March 25, 2026 • 40 mins
A collection of topics today leads to fun and free conversation.
Listen
Watch
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
This weather, Scott is nuts. Yeah, it's going to be
eighty five today, you bet. I think it's going to
be fifty tomorrow, probably ten below on Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And the snow. We get eighty five tomorrow than a
windy seventy seven tomorrow. I think that that might be
one of those days where it starts getting much colder
as we get later in the afternoon because it switches
around to a north wind. We get a load tomorrow night,
near freezing before Friday morning, and then a high on
Friday of only about fifty.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, there's your weather report, but I'm smelling a tea
time today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Golf never heard of it? Is it fun? People play it?
They enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, Kevin o'rourk, my husband is playing today, and I
bet you Scott Vorhees just might be out there playing today.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, I am wearing a ridiculous pair of pants. I
might as well give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, they're pink with flowers on them.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Right, it's more of a salmon fuchia. Here we go,
it's not pink. There we go.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I used to have a security a Noaha police officer.
I'll name him Pete Norland. Pete is known for pink pants,
red pants, greens. I always used to laugh at what
he had on, but he was all put together all
the time. But you know, we were talking a little bit.
You were talking a little bit before about Amy Milton.
You know there might be a vacancy with the Omaha
City Council. I'm excited for Amy. This is Judge Vaughan's
(01:15):
position in district Court. He was appointed to the Nebraska
Supreme Court just just several months ago, and so she
has applied and she is what we would call the
in the final four because there was a lot more applicants.
And so the next is with the governor. He will
do interviews with them, and then it could be as
suit as next week even I mean, I don't think
(01:35):
he has anything scheduled yet, but it certainly could be.
But I just wanted to remind people we changed the
city charter about a year ago and the process now
for that if she resigns, and it would be the
same for Brinker Harding if he wins the congressional race
or Amy gets appointed to this judge ship is what
the charter says. They change it several years ago for
(01:56):
council members to mirror what it has said for a
long time for the mayor, and that is if you
have more than two years on your term, then it
goes to a special election. If you have less than
two years on your term than the city Council appoints.
So both Amy and Brinker would have more than two
years because the election just happened a year ago, so
(02:17):
it would be a special election. So have to wait
and see if she gets appointed or not. I loved
working with Amy on the City Council. She is she's tenacious,
she's smart, and she's got a great backstory too. Amy,
does you know, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me
talking about it on the radio. But she was working
at Eddie Bauer, and she was married, she was having
(02:41):
her first child. Her marriage kind of fell apart and
she moved back with her parents, and she really wanted
to make something of herself, and she worked her away
with a young child through law school, which I think
is so admirable, and was working in evenings to fill
in and make some extra cash and money so that
she could get by. So she's got a great backstory too.
(03:01):
She's worked really really hard to get where she is
and she's fine. She's kind of like yours truly here.
I mean, she digs in and she fights about for
things that she feels like is right. And I really
liked working with her. So good luck. I know the
governor will pick the right person. But we'll see what
will happen, and then people will have to watch and
(03:22):
see if she resigns. Our Brinker too. If he resigns,
if he is elected, then there would be a special election.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Can I jump in with a question on this? Why?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Certainly?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Because you got seven members in the city Council, You've
got three people who are much more of the conservative
ilk Amy Melton being one of them. They're in the minority.
Danny Bagley is that swing vote? Absolutely so? I mean,
if she is on the city Council and looking maybe
to take a position on the bench and have to
leave the city council, is it because things right now
(03:52):
with the city Council are such that she doesn't want
to be a part of it anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No, I don't think so. I think this is you know,
her passion is her law degree is being a lawyer,
and she obviously doesn't get to practice well, she does
practice law. She has a private practice, but the City
Council takes up, honestly, a lot of time, and I
think being an attorney and working full time as an
attorney is what her passion really is. And these judge
(04:18):
ships don't come up that often. They really don't. And
although Amy is much younger than me, I'm sure she
would enjoy me saying that there comes a time in
a lawyer's career that to kind of age out on
hoping that they might get appointed to a judge ship,
because once the governor appoints someone to a judge ship,
they want them on there for the long haul. And
(04:40):
so not that she's old, because she's not, but this
is just the right time for her too, I think
to apply. I don't think it has anything to do
with any controversy on the city Council because the whole
time I was mayor for twelve years, it was four Democrats,
three Republicans.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
What about when you were on the council.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It was four Democrats and three public and so.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Whatman that like? It was you, Chuck Siegerson and Franklin Thompson. Yeah,
for the three Conservatives on the council at that time. Yes,
So you you don't have a lot of influence, But
how many votes come up in Omaha where it's just like,
all right, we're playing politics here, it's a four to
three and you're just sitting there, going, why am I
even here? Why do bother show up?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It happens, you know, And it happened a lot, well
not a lot, but it does happen. When I was mayor.
Now you know there are four to three votes. Now,
the mayor has the ability to veto a vote, and
they have to have five to override. Because so if
they're going to override a mayor's veto, then one of
the three that voted, you know the other way has
(05:42):
to swing over. So the mayor does that have that
ability to do that. But the way I always looked
at it is I thought, Okay, there's gonna be there's
going to be a dozen issues that they don't agree
with me on that there's going to be one hundred
more that they do. And so you really got to
put some of those four or three votes and disagreements
aside because there's so much you need to work together on.
(06:06):
Now I'm going to bring up one because I think
historically this is something probably people have forgotten about. But
when I was on the city council. Okay, So the
four Democrats that were on the city council proposed to
change Webster Downtown to Mike Fahee if you recall that,
and it passed with a four to three vote. And
(06:29):
so I and Chuck Seegerson and Franklin Thompson thought, well,
let's let's think about and maybe we could get tenth
Street in front of the Arena Convention Center named after
hal Dab because he was so invested in that Arena
Convention Center. Before that could be done, on a four
(06:49):
to three vote, the city council changed what the policy
is and said, you have to be deceased before you
get a street permanently named after you, and you have
to be deceased for ten years. So on a four
to three vote that passed. So we were unable to
rename tenth Street after hal dam because he is very
(07:12):
much alive.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They must have changed it back because they just named
a portion of a street where John Ewing grew up
after him.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That's different. Yeah, that's that's different. That's called a commemorative street.
So a commemorative street.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Sign, right, this green signs the actuals right right?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If they did a commemorative street for Mike Fahey, for example,
it would still be called Webster and there would be
a little plaque underneath that would say Mike Fahey. And
that's exactly what happened with John Ewing Street. It's still
if you look at street maps, it's still called whatever
the street was. I don't even recall, but it's a commemorative.
