April 8, 2026 • 41 mins
A full day of your calls and emails! Bike lanes were a big topic of conversation. Also, the first tracks for the streetcar are being put in today at 10th and Capital.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Peyton, the producer is sitting at his station and ready
to go today. How are you, Peyton?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Doing really good? It's a great morning sitting at my
station here with you, Jeane's author it is.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
It'd be a good day. It's freezing.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What's the deal?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I took walked in here and told Scott Vorhies it
feels like a meat locker in here. But I would
rather have it this cold than too warm any day.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So I will take it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And you know, Peyton, I wasn't going to start out
with this today, but now Scott Vorhees was talking about
it this morning and I heard it, and so I
can't help myself. I've got to talk about Mary Ewing's
gag order again. I think it's important to talk about it.
And this is the issue if you haven't been listening
of city department directors and staff being told that they
(00:46):
would not be allowed to be interviewed.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
On my show.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And Mary Ewing put out a statement the other day
and he started out with this of saying, before I
even took office, I assessed the city to department heads
and decided to keep all of them, along with the
mayor's staff. I value their contributions. This act was rather
novel for Omaha, and the former mayor Gene Stother criticized it. Well,
(01:12):
it wasn't just novel, it was really unprecedented and unheard of.
Every mayor comes on and picks their own staff able
to assemble the group that they want to work with
for the next four years, which I did too. And
the thing that was so unusual that I criticized was
not the directors. It was Mayor Ewing for criticizing for
(01:37):
months and months and months of a campaign just about
everything I and my staff did. And you know, you
don't do this mayor's job in a vacuum. It was
a team. We were a team. All of the directors
that are in question now are directors that I hired,
with the exception of two that would be police chief
and public Works director. I hired them, worked with most
(01:59):
of them for twelve had a great relationship with them,
but was bitterly criticized during the campaign again for just
about everything we did do, because again, this is not
done in a vacuum.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
This is teamwork.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
And then as soon as he was elected, he said,
let's just keep them all on business as usual, keep
doing what you're doing. That's what I criticized, and I said,
not the directors themselves. These are a group of very talented,
professional people that know how to run their department. I've
said probably a hundred times when I was mayor, is
I don't know how to run a police department or
(02:34):
a fire department or a public works department. But you
hire the best people you possibly can and you let
them run their department. And that's exactly what I did,
so not criticizing the directors there, but criticizing the mayor
for being so critical and then just saying, Okay, just
keep on doing what you're doing. I really didn't mean
what I said during the campaign. Otherwise I said things
(02:56):
just to get elected that concerned me, and that's what
I criticized. But then he went on to say, I quote,
sending senior leaders to defend my administration's actions to a
hardly objective host, that's me puts them in an awkward
and potentially compromising position. Now I don't know what compromising means.
(03:18):
I don't know if he means they would he would
terminate them, or what if they were on the show.
I don't know what that means. So I'm just guessing here,
but department directors. And when I talk about them, what
I'm talking about is public works director, library director, planning director,
fire chief, police chief, all of those people that run
(03:39):
their own departments. They would not be asked to come
on this show, or I don't think any media show
to defend the mayor's positions on things. The mayor needs
to defend his own positions on things, and that's the
job of a mayor. The mayor can't hide behind directors.
The mayor should be out there and public defending positions.
(04:02):
The only reason I would ask these he calls them
senior leaders, I call them department directors on is to
talk about things that are important to the public. If
there is a snowstorm, why wouldn't you want public works
to come on and say what they've done. If there
is a public safety issue, fire chief or police chief.
If there's a planning issue, a new development, a rezoning question,
(04:26):
why wouldn't you want these group of talented people to
come on and inform the public. And when he says
a hardly what does he say? A host that was
hardly objective host that's me would put them in an
awkward position. I will say, I would say that there
(04:47):
is no one that would be more objective than me,
because I understand what each of these departments are doing.
I understand what the director is doing, and I support
what they are doing. Lots of calls that we have
received about the streetcar, for example, and I know everyone
on this show will say I've done nothing but defend
the streetcar. I said I will own the streetcar. Steve
(05:10):
Jensen and I did over. I don't know how many
presentations a PowerPoint on the streetcar, but we figured probably two,
about eight thousand people. I know a lot about the streetcar,
and you have heard me on the air. I defend it,
and so it's not that I'm hardly objective. It's just
I have the experience of twelve years of being mayor
(05:31):
as opposed to ten months of being mayor and being
able to say, this is what the city is doing,
and this is the public needs to be kept informed
about what they are doing. And again, I'm not criticizing
those directors. I'm criticizing the mayor for being so critical
for months and months and months during a campaign and
(05:52):
then coming around and saying, oh, but business as usual,
just keep on doing what she was doing. That is
what I was critical about. I'd like to hear what
people have to say about that. You know, so far,
the only director that I have asked to be on
the show was the fire chief to talk about Western
Nebraska fires. I mean, there was nothing that I wasn't
(06:12):
objective about. There was nothing that I was asking the
fire chief to come on and defend the mayor about.
We were talking about western Nebraska fires because we had
brave firefighters out there fighting those fires. There was another
director that asked to be on the show. I didn't
ask him, he asked me. He was denied. I then
(06:32):
I sent an email to the communication director, Aaron Grace,
and I asked in writing if he could be on
the show. And I was declined on that one. And
so that's the extent of it so far. But again
I will say this, as mayor for twelve years, city
council before that, school board before that, the media and
(06:53):
we are media here. They could be your best friend
and they could be your worst enemy. If you ignore them,
there's gonna be story. So why not be part of
the story. If you're the mayor of Omaha, get out there,
stand out there in front you defend your own policies,
You defend your own plans that you have, your vision,
your goals for the city. You defend your departments. It
(07:14):
should be the mayor doing that, not the directors. The
directors are there to run their own department and keep
the public informed. Now, Scott talked about it a lot
this morning. I wasn't going to bring it up again,
but I did. But any any thoughts, Peyton on your
side here as you're sitting there shaking your head looking
at me.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Going h huh, Yes, I'm listening. I'm listening. And we
actually spoke off the air before the show started today
about a conversation you had with an acting Well, there's one.
We don't have the parks director right now, there's an
acting but we had a question yesterday about some of
the parks that it was in regards to baseball fields.
And did you mention that you did a little bit
(07:53):
of research after the show?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Well, yeah, and you know, I think that's just the
benefit of my knowledge that I had of working with
this city as long as I did. Because there was
a caller yesterday and if she's listening, and if I
don't have your name right, I apologize Sandy, I believe
it was. But she called about the parks, and she
called about why we didn't have more ball feels, and
she was specifically talking about baseball and softball, and I
(08:17):
kind of went to the view of soccer because I've
my son played soccer forever, I think, and I knew
more about soccer. And she brought me back and said,
but you're talking about soccer. I want to talk about
baseball and softball. So I wasn't real happy with how
I answered her. I thought I didn't give her a
good enough answer, But I said, it all has to
(08:38):
do with prioritization. That's why I asked the parks director
to do a parks master Plan so we could look
at all the parks in Omaha, assess what our needs are,
prioritize them, and then find out a way to fund them.
But I thought yesterday, after the conversation on the air
with her, I thought, you know, I really would like
to see if I missed anything, if there's anything else
(09:00):
I could add to explain that better to her, because
I was going to come back like I am now
and talk a little bit more about it today. But
I couldn't call anybody there was number one, there is
no parks director and number two, there is an acting
parks director right now, but I felt like I couldn't
call him because the mayor told the department directors if
(09:21):
I had questions, I had to do a public records request. Well,
that takes forever, I mean not forever, but it takes
a limited amount of time. And I wanted to get
back on the air today. So you know what I
had to do. I had to call the former parks
director that doesn't even live in Nebraska anymore, Matt kalsovich
great parks director. I was the one that did a
national search for him. I was the one that hired him.
(09:44):
Mayor Ewing terminated him or gave him a chance to resign,
but he is no longer with us. He did that
within the first month or so of his administration. There
still is no parks director. But I had to call
him to say, here was the question on the air,
and did I answer everything? Did I give her a
complete enough answer? And I thought, this is what the
(10:06):
problem is of limiting and saying these current folks that
I know really, really well. Jake Linder is the acting
parks director now. From the time that one of the
parks directors I had, Brook Bench went out to Lake Cunningham.
