McDonnell v Stothert on Streetcar

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Great to welcome Mike McDonald back tothe program, outgoing stage senator because of
term limits and possible future mayoral candidatefor the City of Omaha. We shall
see, but we wanted to talkwith Mike this morning about the letter that
he's sent to the mayor and theCouncil President Pete Festerson suggesting that the street

(00:20):
car propose will be subject to avote of the people via bonds. Mike,
good morning, Good to have youback, Good morning, Thanks for
the invitation. You bet so.This strikes me at first blush because of
the enormity of the project. Isnot a horrible idea? Have you heard
back from the mayor yet? Ihave not, hoping that the city Council

(00:45):
and the mayor has time to meetand have a discussion on this. Back
in the session January introduced to legislayof Bill thirteen fifty nine, and I
felt at that time i still dotoday that any project over eighty million dollars
should have a vote of the people. And I think right now, with
the information that the that people areasking for the scope of this project,

(01:10):
the potential some good potentially for thefuture if it goes the right direction,
but also potentially we are going tohave a financial issue and we're going down
the wrong track potentially, and weshould let the people have all the information
and vote in November on November fifth. Which way I don't know if you've
taken a firm stand, which waydo you lean on the streetcar. I'm

(01:34):
opposed to the streetcar, but I'malso trying to be fair and say,
if there's more information out there thatI have not and others have not received,
please tell us. But during thelast few months, and going back
into the session when I introduced thebill to have anything over eighty million dollars
of bonds issued voted on by thepeople, I've received numbers of calls,

(01:57):
had individuals meetings, and as youmentioned, I am right now thinking about
running for mayor in twenty twenty five. But this has to do more with
the idea of what we're going tolook like in the future and how we're
going to handle and how they helptransparency, builds trust, how we're going
to handle big projects. But duringmy discussions about potentially running for mayor and

(02:19):
also as a current state senator,this has been brought up, and I
would say seventy percent of the peoplecurrently are opposed to the streetcar project.
So let's get all the information outthere and let people have that discussion and
that debate and let them vote.November fifth, the mayor will say Senator
McDonald that, yeah, people areopposed to the streetcar until they find out

(02:43):
all the details. And then accordingto her anecdotal evidence in small group meetings
that she's conducted across town, thatthe room changes completely, that after she
explains all of the good stuff,they want this streetcar. From your experience
visiting with the commune unity, howis she wrong? That's that's not been

(03:04):
my experience. And if she's havingthat kind of experience and feedback, I'd
like to to be there to bepart of that that discussion. But also
I think it is on any anyproject, large or small, it's that
education component. But right now,the way I look at this and and
going forward, uh, you knowit's being called the streetcar name disaster,

(03:25):
and it's it's it's being used magicmass And if that if that is,
if that's the case, then let'sget all the facts. Let's find out
how much exactly is the cost thecurrent construction costs, what's that going to
be what's going to be the longterm maintenance and operation costs of the streetcar.

(03:46):
Make sure make sure that we arediscussing facts, and then everyone can
have a chance. Once they learnthose facts and and get their questions and
concerns answered, they have the rightto vote. And I think that's that's
the best outcome for the city.And if the people decide, when they
get their questions answered, they decideto vote for the street car, then
so be it. We move forwardtogether one hundred percent. But if they

(04:10):
decide not to, then we lookat something for the future different for public
transportation. I believe we all agreeon this that we want good quality public
transportation for the city of Omaha.Do you feel like you have all of
the facts or the pertinent facts onthe street car such that you could make
a speech and opposition to it legitimately, yes, I think right now with

(04:33):
the questions I've asked, what Iknow in the general public based on what
those discussions and the questions they've asked, yes, I think so if there's
more information that I and the generalpublic that have asked these questions of me
don't have at this time, thenlet's let the citizens know and get them

(04:55):
educated. And if there's information outthere I didn't have, I'll recognize that
and go forward. But I reallydo believe we need to have that discussion
and really get down to the pointwhere you know, it's two plus two
is four. We have as muchas you want it to be five,
as much as you want to bethree, sometimes just it's not. And

(05:15):
so for both sides that people thatare supportive of this project people that are
opposed, approach it with an openmind and just get all the backs on
the table. Then we'll decide ifthis is the best step forward for the
city and let the people vote.Mike, Thanks, I appreciate the time
this morning. Harry Sadlemayer Jim rosekfab's Morning News welcoming Omaha Mayor Jean Stouther

(05:38):
to the program. We chatted withMike McDonell, earlier state senator who has
sent a letter to the mayor andcouncil President Festuson suggesting that the streetcar ideas
should be put to a vote ofthe people in the November election. Mayor,
good morning, good to have youback, Good morning, thanks for
having me, he said, hehas not heard back from you yet.