The city Council does commemorative street namings all the time,
(07:53):
right they and people don't even really know. They say
a little plaque under there and that's what the commemorative
name is. But anyway, so that's an interesting four to
three vote that went down when I was on the
council and we're like, but you know what, that's how
it goes.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I ask you. And maybe the most highly annoying question
of the week here on the kfab comment line, and
by the way, you can get yours in as well
comment at kfab dot com. And that is a lot
of people kind of saw Amy Melton as a potential
candidate for mayor in the city elections, which are still
three years away. But I'm sure there are people already
(08:28):
kind of getting their team together and ready to go
there and challenge John Ewing should he decide to run
for reelection, And a lot of people thought perhaps Amy
Melton would be that conservative who'd come up through city
politics kind of like our own Gene Stouther did and
make that challenge. But if she ends up, if she
ends up being appointed to this position as a judge,
(08:51):
I don't know that she would leave that to run
for mayor. Absolutely not. If Branker Harding's in Congress and
she's behind a bench, what does that landscape look like
for someone to be a conservative candidate for mayor in
three years?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well for us conservatives. And I've talked to like the
Douglas County Republican Party, the state Party, and I said,
you know, if we want a good candidate to run
in four years, you've got to start now, and you've
got to start vetting people to start considering running for mayor.
It's a big job. True, Amy would have been a
good candidate. Amy is very, very conservative, and I think
(09:28):
Amy also was able to evaluate what happened to me.
You know, I was the conservative Republican mayor in the
blue dot and Omaha definitely is blue. We are not purple,
we are blue. There's approximately twenty twenty four thousand more
Democrat voters in Omaha now than Republican and you know,
(09:50):
it becomes harder and harder for a Republican. I said
when I was running for mayor, I said, if I lose,
it's going to be a long time before there's another
Republican mayor in the city of Omaha. And I did,
and so you know, I got to move on. That's okay,
but I think that a lot of thought needs to
go into who will run now. Remember John Ewing already
(10:10):
announced it. It was in the World Herald the other
day that he already said, which I found a bit
odd because he's been mayor eight months and he's already
said he's running for a second term. What I always
did is I waited till the third year, and I thought,
if I'm doing a good job and my team is
doing a good job and Omaha's moving along, I'll run again.
(10:32):
But if we're not and I think somebody could do better,
I'd be happy. You know, I was going to be
happy to step aside. And so usually you want to
wait until you're in that term to give people some
idea of what you and your team is going to
accomplish before you announced. Eight eight months into a term
and the first time he's ever served as mayor is
(10:53):
pretty early to announce you're running again.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So you don't have a name of someone who might
be a conservative challenger here in the city of all
oh I do.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's not gonna be me, I'll tell you that. I mean,
I'm done with that, with running for any any position
at all. But I have a couple people in mind
that I think would be excellent candidates. But I'm not
going to mention their names yet because I'm working on
him because they they have not agreed to this yet.
But I think that there are good potential candidates. You know,
(11:25):
I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna name one, for example,
just because I talked to him several years ago when
I was considering whether I was going to run for
a meryer again, and Brett Linstram came up. I mean,
Brett Linstrom is much more of a moderate. He's young,
he's bright, he understands government, he understands finance, and you know,
(11:50):
I'd like to have him on the show sometime and
we'll talk about that. But I asked him about that
several years ago, I said, is that is this something
that you might consider running for mayor of Omaha. So
there's just some person to think about and to ponder.
But I've I've got a couple more that I thought
about that I've actually even spoken to to say, is
(12:10):
there any interest. Some of these people that I've talked
to are thinking about running for a city council and
I would say, don't sell yourself short here. Although being
on the city council was great, they would be good
mayoral candidates too. So yeah, we have to start thinking.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Now Brett lives in District seven. Maybe, I mean, I
don't want to put Amy Milton in the robes. Yeah,
just yeah, the governor will make that decision. But if
it does end up working out that way, and there
are some very talented judicial minds also up for that position,
then they're going to need someone in a special election
to jump in quickly in District seven. So maybe you
(12:48):
call your buddy Brett on that one.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And you know, it's the city council. It is an
important position. I mean, there's only seven in the legislature,
there's forty. You're one of forty nine in the city council.
You're one of seven and you represent quite a few
people and it's a very very important position. And it's
important that the city Council and the mayor have a
good working relationship too, because, like I said, you don't
(13:11):
always agree. You know, there was one council member that
I found so difficult to talk to, which you mentioned
in your previous time that you were on the air
and you mentioned a cant throwing a candle with that person.
But so difficult to talk to. I mean, I found
it it almost impossible to even have a conversation with.
(13:34):
So those those members that are on the City Council
are very important. Levanna Goodwin who now represents District two
that that is newly elected, that defeated this this council
member wanting the Johnson that we're talking about. You know,
I like I like her, I really do. And I
always think you got to give credit where credit is due.
(13:56):
And Lavannya she was the director are the chair of
the North twenty fourth Street bid, which is the Business
Improvement District, and she achieved more in a short period
of time than any other bid that we had in
the City of Omaha. And she and it was moving
forward at just rapid speed. She knows her area and
(14:20):
she did a very good job, and I think she's
going to do a good job on city Council. She listens, Yeah,
she listens a lot, and I met with I saw
her the other night at an event at the Holland
the new Tenasca Center for Arts Engagement and talk to
her a little bit there. We could have her on
the show sometime. It be interesting listening to the kfab
comment line. This is your host, Gene Stothard. I am
(14:42):
your producer today, Scott Vorhees and emails and phone lines
are open four O two five to five eight eleven ten.
That's four oh two five five eight eleven ten or
comment at kfab dot com. And we've got some people
lined up here. But I know that you wanted to
address a couple of other things here before we mixed
in the comments here.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Well, we've been talking a lot about streetcar, maybe too much,
but I will take any of your questions on the streetcar.
I truly know a lot about what's going on, and
I know about the history. But there is an issue
coming up right now. It's on the front page of
the World Herald today about the cost of the street cars,
and I was involved when we were picking out the
(15:24):
street cars. They are already ordered. We thought we had
a really good price on them. They're being made in Spain, however,
and the price that we got for the street cars,
and we ordered six. Somebody asked me the other day
on the air how many we had, how many are
going to be running at one time? So I wanted
to clarify that because of this article made me think
(15:47):
about it in the World Herald today. We ordered six cars,
and those six cars we expected to pay forty one
million for those six vehicles. Now the city is dealing
with is there going to be terriff on those a
tariff bill? And if there is a tariff on that,
that will add twelve and a half million dollars to
the costs. So then the cost is up to fifty
(16:08):
three and a half million dollars, So twelve and a
half million on a tariff bill for purchasing those streetcars
in Spain, and they are already purchased. But there's six cars.
The plan is to be running four at a time,
and if there is an event going on, they will
be running five at a time. Someone also asks what
(16:32):
a complete loop? How long it would take. There really
isn't a lot of reason to do just get on
and do a complete loop because you're end up right
where you started. But to go from one end to
another typically it would take about twenty minutes. If you
do a complete loop, then twice that much. But there's
like I said, there's really not a need to just
sit there and go in a big circle unless you
(16:53):
just want to ride the street car.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
And maybe you do. All right, you do. We've got
a call on the street car here. You brought it up,
so we'll start there. Joseph on eleven KFAB with Jean Stothard.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Good morning, good morning, slow simple, If in fact the
street cars need to be manned by police, would that
cost be incurred by the city or would it be
incurred elsewhere it would come from.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
The cost would be from the project itself, not from
the taxpayers. So as we talked many times before, the
project or the street cars, and the construction of the
street car, the rails, the whole thing, the vehicle maintenance facility,
it will be paid for from the project and that
(17:44):
means from the tiff from all the developments that are
popping up around the streetcar quarter that's where the cost
of the street car and the construction will come from,
not from the taxpayers and not an increase in their taxes.