Jake was my interim parks director, so I know him
real well enough, but I mean, I know him very well,
but I will say this. You know, I did talk
(10:29):
to Matt Kalsovich and he did basically reinforce what I said,
And if you're listening, Sandy, he said that you know
that there is a lot of work to maintaining those fields,
and the main reason that we wanted to do the
park's master plan was to come back and reassess all
(10:50):
of our parks, reassess all of our facilities, including softball
baseball fields, and then get them in the master plan
and reprioritize them. And so it's just a matter of
what we need to be doing and how we can
fund it. And so, you know, soccer became something really important.
Baseball did too. She asked about softball. So I think
(11:11):
the answer I gave her yesterday, Sandy, if you're listening,
is probably the best I can and that is that
that there will be a parks master plan and try
to prioritize all of our parks and all the fields
within our parks and hopefully improve them.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
In the future with proper funding. The cafa B comment Line,
your host of the show, Jean Stouthart, I'm paid a
high lot control on the board. Feel free to reach
out to us, give us a call four zero two
five five eight eleven ten, email us at comment at
CAFAB dot com, or the radio talkback on the iHeartRadio app. So, Gina,
there's been a little bit of a theme this morning,
a lot of road questions, traffic questions. This one comes
(11:48):
from Brian. I think you've talked about developing a smart city.
How can we talk about a smart city when we
have dumb street lights? And then Brian goes on to
give an example of one hundred and thirty second Blondo
waits there, waits there, waits there. Nobody's there with him,
He's only one at the light.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know what that is exactly what the City of
Omaha is doing, and what we started doing quite a
few years ago is our street light Signal master Plan
and that comes out of the Public Works Department too,
And we talked about this before on the on the show,
and there's probably at least a thousand signals within this
(12:28):
city of Omaha, and the master plan is to get
those signals so that they coordinate and they talk to
each other. And the best example that I could give
you is to is ninetieth and Dodge. That is one
of the busiest intersections in town. There's a pedestrian crosswalk
in there. The traffic is heavy going from west to
east every morning. And in the past, if one person
(12:52):
would hit that pedestrian crosswalk at ninetieth and Dodge, it
would mess the whole thing up all the way down
towards downtown. And now the new system that we have,
street light by street light, they will talk to each
other and coordinate, so if one light is tripped with
a pedestrian crosswalk, the others will respond to keep the
flow of traffic flowing. That is probably I think they
(13:14):
told me recently at least eighty percent done. And again
this is the issue I have. I wish I could
call somebody right now and get an answer right now,
to say are we eighty percent done or eighty five
percent done? A simple question, but I will be told
to do a public record request now and not to
be able to talk to anybody in the city, which
(13:35):
is disappointing and frustrating for all of us. But that
is what we are working on now.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
If there is a particular signal, like I have one,
I always say I live about one hundred and twentieth
in Q.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I have one there. If you come off.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
The I eighty ramp there at Q Street and you
go up to one hundred and twentieth and Q, that
light can be really annoying.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And if you have a light that in.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Particular that you say, like the caller, that you're the
only one there and you don't think it's timed right,
you can call the Public Works department. If you don't
know the number to call, you can call the hotline
and they will guide you on and report that light
and say, you know, I think this needs attention. The
one thing I brought up before, but I will again
with the new street lights signals not street lights. Street
(14:24):
lights are run and managed by OPPD street lights. I'm
talking about signals, traffic signals, and I'm talking about if
the traffic signal you have a problem with one to call.
But with the replacement of the new ones, they're LEDs
and they're cool, and that is a problem during snowstorms,
especially if it's windy, because the snow gets on those
(14:44):
and the old bulbs in the past were hot and
it would melt them off. And now if we have
a snowstorm and snow gets on those LEDs on the signals,
they can just stick there and stay there and they
literally have to come out with like these big long
brooms and brush them all off. So anytime you have
an area that is a major concern with you with
(15:05):
for you, please call and let them know because they
will take care of it. Public Works is good at
responding to those things.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
We're going to move to the phone lines now. Thank
you for being patient. Connie, you are on the KFAB
comment line with Jean's author.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Good morning, Good morning. My husband and I were a
little shocked when we saw a bike lane built on
one hundred and eighths just north of Maple. And we're
trying to figure out when we are driving on pothole
Leyden streets that shake your teeth out and bend your
tire rims, how did is it that we are taking
(15:41):
up driving lanes because going east and north and south
is already a nightmare in Omaha. And then we get
one hundred and eighth street down to one lane both ways,
And did we vote for this, And I mean, I understand,
I just to me by lanes are I can see
him downtown where you're trying to do a or in
(16:04):
some of these new developments where you're actually trying to
make it a But we're not that one hundred and
eighth and Maple is not that it is easier so
the sunny slope kids can get to McDonald's. I don't understand.
How did this happen?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You know, that's a good question.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
And there are bike trails that they have been working
on in Omaha to connect four years that can basically
get you from North Omaha down to Bellevue practically, and
there are those that commute by bike. Now I brought
this up before that it's worth repeating.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
In Omaha.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
When I was mayor, I thought we had to look
at every way people commute. It is true in Omaha
at least eighty to eighty five percent of people commute
by car. There is no doubt, and no matter how
many bike lanes are put in, they will still primarily
commute by car. But we have to look at walkability.
We have to look at bikes, we have to look
(17:01):
you know, pedestrians, we have to look at public transportation,
and we have to look at cars. The one thing
that I when and I hate to just always refer
when I was mayor, but that's what I know the
most about is I did not I could not see
putting in especially protected bike lanes and spending taxpayer dollars
when our streets, as you said, were laden with potholes
(17:25):
and particularly some of them just blown up and needing
the attention there. So that's why before we started really developing,
what we would do is expanding the bike lanes. Is
we got in Maya twenty twenty, a two hundred million
dollars bond issue, road bond issue passed by a vote
of the people. The people did vote on that, and
(17:48):
I don't know if you remember that, but I sure do.
Is the voters also with approving that bond issue, they
approved a three and a half penny property tax increase
to pay the bonds. They approved a tax increase. The
voters did. I never had to do that. I was
able to manage the budget in such a way after
(18:11):
twenty twenty when that was passed that we were able
to pay the bonds without doing that voter approved tax increase.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
So that's just managing the budget.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
And so then in November excuse me, of twenty twenty four,
we got that by a vote of the people reauthorized
that bond issue for basically essentially another two hundred million.
So we are doing more work on the streets that.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We have ever done.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And it can't just be patching a pothole, you know,
to rehabilitate the streets and get them so we're not
just chasing our tails every winter patching potholes. We need
to resurface and rehabilitate those streets and so that's what
the bond issue is doing. We have over five thousand
lane miles a road in Omaha. It's actually about fifty
(18:59):
five hundred lane and Omaha, so this will take a while.
You can't get every street done at once, but there
is a process that the Public Works Department is using
to prioritize streets and every single city council district all
over the city get the worst streets first, and so
those are getting more attention than they ever have. Hopefully
the voters will continue approving and reauthorizing that bond issue,
(19:23):
so more and more money is going into the roads
than they ever did. Now back to the bike lanes,
this is something like I said, that some people do
depend on. But all of the bike lane, a lot
of the bike lanes that we looked at and did
a pilot downtown and are being put in downtown are
being paid privately by philanthropy. They're not being paid with
(19:44):
taxpayer dollars. But with our new plan that we have,
with our master plan and our road master plan too,
like I said, we are looking at always that people commute,
and I think it's important people will bring up to
me all the time. I saw that metro bus today,
but he was on it. So therefore we don't need buses.
But you can't have a growing, thriving community and attract
(20:07):
people and keep young professionals here and attract to new
businesses if we don't have all those options available. So
there is more attention being placed on the roads. And
I know exactly what you mean by how frustrating it
is when you see a bike lane being put in
and the road is full of potholes. But those roads
are being prioritized and those roads will eventually be done.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Gene, you had a little update about the streetcar.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, yes, and you know that's that subject. Everybody loves
to talk about but I do love to talk about it.
And once again I said this many times, I will
take ownership of this streetcar.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I will defend it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And I could only be of help to the current
administration with the streetcar because you know, although the city
Council approved it, the almost Streetcar Authority has a lot
to do with it, but it would never admit it
to the council if I wasn't the one that said
let's go forward and do it. But the two rails
have been put in and they're each about one hundred
(21:04):
and sixty feet long. There is a big stockpile of
rails and we did that. We bought him a long
time ago because we got a good price and we
thought the price of steal was going to go up.