(06:00):
I'm assuming you're not thrilled with thisproposal, right, Well, no,
and I will tell you he willhear back from me and the city council.
We happen to have a long CityCouncil meeting yesterday and I wanted the
City Council to be involved in theresponse. And he will receive the response.
But clearly Mike McDonald does not understandthe funding mechanism for the street car
or the role of the mayor.The mayor is the chief executive of the

(06:24):
city, given power by the cityCharter, and people elect the mayor and
the council to make decisions. I'mnot one of forty nine down in the
legislature, but state law, asenacted by the Nebraska legislature, which McDonald
has been there for eight years,does not require a vote to issue bonds
for the streetcar. And you gotto think about this. McDonald has served

(06:45):
in the legislature for eight years andhas not made any serious effort to change
the law. He recently proposed somelegislation to make a change, but he
didn't prioritize it and he didn't makeany effort to get the legislature to seriously
consider it. He proposed this legislation, so he could write a letter just
like this and make a political statementrather than to effectuate real change because he

(07:09):
wants to run for mayor. Sothe funding model used for this project has
been validated by an independent agency COMMUNICAPallegations that this process is not transparent or
just falls the public has been ableto offer input and open public Omaha Streetcar
meetings, City Council meetings. TheCity Council has held multiple votes regarding the

(07:31):
streetcar and so as the streetcar Authority, and they have been overwhelmingly approved and
including the issuance of the bonds withouta public vote, and people the public
have been invited, they were ableto come and they were able to speak
about that. And you know,Omaha has been able to successfully finance many,
many beautiful projects using bonds that thepublic did not vote on. I'm

(07:56):
going to give you a few examplesbecause I think they're important. The Riverfront
Park. Four hundred million dollars werespent on the Riverfront Parks, no public
vote. Baseball Stadium in twenty eleven, one hundred and thirty one million dollar
baseball stadium. People were against thatstadium. If you recall, they said
they'd never come to a College WorldSeries game again. But that was done

(08:16):
without a public vote. Yeah,but there were a lot There was a
lot of There was a lot ofprivate money on those projects, and it
was on city property. The baseballpark was on city property. The streetcar
will be on city streets and thepublic is not paying for the street car.
I will we said this before,but street again. Streetcar bonds are
essentially revenue bonds, similar to whatwe use on parking garages. Does McDonald

(08:39):
feel like we should put every parkinggarage to be voted on? Here's another
example, the fire and police pension. Would you think we should do the
continuation of that and put it ona vote for the people. The taxpayers
in Omaha spend fifty million dollars ayear on the fire and police pension.
Would he support that? But Iwill say this, Only people paying for

(09:01):
the streetcar are income producing commercial propertyand multi family property within six to seven
blocks of the tracks. No singlefamily, no duplex. What McDonald is
suggesting is that people who are notpaying for the streetcar should have the right
to tell people who are whether theycan or cannot. And I would call

(09:22):
that representation without taxation. That's theright to vote on something that you aren't
paying for. And I'll give youan example of that, because I give
this when I give my briefing onthis streetcar. If your neighbor is going
to put a huge addition on hishouse and it's going to increase his value
and consequently will increase years, shouldyou all have a vote whether the neighbor

(09:45):
could put an addition on the house. You know, there's some things that
you depend on your elected leaders,like the mayor and the city council to
make decisions about. He is suggestinggovernment overreach with this and allowing those who
not paying for it to tell thosewho are what to do, and I
don't support that. If he reallyfelt like this was important, he would

(10:07):
have done something within his eight yearsin the legislature and he didn't do anything
about that. Let me ask sohe's doing it now for to make a
political statement, and I'm telling youwe will answer him, all right.
Let me ask you this, Mayor, because this comes up so often.
I have talked personally with two differentpeople and who should be in a position
to know, and have got diametricallyopposed answers, and the question is was

(10:31):
this streetcar contingency for the building ofthe Mutual of Omaha tower. I've been
told yes it was. I've beentold no it wasn't. No Mutual was
going to wanted to build a newtower, and they were going to build
a new tower. Where that towerwas going to be was dependent on the
street car. By putting that towerat the end of the Gene Lakey Mall,

(10:54):
they could have built it somewhere else. We wanted it downtown. We
felt like a new skyscrapers should bedowntown, and what a perfect spot at
the end of the new Gene LehiMall. But they couldn't put it downtown
without the benefit of a streetcar.They're building a twenty two hundred stall garage
down there, but they have fourthousand employees. That Mutual could have built