And so the other costs that we are talking about
and what you ask about, will come from the cost
(18:05):
or from the project itself, but not from your property
taxes being increased.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Joseph, thank you very much for the call. Why would
it cost anything more if police are patrolling, and they'd
be patrolling on the streets anyway, one of them could
hop on the street car see what's going on, why
would that be any additional costs.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Well, there's other things too that we're looking at doing.
You know, in Kansas City they had an issue, for example,
of homeless people wanting to live on the streetcar so
they would jump on it and stay on it all day,
and they just came up, you know, within other cities.
We've got a lot of ideas from other cities of
problems that happened that that after one complete loop, everybody
(18:42):
has to go off. Kansas City has ambassadors, they're not
actually police officers, but they call them ambassadors that ride
the streetcar. They also have cameras and you know, we
do have the ability with the Omaha police to man
those cameras and watch those cam and we do have
the ability for Omaha police to be on the street
(19:03):
cars too, but you know, the Omaha police go where
they're needed, and you know, we have to see how
it works in Omaha with the street car. But the
one thing we want to really assure people that whether
you jump on the street car at ten in the
morning or at one in the morning after a ballgame
or a concert or something, you're going to be safe.
(19:23):
And that's what we really want to see what other
cities have done, what they have done to guarantee safety,
and that's what we'll do too, you know, Scott. The
other day the mayor announced the Memorial Park concert with
Smokey Robinson and Cake. I like Smokey. Smokey's getting up there,
but I like him. Think I'll go. I think it's
going to be fun. But I didn't know who Cake was.
(19:47):
Oh you do, and so I googled Cake and I
got about ten bakeries and a recipe for red velvet cake.
So I still didn't get a lot about who Cake is.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You're all good, I know Cake is a nineties, quirky
kind of a fun funk alternative rock band, a little
bit of genre defying. They had a hit with I
Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. They did their own twist
on it, so it's a little bit of an interesting pairing.
But I think they'll revel the opportunity to win over
(20:19):
the Smokey Robinson fans. I think a lot of people
who'll go, and they'll kind of be in the same
age lane that I am, which is grew when I
was a kid. Of course, Smokey Robinson's music is timeless,
but that was on my mom's forty fives when I
was a kid. But he had a couple of big
hits on the radio in the late eighties when I
(20:41):
was growing up and listening to that. But then we
transition over to the modern rock sound of cake, but
we still appreciate Smokey Robinson. So I think there'd be
a lot of people. They are going to see both artists.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Something for everybody, I think, And I love that concert.
You know, it's so weather dependent. Though lucky the past
twelve years we've been pretty good, but I remember times
when people put their you know, their blankets out and everything,
and it just had a big storm and it poured
and it rained, but that's a fun concert. I was
lucky enough the past, within the past twelve years that
(21:13):
I was able to meet several of the performers. I
met Sheryl Crow, Stevie van Zant. One of the nicest,
absolutely nicest, was Chris Isaac when he was here. And
that's the one when he called me up on stage
and had me dance with him.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Seriously, yeah, you re enacted the Wicked Game video. No
one will forget that.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And how could I ever go up on stage and
dance with Chris Isaac? But boy was he nice. And
even after the show, when I was walking to where
the car was parked, he was still backstage. He said, hey, Mayor,
and come on over. He was just a very nice, friendly,
good looking guy too. Yeah, he was very nice. Stevie
van Zant was funny too, because when I talked to
(21:55):
Stevie van Zant, alls I could think about him is
being on the Sopranos. Had great roll he had on
the Sopranos. And I asked him, I said, was that
just a ball and he said, oh, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
There'll be another fun show. Kfab is honored to be
a part of it Sadeve Omaha celebrates America concert Friday,
June twenty sixth.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So much fun.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Get back here into the KFAB comment line four oh two, five, five,
eight to eleven ten. I'm producer Scott Vorhees. Today. Your
host is Jean Stothard and we've got Adam on the line. Adam,
Welcome to news radio eleven ten KFAB with Jean Stouth.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Good morning, Good morning. I hope everybody is doing well today.
So I won't take up too much of your guys's time,
but I have a question here. So I actually am
with the Veterans Freedom March occurring on October twenty fourth,
and what we are is a nationwide movement bringing together
(22:48):
awareness for you know, homeless veterans who are homeless and
you know how they're treated at BA facilities. So here's
my question. I'll kind of tee up the question here
is I So I'm the state coordinator for Nebraska, by
the way, But so my question is is what is
the city done and what can the city do to
(23:09):
not only about homelessness, but more specifically it'll help us
out with veteran homelessness.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sure, you know, we have a lot of initiatives underway
that have, in my opinion, has really helped the issue.
Are we going to completely eliminate homelessness. I don't think
we are, but I think we can greatly reduce it.
When I appointed well, I created the job description and
appointed Tamra Dwyer as the Homeless Service Coordinator. I think
(23:37):
that was a big step and the current mayor, Mayor Ewing,
is obviously keeping her on because I wanted somebody in
the mayor's office that responded directly to the mayor, reported
directly to the mayor to coordinate all of our street
outreach and all of those great groups we have out
in the community. Now, I will tell you this, her
actions and what she is doing has really made a
(23:59):
different And I remembered one year there was over ninety
different we call them families because it could be one person,
two people, or four people, but about ninety we got
into shelter or got the services that they need, and
I think that shows great progress. Now, I will tell
you this, HUDD every year does what they call account
(24:20):
in time, and my team went out there and they
actually count how many are unsheltered and get information from
our shelters that are how many are in shelters, and
the numbers were going down. Now, despite what you heard
from a lot of candidates during the mayor's race, the
numbers are going down. And the number that went down
(24:42):
the most was our veterans, which I thought was very significant.