But Steve Jensen, he's, you know, one of the deputy
chiefs of staff that I brought on that always used
to kiddy me. Knows he's been dealing with the street
car for at least one hundred years. And then I
(21:24):
have to admit he's younger than me, so no, it's
not been one hundred years. But he knows we've been
talking about it since the nineteen nineties. Steve Jensen and
I are the ones that went all over Omaha and
did a PowerPoint. I swear we did it probably to
at least seven thousand people to give the background and
how it's going to be paid for, et cetera. But
(21:45):
now this is the first real infrastructure as far as
the streetcar itself being put in.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You know, all that work that has been done so
far is under the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
It's it's utility work right now that overall twenty twenty
six this year is going to be the construction year
for that line, since most of that utility work is
slated to wrap up by the end of the year,
as well as the bridge construction too. But the reason
we're starting here, the first rails are going in at
tenth and Capital, and the reason that is the eastern
(22:17):
terminus of the streetcar. Originally it was going to turn
at tenth and Capital, go down tenth and end in
front of the Arina Convention Center at tenth and Mike Fahey.
The reason that we pulled it back and didn't run
it in front of the Convention Center down to where
the ballpark is is because we wanted to make it
(22:40):
easier to make that future extension the northern extension up
into hopefully where the airport is. So at tenth and Capitol,
it would be much easier to take off from tenth
and Capital and go north than it would from Mike
Fahe and tenth Street. So that's why we're starting there.
And like I said on the air, is that we
(23:02):
had already applied for and received a grant to study
a future expansion of the street car, hopefully up to
the airport, and how it would be paid for.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But that's where it's starting.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
And you know, there's a lot more information that can
be found about the street car. There's a there's a
web page called Omaha streetcar dot org and people can
find out a lot more about it. But that that
streetcar line, just to remind people, it's going to be
roughly five miles. It's going to run from tenth and
Capital where they're putting the rails in today to eighth
(23:36):
and Farnham, up Farnham to thirty ninth Street, back east
to Turner Boulevard, and then back into downtown via Harney Street.
So it's going to make one big loop. And so
it is. The work itself is starting, and you know
what I will tell everybody, I know there's a lot
of people skeptical about it, but just look at it
this way. Number one, the taxpayers are not paying for it.
(23:59):
The tax are not going to see their taxes go
up for the streetcar. It's going to bring incredible economic development,
growth jobs, so much construction work and jobs with this
whole project. It's going to be good for the entire
city of Omaha. And it'll be just like the Arena
Convention Center, just like the ballpark, just like the Dodge Expressway,
(24:20):
just like the Riverfront parks and all those new things
that were being done that people were real skeptical about.
But I think once it's up and running, people are
going to really see the value and appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
All the kids that played with train tracks as kids
are fulfilling their dreams today.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, I don't know, but I think it's going to
be great. And like I said, the cities that we
studied in our nearest city, nearest neighbor that we could
study is Kansas City, and it is so popular down
there they are expanding it already. And so I think
that that just shows you that the development around that streetcar,
(24:55):
it's already happening in Omaha. There's almost one hundred, no
one point five billion dollars worth of new development or
development underway along the streetcar corridor because of the streetcar,
and it's only going to continue. And that's good for
all of us. And you know, the one way people
say my taxes are too high, and they are. The
way that you lower taxes and keep them low is
(25:17):
you broaden your tax base. You broaden your tax base
by new developments, new to businesses coming into town and
paying those taxes. So when that happens, it's good for.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
All of Omaha. Tim says, will there be ris Aroni
at the end of the line for starving passengers?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Maybe you know, like the San Francisco treat right, and
they still I've rode the cable cars. Have you been
on the cable cars in San Francisco? There still is
Rice Ernis side on the cable cars. I don't know,
but I'll tell you this, it's I've been. I've had
a lot of people mock me about this and say,
what do you want to name it the gene or something?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
No Stofford street car.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
No, no, no, it's not going to be named that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And again you can't have something a city owned facility permanently,
and I would call it a facility. It's a street
car permanently named after you until you are dead. So
I would rather not have something named after me.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That is that is a very good point. Four zero two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. This is Jeff. You are on the
KFAB comment line with Jean Stouthard.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
You want to gene. Hey, I've called in a few
times and ask questions and then it'll get cut off.
And sometimes I feel like I'll ask a question and
then you'll answer. You won't answer my question, you'll answer
your question. And uh, when it comes to the callers
that I'm hearing calling in over and over, like say
(26:42):
the bike leans. And you know, we can reference the
studies and all we've we've done these studies and they've
proven that their benefit and and there's a saying a
comment that we want to attract people to Omaha and
we want to grow. Well. One of the things that
you know, we can look at studies, which I don't
think just because something is done with a study, I
(27:05):
think you can see that many studies are wrong. First
of all, and then if there's a study that is incorrect. Listen,
listen to the your constituents out here. I don't have
I don't hear anybody calling the radio show saying we
thank God for this. The bike leans, the bike lanes
are a benefit. They helped me get to working back.
I wouldn't have come to Omaha, so it wasn't for
(27:27):
the bike lanes. What we hear over and over and
over and people are just tone deaf is that they're
they're choking the streets there, they make traffic more difficult.
We want to attract people that have the ability to
drive a vehicle. We want to they could put gas
in their vehicle. We can get gas taxes from those
people moving here. I don't know any people moving in
(27:48):
uh to Omaha that are going to move here based
on the bike lanes, and that I don't even know
if that's the people we want to attract, because they're not.
I'm not seeing that. I'm not here that anywhere. But
I'm hearing the exact opposite, that we do not like them,
that they're a problem, that they're they make Omaha more difficult.
And with your point earlier, the taxes, if you really
(28:11):
want to attract people here, have this be a Tennessee
of Florida, a South Dakota, a low tax state, not
a high tax state. So get rid of them and
lower the taxes.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Well, thanks for your comments, and I don't disagree with
you at all. You know, and sometimes I do get
off on a rant. I think because I'm telling you
things that I know and that I'm aware of, people
will have differences of opinion.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And that's that's what makes us.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You know, a good city and a good mayor and
a good administration will be open to listening to you.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I will say, there are some that feel.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Passionately about bike lanes, but like I said before, eighty
eighty five percent of the people in Omaha do commute
by roads by car, just like you said, and I
think that's why it's most important to put our emphasis
on fixing our roads first. The bike lanes that we
(29:08):
studied when I was mayor, and again I use that
word study, but we had to see are they really needed,
and if they are really needed, where would we put
them and would they be safe? Those are things we
need to know. But I did not want the taxpayers
paying for them, and so therefore that's why philanthropy has
come in and said, well, we feel strongly about bike lanes,
(29:31):
so we're going to put our money in where our
mouth is. So I mean, there are it's not that
we get everybody to call into a radio station, either
a talk show radio station. There are a lot of
people with differing opinions that never call in. So I
appreciate what you're saying, and I understand what you're saying.
I really do, because it's I drive around town. I
see the same thing you do, and I see, you know,
(29:53):
I see bike lanes that are taking up parking as
well as as a traffic lane, and I see no.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
One on it.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I also see buses just like you do. That you
don't see a lot of people on them sometime. But
that doesn't mean that they're not beneficial, and it doesn't
mean that some people will use them. But as long
as we're not going to turn around and say, Okay,
we're going to raise everybody's taxes to put these bike
lanes in, you know, and we're going to find out
for those who want them another way to fund them,
(30:23):
that's the direction I'm going. But I do appreciate what
you're saying, and I think there's a lot of people
who feel exactly like you do.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
We want to bring people to Omahon, allowed to keep growing.
But at the same time, do we want to think
to ourselves, man, we shouldn't put bike bike lanes in
so that people who drive cars can come to Omaha
and pay our gas tax for us. You know, like,
is that really the frame of mind that we should
be coming into the conversation with.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Well, you need public transportation, there's no doubt about that,
and we were sorely lacking that. And you know, we're working.
The City of Omaha does not run Metro Transit. People
think the City of Omaha runs the bus system.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
We don't.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's Metro Transit that runs the bus system. The only
thing that I did or the mayor did, was a
point to the Metro Transit board. And now the mayor
doesn't do that because they're elected, and so you know,
you've got to work. Let me back up a minute.
What I have said many times before, and it's so true.
If you want to attract new businesses, and we want
(31:25):
that in Omaha. We don't want the businesses leaving. We
want to maintain the businesses we have, do what we
can to make them thrive and we want to bring
new businesses and new talent and new people into Omaha.
That's how you grow your city. Otherwise it just gets stagnant.
Property values go down. And so what do you do
if you want to attract young professionals or you want
(31:48):
to prevent this brain drain. Then I know I'm going
off on a tangent here, but you give the young
professionals and the young workers and the young talent what
they're looking for, and what are they looking looking for.
