Mike McDonnell on Why He's Running for Mayor

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Join now by state Senator almost at the end of
that run, Mike McDonnell, who's announced officially now that he
is a candidate for mayor of Omaha to challenge the
incumbent Jean Stothard, and two others.

Speaker 2 (00:14):
Mike, good morning, good to have you here, Good morning,
Thank you for the invitation.

Speaker 1 (00:19):
Well, you said you'd be honest here you are. You
had quite the rally last night, and a lot of it,
of course, was celebratory for the announcement. From what I understand,
I wasn't there. There wasn't a lot of policy talked
about last night, but that's going to be a big

(00:39):
deal now once we get into the campaign. What's your
number one, two and three issues that you want to stress.

Speaker 2 (00:46):
Yeah, last night was such a great event. Was it
was really overwhelming the amount of people showed up and
humbling and just and encouraging. And I just appreciate PG
Morgan and Mike Fahey uh endorsing me and and introducing
me and Tony Connor Fromternolla to police. Uh a good

(01:07):
friend and again a public servant that uh, you can't
you can't manufacture passion. It's gotta come from the heart.
And and those those people all have a passion for
our city. Father right, and Lewis was there and and
introduced me and just it just was really it was
really humbling and motivating. And you know where we're looking
at what we're doing over the next sixty days, and

(01:27):
we've been we've been listening, and we think we need
leadership that listens in the in the city of omen
It's not about me, it's about we and the idea
that what what is what is what is our city
going to look like in the future. And you look
at people's ideas, dreams, concerns, criticisms, and I think there's
some good things going on in the city of Omar
right now. But I think also we're a six and
five football team, and if you look at that, the

(01:49):
idea that I want to play for the National Championship,
I just don't want to be Bowl eligible. And we're
But it's not about me, it's about we. It's about
your ideas. So we've been listening and in the next
sixty days, where you're going to come out with a
blueprint for the city of Omaha, and that's not based
on my ideas, it's based on our ideas and going
forward if you look at right now the city of Omaha,

(02:12):
you know we want to do big things. We want
to talk about building the international city of the future,
look at agriculture and agriculture technology. But also we got
to make sure our foundation is solid. And our foundation
is based on the idea of public safety and streets
and garbage and parks and affordable housing. So we are
developing that and we are truly listening, and we will
always listen. If the people of Omaha decide to vote

(02:36):
for me and put me in the mayor's office again,
I'll be part of a team and I'll lead that team.
But it's going to be about we, not me, and
we're looking for those ideas, and we've had some great ideas.

Speaker 1 (02:46):
But that suggests that mayors Doather doesn't listen or hasn't
been listening. And she's done. I don't know how many
town halls, a lot of them. You two really don't
like each other. Let's be honest about that. Well, at
least politically. This should be a policy, not personalities. And
I disagree with a number of decisions. Let's talk about
the streetcar. I've said I think it's a streetcar, name

(03:07):
disaster and The reason I say that is because in
twenty seventeen, Mayor Stother and I agreed. When she ran,
she made a campaign promise that the people of Omaha
would vote on the streetcar. Not because it was a statute,
because it was a promise. And I still think the
people of Almash should vote the street card if the people.

Speaker 2 (03:23):
Of Omah want that streetcar. But I've had people come
to me and say, let's talk about an L Street expressway,
Let's talk about an eight to eighty corridor. Let's talk
about people want to move through the city safely and quickly.
They want to get to work, they want to get home,
they want to make sure they can go quickly to
other parts of the city with their kids and soccer games.
And we talk about parks. We talk about the gen Lee.

(03:44):
I think is a great a great project. But I
asked young families, Okay, so if you've been there, some
have and some really like it. And I go, but
when you go there, what would be your ratio to
your neighborhood park? And they'd say, oh, thirtyty one, forty
to one. The point is there. I go, what do
you need in your neighborhood park? And they say please

(04:05):
mow it and pick up the trash. Those are the
foundations of a city. If we're going to truly build
the international city of the future, we got to make
sure our foundation is solid.

Speaker 3 (04:14):
As you know, when an incumbent runs for reelection, it's
a referendum on their job. Did they perform satisfactorily? What
has she screwed up?

Speaker 2 (04:26):
You know, you look at the idea of it again,
I think there's some good things going on in the city.
But we're a six and five football team, and if
you want to use that analogy, and again, we're bull eligible.
We're not playing for the national championship. Drive by seventy
second in Dodge and look around, because at one time
we were just grass. It was just weeds. Now she's
just been long enough sitting vacant that were growing trees.

(04:48):
The idea of actually going through our city right now
and going in different parts of the city. But the
police department, we've been we're one hundred and thirty police
officers short. Today we've got a class of twenty seven.
But in that timeframe, that takes that class to get
out onto the streets and serve the citizens. And this
is affecting our public safety, the idea of the quality
of life. Crimes are going up, the idea of response

(05:11):
times are up, clearance rates are down. Now we have
an opportunity to look at that and say, Okay, how
can we do that better Over the last three years.
By the time this class of twenty seven graduates in
the next few months, we could possibly have eight ten
more people retire. We've got to get control of the idea.
There's a reason there's an authorized strength in the police
department because that's what's best for yea. But their safety

(05:32):
at our safety.

Speaker 1 (05:33):
You know what the issue is, and Omaha raises it's
it's salary for police officers, so it's number one, and
then somebody else raises there. Recruiting is very difficult. So
is your answer or is your response to that, We've
got to pay whatever it takes.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Well the idea of actually retaining and recruiting, right, I mean,
we have to look at and be competitive and make sure.
But also I think we've got to make sure that
those police officers, those men and women that go out
and serve our community know that they have the full
support of the mayor's office and the citizens. Again, it's
not about me. It's about we and the citizens do

(06:06):
appreciate the job they're doing. But again using football analogy,
we're putting a team on the field with ten people,
not eleven people, and that's what we're asking them to do.
We're right now taking a dangerous job. Instead of trying
to make a dangerous job safer, we're making it less
safe these people. But we have an opportunity. There's people
that are coming to our team with different ideas. One is,

(06:27):
you look at right now dougas Kunt Sheriff's office. They
have actually got to their compliment, their authorized strength, and
they have other people that they would like to hire.
We have that opportunity to have that discussion to say, Okay,
while we're recruiting and hopefully retaining our police officers, what
are we missing? What are those quality of life crimes

(06:48):
that are going up? Can we then contract out with
the Douglas County sheriffs for example, and let them pick
up some of that slack in our public safety Based
on that, we have to be open and again it's
about leadership that listens. It's it's not about me, it's
about we, It's about our city. What do we want
going forward? But we've our foundation has got to start

(07:10):
with public safety. I believe, streets, garbage parks, affordable housing.
And I've had so many people come with great ideas
that are just excited about what we do. And that's
what we're trying to develop over the next sixty days
to put that in writing, because I think sometimes people
go and they go to the ballot and they go
to vote, and they they say, well, what really, what

(07:30):
is this person going to do? Again me, No, we yes,
our ideas and we're gonna put them forward. We're gonna
we're gonna put them in writing and in the next
sixty days, at least sixty days prior to April first,
which is the primary, April Fool's.

Speaker 1 (07:45):
Day, and compressed campaign. It's only until April before the
primary election, so there's a lot more to talk about
and with you and the other candidates. Mike, appreciate you
coming in and look forward to the race. Thank you
so much, and Happy Thanksgiving and God bless