And so I think that that really shows that there
was some extra attention on the veterans and the other
services that were available for the veterans. But there is
I explained this the other day, there's such a difference
to between those are homeless that are in shelter and
those that are choose to be unsheltered, because we want
(25:04):
all those unsheltered to be in shelters, but some choose
not to, and a lot of times it's because they
don't want to follow the rules, they have animals, or
they have some real mental health issues and addiction issues.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Adam, thank you very much for what you're doing. Tell
me again the details about the upcoming Veteran Freedom March.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
So the Veterans Freedom March, I'll pull the permit for
it around the state capitals, happening October twenty fourth at
eleven am. And I just became the state coordinator. So
this is a little bit evolving we are looking for,
you know, keynote speakers. Anybody that's interested or has questions
can call me at for zero here.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
We don't give our phone numbers on the radio.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
You guys got a website, yes, so, Nebraska Freedom or
excuse me, Veterans Freedom March dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Got it, Veteransfreedommarch dot com. Adam, thank you very much,
Thank you you're doing. Appreciate the call four two, five, five,
eight eleven ten or comment at kfab dot com. I've
got a comment for you. This one comes from EJ. Says,
good morning, Gene. There's a neighbor on my street that
is running a business out of their residential home. They've
(26:17):
got anywhere from ten to fifteen vehicles at the house
every day, five seven work cars and personal cars parked
in the street. There's a major school bus route and
on street parking is reduced to one lane. This is
an old neighborhood with no sidewalks, so of course I'm
concerned about what could happen here. Isn't there an ordinance
that limits the amount of cars for a single residence.
(26:40):
I've emailed my city council person for help, never received
a response. Tried searching online. I don't know the correct
legal terms to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Love the show that's from EJ.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Thank you. You know what you know the I mentioned
the Mayor's Hotline many times, and I really paid a
lot of attention to to what complaints were coming into
the hotline when I was mayor and how we were
addressing those problems. But I will tell you the number
one issue that comes into the hotline is problems with neighbors.
(27:14):
Neighborhood problems, whether it's a darking bar, dog, noisiness, a
trashy yard, vehicles parked in the yard, people parked in
you know, there are RVs in the street, whatever, But
neighbor issues. Now I know. I know the current mayor,
Mayor Ewing has said his focus this year is going
to be the year of the neighbor and just being
friendly to your neighbor. Well that that works only so far.
(27:38):
I mean, when you have an issue like you're talking about,
it's it's difficult to say we'll just go hug it
out with your neighbor. So I will suggest to you
to call the Mayor's Hotline. That's why they're there. You
call four four four five five five five and report
that because to me, it sounds like that there are
several numerous issues that are violent leading wood is in
(28:00):
city code that can be addressed, whether it would be
by an inspector from the Planning department or actually a
police officer. That I do believe that there are quite
a few issues that could be addressed that are violating
city code. But I would I would encourage you to
follow or to call the mayor's hotline again. Four four
(28:22):
four five five five five. That's the hotline. Boy, do
I know that one?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
That's one number we can give out because that's why
they're there. Trish emails and says we were on stage
with you and Chris Isaac. He'd called up my daughter
and then me. That's from Trish. Oh yeah, comment CA
dance better.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
She danced better than I did.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Comment at kfab dot com or four oh two five
five eight eleven ten, John, Welcome to the kfab comment line.
You're on with Jeans to third.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Hey, good morning. My question is of the four eighty
bridge over in Missouri River. I've been coming up here
to Omaha for a long time, and I remember when
it was shut down for two years and since then
it has not been like free from construction every year since.
And I was wondering who coordinates between Iowa and Nebraska
(29:09):
the construction on that bridge. Why couldn't they have got
all that done when it was shut down for those
two years? And why does it continue to keep going on.
It just seems like it's the NonStop project of shutting
down lanes on the for eighty bridge going across the
Missouri River, which just causes problems daily because people don't
know how to drive right.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And you know it's with bridges, especially those crossing the river.
It's like the never ending story.
Speaker 6 (29:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I told every people many times. I grew up in Illinois.
My first job I had after I got a nursing
school was in Saint Louis. So that's when I moved
to Saint Louis when I was an adult. The Poplar
Street Bridge over the Mississippi has been under construction for decades.
This is just I mean, I don't understand it myself.
These are coordinated with the Iowa Department of Transportation and
(29:58):
the Nebraska Department of Transfer in rotation. The two dots
are the one that coordinate work on all the bridges,
including the ones over the river, you know, and the
bridges are always a concern. Like I talked about before,
bridges on four eighty. There are six bridges on four eighty.
They all were on the list to be reconstructed. All
(30:20):
six bridges we moved and with conversations with the Nebraska
Dot to move the Harney Street and the Farnham Street
up because of the streetcar reels being put in, but
they were already on the list to be done anyway.
And so oh and they're speaking of this. I'm getting
off track here, but there is some rumors out there
that four eighty is going to be closed down during
(30:42):
the College World Series. That is not true. That is
not true.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
There weren't rumors. That's what was reported.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
It is not true.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
They're not closing down the whole thing, but they'll be
squeezed down to only a few lanes.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, no, not that I am aware of. But I
did call to find out if that rumor, if any
part of it was true, and they said, oh, good heavens, no,
not during the College World Series. So we'll see. We
could maybe get some more information. But it is the
two Department of Transportations with the state because they are
the ones that take care of our interstates and our bridges.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
John, thank you very much for the call. Four oh two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten.
Got emails here from Randy says we shouldn't ever vote
for you for any office because you're not a conservative anymore.
Michael emails and says it'll be a great day when
Jean Stothard comes back to Omaha politics and runs for something.
And then we've got Ollie who says, would you consider
(31:40):
running for streetcar conductors? So we're getting no, no, a
little bit of everything, he says, Toot. Those are all
In comment to kfab dot com, here's a question, and
it has to do with the street car. Jim says,
just curious why we bought the street cars from Spain
when there are companies in the US say that make them.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
There are very few companies in the USA that makes them.
But we got the best price on the company in Spain,
and that's where Kansas City bought theirs, So we were
able to look at those cars, see what they look like,
and we got the best price with that. So yes,
we did look at the American companies, but that one
was the best price and that's why we wanted to
take that. I do have to mention Scott didn't let
(32:22):
me respond to those three calls, but to two. No,
I'm never going to be the streetcar conductor. I'm sure
that was a little tongue in cheek comment right there.
I am not going to run for any political office anymore.
I've been in an elected position for twenty seven years.
I loved it. I've said this before. I love school board,
(32:43):
I love city council, I love being mayor. But I
think my time is done as far as running for
an elected position. Plus I'm on kfab right now too,
which is pretty good.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Bet.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I do want to comment about one comment that Scott
just read saying I'm no longer conservative, and I would
say that is absolutely wrong. In fact, one of the
reasons why I didn't win a fourth term is because
of my conservative position that I have in the blue dot,
which is what Omaha is right now. And I have
(33:14):
always said that I would be the mayor for everybody,
whether you are a Democrat, Republican, what the color of
your skin was, whether what your gender was, and I
meant it that I'll be the mayor for everyone. But
I also said I am not going to change who
I am and my conservative points of view and my
conservative feelings for anyone or to be elected. I'm a conservative,
(33:37):
I'm a Republican. People know that and that's who I am.
So I want to make that very very clear.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, you know how it works. If you agree with
someone nine out of ten times, but that tenth one, yes,
you're just slightly off. You are a rhino and should
should never be heard from. Yes, we make enemies out
of friends all the time, and I hate that term.