When you're looking at younger talent, you're looking at urban living,
You're looking at public transportation, you're looking at walkability, you're
(32:09):
looking at entertainment, You're looking at all of those things
that a real thriving downtown has. And that's why we
had that Urban coret Committee developed and concentrated on downtown
in midtown so it all works together. And that's what
I'm trying to say, that you have to have all
these things that work together and work together for the
(32:30):
benefit of all the citizens.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We don't have too much time here, but I have
Bob on the line, who's going to add to this conversation.
You are on the KFABE comment line with Jean Stoutht.
You are live, Bob.
Speaker 6 (32:41):
Hi Jean, Thanks thanks for taking the time. Yeah, as
I'm listening to the Agier comments here, there's a similar
problem in Des Moines that there exists in Omaha. You
have a small core of people who are these kind
of narcissistic urbanists who have this of a utopia where
(33:01):
everybody's going to ride a bicycle and it's going to
be green and it's wonderful. But they're not really the
ones creating or sustaining that ecosystem. It's on everybody else,
but it's forced on everybody, and it's really disingenuous, especially
from their viewpoint that it's inclusive, but it really just
serves them. And we're not supposed to talk about that
(33:24):
in that way, but I guess that's how I see it.
It's very selfish, and I think it gives them too
much credit to say they're looking for the greater good.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
They're not.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
It's just it's their vibe and they want everybody else
to support it at our expense.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I cannot disagree with what you're saying there at all,
because I look at myself. You know, I'm You're not
going to see me on a hun a bike riding
in a bike line. It's something I just I don't do.
And I think I've tried to take public transportation in
Omaha once and didn't have a good experience.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And so I understand what you're saying. I really do.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And you know, there's a lot of different of opinions,
and that's why we have this show. I want to
hear from you, and I want you to be able
to say what you feel and for you to be
able to sound off. I don't disagree with what you're saying, though.
It seems like a lot of cities cater to just
a very very small vocal group, the vocal minority. And
(34:19):
you know, you got to you got to work with
the masses to and do what's best for the greater good.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
And that's what a city should be doing. And so
I will I will add to that.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I will say the issue with affordable housing that is
a buzzword right now, and people will say, a lot
of people will say, my priority is affordable housing. Mayor
there are new Mayor ewing his number one priority is
affordable housing. But a lot of people don't understand what
affordable housing really is, and they think it's just cheap
(34:52):
good housing and it's not. And so you know, there
there's a difference of opinion, but there's also a lot
of misunderstanding of some the things that some of our
elected officials are making a priority. I think affordable housing
is important to some but not the masses. And so
you know, we want need to have a good housing
(35:13):
stock in Omaha. You know, we need our city to
continue to grow. We want to keep our house values up.
You know, those things are all important for a good, growing,
thriving community. So I appreciate all of your comments. That's
why we're doing this show. We want you to come on,
whether you agree or disagree, and give me your opinion
(35:34):
on things going on in the city of Omaha, because
I think everybody needs to hear it. And there definitely
is difference of opinion. And you know, people don't always.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Agree with me.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Peyton, I was mayor twelve years. I said, I have
been criticized for just about everything that we have done.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
I mean, again, the mayor is the chief executive of
the city. Not everybody's going to agree with you, but
the mayor needs to be out there and listen to people,
whether they're getting a compliment or whether they're getting a criticism.
I told you, I've gotten so many criticisms. One of
the funniest things I think that I have ever had
said to me, though, and it was somebody called in.
(36:14):
I was on a Crash Davis show. I know a
lot of people here listening, remember Crash Davis, And somebody
said I was. You know, if people don't know me personally,
I used to be six feet tall. Now I'm about
barely five foot ten. I'm the incredible shrinking woman. But
somebody called in and told me that I was too
tall to be the mayor. And crash Davis about fell
out of his chair. And to this day, you know,
(36:36):
a lot of times he is like the MC at parades,
Like sometimes he'll be down at the Saint Patti's Day
Parade or the Elkhorn Day parade, and every time, when
I was still in the parades, he would say, and
here's the mayor of Omaha, but I think she's too
tall to be the mayor. It's like, okay, I'll take
it whatever. I have a funny Max story to tell you.
Max is my six year old, very precocious grandson. I
(36:58):
have two here in Omaha, Raymond and Max. Max is
the one that I take care of every Wednesday afternoon,
and he can say some of the funniest things. This
kid is so smart for six years old. But my
daughter told me on Easter Sunday, they were in line
at church to go to communion, and you know, the
little ones just go up and get blessed or they
say a little prayer. And Raymond and Max were in
(37:21):
line with my daughter Elizabeth and her husband Tom, and
she said, all of a sudden, Max looked at her
and said, I just can't do this.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I can't do it. I need to go sit down.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And my daughter said, you can't do what And he said,
I can't go to communion And she said why you're
just going up and get getting blessed And he said, mom,
I have concerns and he went and set that down.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I don't know what goes through this kid's.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Mind for being six years old, but he went and
sat down. He had concerns. So yes, he had concerns.
So Max, I don't know what goes through your little mind,
but boy, it's really something. But I thought that was hilarious.
So anyway, I'm going to have to ask him when
I watched on Wednesday what his real concerns were.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
We we love all of your input on all of
these things, good, bad, positive, negative, fun and ugly. We
love to hear it. And I've gotten a lot of
emails today at comment at kfab dot com. We've had
a lot of input today from the listeners, from you
guys calling us and text emailing us. And I just
think that one thing Kent says really summarizes it. Well,
(38:25):
you say you understand the concerns about whatever, but you
were in charge of our beloved city for years, yet
the same problems exist, and you say you understand, what
will you do?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well, I'm limited to what I can do now, but
you know, but these things, I feel like we did
listen and we did try to remedy a lot of issues.
But for example, with the street bond issue, you know
that's practically another four hundred million for the roads to
say we need to permanently fix the roads and quit
(38:58):
just filling these potholes. For another example, this cold patch
we used to use for potholes. You know, we worked
with Hawkins and we're making hot asphalt now. We have
a new city master plan that is being developed called
the Comprehensive Plan to look at future development in the city.
We have a new Parks master Plan, and again these
(39:18):
are I know you're saying plan, plan, plan, but you
got to have you got to have a guideline. You
have a guide of where you're going, and then decide
where you're going to pay for it. I think the
City of Omaha has progressed a lot in the last
twelve years, but there's still a lot to do.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
It's a big city.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
And the one thing with mayor is you just get
impatient because you want to get it all done at
one time, but you are so restricted by what things cost.
You have to balance your budget. You want to lower
taxes at the same time, but you want to really
really improve services. Another example is our new trash pickups
system that we have. The one that we had with
(39:57):
waste management it expired. We could not do that type
of a trash collection anymore. Nobody would bid on it.
We have a new trash collection system to try to
remedy that problem. Some people liked it, some people didn't,
but we had really no choice to do it.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
You can't just snap your finger, that's right, No I wish,
So what about a wand they have a wands maybe tucked.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
In your person.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
No, no, And I wish we could, but we you know,
things do. I mean, you're dealing with government, you know,
I mean, things take a long time. But we really
want you listening. We really want your comments, positive or negative.
Like I said, it's your chance to speak up and
sound off, whether you agree with what I'm saying or not.
Come on the show, keep on listening, tell us what
(40:39):
you think, and we're glad you're with us, and we
hope you tune in tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I've got a great guest tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Jason Lanaha with Lanaha Development is going to be on
and he's going to talk about Heartwood Preserve. He's going
to talk about what's happening at Midtown in the All
Mutual site, what's happening with the Mutual Tower downtown. He's
a developer for those things. We're going to have a
good time with Jason, and so listen in. Thanks for
being with us.
Peyton, the producer is sitting at his station and ready
to go today. How are you, Peyton?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Doing really good? It's a great morning sitting at my
station here with you, Jeane's author it is.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
It'd be a good day. It's freezing.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
It is cold.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
What's the deal?
Speaker 1 (00:14):
I took walked in here and told Scott Vorhies it
feels like a meat locker in here. But I would
rather have it this cold than too warm any day.
Speaker 3 (00:22):
So I will take it.
Speaker 1 (00:24):
And you know, Peyton, I wasn't going to start out
with this today, but now Scott Vorhees was talking about
it this morning and I heard it, and so I
can't help myself. I've got to talk about Mary Ewing's
gag order again. I think it's important to talk about it.
And this is the issue if you haven't been listening
of city department directors and staff being told that they
(00:46):
would not be allowed to be interviewed.
Speaker 3 (00:49):
On my show.
