
is instead of reaching out to me. They will know
(34:53):
what the plan is, instead of reaching out to others
to try to get answers. And so I just think
that's a good way to do.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Business, talking very clearly about the issues important to our community.
Well said, that's what we're doing here this morning. We
have one more segment here after a quick two minute break,
and you'll hear the closing statements as well as more
questions from our panel of journalists in this live mayoral
debate featuring Omaha Mayor Jean Stothard and Douglas County Treasurer
John Ewing. Back in two minutes here on news Radio
(35:20):
eleven ten KFAB two weeks away from the election in Omaha.
I'm Scott Vorhees on news Radio eleven ten KFAB here
with Douglas County Treasurer John E. Wing and Omaha Mayor
Jean Stothard. Our next question comes from Terry Lahy.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
And looking down the road to public safety. What would
a plan for public safety be, including a plan for
reducing the police officers shortage? And miss Stather, we'll start
with you on this quest.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Sure, thank you. I have to refer back to the
annexation statement well ago though, before any annexation plan goes
to the city council for approval, it has to have
approval of the fire chief and the police chief. The
fire department already covers those areas the police. We have
added many, many police officers to address annexation. But as
far as the shortage, this started. First of all, I
(36:10):
was the mayor that added one hundred and two police
officers to our budget since I have been mayor, and
in years of about eighteen and nineteen, we were almost
fully funded. What happened in twenty twenty happened all across
every major city in the country. And it is not
an excuse. It is not just an Omaha problem. But
we had George Floyd, we had COVID hit, We had
(36:31):
the movement across the country to disassemble and defund police departments,
and those that were wanting to go into law enforcement
did not want to go into it anymore. We used
to have sixteen eighteen hundred applicants for a class. Twenty
years ago. We used to take applications once every two years.
Now we're taking them twice a year. Now I'm going
to start taking applications year round. But we were having
(36:53):
the same issue everyone else did what Chief Smater and
I did. We came up with a plan. We thought
it was just salary and we wanted to be the
highest paid in the state in Nebraska. We gave them
a nine point eight million dollar raise last year across
the board to make us the highest we currently are.
We're the highest entry for an officer, We're the highest
top out for an officer that helped but not helped
(37:15):
quite enough. So now we have a brand new plan.
We are giving another enormous raise so that we will
always be five percent higher than any law enforcement agency
in the state of Nebraska. Plus a lot of other
changes such as year round applications. We feel like that
will stop that catchup that everybody's doing. Will you give
a raise? Now I have to give a raise. We
will remain the highest paid by five percent in the
(37:37):
state in Nebraska, and we feel like that trend will
start reversing. This is a plan that Chief Schmiter and
I have developed together and it will work.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Thank you very much, mister Ewing two minutes, Thank you
very much.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Looking at the cities annual report for the police department,
I didn't make these figures up. I didn't put the
report together says they were at nine hundred and eleven
sworn officers in twenty twenty one on page five.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
I didn't make that report.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
I'm not responsible for the accuracy of that report.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
I just know that's what.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
They reported to this community. The other thing I know
is that Douglas County Corrections has been hiring year round
for a number of years to address their staffing shortage.
What we're doing now, we are playing catch up, because
we should have been doing that as a city for
quite some time, like Douglas County Corrections, in order to
(38:39):
not be in a position where you're one hundred and
thirty officers short. We have a very serious problem here
because even as you're now trying to hire, you're going
to have a significant number of officers retiring each year
as well. So you hire, then you lose throughout the year.
(38:59):
If you don't really speed this process up and get
people hired in here. You're going to lose potentially another
one hundred and thirty officers or more over the next
several years. So this is a problem that has not
adequately been addressed for the people of this community. That
means traffic stops and traffic enforcement, and the speeding on
(39:22):
Dodd Street. We just saw an incident and again of
that last night. Those things are going to continue to
happen if we don't do a much more proactive job
of recruiting and hiring police officers. We also have a
debate about traffic red light cameras, and the mayor says
(39:42):
it's illegal, but there are two state statues that people
are working on down in the legislature to address that
issue because they believe it's a serious issue for.
Speaker 5 (39:53):
The people of this community.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
When we have over fifty traffic fatalities in our city,
that's a problem for our safety and our quality of life.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Thank you very much, mister Treasurer, mayrist author. You get
thirty seconds to respond to this issue. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We were not fully staffed in twenty twenty one, and
these other statistics that we report that are vetted by
the FBI shows us in twenty twenty four, we had
some of the lowest crime rates in decades, and that
just shows even with a lower number of police officers,
we still have a very safe city. Twenty one percent
(40:31):
reduction in violent crime, nineteen percent reduction in all crime.
That shows really good innovative police work to help us
get through these hard times. We will continue to do
year round applications now and this raise will go into
effect today if the city Council approves it, and we're
going to start taking applications tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Thank you, mayor note to Matt back in the studio,
blow out the last two minutes of this hour. We're
taking it right to the top of the hour here
so we can bring this in for a landing. One
more question here from our panel of journalists, and thank
you very much Mike McKnight from First Alert six News
for being here with us this morning.
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Along that law enforcement theme, so far, Omaha has avoided
the high profile ICE arrest. What do both of you
feel about Omaha police should they be assisting ICE in
the apprehension of illegal immigrants in our area.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
Who do you want to go first?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Let's go with John Yell.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
I believe we should not be having our Omaha Police
officers working with ICE on basic immigration issues, and I
believe that's already been decided. What I think we have
to do is understand that if there are dangerous criminals
or people who've committed serious crimes and they have a
status where they should not be in this country, we're
(41:55):
going to cooperate with ICE if I'm mayor. The other
thing I would say is we are not going to
do anything to be part of that process unless, however,
there is some type of emergency where ICE needs the
police department's support, because at the end of the day,
(42:15):
they are law enforcement officers and they have the same
right to safety and the same response that we would
give to any other law enforcement agency if they needed help.