Let's get to this call from Dave Hanging on for
a while here. Dave, you're on the KFAB comment line
(34:03):
with your host Jean Stothard.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
I live in Millard in a circle type area and
a tree truck that came to trim trees had a
big hydraulically and left that huge dark stain out in
the circle at the end of my drive on. Oh,
I mean we're talking, you know, twenty foot long, five
foot wide. It's an ugly stain. Would the city come
(34:29):
out and remove something like that, powerwash it if you
call them, or how would you address that?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
H the tree company? Is that somebody that you had
doing work for you or was it just were they
doing it in the neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (34:45):
Well, it was doing some work for me and some
of the neighbor Yes, right, you know, that's.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
A question I've not been asked. The city typically does
not come by and powerwash in neighborhoods. They do, you know,
they have street sweepers and and that they bring out
in the in the springtime, but usually those are on
the mains and secondaries. But I know I'm saying this
a lot, but with that issue, it's it's hard for
(35:11):
me to answer what the city really has the capability
of doing. But I would encourage you again to call
the Mayor's hotline because that's why they're there, and they
will take your your concern and they will they will
send it to the appropriate department and that would be
Public Works. So that's that's what I would suggest you do.
And again it's four four four five five five. I'm
(35:33):
getting a lot of calls going to come into the hotline.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Well, there are lots of cleaning products you can get
at the store that clean concrete as well. Every once
in a while, you know you're one of your kids, right, Well,
friends will come over and park in your driveway and
there'll be a little oil drip there, drive every parent crazy.
But they got some concrete cleaner. I don't know how
big this stain is there that day's dealing with.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
If just a garden hose, and you know, it's just
good to go out there and really scrub it down.
If that would work too, And maybe there's a maybe
there's a lot of dirt and debris in that stain
too that will wash away. Maybe we need a good rain,
we need to We need it to rain a lot.
Maybe that had wash it.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Away for several reasons. Let's go back to the phones here, Michael,
you're on the KFAB comment line with Jean Stothart.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Good morning, Jean, good morning.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
I still live in Omaha, and one of my visits
back I attended Jerald R. Ford Memorial, and I just
pointing the upkeep of the area, who's responsor for that
the city?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And you know, we had a caller about that the
other day too, and I totally agree with you. I
know what it looks like. Several years ago I went
by there, and you know, they had an American flag
hanging out front that was ripped into and I think
that that keeping that up that especially since the memorial
excuse me for the president, that that is something that
(36:54):
deserves a lot more attention. But that is exactly why
I ask our Parks Department to do a new parks
master Plan and really prioritize which of our two hundred
and fifty six parks that we have in Omaha should
be address the issues in those parks first, to prioritize it.
And I think Mary Ewing is going forward with that plan.
(37:17):
We already had in place. We had a consultant that
we hired. I was interviewed by the consultant about a
year or so ago. But I agree with you, and
that is definitely an area that they let run down
and didn't prioritize, and they absolutely need to do that,
and I'm sure that that will be on their list
of what is what will be a priority in the
(37:37):
coming year.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So thank you very much for the call. Michael. Appreciate
that you can also send us a message with your
own voice via the talkback Mike. You don't want to
wait on hold, you can send us a message via
our free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (37:51):
Blessings, Jane, Thank you Ken from Lincoln. I just wanted
to call and thank you for the very kind words
you gave about Levanna Goodwin Levanna Wats and her maiden name.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
She's my little sister. Oh well, I like her a lot.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
It was nice to hear good.
Speaker 8 (38:14):
Comments about my sister in politics.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
She does a good job and I appreciate what she
I appreciate her passion.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you worked with Frank Brown. He was on the
city council when you were on there. He wasn't now,
he was already out.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, Frank had moved on when I was on the
city council. And I'm telling you in the council offices,
there are stories about Frank Brown and a lot of challenges.
But you know, I mean, everybody's a little bit different,
and everybody has a different focus and a different vision
about what they want to achieve.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
But former member of the Kfab team as well, and
he was on the council when I started here on
the radio, and he and I battled and battled, and
then we met at some event unrelated to politics and
started off bickering again, but it quickly turned to just
the most wonderful conversation and I was like, I like you, Frank,
(39:14):
And as we ended up getting along just fine after that.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I didn't know him real well at all, but interesting
that that's what I've heard about him, and that's okay.
I mean, he will look at Ernie Chambers, you know.
I mean, I think that there are people that can
be very contrary, but they are forcing you to think
about things. They're forcing you to debate things. They have
their own vision about what they want in their area,
and that's just the way it is.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Well, we just got about a minute in the left
half left here on the comment line. You've got a
great topic ready to go for tomorrow. Can you give
us an early heads up on that?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Well, what is you really and this is not related
to the streetcar, but what is really burning up the
internet now, and I really want people's opinion on this
is should we have dress codes for restaurants? I mean,
this is burning up the the internet now and to
the point that some restaurants are actually putting out ads
saying we just want you to come and eat. We
(40:07):
don't care what you have on but I'd love to
have your opinion on it too. So thanks for listening
to us today and thanks for being with us, and
come back tomorrow.
Today.
Speaker 2 (00:00):
This weather, Scott is nuts. Yeah, it's going to be
eighty five today, you bet. I think it's going to
be fifty tomorrow, probably ten below on Friday.
Speaker 3 (00:08):
And the snow. We get eighty five tomorrow than a
windy seventy seven tomorrow. I think that that might be
one of those days where it starts getting much colder
as we get later in the afternoon because it switches
around to a north wind. We get a load tomorrow night,
near freezing before Friday morning, and then a high on
Friday of only about fifty.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
Well, there's your weather report, but I'm smelling a tea
time today.
Speaker 3 (00:31):
Golf never heard of it? Is it fun? People play it?
They enjoy it.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
Well, Kevin o'rourk, my husband is playing today, and I
bet you Scott Vorhees just might be out there playing today.
Speaker 3 (00:40):
Well, I am wearing a ridiculous pair of pants. I
might as well give it a shot.
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Yeah, they're pink with flowers on them.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
Right, it's more of a salmon fuchia. Here we go,
it's not pink. There we go.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
I used to have a security a Noaha police officer.
I'll name him Pete Norland. Pete is known for pink pants,
red pants, greens. I always used to laugh at what
he had on, but he was all put together all
the time. But you know, we were talking a little bit.
You were talking a little bit before about Amy Milton.
You know there might be a vacancy with the Omaha
City Council. I'm excited for Amy. This is Judge Vaughan's
(01:15):
position in district Court. He was appointed to the Nebraska
Supreme Court just just several months ago, and so she
has applied and she is what we would call the
in the final four because there was a lot more applicants.
And so the next is with the governor. He will
do interviews with them, and then it could be as
suit as next week even I mean, I don't think
(01:35):
he has anything scheduled yet, but it certainly could be.
But I just wanted to remind people we changed the
city charter about a year ago and the process now
for that if she resigns, and it would be the
same for Brinker Harding if he wins the congressional race
or Amy gets appointed to this judge ship is what
the charter says. They change it several years ago for
(01:56):
council members to mirror what it has said for a
long time for the mayor, and that is if you
have more than two years on your term, then it
goes to a special election. If you have less than
two years on your term than the city Council appoints.