Speaker 1 (00:50):
And Mary Ewing put out a statement the other day
and he started out with this of saying, before I
even took office, I assessed the city to department heads
and decided to keep all of them, along with the
mayor's staff. I value their contributions. This act was rather
novel for Omaha, and the former mayor Gene Stother criticized it. Well,
(01:12):
it wasn't just novel, it was really unprecedented and unheard of.
Every mayor comes on and picks their own staff able
to assemble the group that they want to work with
for the next four years, which I did too. And
the thing that was so unusual that I criticized was
not the directors. It was Mayor Ewing for criticizing for
(01:37):
months and months and months of a campaign just about
everything I and my staff did. And you know, you
don't do this mayor's job in a vacuum. It was
a team. We were a team. All of the directors
that are in question now are directors that I hired,
with the exception of two that would be police chief
and public Works director. I hired them, worked with most
(01:59):
of them for twelve had a great relationship with them,
but was bitterly criticized during the campaign again for just
about everything we did do, because again, this is not
done in a vacuum.
Speaker 3 (02:11):
This is teamwork.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
And then as soon as he was elected, he said,
let's just keep them all on business as usual, keep
doing what you're doing. That's what I criticized, and I said,
not the directors themselves. These are a group of very talented,
professional people that know how to run their department. I've
said probably a hundred times when I was mayor, is
I don't know how to run a police department or
(02:34):
a fire department or a public works department. But you
hire the best people you possibly can and you let
them run their department. And that's exactly what I did,
so not criticizing the directors there, but criticizing the mayor
for being so critical and then just saying, Okay, just
keep on doing what you're doing. I really didn't mean
what I said during the campaign. Otherwise I said things
(02:56):
just to get elected that concerned me, and that's what
I criticized. But then he went on to say, I quote,
sending senior leaders to defend my administration's actions to a
hardly objective host, that's me puts them in an awkward
and potentially compromising position. Now I don't know what compromising means.
(03:18):
I don't know if he means they would he would
terminate them, or what if they were on the show.
I don't know what that means. So I'm just guessing here,
but department directors. And when I talk about them, what
I'm talking about is public works director, library director, planning director,
fire chief, police chief, all of those people that run
(03:39):
their own departments. They would not be asked to come
on this show, or I don't think any media show
to defend the mayor's positions on things. The mayor needs
to defend his own positions on things, and that's the
job of a mayor. The mayor can't hide behind directors.
The mayor should be out there and public defending positions.
(04:02):
The only reason I would ask these he calls them
senior leaders, I call them department directors on is to
talk about things that are important to the public. If
there is a snowstorm, why wouldn't you want public works
to come on and say what they've done. If there
is a public safety issue, fire chief or police chief.
If there's a planning issue, a new development, a rezoning question,
(04:26):
why wouldn't you want these group of talented people to
come on and inform the public. And when he says
a hardly what does he say? A host that was
hardly objective host that's me would put them in an
awkward position. I will say, I would say that there
(04:47):
is no one that would be more objective than me,
because I understand what each of these departments are doing.
I understand what the director is doing, and I support
what they are doing. Lots of calls that we have
received about the streetcar, for example, and I know everyone
on this show will say I've done nothing but defend
the streetcar. I said I will own the streetcar. Steve
(05:10):
Jensen and I did over. I don't know how many
presentations a PowerPoint on the streetcar, but we figured probably two,
about eight thousand people. I know a lot about the streetcar,
and you have heard me on the air. I defend it,
and so it's not that I'm hardly objective. It's just
I have the experience of twelve years of being mayor
(05:31):
as opposed to ten months of being mayor and being
able to say, this is what the city is doing,
and this is the public needs to be kept informed
about what they are doing. And again, I'm not criticizing
those directors. I'm criticizing the mayor for being so critical
for months and months and months during a campaign and
(05:52):
then coming around and saying, oh, but business as usual,
just keep on doing what she was doing. That is
what I was critical about. I'd like to hear what
people have to say about that. You know, so far,
the only director that I have asked to be on
the show was the fire chief to talk about Western
Nebraska fires. I mean, there was nothing that I wasn't
(06:12):
objective about. There was nothing that I was asking the
fire chief to come on and defend the mayor about.
We were talking about western Nebraska fires because we had
brave firefighters out there fighting those fires. There was another
director that asked to be on the show. I didn't
ask him, he asked me. He was denied. I then
(06:32):
I sent an email to the communication director, Aaron Grace,
and I asked in writing if he could be on
the show. And I was declined on that one. And
so that's the extent of it so far. But again
I will say this, as mayor for twelve years, city
council before that, school board before that, the media and
(06:53):
we are media here. They could be your best friend
and they could be your worst enemy. If you ignore them,
there's gonna be story. So why not be part of
the story. If you're the mayor of Omaha, get out there,
stand out there in front you defend your own policies,
You defend your own plans that you have, your vision,
your goals for the city. You defend your departments. It
(07:14):
should be the mayor doing that, not the directors. The
directors are there to run their own department and keep
the public informed. Now, Scott talked about it a lot
this morning. I wasn't going to bring it up again,
but I did. But any any thoughts, Peyton on your
side here as you're sitting there shaking your head looking
at me.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
Going h huh, Yes, I'm listening. I'm listening. And we
actually spoke off the air before the show started today
about a conversation you had with an acting Well, there's one.
We don't have the parks director right now, there's an
acting but we had a question yesterday about some of
the parks that it was in regards to baseball fields.
And did you mention that you did a little bit
(07:53):
of research after the show?
Speaker 1 (07:54):
Well, yeah, and you know, I think that's just the
benefit of my knowledge that I had of working with
this city as long as I did. Because there was
a caller yesterday and if she's listening, and if I
don't have your name right, I apologize Sandy, I believe
it was. But she called about the parks, and she
called about why we didn't have more ball feels, and
she was specifically talking about baseball and softball, and I
(08:17):
kind of went to the view of soccer because I've
my son played soccer forever, I think, and I knew
more about soccer. And she brought me back and said,
but you're talking about soccer. I want to talk about
baseball and softball. So I wasn't real happy with how
I answered her. I thought I didn't give her a
good enough answer, But I said, it all has to
(08:38):
do with prioritization. That's why I asked the parks director
to do a parks master Plan so we could look
at all the parks in Omaha, assess what our needs are,
prioritize them, and then find out a way to fund them.
But I thought yesterday, after the conversation on the air
with her, I thought, you know, I really would like
to see if I missed anything, if there's anything else
(09:00):
I could add to explain that better to her, because
I was going to come back like I am now
and talk a little bit more about it today. But
I couldn't call anybody there was number one, there is
no parks director and number two, there is an acting
parks director right now, but I felt like I couldn't
call him because the mayor told the department directors if
(09:21):
I had questions, I had to do a public records request. Well,
that takes forever, I mean not forever, but it takes
a limited amount of time. And I wanted to get
back on the air today. So you know what I
had to do. I had to call the former parks
director that doesn't even live in Nebraska anymore, Matt kalsovich
great parks director. I was the one that did a
national search for him. I was the one that hired him.
(09:44):
Mayor Ewing terminated him or gave him a chance to resign,
but he is no longer with us. He did that
within the first month or so of his administration. There
still is no parks director. But I had to call
him to say, here was the question on the air,
and did I answer everything? Did I give her a
complete enough answer? And I thought, this is what the
(10:06):
problem is of limiting and saying these current folks that
I know really, really well. Jake Linder is the acting
parks director now. From the time that one of the
parks directors I had, Brook Bench went out to Lake Cunningham.
Jake was my interim parks director, so I know him
real well enough, but I mean, I know him very well,
but I will say this. You know, I did talk
(10:29):
to Matt Kalsovich and he did basically reinforce what I said,
And if you're listening, Sandy, he said that you know
that there is a lot of work to maintaining those fields,
and the main reason that we wanted to do the
park's master plan was to come back and reassess all
(10:50):
of our parks, reassess all of our facilities, including softball
baseball fields, and then get them in the master plan
and reprioritize them. And so it's just a matter of
what we need to be doing and how we can
fund it. And so, you know, soccer became something really important.
Baseball did too. She asked about softball. So I think
(11:11):
the answer I gave her yesterday, Sandy, if you're listening,
is probably the best I can and that is that
that there will be a parks master plan and try
to prioritize all of our parks and all the fields
within our parks and hopefully improve them.
Speaker 2 (11:24):
In the future with proper funding. The cafa B comment Line,
your host of the show, Jean Stouthart, I'm paid a
high lot control on the board. Feel free to reach
out to us, give us a call four zero two
five five eight eleven ten, email us at comment at
CAFAB dot com, or the radio talkback on the iHeartRadio app. So, Gina,
there's been a little bit of a theme this morning,
a lot of road questions, traffic questions. This one comes
(11:48):
from Brian. I think you've talked about developing a smart city.