(11:16):
that tower anywhere in Omaha or anywherefor that sake in the United States,
but they chose that area because weare providing the streetcar for public transportation.
I'll give you another example, ToddHeastead with Central Park Plaza. He's spending
about one hundred through over one hundredand thirty million dollars on Central Park Plaza

(11:37):
downtown and he came out and saidhe wouldn't do it without the streetcar.
They are Jason Lanahi is redeveloping theold Mutual of Omaha site in Midtown,
and he said he is going tomake it very clear that he could not
develop that site, creating new businessin jobs without the streetcar. So the
streetcar is an important part of developingthe urban core. If you recall the

(12:03):
Urban Core Committee, which was madeup of practically all of the major business
owners and presidents in the downtown area, their number one component of their strategic
plan was the streetcar. What doyou got? What's Mike McDonald's going to
tell all these people? Now,you know what's he going to tell Mutual
of Omaha and Todd Heastad and allthe development going on at Midtown and the

(12:26):
met Center. They want it toThey want the street car to run through
their campus. So is he goingto say, Nope, you know we're
not going to do that now I'mopposed to it. He does not really
understand the streetcar. I have offeredto brief the Omaha Senators on the street
car, the presentation that we havedone to thousands of people all over town,

(12:46):
and I heard Jim mention it earlieror Gary you did when McDonald was
on that. The mayor says,when she does her presentation, she turns
people that are opposed into supporters.When they actually understand why we're doing it,
how we're paying for it, andthe benefit of it. People do
turned into supporters. I've offered thatto the legislature and Mike McDonald did not

(13:07):
take me up. Mayor, We'vegot right, I know what the street
car. Rosie wants to join intoo, and we will. Can you
come back a bit after eight?I okay, great, because we got
to take counting the minutes. Mayorst Author good enough to come back with
us for a few more minutes onthis. Uh more on the street car
issue and Senator McDonald's letter to themayor and the council president suggesting let's be

(13:28):
put on the ballot and Mayor goodto have you back, Jim row as
you didn't get a chance to weighin. Okay, So, Mayor,
you and I have talked about someof the specific details of the street car
in the past. We won't revisitthose. You and I differ on the
price tag and some of the otherissues in bolting borders on the the tiff
boundaries and all of that. Butlet's visit about the practical political question here

(13:50):
is I have not been in themeetings that you've had around town. You've
had multiple meetings around town with publicgroups who have had questions about the street,
and you've illuminated the whole issue,and you've explained details. And I
have every reason to believe you're rightthat when the room, when the meeting
breaks up and you leave the room, everybody went from skeptical to supportive.

(14:11):
If that is so, then whynot put it on the ballot and take
that political issue off the table becauseyou don't need to put it on the
ballot. Like I said, thesetypes of bonds are not general obligation bonds
like you have to have people voteon them, because the people vote on
general obligation bonds because they're paying forthem. That is why we had the
Arena Convention Center on the ballot inthe creation of Mecca. These are different

(14:35):
types of bonds that you don't thattaxpayers are not going to be backing them,
and so there's no reason to doit. These are decisions that the
chief executive of the city, themayor, and the city council can make
without a vote of the people.And I gave you that example. While
I got it, we didn't putthe ballpark on the ballot. We didn't

(14:58):
put the Gene Leahimo on the ballot. That was not all private money.
It was a tremendous amount of WasI get that, Mayor. What I'm
talking about is the practical political issuehere is because you're running for reelection,
you've declared your intention to seek afourth term. You've given Omaha a ton
of reasons to say, yes,I want Gene Stothard for another four years.

(15:18):
But these and you're a veteran politician, and you're a veteran of many
elections, these kinds of things canget people defeated in elections because even though
very few folks are going to beaffected by the taxation, according to the
Tiff formula, all of Omaha votes. And wouldn't it just be so much
easier for you in your re electioncampaign to take this issue off the ballot

(15:41):
if you believe by explaining the meritsof the street car people will buy into
it. It is not necessary andthat's why we're not doing it. We
have had multiple public meetings where thevotes occurred. That will with the City
Council and with the Omaha street CarAuthority that anybody in the public could have
gone to their opinion. But Iwill go back to explaining what about the

(16:04):
streetcar, why it's necessary, whywe're doing it, how it's being paid
for, and the value of it. Once people understand it, they support
it. And a lot of timeswhen people go to the voting booth,
you don't have the opportunity to goout there and explain the details of it.
I will personally go, and anybodyinvites me, I will personally go

(16:26):
and brief them on the specifics ofthe street car because I know them.
Senator McDonald does not, And Iwill say, you know that. Senator
is saying, what you know,why not let the people voice their opinion?
And he thinks that people should beable to vote on these things.
Then how does Senator McDonald support LBfourteen oh two. Well, how does
that square with his concern about thevoter input When LB fourteen oh two simply