So both Amy and Brinker would have more than two
years because the election just happened a year ago, so
(02:17):
it would be a special election. So have to wait
and see if she gets appointed or not. I loved
working with Amy on the City Council. She is she's tenacious,
she's smart, and she's got a great backstory too. Amy,
does you know, and I'm sure she wouldn't mind me
talking about it on the radio. But she was working
at Eddie Bauer, and she was married, she was having
(02:41):
her first child. Her marriage kind of fell apart and
she moved back with her parents, and she really wanted
to make something of herself, and she worked her away
with a young child through law school, which I think
is so admirable, and was working in evenings to fill
in and make some extra cash and money so that
she could get by. So she's got a great backstory too.
(03:01):
She's worked really really hard to get where she is
and she's fine. She's kind of like yours truly here.
I mean, she digs in and she fights about for
things that she feels like is right. And I really
liked working with her. So good luck. I know the
governor will pick the right person. But we'll see what
will happen, and then people will have to watch and
(03:22):
see if she resigns. Our Brinker too. If he resigns,
if he is elected, then there would be a special election.
Speaker 3 (03:28):
Can I jump in with a question on this? Why?
Speaker 2 (03:30):
Certainly?
Speaker 3 (03:30):
Because you got seven members in the city Council, You've
got three people who are much more of the conservative
ilk Amy Melton being one of them. They're in the minority.
Danny Bagley is that swing vote? Absolutely so? I mean,
if she is on the city Council and looking maybe
to take a position on the bench and have to
leave the city council, is it because things right now
(03:52):
with the city Council are such that she doesn't want
to be a part of it anymore.
Speaker 2 (03:57):
No, I don't think so. I think this is you know,
her passion is her law degree is being a lawyer,
and she obviously doesn't get to practice well, she does
practice law. She has a private practice, but the City
Council takes up, honestly, a lot of time, and I
think being an attorney and working full time as an
attorney is what her passion really is. And these judge
(04:18):
ships don't come up that often. They really don't. And
although Amy is much younger than me, I'm sure she
would enjoy me saying that there comes a time in
a lawyer's career that to kind of age out on
hoping that they might get appointed to a judge ship,
because once the governor appoints someone to a judge ship,
they want them on there for the long haul. And
(04:40):
so not that she's old, because she's not, but this
is just the right time for her too, I think
to apply. I don't think it has anything to do
with any controversy on the city Council because the whole
time I was mayor for twelve years, it was four Democrats,
three Republicans.
Speaker 3 (04:56):
What about when you were on the council.
Speaker 2 (04:58):
It was four Democrats and three public and so.
Speaker 3 (05:00):
Whatman that like? It was you, Chuck Siegerson and Franklin Thompson. Yeah,
for the three Conservatives on the council at that time. Yes,
So you you don't have a lot of influence, But
how many votes come up in Omaha where it's just like,
all right, we're playing politics here, it's a four to
three and you're just sitting there, going, why am I
even here? Why do bother show up?
Speaker 2 (05:20):
It happens, you know, And it happened a lot, well
not a lot, but it does happen. When I was mayor.
Now you know there are four to three votes. Now,
the mayor has the ability to veto a vote, and
they have to have five to override. Because so if
they're going to override a mayor's veto, then one of
the three that voted, you know the other way has
(05:42):
to swing over. So the mayor does that have that
ability to do that. But the way I always looked
at it is I thought, Okay, there's gonna be there's
going to be a dozen issues that they don't agree
with me on that there's going to be one hundred
more that they do. And so you really got to
put some of those four or three votes and disagreements
aside because there's so much you need to work together on.
(06:06):
Now I'm going to bring up one because I think
historically this is something probably people have forgotten about. But
when I was on the city council. Okay, So the
four Democrats that were on the city council proposed to
change Webster Downtown to Mike Fahee if you recall that,
and it passed with a four to three vote. And
(06:29):
so I and Chuck Seegerson and Franklin Thompson thought, well,
let's let's think about and maybe we could get tenth
Street in front of the Arena Convention Center named after
hal Dab because he was so invested in that Arena
Convention Center. Before that could be done, on a four
(06:49):
to three vote, the city council changed what the policy
is and said, you have to be deceased before you
get a street permanently named after you, and you have
to be deceased for ten years. So on a four
to three vote that passed. So we were unable to
rename tenth Street after hal dam because he is very
(07:12):
much alive.
Speaker 3 (07:13):
They must have changed it back because they just named
a portion of a street where John Ewing grew up
after him.
Speaker 2 (07:20):
That's different. Yeah, that's that's different. That's called a commemorative street.
So a commemorative street.
Speaker 3 (07:28):
Sign, right, this green signs the actuals right right?
Speaker 2 (07:31):
If they did a commemorative street for Mike Fahey, for example,
it would still be called Webster and there would be
a little plaque underneath that would say Mike Fahey. And
that's exactly what happened with John Ewing Street. It's still
if you look at street maps, it's still called whatever
the street was. I don't even recall, but it's a commemorative.
The city Council does commemorative street namings all the time,
(07:53):
right they and people don't even really know. They say
a little plaque under there and that's what the commemorative
name is. But anyway, so that's an interesting four to
three vote that went down when I was on the
council and we're like, but you know what, that's how
it goes.
Speaker 3 (08:07):
I ask you. And maybe the most highly annoying question
of the week here on the kfab comment line, and
by the way, you can get yours in as well
comment at kfab dot com. And that is a lot
of people kind of saw Amy Melton as a potential
candidate for mayor in the city elections, which are still
three years away. But I'm sure there are people already
(08:28):
kind of getting their team together and ready to go
there and challenge John Ewing should he decide to run
for reelection, And a lot of people thought perhaps Amy
Melton would be that conservative who'd come up through city
politics kind of like our own Gene Stouther did and
make that challenge. But if she ends up, if she
ends up being appointed to this position as a judge,
(08:51):
I don't know that she would leave that to run
for mayor. Absolutely not. If Branker Harding's in Congress and
she's behind a bench, what does that landscape look like
for someone to be a conservative candidate for mayor in
three years?
Speaker 2 (09:05):
Well for us conservatives. And I've talked to like the
Douglas County Republican Party, the state Party, and I said,
you know, if we want a good candidate to run
in four years, you've got to start now, and you've
got to start vetting people to start considering running for mayor.
It's a big job. True, Amy would have been a
good candidate. Amy is very, very conservative, and I think
(09:28):
Amy also was able to evaluate what happened to me.