How can we talk about a smart city when we
have dumb street lights? And then Brian goes on to
give an example of one hundred and thirty second Blondo
waits there, waits there, waits there. Nobody's there with him,
He's only one at the light.
Speaker 3 (12:05):
Oh my.
Speaker 1 (12:06):
You know what that is exactly what the City of
Omaha is doing, and what we started doing quite a
few years ago is our street light Signal master Plan
and that comes out of the Public Works Department too,
And we talked about this before on the on the show,
and there's probably at least a thousand signals within this
(12:28):
city of Omaha, and the master plan is to get
those signals so that they coordinate and they talk to
each other. And the best example that I could give
you is to is ninetieth and Dodge. That is one
of the busiest intersections in town. There's a pedestrian crosswalk
in there. The traffic is heavy going from west to
east every morning. And in the past, if one person
(12:52):
would hit that pedestrian crosswalk at ninetieth and Dodge, it
would mess the whole thing up all the way down
towards downtown. And now the new system that we have,
street light by street light, they will talk to each
other and coordinate, so if one light is tripped with
a pedestrian crosswalk, the others will respond to keep the
flow of traffic flowing. That is probably I think they
(13:14):
told me recently at least eighty percent done. And again
this is the issue I have. I wish I could
call somebody right now and get an answer right now,
to say are we eighty percent done or eighty five
percent done? A simple question, but I will be told
to do a public record request now and not to
be able to talk to anybody in the city, which
(13:35):
is disappointing and frustrating for all of us. But that
is what we are working on now.
Speaker 3 (13:41):
Now.
Speaker 1 (13:42):
If there is a particular signal, like I have one,
I always say I live about one hundred and twentieth
in Q.
Speaker 3 (13:50):
I have one there. If you come off.
Speaker 1 (13:51):
The I eighty ramp there at Q Street and you
go up to one hundred and twentieth and Q, that
light can be really annoying.
Speaker 3 (14:00):
And if you have a light that in.
Speaker 1 (14:02):
Particular that you say, like the caller, that you're the
only one there and you don't think it's timed right,
you can call the Public Works department. If you don't
know the number to call, you can call the hotline
and they will guide you on and report that light
and say, you know, I think this needs attention. The
one thing I brought up before, but I will again
with the new street lights signals not street lights. Street
(14:24):
lights are run and managed by OPPD street lights. I'm
talking about signals, traffic signals, and I'm talking about if
the traffic signal you have a problem with one to call.
But with the replacement of the new ones, they're LEDs
and they're cool, and that is a problem during snowstorms,
especially if it's windy, because the snow gets on those
(14:44):
and the old bulbs in the past were hot and
it would melt them off. And now if we have
a snowstorm and snow gets on those LEDs on the signals,
they can just stick there and stay there and they
literally have to come out with like these big long
brooms and brush them all off. So anytime you have
an area that is a major concern with you with
(15:05):
for you, please call and let them know because they
will take care of it. Public Works is good at
responding to those things.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
We're going to move to the phone lines now. Thank
you for being patient. Connie, you are on the KFAB
comment line with Jean's author.
Speaker 4 (15:18):
Good morning, Good morning. My husband and I were a
little shocked when we saw a bike lane built on
one hundred and eighths just north of Maple. And we're
trying to figure out when we are driving on pothole
Leyden streets that shake your teeth out and bend your
tire rims, how did is it that we are taking
(15:41):
up driving lanes because going east and north and south
is already a nightmare in Omaha. And then we get
one hundred and eighth street down to one lane both ways,
And did we vote for this, And I mean, I understand,
I just to me by lanes are I can see
him downtown where you're trying to do a or in
(16:04):
some of these new developments where you're actually trying to
make it a But we're not that one hundred and
eighth and Maple is not that it is easier so
the sunny slope kids can get to McDonald's. I don't understand.
How did this happen?
Speaker 3 (16:18):
You know, that's a good question.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
And there are bike trails that they have been working
on in Omaha to connect four years that can basically
get you from North Omaha down to Bellevue practically, and
there are those that commute by bike. Now I brought
this up before that it's worth repeating.
Speaker 3 (16:40):
In Omaha.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
When I was mayor, I thought we had to look
at every way people commute. It is true in Omaha
at least eighty to eighty five percent of people commute
by car. There is no doubt, and no matter how
many bike lanes are put in, they will still primarily
commute by car. But we have to look at walkability.
We have to look at bikes, we have to look
(17:01):
you know, pedestrians, we have to look at public transportation,
and we have to look at cars. The one thing
that I when and I hate to just always refer
when I was mayor, but that's what I know the
most about is I did not I could not see
putting in especially protected bike lanes and spending taxpayer dollars
when our streets, as you said, were laden with potholes
(17:25):
and particularly some of them just blown up and needing
the attention there. So that's why before we started really developing,
what we would do is expanding the bike lanes. Is
we got in Maya twenty twenty, a two hundred million
dollars bond issue, road bond issue passed by a vote
of the people. The people did vote on that, and
(17:48):
I don't know if you remember that, but I sure do.
Is the voters also with approving that bond issue, they
approved a three and a half penny property tax increase
to pay the bonds. They approved a tax increase. The
voters did. I never had to do that. I was
able to manage the budget in such a way after
(18:11):
twenty twenty when that was passed that we were able
to pay the bonds without doing that voter approved tax increase.
Speaker 3 (18:19):
So that's just managing the budget.
Speaker 1 (18:22):
And so then in November excuse me, of twenty twenty four,
we got that by a vote of the people reauthorized
that bond issue for basically essentially another two hundred million.
So we are doing more work on the streets that.
Speaker 3 (18:37):
We have ever done.
Speaker 1 (18:38):
And it can't just be patching a pothole, you know,
to rehabilitate the streets and get them so we're not
just chasing our tails every winter patching potholes. We need
to resurface and rehabilitate those streets and so that's what
the bond issue is doing. We have over five thousand
lane miles a road in Omaha. It's actually about fifty
(18:59):
five hundred lane and Omaha, so this will take a while.
You can't get every street done at once, but there
is a process that the Public Works Department is using
to prioritize streets and every single city council district all
over the city get the worst streets first, and so
those are getting more attention than they ever have. Hopefully
the voters will continue approving and reauthorizing that bond issue,
(19:23):
so more and more money is going into the roads
than they ever did. Now back to the bike lanes,
this is something like I said, that some people do
depend on. But all of the bike lane, a lot
of the bike lanes that we looked at and did
a pilot downtown and are being put in downtown are
being paid privately by philanthropy. They're not being paid with
(19:44):
taxpayer dollars. But with our new plan that we have,
with our master plan and our road master plan too,
like I said, we are looking at always that people commute,
and I think it's important people will bring up to
me all the time. I saw that metro bus today,
but he was on it. So therefore we don't need buses.
But you can't have a growing, thriving community and attract
(20:07):
people and keep young professionals here and attract to new
businesses if we don't have all those options available. So
there is more attention being placed on the roads. And
I know exactly what you mean by how frustrating it
is when you see a bike lane being put in
and the road is full of potholes. But those roads
are being prioritized and those roads will eventually be done.
Speaker 2 (20:30):
Gene, you had a little update about the streetcar.
Speaker 1 (20:32):
Well, yes, and you know that's that subject. Everybody loves
to talk about but I do love to talk about it.
And once again I said this many times, I will
take ownership of this streetcar.
Speaker 3 (20:42):
I will defend it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
And I could only be of help to the current
administration with the streetcar because you know, although the city
Council approved it, the almost Streetcar Authority has a lot
to do with it, but it would never admit it
to the council if I wasn't the one that said
let's go forward and do it. But the two rails
have been put in and they're each about one hundred
(21:04):
and sixty feet long. There is a big stockpile of
rails and we did that. We bought him a long
time ago because we got a good price and we
thought the price of steal was going to go up.
But Steve Jensen, he's, you know, one of the deputy
chiefs of staff that I brought on that always used
to kiddy me. Knows he's been dealing with the street
car for at least one hundred years. And then I
(21:24):
have to admit he's younger than me, so no, it's
not been one hundred years. But he knows we've been
talking about it since the nineteen nineties. Steve Jensen and
I are the ones that went all over Omaha and
did a PowerPoint. I swear we did it probably to
at least seven thousand people to give the background and
how it's going to be paid for, et cetera. But
(21:45):
now this is the first real infrastructure as far as
the streetcar itself being put in.
Speaker 3 (21:50):
You know, all that work that has been done so
far is under the ground.