(16:52):
nullifies an existing petition to allow votersto weigh in on public funds for private
schools. He's not in support ofthat, but he's a support of this.
This is a strictly a political movethat he is suddenly a Republican and
now he wants to run as aRepublican mayor. So he's saying, let
the people's voice be heard. Whatyou know, where were all the public

(17:15):
votes on countless state issues over thelast eight years when Senator McDonald was in
the legislature. Where were they?And like I said, you know,
if he wants all of this onthe ballot, let's put the fire and
police pension on the ballot. Howabout that. Let's see how people vote
for that. I mean, mytaxpayers are paying fifty dollars a year for

(17:36):
the fire and police pension and I'mfunding it. I am funding it in
my budget every year. And I'mnot going to a vote to the people.
But if he thinks votes of thepeople are important on every big city
issue, you know, then thenhis actions and the legislature sure don't prove
that. And I will say thistoo, this is a fact Jim and

(17:57):
Gary Citi's never and still they eithergrow and they're moving forward, or they
decline and fall behind. Omaha ison a track right now of unprecedented growth.
We have a two percent unemployment ratein Omaha. And when you see
the development happening in Omaha, thisbroadens your tax base, It attracts businesses,

(18:18):
and it grows the city. Andpeople can't deny that. And I
think when you say I'm up forreelection, I sure believe that people in
Omaha are smart voters and they voteon a body of work and not one
issue. May are you going tobe doing any more of these down hauls
or is there going to be nowby invitation only? Oh no, I
mean people call all the time.I've gotten multiple ones scheduled already. We

(18:40):
go out. It's a thirty minutePowerPoint. I'll come to kfab and do
one if you want me to facebookall over town and it really does help.
It's very simple to explain how it'sgoing to be funded. And you
know, the thing is with theparking garages too, that we pay for
parking garages. We build them allthe time. You know, we're building
the one in Blackstone, we're buildingthe one for Utual, we're building one

(19:03):
in Millworks in the builders district.We pay for those with revenue bonds,
so they pay for themselves. That'swhy we build them. We don't put
those on a ballot to vote forrevenue bonds are essentially the types of bonds
that we are going to be usedon the streetcar. They're essentially the same
type of bonds, so they willpay for themselves, Sam Raise. That's

(19:25):
why it's not going on the ballot. Sam rais is an interesting point here.
Has the aging power grid been aconsideration at all? Because I assume
this thing is going to take alot of juice to run. Yeah,
well, and that's all under Imean we OPPD has been great to work
with. We've been working with themon this whole issue. You know,
people got to understand this is notsomething that we just started talking about recently.

(19:48):
We've been talking about the streetcar fortwenty years. So there's been a
lot of work and planning and workingwith our utility companies. And yes,
OPPD has been involved. They've beengreat to work with and appreciate their input.
And all of that has already thedetails have already been worked out,
and we understand how much power it'sgoing to use. And remember this streetcar

(20:10):
too, Partly it's going to beon on the wires in part like if
it's going uphills, but part ofit will be on battery too, So
on a flat piece of street,it's going to go switch back to battery.
So it's very efficient too. Youand not going to have lunch about
power because I got huge issues withOmaha's future power problems. In fact,
you're seeing these You're seeing these datacenters tape pause their expansions all over the

(20:33):
country because they're finally figuring out wedon't have the Jews to power them.
And Omaha's looking at a major energycrisis in less than ten years. So
after this you and I talk aboutthat. Yeah, absolutely, they predict
will need twice as much power inten years in Omaha that we have now.
But oppd and that's why they're buildingall of these power plants. Well
that's where they're building all these Itis a concern. Yeah, I'm not

(20:56):
an I've got huge questions about theirstrategy moving forward. But that's I have
complete I have completely blown up theformat the mayor. But I got that
right, Jean's a tune in vitalcommunity. Until I have one final question.
Yes, if the city council saysfour to three, you know what
we were going to put this onthe ballot. I presume you with veto

(21:18):
that would do you have less thatresolution? Would you then have five votes
overrite? Well, hypothetical, No, that wouldn't happen because the city Council
has already voted in a public forummultiple times, including to issue these bonds.
So they've already voted and approved it, and so that that's that's not
going to happen. It's a badletter. Okay, Well, there there

(21:41):
is a state statue though eighteen twentyfive twenty that allows you by in a
single meeting to vote on a resolutionto change your minds, and it does,
and Senator McDonald brought that up.But like I said, if he
wants to bring that up, let'stalk about all the opportunities he's had in

(22:03):
the past eight years to make asignificant change and he did not do that.
He's doing it when he wants torun for mayor. Maren, thanks
for all the time this morning.Really appreciate that. I appreciate having me