You know, I was the conservative Republican mayor in the
blue dot and Omaha definitely is blue. We are not purple,
we are blue. There's approximately twenty twenty four thousand more
Democrat voters in Omaha now than Republican and you know,
(09:50):
it becomes harder and harder for a Republican. I said
when I was running for mayor, I said, if I lose,
it's going to be a long time before there's another
Republican mayor in the city of Omaha. And I did,
and so you know, I got to move on. That's okay,
but I think that a lot of thought needs to
go into who will run now. Remember John Ewing already
(10:10):
announced it. It was in the World Herald the other
day that he already said, which I found a bit
odd because he's been mayor eight months and he's already
said he's running for a second term. What I always
did is I waited till the third year, and I thought,
if I'm doing a good job and my team is
doing a good job and Omaha's moving along, I'll run again.
(10:32):
But if we're not and I think somebody could do better,
I'd be happy. You know, I was going to be
happy to step aside. And so usually you want to
wait until you're in that term to give people some
idea of what you and your team is going to
accomplish before you announced. Eight eight months into a term
and the first time he's ever served as mayor is
(10:53):
pretty early to announce you're running again.
Speaker 3 (10:54):
So you don't have a name of someone who might
be a conservative challenger here in the city of all
oh I do.
Speaker 2 (11:02):
It's not gonna be me, I'll tell you that. I mean,
I'm done with that, with running for any any position
at all. But I have a couple people in mind
that I think would be excellent candidates. But I'm not
going to mention their names yet because I'm working on
him because they they have not agreed to this yet.
But I think that there are good potential candidates. You know,
(11:25):
I'm gonna. I'm gonna. I'm gonna name one, for example,
just because I talked to him several years ago when
I was considering whether I was going to run for
a meryer again, and Brett Linstram came up. I mean,
Brett Linstrom is much more of a moderate. He's young,
he's bright, he understands government, he understands finance, and you know,
(11:50):
I'd like to have him on the show sometime and
we'll talk about that. But I asked him about that
several years ago, I said, is that is this something
that you might consider running for mayor of Omaha. So
there's just some person to think about and to ponder.
But I've I've got a couple more that I thought
about that I've actually even spoken to to say, is
(12:10):
there any interest. Some of these people that I've talked
to are thinking about running for a city council and
I would say, don't sell yourself short here. Although being
on the city council was great, they would be good
mayoral candidates too. So yeah, we have to start thinking.
Speaker 3 (12:24):
Now Brett lives in District seven. Maybe, I mean, I
don't want to put Amy Milton in the robes. Yeah,
just yeah, the governor will make that decision. But if
it does end up working out that way, and there
are some very talented judicial minds also up for that position,
then they're going to need someone in a special election
to jump in quickly in District seven. So maybe you
(12:48):
call your buddy Brett on that one.
Speaker 2 (12:49):
And you know, it's the city council. It is an
important position. I mean, there's only seven in the legislature,
there's forty. You're one of forty nine in the city council.
You're one of seven and you represent quite a few
people and it's a very very important position. And it's
important that the city Council and the mayor have a
good working relationship too, because, like I said, you don't
(13:11):
always agree. You know, there was one council member that
I found so difficult to talk to, which you mentioned
in your previous time that you were on the air
and you mentioned a cant throwing a candle with that person.
But so difficult to talk to. I mean, I found
it it almost impossible to even have a conversation with.
(13:34):
So those those members that are on the City Council
are very important. Levanna Goodwin who now represents District two
that that is newly elected, that defeated this this council
member wanting the Johnson that we're talking about. You know,
I like I like her, I really do. And I
always think you got to give credit where credit is due.
(13:56):
And Lavannya she was the director are the chair of
the North twenty fourth Street bid, which is the Business
Improvement District, and she achieved more in a short period
of time than any other bid that we had in
the City of Omaha. And she and it was moving
forward at just rapid speed. She knows her area and
(14:20):
she did a very good job, and I think she's
going to do a good job on city Council. She listens, Yeah,
she listens a lot, and I met with I saw
her the other night at an event at the Holland
the new Tenasca Center for Arts Engagement and talk to
her a little bit there. We could have her on
the show sometime. It be interesting listening to the kfab
comment line. This is your host, Gene Stothard. I am
(14:42):
your producer today, Scott Vorhees and emails and phone lines
are open four O two five to five eight eleven ten.
That's four oh two five five eight eleven ten or
comment at kfab dot com. And we've got some people
lined up here. But I know that you wanted to
address a couple of other things here before we mixed
in the comments here.
Speaker 4 (15:02):
Sure.
Speaker 2 (15:02):
Well, we've been talking a lot about streetcar, maybe too much,
but I will take any of your questions on the streetcar.
I truly know a lot about what's going on, and
I know about the history. But there is an issue
coming up right now. It's on the front page of
the World Herald today about the cost of the street cars,
and I was involved when we were picking out the
(15:24):
street cars. They are already ordered. We thought we had
a really good price on them. They're being made in Spain, however,
and the price that we got for the street cars,
and we ordered six. Somebody asked me the other day
on the air how many we had, how many are
going to be running at one time? So I wanted
to clarify that because of this article made me think
(15:47):
about it in the World Herald today. We ordered six cars,
and those six cars we expected to pay forty one
million for those six vehicles. Now the city is dealing
with is there going to be terriff on those a
tariff bill? And if there is a tariff on that,
that will add twelve and a half million dollars to
the costs. So then the cost is up to fifty
(16:08):
three and a half million dollars, So twelve and a
half million on a tariff bill for purchasing those streetcars
in Spain, and they are already purchased. But there's six cars.
The plan is to be running four at a time,
and if there is an event going on, they will
be running five at a time. Someone also asks what
(16:32):
a complete loop? How long it would take. There really
isn't a lot of reason to do just get on
and do a complete loop because you're end up right
where you started. But to go from one end to
another typically it would take about twenty minutes. If you
do a complete loop, then twice that much. But there's
like I said, there's really not a need to just
sit there and go in a big circle unless you
(16:53):
just want to ride the street car.
Speaker 3 (16:54):
And maybe you do. All right, you do. We've got
a call on the street car here. You brought it up,
so we'll start there. Joseph on eleven KFAB with Jean Stothard.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Good morning, good morning, slow simple, If in fact the
street cars need to be manned by police, would that
cost be incurred by the city or would it be
incurred elsewhere it would come from.
Speaker 2 (17:23):
The cost would be from the project itself, not from
the taxpayers. So as we talked many times before, the
project or the street cars, and the construction of the
street car, the rails, the whole thing, the vehicle maintenance facility,
it will be paid for from the project and that
(17:44):
means from the tiff from all the developments that are
popping up around the streetcar quarter that's where the cost
of the street car and the construction will come from,
not from the taxpayers and not an increase in their taxes.
And so the other costs that we are talking about
and what you ask about, will come from the cost
(18:05):
or from the project itself, but not from your property
taxes being increased.
Speaker 3 (18:10):
Joseph, thank you very much for the call. Why would
it cost anything more if police are patrolling, and they'd
be patrolling on the streets anyway, one of them could
hop on the street car see what's going on, why
would that be any additional costs.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Well, there's other things too that we're looking at doing.
You know, in Kansas City they had an issue, for example,
of homeless people wanting to live on the streetcar so
they would jump on it and stay on it all day,
and they just came up, you know, within other cities.