So that is how I would operate as mayor of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Thank you very much, John Ewing, Jean Stothard.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Thank you. Immigration is a federal issue. Chi Shmodern and
I did a video and we came out with a
statement explaining Omaha Police Department's position as far as ICE
and federal immigration. The one thing that we said is
the Omaha Police Department is not a branch of the
federal government. We do not have the authority to act
as ICE agents. We do not go in on our
(42:54):
own and do raids and check people's legal status if
there was a crime committed, we do. We do work
in cooperation with ICE though. We do walk and work
in cooperation to detain and to deport if someone has
committed a crime. And since I have been mayor, I
will say this, we will not violate the law. We
will not refuse to do what the law is. So
(43:17):
we do work in cooperation. We have detained the ICE
has and we've assisted, and we have deported. But to
go around checking people's legal status, say for an incidence
of speeding, the Omah Police Department is not going to
go check legal status and they don't have the authority
to do anything like deportation. So we continue to work
with them. But again I want to make sure that
(43:39):
the people in Omaha understand what the role of the
Omaha Police Department is, and that is again, we are
not ICE agents, but we definitely will not break the law.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
We appreciate both of our candidates from mayor in the
City of Omaha being with us here this morning. One
more note from Matt back in the studio. You might
also have to delete that macro that fires Fox News
on its own, we might get to that news update
in progress, so we make sure we have enough time
for the closing statements from each of our candidates here today,
and I don't want to rush you off this morning.
(44:09):
We have one minute closing comments. And we had a
coin flip before the debate started this morning to see
who got the first word and the last word. Douglas
County Treasurer John ey Win gets the last word. So
Maris Dothart, your closing statement this morning.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Thank you so much, and thank you for doing this today.
There's a reason why Forbes ranked Omaha, Nebraska, the number
one city in the country to move to last year.
We got one hundred points out of one hundred points.
US World and News Report just ranked Omaha as the
hottest housing market in the state in Nebraska and it
are in the country. It takes strong leadership, a record
(44:44):
of success, determination, taking goals and exceeding our goals, taking
vision and turning them into results to keep our city
going and keep the momentum going that we have now.
Omaha is strong in every measure that a big and
growing city is judge. We have strong community policing, keeping
(45:04):
our crime down, we have strong fiscal management, we have
a strong economy and we have lowered our tax rate.
We have strong employment and worse than workforce. These are
not just plans. These are actions with results that we
have and we have done over the past twelve years.
With this record of achievement, I have not heard my
(45:24):
opponent come out with one solid plan. These are actually
plans that we've developed, actions, and we have successes on this.
Cities never stand still. They are either growing and moving
forward or they are declining and falling behind. I want
to be the mayor to keep Omaha, Nebraska, the city
that is growing and moving forward. I love working for you,
(45:47):
I love working with you, and I would appreciate your
vote on May thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Thank you very much, Omaha Mare. Jean Stouthard last word,
John Ewing.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Thank you, Scott, and thank you to Kfab for having
us today. I've consistently talked about the objectives that I
want to create here in the city of Omaha as
your next mayor. I believe I'm going to be your
next mayor and we're going to have a great partnership
with all of the people of this community, because that's
what I've done for forty three years. What's interesting to
(46:18):
me is how when we had our debate Sunday, the
mayor talked about my law enforcement career and talked about
my time as Douglas County Treasurer and commended me on
my service to this community. But her commercials and other
things she says don't tell the truth because she knows
what the truth is, and that is that I will
(46:40):
be a great mayor for the people of this city.
And I look forward to having your vote on May thirteenth.
And thank you very much for tuning in, and thank
you all to the panel for your questions.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
That is two weeks from today the city elections here
in Omaha. Thank you so much to Douglas County Treasurer
John Ewing and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothard, as well as
our panel from the KFAB radio news team Wendy Wild
and Terry Lahey, and from WWT First Alert six News
Mike McKnight. We now will get you to Clay and
Buck here in just a few moments and enter a
(47:15):
Fox News update already in progress here. I'm Scott Vorhees.
Thanks to all of our guests, Thanks for watching on Facebook,
here on news radio eleven ten kfab Omaha
It's decision time in Omaha. News Radio eleven ten KFAB
is bringing the candidates to you the issues and answers
you need before election day. Now the news Radio eleven
ten KFAB mayoral Debate, and good morning.
Speaker 2 (00:18):
Thank you so much for being with us here on
Nebraska's news, weather and traffic station for this special event
here with limited commercial interruption for the next hour. We
are pleased to be welcomed by Douglas County Treasurer John
Ewing and Omaha mare Jen Stouthard for this mayoral debate,
and to our television partners and invited guests for being
here with us in our listener lounge here in the
(00:40):
Gary Sadelemeyer Building of Dundee, USA. And if you're on Facebook,
you can connect with KFAB on Facebook and watch this
live as well over the next hour. Due to a
coin flip beforehand, we determined that Treasurer Ewing gets the
last word in this debate, so as moderator, all work
(01:01):
to keep everyone on time and introduce our panel of
questionners throughout the morning as well. But mayrist author you
get the first word two minutes.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, thank you and thank you for doing this this morning,
and thank you to KFAB. When I became mayor, I
said I would be the mayor for everyone, and I'm very,
very proud of our results. My priorities are based on
things that are important to you and make your quality
of life better. Number one public safety, to economic development
and job growth. Three managing the city budget, keeping taxes low,
(01:32):
and four is improving the taxpayer experience, and I'm proud
of the results that we have had in all of those.
Crime is at an all time low right now. Our
homicide rate is the lowest it's been in thirty years.
Overall crime is down nineteen percent, violent crime down twenty
one percent. Our finances are an excellent shape. Our bond
raiders every year cite strong financial management.
Speaker 2 (01:54):
With our budget.
Speaker 3 (01:54):
We have increased our tax or our cash reserve. We
have lowered the property tax lie since I've been mayor
five times for a total of twelve percent, and the
finances of the city are very, very stable. Our economic
development is unprecedented now across the entire city from the
Missouri River to the Elkhorn River. And our job unemployment
(02:17):
rate right now in Omaha has dropped from four percent
when I first became mayor to two percent. We are
very much focused on rehabilitating our roads at a record
pace after a voter approved bond issue in twenty twenty,
which was just reauthorized in November of this year, looking
at neighborhoods, restoring preserving our historic neighborhoods in Omaha, and
(02:38):
bringing in things that really improve our quality of life,
like a new trash contract, improving our roads, a new
snow plowing plan. These are things that people care about,
and these are the things I am very very proud
that we have achieved. Cities are not defined by their government,
They are designed by or they are defined by their people.