Speaker 1 (21:54):
It's it's utility work right now that overall twenty twenty
six this year is going to be the construction year
for that line, since most of that utility work is
slated to wrap up by the end of the year,
as well as the bridge construction too. But the reason
we're starting here, the first rails are going in at
tenth and Capital, and the reason that is the eastern
(22:17):
terminus of the streetcar. Originally it was going to turn
at tenth and Capital, go down tenth and end in
front of the Arina Convention Center at tenth and Mike Fahey.
The reason that we pulled it back and didn't run
it in front of the Convention Center down to where
the ballpark is is because we wanted to make it
(22:40):
easier to make that future extension the northern extension up
into hopefully where the airport is. So at tenth and Capitol,
it would be much easier to take off from tenth
and Capital and go north than it would from Mike
Fahe and tenth Street. So that's why we're starting there.
And like I said on the air, is that we
(23:02):
had already applied for and received a grant to study
a future expansion of the street car, hopefully up to
the airport, and how it would be paid for.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
But that's where it's starting.
Speaker 1 (23:13):
And you know, there's a lot more information that can
be found about the street car. There's a there's a
web page called Omaha streetcar dot org and people can
find out a lot more about it. But that that
streetcar line, just to remind people, it's going to be
roughly five miles. It's going to run from tenth and
Capital where they're putting the rails in today to eighth
(23:36):
and Farnham, up Farnham to thirty ninth Street, back east
to Turner Boulevard, and then back into downtown via Harney Street.
So it's going to make one big loop. And so
it is. The work itself is starting, and you know
what I will tell everybody, I know there's a lot
of people skeptical about it, but just look at it
this way. Number one, the taxpayers are not paying for it.
(23:59):
The tax are not going to see their taxes go
up for the streetcar. It's going to bring incredible economic development,
growth jobs, so much construction work and jobs with this
whole project. It's going to be good for the entire
city of Omaha. And it'll be just like the Arena
Convention Center, just like the ballpark, just like the Dodge Expressway,
(24:20):
just like the Riverfront parks and all those new things
that were being done that people were real skeptical about.
But I think once it's up and running, people are
going to really see the value and appreciate it.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
All the kids that played with train tracks as kids
are fulfilling their dreams today.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
Well, I don't know, but I think it's going to
be great. And like I said, the cities that we
studied in our nearest city, nearest neighbor that we could
study is Kansas City, and it is so popular down
there they are expanding it already. And so I think
that that just shows you that the development around that streetcar,
(24:55):
it's already happening in Omaha. There's almost one hundred, no
one point five billion dollars worth of new development or
development underway along the streetcar corridor because of the streetcar,
and it's only going to continue. And that's good for
all of us. And you know, the one way people
say my taxes are too high, and they are. The
way that you lower taxes and keep them low is
(25:17):
you broaden your tax base. You broaden your tax base
by new developments, new to businesses coming into town and
paying those taxes. So when that happens, it's good for.
Speaker 2 (25:28):
All of Omaha. Tim says, will there be ris Aroni
at the end of the line for starving passengers?
Speaker 3 (25:33):
Well, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (25:34):
Maybe you know, like the San Francisco treat right, and
they still I've rode the cable cars. Have you been
on the cable cars in San Francisco? There still is
Rice Ernis side on the cable cars. I don't know,
but I'll tell you this, it's I've been. I've had
a lot of people mock me about this and say,
what do you want to name it the gene or something?
Speaker 2 (25:56):
No Stofford street car.
Speaker 3 (25:58):
No, no, no, it's not going to be named that.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
And again you can't have something a city owned facility permanently,
and I would call it a facility. It's a street
car permanently named after you until you are dead. So
I would rather not have something named after me.
Speaker 2 (26:12):
That is that is a very good point. Four zero two, five, five,
eight eleven ten. This is Jeff. You are on the
KFAB comment line with Jean Stouthard.
Speaker 3 (26:20):
Good morning.
Speaker 5 (26:22):
You want to gene. Hey, I've called in a few
times and ask questions and then it'll get cut off.
And sometimes I feel like I'll ask a question and
then you'll answer. You won't answer my question, you'll answer
your question. And uh, when it comes to the callers
that I'm hearing calling in over and over, like say
(26:42):
the bike leans. And you know, we can reference the
studies and all we've we've done these studies and they've
proven that their benefit and and there's a saying a
comment that we want to attract people to Omaha and
we want to grow. Well. One of the things that
you know, we can look at studies, which I don't
think just because something is done with a study, I
(27:05):
think you can see that many studies are wrong. First
of all, and then if there's a study that is incorrect. Listen,
listen to the your constituents out here. I don't have
I don't hear anybody calling the radio show saying we
thank God for this. The bike leans, the bike lanes
are a benefit. They helped me get to working back.
I wouldn't have come to Omaha, so it wasn't for
(27:27):
the bike lanes. What we hear over and over and
over and people are just tone deaf is that they're
they're choking the streets there, they make traffic more difficult.
We want to attract people that have the ability to
drive a vehicle. We want to they could put gas
in their vehicle. We can get gas taxes from those
people moving here. I don't know any people moving in
(27:48):
uh to Omaha that are going to move here based
on the bike lanes, and that I don't even know
if that's the people we want to attract, because they're not.
I'm not seeing that. I'm not here that anywhere. But
I'm hearing the exact opposite, that we do not like them,
that they're a problem, that they're they make Omaha more difficult.
And with your point earlier, the taxes, if you really
(28:11):
want to attract people here, have this be a Tennessee
of Florida, a South Dakota, a low tax state, not
a high tax state. So get rid of them and
lower the taxes.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Well, thanks for your comments, and I don't disagree with
you at all. You know, and sometimes I do get
off on a rant. I think because I'm telling you
things that I know and that I'm aware of, people
will have differences of opinion.
Speaker 3 (28:36):
And that's that's what makes us.
Speaker 1 (28:38):
You know, a good city and a good mayor and
a good administration will be open to listening to you.
Speaker 3 (28:45):
I will say, there are some that feel.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Passionately about bike lanes, but like I said before, eighty
eighty five percent of the people in Omaha do commute
by roads by car, just like you said, and I
think that's why it's most important to put our emphasis
on fixing our roads first. The bike lanes that we
(29:08):
studied when I was mayor, and again I use that
word study, but we had to see are they really needed,
and if they are really needed, where would we put
them and would they be safe? Those are things we
need to know. But I did not want the taxpayers
paying for them, and so therefore that's why philanthropy has
come in and said, well, we feel strongly about bike lanes,
(29:31):
so we're going to put our money in where our
mouth is. So I mean, there are it's not that
we get everybody to call into a radio station, either
a talk show radio station. There are a lot of
people with differing opinions that never call in. So I
appreciate what you're saying, and I understand what you're saying.
I really do, because it's I drive around town. I
see the same thing you do, and I see, you know,
(29:53):
I see bike lanes that are taking up parking as
well as as a traffic lane, and I see no.
Speaker 3 (30:00):
One on it.
Speaker 1 (30:01):
I also see buses just like you do. That you
don't see a lot of people on them sometime. But
that doesn't mean that they're not beneficial, and it doesn't
mean that some people will use them. But as long
as we're not going to turn around and say, Okay,
we're going to raise everybody's taxes to put these bike
lanes in, you know, and we're going to find out
for those who want them another way to fund them,
(30:23):
that's the direction I'm going. But I do appreciate what
you're saying, and I think there's a lot of people
who feel exactly like you do.
Speaker 2 (30:31):
We want to bring people to Omahon, allowed to keep growing.
But at the same time, do we want to think
to ourselves, man, we shouldn't put bike bike lanes in
so that people who drive cars can come to Omaha
and pay our gas tax for us. You know, like,
is that really the frame of mind that we should
be coming into the conversation with.
Speaker 1 (30:49):
Well, you need public transportation, there's no doubt about that,
and we were sorely lacking that. And you know, we're working.
The City of Omaha does not run Metro Transit. People
think the City of Omaha runs the bus system.
Speaker 3 (31:02):
We don't.
Speaker 1 (31:02):
It's Metro Transit that runs the bus system. The only
thing that I did or the mayor did, was a
point to the Metro Transit board. And now the mayor
doesn't do that because they're elected, and so you know,
you've got to work. Let me back up a minute.
What I have said many times before, and it's so true.
If you want to attract new businesses, and we want
(31:25):
that in Omaha. We don't want the businesses leaving. We
want to maintain the businesses we have, do what we
can to make them thrive and we want to bring
new businesses and new talent and new people into Omaha.
That's how you grow your city. Otherwise it just gets stagnant.