And I want to continue this great partnership that we
(03:00):
have with the people of Omaha, the citizens of Omaha
and our community partners. I love my job. I hope
it shows. I look forward to your questions today.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Thank you all. Thank you very much. Maristotherton Now two minutes.
An opening statement by Douglas County Treasurer Johnny Wing.
Speaker 4 (03:14):
Thank you very much, Scott, and thank you Kfab for
hosting this event. I'm John Ewing and I've been serving
this community for forty three years. I've served you with integrity,
and I've done the things that are necessary to.
Speaker 5 (03:28):
Look at your quality of life issues. As the.
Speaker 4 (03:33):
Tenant of the Special Victims Unit, I was actually looking
at some of the things that were happening to women
and children when I was there, and I saw things
happening to women and children that should have been prosecuted
as felonies and they were misdemeanors. I was actually able
to pull a group of folks together to get ten
stage statues passed in one legislative session to protect women
(03:57):
and children. Those are the types of things I've done
in this community because I care about people and I
care about their quality of life. As a Deputy chief
with the Omaha Police Department, I was co chair of
the Crime Prevention Covenant for the Empowerment Network, which has
led to an effort called three sixty, which thirty to
(04:17):
forty different cities across the country are contacting us about
and we've been able to reduce gun violence in this
community by seventy percent. As you're a Douglas County Treasurer,
when I ran for the office, I promised that I
would restore fiscal integrity. We've done that. We balance to
the penny every day. Despite commercials that you might have
(04:37):
seen We also said we would restore public trust, and
we've done that.
Speaker 5 (04:42):
I've always told you the truth.
Speaker 4 (04:43):
I tell you what happened, what we did, about what
we're going to do to make sure it doesn't happen again.
And I would say I said we would utilize technology
to serve you better. We have completely transformed the Douglas
County Treasurer's Office and made it a customer service organization
by doing things internally as well as making those technology
(05:06):
things available to you, as well as partnering with the
state DMB to add other technology as well. I would
love to have your vote on May thirteenth to be
able to continue the progress in the service that I
have given this community.
Speaker 2 (05:20):
Thank you very much, Treasurer. John Ewing like to now
welcome our panel of journalists. We'll be asking our questions.
We have our regional news director Wendy Wild with us,
Terry Lahey from the KFAB radio news team, and we'll
start off with our first Questionner, and you'd get to
decide to whom you're going to direct this first question,
and we'll give one minute for responses on these. We
(05:41):
have from First Alert wwt's six News Mike McKnight Jane.
Speaker 6 (05:46):
Last week and intersection Omaha made the national news again.
We're talking about fiftieth in Saddle Creek with the site
of not only a water rescue, but a dumpster floating
down the street. I remember twenty eight covering water rescues.
There is there anything that can be done engineering wise,
It's not.
Speaker 2 (06:05):
Cost prohibitive to fix that.
Speaker 6 (06:08):
Intersection when we have the flash flooding before there's a
tragic end there sometime.
Speaker 2 (06:16):
Sure.
Speaker 3 (06:16):
And you know, Saddle Creek is called saddle Creek because
it is built on a creek, and so we know
that's been an area, it's a low area, and it's
been an issue for quite a few years. What happened
just last week was an unprecedented rainfall in a very
short period of time, and our sewers just could the
sewers that we have now just could not handle a
(06:37):
five inch rain and a very short period of time.
And that is exactly what happened. We all and we
do as soon as there are applications for development and
building in an area, we do have policies in place
that try to protect that. In fact, one of the
policies is is that that you can't have any more
(06:58):
runoff in an area of water, if you're building a
new development, then you currently have now. So when you're
building a new development, you look at all the impervious
surfaces that are going to be built, the parking lots, whatever,
and we have to make sure that they're not adding
to that problem. But to actually solve the problem on
a low lying saddle creek that's built over a street, yes,
(07:20):
it would take a lot of expense, a lot of effort,
and probably a lot of tax increase to do that.
Speaker 6 (07:26):
About flashing lights that warned people when there are they
can be turned on, and.
Speaker 3 (07:31):
If they were doing that, I mean there was notices
that were put out on alert. There was notices on
the television station, There were notices on radio saying that
there is flooding in this area and drivers beware, stay
home if you can avoid this area if you can.
But we know that area is a problem area. It's
been that way for years. So it's not that we
(07:53):
are putting off doing anything. It's a matter of where
we're at, where it's located. There's a creek running under it,
and to really engineer that and change that and elevate
that whole area would be a major construction issue, but
we do have policies in place that dictate future development
along those areas that would prevent increased flooding in that
(08:15):
area by increased runoff.
Speaker 2 (08:17):
All right, same issue for you, John Ewing, because we
had to follow up there. You've got a minute and
a half for your response on Saddle Creek.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Sure, thank you.
Speaker 4 (08:25):
I believe it would be very expensive to be able
to repair that. It probably wasn't the best idea to
actually build a road on top of a creek. One
of the things I would look at is if there
were any things that could be done with the sewers
to try to increase capacity without it being an extremely
expensive ordeal. The second thing I would look at is
(08:48):
how do we stop people from driving on the street
when these conditions become present. And what I would look
at is something like almost like an electronic school guard
crawl or something.
Speaker 5 (09:00):
Where you actually shut the streets off.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
And don't allow people to be able to drive on
those streets, because you've got to be proactive and do
things to actually keep people safe in spite of maybe
their lack of knowledge. If you haven't lived here in Omaha,
you may not know about Saddle Creek or fiftieth in
Saddle Creek, so you don't know not to be on
those streets. There may also be someone that just gets
(09:26):
caught because they weren't expecting it to flood that quickly.
So I think if you can do things to prevent
people from getting on the street, that certainly would be
very helpful as well.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
Thank you very much, Treasurer Ewing for that. We have
Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing, Omaha Mara Jean Stothard. Thank
you to Mike mcnight from First Alert six News for
that question. We will take a quick two minute break
here and Wendy Wild from the KFAB radio news team
will be the next questioner of our candidates. I imagine
there'll be a bit more on streets and other issues
(10:00):
important to Omaha voters. I'm Scott vor He's here moderating
today's live mayoral debate on news radio eleven ten KFAB.
Good morning, I'm Scott Vorh. He's here in the news
radio eleven ten KFAB listener lounge with Omaha Marria Jean
Stothard and Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing. A live mayoral
debate here until eleven o'clock this morning, and the next
(10:21):
question from our panel of journalists happens to be our
KFAB News director Wendy wild Scott.
Speaker 6 (10:27):
Thank you.
Speaker 7 (10:28):
Let's go to John Ewing and ask you a more
broad question about streets in Omaha. And you know, it's
a perennial problem across all of us, kind of northern
Midwestern states, potholes and road conditions. It's almost hard to
keep up with them. And in Omaha people talk a
lot about the road conditions. What is your plan to
improve road conditions across the city. How much is it
(10:51):
going to cost and how long do you think it'll
take until people are happy with the roads.
Speaker 4 (10:56):
Well, I think first of all that we have to
look at a comprehensive plant. The number one issue that
people talk to me are about are the street conditions.
And when I hear that, I heard from people in
East Omaha, North Omaha, South Omaha, as well as West Omaha.
I was just in the Skyline Ranches area on Saturday
(11:18):
and I drove on Bonanza Road and it really was
a very difficult drive, even at a slow speed, dodging potholes,
going over ridges and things of that nature, and that's
one of the things they wanted to talk to me about.
I believe we have to have a plan, recognizing first
of all that Omaha is really an east and west city.
(11:40):
So my thoughts would be that we certainly look at
the east and west streets first, looking at making sure
we do that in some manner of order, because one
of the things I see sometimes is we'll have several
streets closed at the same time. I was leaving my
office at one hundred and forty fourth and you one
(12:02):
day to go east, and I couldn't go east until
Harrison Street because one hundred and forty four Street was
closed and there was no way to get east until then.
But that's what I would look at first, and then
secondly I would look at the north and south streets
as well.
Speaker 2 (12:21):
We mayristout there's same issue for you. You got a minute
and a half here. It's an important issue Omaha's roads.
Speaker 3 (12:26):
Thank you. We do have a comprehensive plan, and it
was developed after years of study, and we decided that
in May of twenty twenty we would put a road
bond issue on the ballot, which was overwhelmingly supported by
the taxpayers. It was a two hundred million dollars bond
issue so that we could not just be filling potholes
but rehabilitate our streets. We have concrete asphalt in brick
(12:48):
streets in Omaha. When I became mayor, there was no
money in the budget for the brick streets at all.
That passed overwhelmingly. We have five thousand lane miles of
road in Omaha. At the end of this year, well
we held will have rehabilitated over one thousand lane miles
of roads. Now that's rehabilitation, it's not just filling potholes.
(13:08):
Our plan is is that we will keep this pattern up.
Those bonds were reauthorized by the voters last November overwhelmingly
another two hundred million dollars, So now we have four
hundred million additional dollars to rehabilitate our streets. If we
keep this pattern up, every street in Omaha will be
touched once every twenty years, and that will prevent us
(13:30):
from ever getting in that cycle again. Before I was
mayor of letting the streets go into being ignored actually
and for many many years and crumbling like they were.
I will say this is that we have forty one
new road projects coming online this year, and how we
judge what is going to be done first is not
looking east and west. It's looking at where the streets
(13:51):
are that need the most work. We prioritize them by
doing a Paser rating on them, and the worst streets
get attention first. About Skyline, a lot of comments were made,
a lot of promises were made by my opponent out
there without having the facts and without knowing the history.
And there are about three hundred lane miles of unimproved
(14:12):
roads in Omaha.
Speaker 2 (14:13):
That is one of them.
Speaker 3 (14:15):
And if we were to repair and rehabilitate all the
three hundred miles of lane miles of unimproved roads, it
would cost the taxpayers about three hundred million dollars. So
we created a cost sharing plan and that is working.
Speaker 2 (14:29):
Treasure, are youwing? I want to give you a chance
to respond to that. And for those who aren't familiar
what specifically is going on with the skyline development that
has both of you talking about it.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
Sure, they invited me out because they felt as if
they weren't being told the truth. When that two hundred
million dollar bond issue was done. They showed me paperwork
that indicated to them that they were going to be
one of the top priorities, and no work has been
done on their streets. So that's what they shared with me.
That's why they wanted to talk to me. When I
(15:00):
look at the streets of Omaha, I don't think you
can say that we're going to touch a street once
every twenty years. I think you have to be more
intentional than that, and I think you also do have
to look at east and west, looking at the streets
that are in most need of repair, obviously, but also
looking at a comprehensive plan that will allow you to
(15:24):
do that without having a number of streets closed. At
the same time that day that I was on one
hundred and forty fourth, I also had traffic that or
repairs that I encountered on Q Street, Center Street as well,
so as well as Harrison. So that's not a comprehensive
(15:44):
smart plan for the people of this city.
Speaker 2 (15:46):
Mary Stouthard, I want to give you a chance to respond.
This is an issue about Skyline that Mike McKnight and
I were talking about yesterday. So the form of your
response is going to come from this question from WWT six.
Is Mike McKnight, Well, I.
Speaker 6 (15:59):
Think we need to go be on skyline. It goes
beyond skyline because the residence there sued the city.
Speaker 5 (16:05):
Yes they did. They lost, they lost, but they.
Speaker 6 (16:07):
Are appealing to Nebraska Supreme Court. Perhaps what this comes
down to is substandard roads. They have substandard roads out there.
They felt when they were annexed the city should still
fix him at one hundred percent. There is cost sharing,
but what cost sharing means is the people who live
along that street have to pay usually about fifty percent.
Speaker 3 (16:27):
Correct, and let me answer your question. Okay, So when
I became mayor, we had again, we had three hundred
lane miles of unimproved roads in Omaha. Of the five
thousand lane miles, those are the streets that we're talking
about in Elkhorn. And when I say unimproved, those are
roads that are asphalt without storm drains, curbs, and sewers.
(16:48):
When I became mayor, if those areas that three hundred
lane miles the houses had abutted on it wanted to
rehabilitate their street, meaning whether it's a concrete, asphalt or brick,
to rehabilitate them, they would pay one hundred percent. That
was a long standing policy with the City of Omaha.