Property values go down. And so what do you do
if you want to attract young professionals or you want
(31:48):
to prevent this brain drain. Then I know I'm going
off on a tangent here, but you give the young
professionals and the young workers and the young talent what
they're looking for, and what are they looking looking for.
When you're looking at younger talent, you're looking at urban living,
You're looking at public transportation, you're looking at walkability, you're
(32:09):
looking at entertainment, You're looking at all of those things
that a real thriving downtown has. And that's why we
had that Urban coret Committee developed and concentrated on downtown
in midtown so it all works together. And that's what
I'm trying to say, that you have to have all
these things that work together and work together for the
(32:30):
benefit of all the citizens.
Speaker 2 (32:32):
We don't have too much time here, but I have
Bob on the line, who's going to add to this conversation.
You are on the KFABE comment line with Jean Stoutht.
You are live, Bob.
Speaker 6 (32:41):
Hi Jean, Thanks thanks for taking the time. Yeah, as
I'm listening to the Agier comments here, there's a similar
problem in Des Moines that there exists in Omaha. You
have a small core of people who are these kind
of narcissistic urbanists who have this of a utopia where
(33:01):
everybody's going to ride a bicycle and it's going to
be green and it's wonderful. But they're not really the
ones creating or sustaining that ecosystem. It's on everybody else,
but it's forced on everybody, and it's really disingenuous, especially
from their viewpoint that it's inclusive, but it really just
serves them. And we're not supposed to talk about that
(33:24):
in that way, but I guess that's how I see it.
It's very selfish, and I think it gives them too
much credit to say they're looking for the greater good.
Speaker 2 (33:32):
They're not.
Speaker 6 (33:32):
It's just it's their vibe and they want everybody else
to support it at our expense.
Speaker 1 (33:37):
I cannot disagree with what you're saying there at all,
because I look at myself. You know, I'm You're not
going to see me on a hun a bike riding
in a bike line. It's something I just I don't do.
And I think I've tried to take public transportation in
Omaha once and didn't have a good experience.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
And so I understand what you're saying. I really do.
Speaker 1 (33:59):
And you know, there's a lot of different of opinions,
and that's why we have this show. I want to
hear from you, and I want you to be able
to say what you feel and for you to be
able to sound off. I don't disagree with what you're saying, though.
It seems like a lot of cities cater to just
a very very small vocal group, the vocal minority. And
(34:19):
you know, you got to you got to work with
the masses to and do what's best for the greater good.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
And that's what a city should be doing. And so
I will I will add to that.
Speaker 1 (34:29):
I will say the issue with affordable housing that is
a buzzword right now, and people will say, a lot
of people will say, my priority is affordable housing. Mayor
there are new Mayor ewing his number one priority is
affordable housing. But a lot of people don't understand what
affordable housing really is, and they think it's just cheap
(34:52):
good housing and it's not. And so you know, there
there's a difference of opinion, but there's also a lot
of misunderstanding of some the things that some of our
elected officials are making a priority. I think affordable housing
is important to some but not the masses. And so
you know, we want need to have a good housing
(35:13):
stock in Omaha. You know, we need our city to
continue to grow. We want to keep our house values up.
You know, those things are all important for a good, growing,
thriving community. So I appreciate all of your comments. That's
why we're doing this show. We want you to come on,
whether you agree or disagree, and give me your opinion
(35:34):
on things going on in the city of Omaha, because
I think everybody needs to hear it. And there definitely
is difference of opinion. And you know, people don't always.
Speaker 3 (35:43):
Agree with me.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Peyton, I was mayor twelve years. I said, I have
been criticized for just about everything that we have done.
Speaker 3 (35:51):
But that's okay.
Speaker 1 (35:52):
I mean, again, the mayor is the chief executive of
the city. Not everybody's going to agree with you, but
the mayor needs to be out there and listen to people,
whether they're getting a compliment or whether they're getting a criticism.
I told you, I've gotten so many criticisms. One of
the funniest things I think that I have ever had
said to me, though, and it was somebody called in.
(36:14):
I was on a Crash Davis show. I know a
lot of people here listening, remember Crash Davis, And somebody
said I was. You know, if people don't know me personally,
I used to be six feet tall. Now I'm about
barely five foot ten. I'm the incredible shrinking woman. But
somebody called in and told me that I was too
tall to be the mayor. And crash Davis about fell
out of his chair. And to this day, you know,
(36:36):
a lot of times he is like the MC at parades,
Like sometimes he'll be down at the Saint Patti's Day
Parade or the Elkhorn Day parade, and every time, when
I was still in the parades, he would say, and
here's the mayor of Omaha, but I think she's too
tall to be the mayor. It's like, okay, I'll take
it whatever. I have a funny Max story to tell you.
Max is my six year old, very precocious grandson. I
(36:58):
have two here in Omaha, Raymond and Max. Max is
the one that I take care of every Wednesday afternoon,
and he can say some of the funniest things. This
kid is so smart for six years old. But my
daughter told me on Easter Sunday, they were in line
at church to go to communion, and you know, the
little ones just go up and get blessed or they
say a little prayer. And Raymond and Max were in
(37:21):
line with my daughter Elizabeth and her husband Tom, and
she said, all of a sudden, Max looked at her
and said, I just can't do this.
Speaker 3 (37:29):
I can't do it. I need to go sit down.
Speaker 1 (37:31):
And my daughter said, you can't do what And he said,
I can't go to communion And she said why you're
just going up and get getting blessed And he said, mom,
I have concerns and he went and set that down.
Speaker 3 (37:42):
I don't know what goes through this kid's.
Speaker 1 (37:44):
Mind for being six years old, but he went and
sat down. He had concerns. So yes, he had concerns.
So Max, I don't know what goes through your little mind,
but boy, it's really something. But I thought that was hilarious.
So anyway, I'm going to have to ask him when
I watched on Wednesday what his real concerns were.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
We we love all of your input on all of
these things, good, bad, positive, negative, fun and ugly. We
love to hear it. And I've gotten a lot of
emails today at comment at kfab dot com. We've had
a lot of input today from the listeners, from you
guys calling us and text emailing us. And I just
think that one thing Kent says really summarizes it. Well,
(38:25):
you say you understand the concerns about whatever, but you
were in charge of our beloved city for years, yet
the same problems exist, and you say you understand, what
will you do?
Speaker 1 (38:37):
Well, I'm limited to what I can do now, but
you know, but these things, I feel like we did
listen and we did try to remedy a lot of issues.
But for example, with the street bond issue, you know
that's practically another four hundred million for the roads to
say we need to permanently fix the roads and quit
(38:58):
just filling these potholes. For another example, this cold patch
we used to use for potholes. You know, we worked
with Hawkins and we're making hot asphalt now. We have
a new city master plan that is being developed called
the Comprehensive Plan to look at future development in the city.
We have a new Parks master Plan, and again these
(39:18):
are I know you're saying plan, plan, plan, but you
got to have you got to have a guideline. You
have a guide of where you're going, and then decide
where you're going to pay for it. I think the
City of Omaha has progressed a lot in the last
twelve years, but there's still a lot to do.
Speaker 3 (39:35):
It's a big city.
Speaker 1 (39:37):
And the one thing with mayor is you just get
impatient because you want to get it all done at
one time, but you are so restricted by what things cost.
You have to balance your budget. You want to lower
taxes at the same time, but you want to really
really improve services. Another example is our new trash pickups
system that we have. The one that we had with
(39:57):
waste management it expired. We could not do that type
of a trash collection anymore. Nobody would bid on it.
We have a new trash collection system to try to
remedy that problem. Some people liked it, some people didn't,
but we had really no choice to do it.
Speaker 2 (40:11):
You can't just snap your finger, that's right, No I wish,
So what about a wand they have a wands maybe tucked.
Speaker 3 (40:17):
In your person.
Speaker 1 (40:18):
No, no, And I wish we could, but we you know,
things do. I mean, you're dealing with government, you know,
I mean, things take a long time. But we really
want you listening. We really want your comments, positive or negative.
Like I said, it's your chance to speak up and
sound off, whether you agree with what I'm saying or not.
Come on the show, keep on listening, tell us what
(40:39):
you think, and we're glad you're with us, and we
hope you tune in tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (40:43):
I've got a great guest tomorrow.
Speaker 1 (40:45):
Jason Lanaha with Lanaha Development is going to be on
and he's going to talk about Heartwood Preserve. He's going
to talk about what's happening at Midtown in the All
Mutual site, what's happening with the Mutual Tower downtown. He's
a developer for those things. We're going to have a
good time with Jason, and so listen in. Thanks for
being with us.
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