I did not think that was fair. In twenty sixteen,
(17:09):
I convened a group of citizens that met for a
good year and advised me on what their recommendation was
for a plan for the unimproved streets were and that
was a cost sharing plan. Since then, there has been
over almost five hundred people that property abutted to those
streets being rehabilitated that have done that cost sharing, and
(17:31):
there has been quite a few. There's been at least
a dozen of the asphalt streets and a dozen of
the concrete streets rehabilitated using that cost sharing. The folks
out in Elcorn are asking now for the city to
pay one hundred percent. Now, I created a new resolution
because this was passed by the city council. With this
(17:53):
new cost sharing, I created a new resolution. Brinker Harding
is the city council member out there. We were going
to put it on the city council agenda to say
that those areas out in Elcorn that were annexed in
two thousand and five, that the city would do those
streets at one hundred percent. We could not get the
city council to approve and agree because they're saying, hey,
(18:15):
I've had residents and constituents in my district that have
already paid for that cost sharing. And so if we
again were in what my ordinance or resolution said, is
not just the streets on Skyline, it would have to
be every street in Elkhorn that was annexed that was substandard.
So those are those streets that aren't up to city
(18:35):
standards currently. It would cost three hundred million dollars if
the city would not do the cost sharing for all
of those unimproved streets that we have all over Omaha.
Many people in the Elkhorn area have already paid the
cost sharing and that's why the city council said we
wouldn't have the votes to pass it.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
Thank you very much, Mayor for this. I know we
could talk about this issue for a long time. I
want to get some other questions on here as well
before we get to another break and treasury ewing. You'll
have up to two minutes here in your response to
this question, which comes from Terry Lahey from the KFAB
radio news team, and.
Speaker 8 (19:10):
We'll start with Ms. Stouthard on this one. In my
lifetime in my hometown, annexation always a big story of
certainly advancing west from the river throughout the history of Omaha,
and what would be your plan for future annexations concepts
of annexations for into the City of Omaha.
Speaker 3 (19:31):
Yeah, you know, I'm a strong believer in annexations because
if you really want to decrease the taxes, you broaden
the tax base. And that's exactly what we have been
doing since I have been mayor. Every year we get
a list of all the unincorporated areas, We get a
list of all the sid Street improvement districts, and we
look at them over a ten year period. We figure
out the acres of parkland, We know the lane miles
(19:53):
of road, and if it is not revenue positive for
the city, then that area is not ready to annext
because when you annex, you assume all the debt as
well as the asset. Since I have been mayor, we
have annexed almost forty thousand more residents into the City
of Omaha, and it's primarily out west because that's where
(20:13):
the sanitary improvement districts in the unincorporated areas are. That
has broadened our tax base. More people are paying into
our taxes and that's why we have been able to
lower taxes for everyone. There will be a time. We've
calculated in about twenty fifty that we will have annexed
as far west as we possibly can, because then we
come along the ridge line, and the ridge line is
(20:34):
out there and you can't bring your sewers across that.
So what happens when you've annexed as far as you can,
then you go back to where you started in the
urban core and you start building up again. And that's
exactly what we are doing.
Speaker 2 (20:46):
Thank you, Mayors Douthor. This issue of annexation also incorporates
the topic of what's going on skyline. If you wanted
to take an extra minute to address that as well,
Johnny Wing.
Speaker 8 (20:55):
Thank you.
Speaker 4 (20:56):
Well let me start with this. I don't make promises
that I can't keep, and I didn't make the people
of Elkhorn out there on Saturday any promises. And that's
the first thing I started when I was talking to them.
I'm not going to make you promises that I can't keep.
I said, I was going to look into the issue
and see if we could come up with a better
(21:16):
cost sharing method to make it affordable for the city
as well as affordable for the residents because they pay
a significant amount of money in property taxes and when
we annext we should be looking at all of those
issues as well. So that was what was said on Saturday. Secondly,
I believe we have to do a much better job
(21:39):
of not just looking at how much revenue we get,
but we also have to look at the fact that
we're extending our police services, we're extending our fire services,
and we have to make sure that we have adequate
police staffing. We have to make sure we have adequate
fire staffing and the locations so that if there's a fire,
(22:00):
if there's a medical emergency, they can respond appropriately. I
don't believe we wait on redeveloping or increasing density in
the urban core until after we've gone all the way
to the Elkhorn Ridge. I believe there's both policies that
we should be looking at in terms of increasing density,
(22:22):
making Omaha more walkable, making it a more bikeable city,
versus just saying we're going to keep annexing as far
as we can and then we'll come back to the core.
I don't believe that's the answer. I believe it's both
at the same time. But as you're annexing out west,
you have to look at the city's ability to provide
(22:43):
services to the people of that community.
Speaker 2 (22:46):
Thank you very much, treasure Ewing, you got the last
word Meyristothard on the last issue. We'll let John have
the last word on this issue, but I know the
concept of public safety is going to come up here
as we continue this live mayoral debate back in two
minutes here, I'm Scott Vorhees here with Mayor Jeen Stouth,
the Treasurer John Ewing, and our panel of journalists and
invited guests here, and thank you to those watching us
(23:08):
on kfab's Facebook page this morning back in two minutes
with this mayoral debate here live on news radio eleven
ten KFAB with Douglas County Treasurer John Ewing and Omaha
Mayor Jean Stouth for this live event here on news
radio eleven ten KFAB. The next question for our candidates
comes from KFAB news director Wendy Wild and Scott.
Speaker 7 (23:28):
We can thank one of our kfab listeners for this question.
They emailed it in knowing that we were going to
do the debate, and we decided to include it. And
it's a question that's been asked and probably answered, but
perhaps not clearly enough because it's still being asked. So
the question is and we'll address it to Gene first
and then John on the rebuttal tax revenue is not
supposed to be used for the street car project, but
(23:52):
the listener wants to know what the plan is for
paying for street and bridge construction, such as the demolition
and rebuilding of the Harney Street Bridge underway right now. Now,
where is that money coming from? And who will pay
for future damages if something goes wrong with the streetcar
and property is damaged and the streetcar is found liable,
is it the city or who?
Speaker 3 (24:12):
So Gene, okay, the streetcar is being paid by tiff
revenue from the developers along the quarrid. It is a
catalyst for economic development and because of the development along
the corridor, we look at three blocks from the streetcar
and six blocks from the streetcar. That is what pays
for the streetcar. They always ask, well, say, how do
(24:33):
you pay for a streetcar? You build a streetcar. Our
first estimates in our funding model were that we were
going to have about two billion dollars worth of development
in the first fifteen years. That would be more than
enough to pay for a three hundred and eighty nine
million dollar streetcar, and that's what the cost is. By
the end of twenty twenty four, we already had one
and a half billion of new development anticipating the streetcar.
(24:55):
So now the funding model says four billion in the
first fifteen years. That is enough to pay for the streetcar.
The infrastructure improvements, the utilities that we're doing, and the
bridges that are being done were already on the list
of the state in Nebraska to be removed and replaced,
and we could not see in the future like maybe
(25:16):
five years, maybe ten years, but we could not see
putting in new rails right now and then tearing it
up in the future. So that is a cost share
with the city of Omha because those are state bridges.
So it's a cost share between revenue from the streetcar
and the state. As far as the bridges go, those were,
like I said, those were already on the list though
(25:37):
to replace as well as other bridges, but we wanted
to do it sooner because we knew that the street
car was going to generate enough revenue to pay for
all of that.
Speaker 7 (25:46):
If I may just further ask, you mentioned tiff tax
increment financing, but that is tax money.
Speaker 3 (25:53):
No it's not tax dollars that are taken away from
the revenue that should be coming in to the city.
The way tiff works is that whatever that site is,
it couldn't be developed without the benefit of tiff. Whoever
owns it or buys it will continue to pay the
same amount of taxes to the citizens they do now,
(26:15):
but as the value goes up and they will continue
to pay more and more taxes on that value, but
some of that is returned to pay off the tiff.
Note when the tiff is paid off, which is about
fifteen years, then the biggest benefactors are the taxing entities
because that increase value then will go to them.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
Thank you very much, Mariston. The same issue for you
two minutes, John Wing the streetcar.
Speaker 4 (26:40):
Thank you well. The mayor tells you that this is
going to be paid for in fifteen years. But if
I'm not mistaken, the designation for the area has been
reclassified to extremely blight it, which means that the tiff
will actually last twenty years. So we aren't getting accurate
(27:03):
numbers sometimes on what is actually going to occur, which
is one of the things that concerns the citizens in Omaha.
We also have a shorter route than what was originally planned,
and we have a more expensive streetcar than was initially
discussed with the people of this community. So there are
(27:23):
a lot of reasons that people are upset about the streetcar.
Another issue is the fact that people believed in twenty
seventeen that there was going to be a vote on
the streetcar. And we can say all the things we
want to say about it, and we can try to clarify,
but I think the time the promise was made was
(27:45):
when it should have been clarified.
Speaker 5 (27:47):
To the people of this community.
Speaker 4 (27:49):
Secondly, the streetcar has almost one thousand properties in this tiff,
if I'm not mistaken, which means that all all of
the incremental value that these properties would have gotten over
a twenty year period will go to pay the tiff
(28:09):
and pay the expenses, but it will not be revenue
available to the City of Omaha, It will not be
revenue available to the public schools, it will not be
revenue available to Douglas County.
Speaker 5 (28:23):
So the reality is when you.
Speaker 4 (28:26):
Have these huge tiff projects, and I believe this is
the biggest one we've ever had, there is some cost
to the people of this community who aren't in the tiff,
and because that incremental value is not going to the
city or the county or the school district, people who
are not in the tiff will actually pay a little
(28:47):
bit more.
Speaker 5 (28:48):
So that's just how this works.
Speaker 4 (28:51):
And we say that no new tax dollars, but we're
also taking money from parking fees to pay fore or
maintenance and things of that nature as well. So we
have some things where when you take away that parking
revenue that used to go for one purpose, where you're
going to get the money for that purpose.
Speaker 5 (29:12):
Now.
Speaker 4 (29:13):
Secondly, when you look at it and you start looking
at how this all works together, it is just not
a transparent project.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
Good conversation, Mari stouthor last word one minute on the streetcar,
thank you.
Speaker 3 (29:26):
I think it really shows my opponent has no understanding
of how we are using TIFF and how the City
of Omaha uses it. It's fifteen years or twenty years with
a TIFF application and a TIFF approval, depending on where
you are at. The shorter route is just by about
two blocks that started stopping on thirty ninth Street as
the West terminus now because the Medcenter wants the street
(29:48):
car to run into their campus and they weren't sure
which direction it was going into. We've said this over
and over, and my opponent knows this. In twenty seventeen,
I said, if the taxpayers are going to be paying
for the streetcar and their taxes will go up, then
I would put it.
Speaker 5 (30:04):
To a vote.
Speaker 3 (30:06):
There's no requirement for us to put it on a
ballot because there is no tax increase and there's no
additional taxes that will happen to the citizens of Omah
to pay for the streetcar. We didn't put the ballpark
on the ballot because of the way it's funded. We
didn't put the Dodge Expressway, we didn't put the Riverfront parks.
It's the way it is funded that it doesn't necessarily
(30:29):
or it doesn't have to go on a ballot for approval.
Promises were not made that it was going to go
on the ballot for an approval. The statement that was
made was if the taxpayers were paying for it, then
it would go on the ballot. Only revenue producing commercial
properties along the streetcar route would be paying for the streetcar,
(30:50):
and they agree to do that because the value of
their properties going up. No single family, no duplexus, no condominiums,
only revenue producing car commercial property is what will see
the value go up in that bump is what is
paying for the street.
Speaker 2 (31:05):
Thank you very much, Mayor Treasurer. We've got our next
question from longtime KFAB radio news voice.
Speaker 8 (31:10):
Terry Lahey, and this has to do with a condemned properties.
What would be the plan for increasing the rate of
clearing or raising condemned properties in Omaha moving forward? And
we'll start with mister ewing on.
Speaker 4 (31:25):
That we have done a very poor job of addressing
this issue and we get complaints, We get people contacting
us about the hotel. I believe it's one hundred and
twelfth and L Street somewhere in that area where they
complain about the fact that nothing is being done, and
(31:46):
then it went through tax selling a whole lot of
other things. One of the things I'll have discussions with
the city council about is how we can create a
big enough fund to address these issues because it does
become an eyesore and a com unity and it becomes
a detriment to their property values and their quality of life.
At the end of the day, everything we do should
(32:08):
be about improving the quality of life for the people
in our community and That's what I've done for forty
three years. That's what I'm always going to do. I'm
always going to be responsive to the people of this
community and listen to their problems and not come with
it's not my fault, it's not my responsibility. I can't
(32:28):
do anything about it.
Speaker 2 (32:30):
Condemned buildings. Mayri Stothard.
Speaker 3 (32:32):
I think the city, especially the Planning Department, has done
an excellent job at dealing with properties, all properties that
needed to be condemned, demoed, or removed. When I became mayor,
I really increased that budget. In fact, for a while
it was over a million dollars a year to try
to play ketchup to a lot of buildings and homes
(32:53):
and commercial property that were on the demo list, but
the city didn't have the money to do it. So
we really increase that funding. In fact, we've caught up
so much right now we've decreased that to about eight
hundred thousand a year. We didn't need the million dollars anymore.
But at the same time, another thing that we have done,
instead of demoing properties, we have really put a lot
of focus into rehabilitating existing properties by using our entitlement funds,
(33:19):
CDBG funds, our home funds that we make available to
citizens to rehabilitate their existing home and not just go
in there and have to tear everything down. The other
thing mentioning the hotel off of El Street, we got
to remember too that that is owned privately, and private
property owners have rights. The city just can't go in
(33:42):
there and start demoing a building that somebody else owns.
So our planning department or law department, but has been
in many conversations about that hotel, and right now we
feel like we have a plan of how we're going
to address it. But that hotel is secure right now.
Speaker 2 (33:57):
Thank you very much, mayor Treasure youwing you get the
last word on this topic one minute.
Speaker 4 (34:03):
I think it's interesting that we always have a plan
but we don't hear about it.
Speaker 5 (34:07):
The reality is those.
Speaker 4 (34:09):
Neighbors are very concerned about the condition of that property.
They're very concerned about how it impacts their property taxes.
They're very concerned about how it looks visually as they
have to drive by it every day on their way
to and from places in this community. If there is
a plan, then they should know about it. And that's
(34:31):
one of the issues that we have to address when
it comes to transparency, not having plans that are made
in meetings and then never communicate it, but talking very
clearly to the people of this community about the issues
they face, and then they will know what the plan
is instead of reaching out to me. They will know
(34:53):
what the plan is, instead of reaching out to others
to try to get answers. And so I just think
that's a good way to do.
Speaker 2 (35:00):
Business, talking very clearly about the issues important to our community.
Well said, that's what we're doing here this morning. We
have one more segment here after a quick two minute break,
and you'll hear the closing statements as well as more
questions from our panel of journalists in this live mayoral
debate featuring Omaha Mayor Jean Stothard and Douglas County Treasurer
John Ewing. Back in two minutes here on news Radio
(35:20):
eleven ten KFAB two weeks away from the election in Omaha.
I'm Scott Vorhees on news Radio eleven ten KFAB here
with Douglas County Treasurer John E. Wing and Omaha Mayor
Jean Stothard. Our next question comes from Terry Lahy.
Speaker 8 (35:34):
And looking down the road to public safety. What would
a plan for public safety be, including a plan for
reducing the police officers shortage? And miss Stather, we'll start
with you on this quest.
Speaker 3 (35:47):
Sure, thank you. I have to refer back to the
annexation statement well ago though, before any annexation plan goes
to the city council for approval, it has to have
approval of the fire chief and the police chief. The
fire department already covers those areas the police. We have
added many, many police officers to address annexation. But as
far as the shortage, this started. First of all, I
(36:10):
was the mayor that added one hundred and two police
officers to our budget since I have been mayor, and
in years of about eighteen and nineteen, we were almost
fully funded. What happened in twenty twenty happened all across
every major city in the country. And it is not
an excuse. It is not just an Omaha problem. But
we had George Floyd, we had COVID hit, We had
(36:31):
the movement across the country to disassemble and defund police departments,
and those that were wanting to go into law enforcement
did not want to go into it anymore. We used
to have sixteen eighteen hundred applicants for a class. Twenty
years ago. We used to take applications once every two years.
Now we're taking them twice a year. Now I'm going
to start taking applications year round. But we were having
(36:53):
the same issue everyone else did what Chief Smater and
I did. We came up with a plan. We thought
it was just salary and we wanted to be the
highest paid in the state in Nebraska. We gave them
a nine point eight million dollar raise last year across
the board to make us the highest we currently are.
We're the highest entry for an officer, We're the highest
top out for an officer that helped but not helped
(37:15):
quite enough. So now we have a brand new plan.
We are giving another enormous raise so that we will
always be five percent higher than any law enforcement agency
in the state of Nebraska. Plus a lot of other
changes such as year round applications. We feel like that
will stop that catchup that everybody's doing. Will you give
a raise? Now I have to give a raise. We
will remain the highest paid by five percent in the
(37:37):
state in Nebraska, and we feel like that trend will
start reversing. This is a plan that Chief Schmiter and
I have developed together and it will work.
Speaker 2 (37:44):
Thank you very much, mister Ewing two minutes, Thank you
very much.
Speaker 4 (37:49):
Looking at the cities annual report for the police department,
I didn't make these figures up. I didn't put the
report together says they were at nine hundred and eleven
sworn officers in twenty twenty one on page five.
Speaker 5 (38:08):
I didn't make that report.
Speaker 4 (38:10):
I'm not responsible for the accuracy of that report.
Speaker 5 (38:13):
I just know that's what.
Speaker 4 (38:14):
They reported to this community. The other thing I know
is that Douglas County Corrections has been hiring year round
for a number of years to address their staffing shortage.
What we're doing now, we are playing catch up, because
we should have been doing that as a city for
quite some time, like Douglas County Corrections, in order to
(38:39):
not be in a position where you're one hundred and
thirty officers short. We have a very serious problem here
because even as you're now trying to hire, you're going
to have a significant number of officers retiring each year
as well. So you hire, then you lose throughout the year.
(38:59):
If you don't really speed this process up and get
people hired in here. You're going to lose potentially another
one hundred and thirty officers or more over the next
several years. So this is a problem that has not
adequately been addressed for the people of this community. That
means traffic stops and traffic enforcement, and the speeding on
(39:22):
Dodd Street. We just saw an incident and again of
that last night. Those things are going to continue to
happen if we don't do a much more proactive job
of recruiting and hiring police officers. We also have a
debate about traffic red light cameras, and the mayor says
(39:42):
it's illegal, but there are two state statues that people
are working on down in the legislature to address that
issue because they believe it's a serious issue for.
Speaker 5 (39:53):
The people of this community.
Speaker 4 (39:55):
When we have over fifty traffic fatalities in our city,
that's a problem for our safety and our quality of life.
Speaker 2 (40:05):
Thank you very much, mister Treasurer, mayrist author. You get
thirty seconds to respond to this issue. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (40:11):
We were not fully staffed in twenty twenty one, and
these other statistics that we report that are vetted by
the FBI shows us in twenty twenty four, we had
some of the lowest crime rates in decades, and that
just shows even with a lower number of police officers,
we still have a very safe city. Twenty one percent
(40:31):
reduction in violent crime, nineteen percent reduction in all crime.
That shows really good innovative police work to help us
get through these hard times. We will continue to do
year round applications now and this raise will go into
effect today if the city Council approves it, and we're
going to start taking applications tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (40:53):
Thank you, mayor note to Matt back in the studio,
blow out the last two minutes of this hour. We're
taking it right to the top of the hour here
so we can bring this in for a landing. One
more question here from our panel of journalists, and thank
you very much Mike McKnight from First Alert six News
for being here with us this morning.
Speaker 6 (41:08):
Along that law enforcement theme, so far, Omaha has avoided
the high profile ICE arrest. What do both of you
feel about Omaha police should they be assisting ICE in
the apprehension of illegal immigrants in our area.
Speaker 5 (41:27):
Who do you want to go first?
Speaker 2 (41:30):
Let's go with John Yell.
Speaker 5 (41:31):
Okay, thank you.
Speaker 4 (41:32):
I believe we should not be having our Omaha Police
officers working with ICE on basic immigration issues, and I
believe that's already been decided. What I think we have
to do is understand that if there are dangerous criminals
or people who've committed serious crimes and they have a
status where they should not be in this country, we're
(41:55):
going to cooperate with ICE if I'm mayor. The other
thing I would say is we are not going to
do anything to be part of that process unless, however,
there is some type of emergency where ICE needs the
police department's support, because at the end of the day,
(42:15):
they are law enforcement officers and they have the same
right to safety and the same response that we would
give to any other law enforcement agency if they needed help.
So that is how I would operate as mayor of Omaha.
Speaker 2 (42:30):
Thank you very much, John Ewing, Jean Stothard.
Speaker 3 (42:32):
Thank you. Immigration is a federal issue. Chi Shmodern and
I did a video and we came out with a
statement explaining Omaha Police Department's position as far as ICE
and federal immigration. The one thing that we said is
the Omaha Police Department is not a branch of the
federal government. We do not have the authority to act
as ICE agents. We do not go in on our
(42:54):
own and do raids and check people's legal status if
there was a crime committed, we do. We do work
in cooperation with ICE though. We do walk and work
in cooperation to detain and to deport if someone has
committed a crime. And since I have been mayor, I
will say this, we will not violate the law. We
will not refuse to do what the law is. So
(43:17):
we do work in cooperation. We have detained the ICE
has and we've assisted, and we have deported. But to
go around checking people's legal status, say for an incidence
of speeding, the Omah Police Department is not going to
go check legal status and they don't have the authority
to do anything like deportation. So we continue to work
with them. But again I want to make sure that
(43:39):
the people in Omaha understand what the role of the
Omaha Police Department is, and that is again, we are
not ICE agents, but we definitely will not break the law.
Speaker 2 (43:48):
We appreciate both of our candidates from mayor in the
City of Omaha being with us here this morning. One
more note from Matt back in the studio. You might
also have to delete that macro that fires Fox News
on its own, we might get to that news update
in progress, so we make sure we have enough time
for the closing statements from each of our candidates here today,
and I don't want to rush you off this morning.
(44:09):
We have one minute closing comments. And we had a
coin flip before the debate started this morning to see
who got the first word and the last word. Douglas
County Treasurer John ey Win gets the last word. So
Maris Dothart, your closing statement this morning.
Speaker 3 (44:22):
Thank you so much, and thank you for doing this today.
There's a reason why Forbes ranked Omaha, Nebraska, the number
one city in the country to move to last year.
We got one hundred points out of one hundred points.
US World and News Report just ranked Omaha as the
hottest housing market in the state in Nebraska and it
are in the country. It takes strong leadership, a record
(44:44):
of success, determination, taking goals and exceeding our goals, taking
vision and turning them into results to keep our city
going and keep the momentum going that we have now.
Omaha is strong in every measure that a big and
growing city is judge. We have strong community policing, keeping
(45:04):
our crime down, we have strong fiscal management, we have
a strong economy and we have lowered our tax rate.
We have strong employment and worse than workforce. These are
not just plans. These are actions with results that we
have and we have done over the past twelve years.
With this record of achievement, I have not heard my
(45:24):
opponent come out with one solid plan. These are actually
plans that we've developed, actions, and we have successes on this.
Cities never stand still. They are either growing and moving
forward or they are declining and falling behind. I want
to be the mayor to keep Omaha, Nebraska, the city
that is growing and moving forward. I love working for you,
(45:47):
I love working with you, and I would appreciate your
vote on May thirteenth.
Speaker 2 (45:51):
Thank you very much, Omaha Mare. Jean Stouthard last word,
John Ewing.
Speaker 4 (45:56):
Thank you, Scott, and thank you to Kfab for having
us today. I've consistently talked about the objectives that I
want to create here in the city of Omaha as
your next mayor. I believe I'm going to be your
next mayor and we're going to have a great partnership
with all of the people of this community, because that's
what I've done for forty three years. What's interesting to
(46:18):
me is how when we had our debate Sunday, the
mayor talked about my law enforcement career and talked about
my time as Douglas County Treasurer and commended me on
my service to this community. But her commercials and other
things she says don't tell the truth because she knows
what the truth is, and that is that I will
(46:40):
be a great mayor for the people of this city.
And I look forward to having your vote on May thirteenth.
And thank you very much for tuning in, and thank
you all to the panel for your questions.
Speaker 2 (46:53):
That is two weeks from today the city elections here
in Omaha. Thank you so much to Douglas County Treasurer
John Ewing and Omaha Mayor Jean Stothard, as well as
our panel from the KFAB radio news team Wendy Wild
and Terry Lahey, and from WWT First Alert six News
Mike McKnight. We now will get you to Clay and
Buck here in just a few moments and enter a
(47:15):
Fox News update already in progress here. I'm Scott Vorhees.
Thanks to all of our guests, Thanks for watching on Facebook,
here on news radio eleven ten kfab Omaha
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