We've got a lot of ideas from other cities of
problems that happened that that after one complete loop, everybody
(18:42):
has to go off. Kansas City has ambassadors, they're not
actually police officers, but they call them ambassadors that ride
the streetcar. They also have cameras and you know, we
do have the ability with the Omaha police to man
those cameras and watch those cam and we do have
the ability for Omaha police to be on the street
(19:03):
cars too, but you know, the Omaha police go where
they're needed, and you know, we have to see how
it works in Omaha with the street car. But the
one thing we want to really assure people that whether
you jump on the street car at ten in the
morning or at one in the morning after a ballgame
or a concert or something, you're going to be safe.
(19:23):
And that's what we really want to see what other
cities have done, what they have done to guarantee safety,
and that's what we'll do too, you know, Scott. The
other day the mayor announced the Memorial Park concert with
Smokey Robinson and Cake. I like Smokey. Smokey's getting up there,
but I like him. Think I'll go. I think it's
going to be fun. But I didn't know who Cake was.
(19:47):
Oh you do, and so I googled Cake and I
got about ten bakeries and a recipe for red velvet cake.
So I still didn't get a lot about who Cake is.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
You're all good, I know Cake is a nineties, quirky
kind of a fun funk alternative rock band, a little
bit of genre defying. They had a hit with I
Will Survive by Gloria Gaynor. They did their own twist
on it, so it's a little bit of an interesting pairing.
But I think they'll revel the opportunity to win over
(20:19):
the Smokey Robinson fans. I think a lot of people
who'll go, and they'll kind of be in the same
age lane that I am, which is grew when I
was a kid. Of course, Smokey Robinson's music is timeless,
but that was on my mom's forty fives when I
was a kid. But he had a couple of big
hits on the radio in the late eighties when I
(20:41):
was growing up and listening to that. But then we
transition over to the modern rock sound of cake, but
we still appreciate Smokey Robinson. So I think there'd be
a lot of people. They are going to see both artists.
Speaker 2 (20:52):
Something for everybody, I think, And I love that concert.
You know, it's so weather dependent. Though lucky the past
twelve years we've been pretty good, but I remember times
when people put their you know, their blankets out and everything,
and it just had a big storm and it poured
and it rained, but that's a fun concert. I was
lucky enough the past, within the past twelve years that
(21:13):
I was able to meet several of the performers. I
met Sheryl Crow, Stevie van Zant. One of the nicest,
absolutely nicest, was Chris Isaac when he was here. And
that's the one when he called me up on stage
and had me dance with him.
Speaker 3 (21:29):
Seriously, yeah, you re enacted the Wicked Game video. No
one will forget that.
Speaker 2 (21:34):
And how could I ever go up on stage and
dance with Chris Isaac? But boy was he nice. And
even after the show, when I was walking to where
the car was parked, he was still backstage. He said, hey, Mayor,
and come on over. He was just a very nice, friendly,
good looking guy too. Yeah, he was very nice. Stevie
van Zant was funny too, because when I talked to
(21:55):
Stevie van Zant, alls I could think about him is
being on the Sopranos. Had great roll he had on
the Sopranos. And I asked him, I said, was that
just a ball and he said, oh, yeah, it was.
Speaker 3 (22:05):
There'll be another fun show. Kfab is honored to be
a part of it Sadeve Omaha celebrates America concert Friday,
June twenty sixth.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
So much fun.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
Get back here into the KFAB comment line four oh two, five, five,
eight to eleven ten. I'm producer Scott Vorhees. Today. Your
host is Jean Stothard and we've got Adam on the line. Adam,
Welcome to news radio eleven ten KFAB with Jean Stouth.
Speaker 5 (22:27):
Good morning, Good morning. I hope everybody is doing well today.
So I won't take up too much of your guys's time,
but I have a question here. So I actually am
with the Veterans Freedom March occurring on October twenty fourth,
and what we are is a nationwide movement bringing together
(22:48):
awareness for you know, homeless veterans who are homeless and
you know how they're treated at BA facilities. So here's
my question. I'll kind of tee up the question here
is I So I'm the state coordinator for Nebraska, by
the way, But so my question is is what is
the city done and what can the city do to
(23:09):
not only about homelessness, but more specifically it'll help us
out with veteran homelessness.
Speaker 2 (23:14):
Sure, you know, we have a lot of initiatives underway
that have, in my opinion, has really helped the issue.
Are we going to completely eliminate homelessness. I don't think
we are, but I think we can greatly reduce it.
When I appointed well, I created the job description and
appointed Tamra Dwyer as the Homeless Service Coordinator. I think
(23:37):
that was a big step and the current mayor, Mayor Ewing,
is obviously keeping her on because I wanted somebody in
the mayor's office that responded directly to the mayor, reported
directly to the mayor to coordinate all of our street
outreach and all of those great groups we have out
in the community. Now, I will tell you this, her
actions and what she is doing has really made a
(23:59):
different And I remembered one year there was over ninety
different we call them families because it could be one person,
two people, or four people, but about ninety we got
into shelter or got the services that they need, and
I think that shows great progress. Now, I will tell
you this, HUDD every year does what they call account
(24:20):
in time, and my team went out there and they
actually count how many are unsheltered and get information from
our shelters that are how many are in shelters, and
the numbers were going down. Now, despite what you heard
from a lot of candidates during the mayor's race, the
numbers are going down. And the number that went down
(24:42):
the most was our veterans, which I thought was very significant.
And so I think that that really shows that there
was some extra attention on the veterans and the other
services that were available for the veterans. But there is
I explained this the other day, there's such a difference
to between those are homeless that are in shelter and
those that are choose to be unsheltered, because we want
(25:04):
all those unsheltered to be in shelters, but some choose
not to, and a lot of times it's because they
don't want to follow the rules, they have animals, or
they have some real mental health issues and addiction issues.
Speaker 3 (25:18):
Adam, thank you very much for what you're doing. Tell
me again the details about the upcoming Veteran Freedom March.
Speaker 5 (25:26):
So the Veterans Freedom March, I'll pull the permit for
it around the state capitals, happening October twenty fourth at
eleven am. And I just became the state coordinator. So
this is a little bit evolving we are looking for,
you know, keynote speakers. Anybody that's interested or has questions
can call me at for zero here.
Speaker 3 (25:47):
We don't give our phone numbers on the radio.
Speaker 5 (25:49):
You guys got a website, yes, so, Nebraska Freedom or
excuse me, Veterans Freedom March dot com.
Speaker 3 (25:56):
Got it, Veteransfreedommarch dot com. Adam, thank you very much,
Thank you you're doing. Appreciate the call four two, five, five,
eight eleven ten or comment at kfab dot com. I've
got a comment for you. This one comes from EJ. Says,
good morning, Gene. There's a neighbor on my street that
is running a business out of their residential home. They've
(26:17):
got anywhere from ten to fifteen vehicles at the house
every day, five seven work cars and personal cars parked
in the street. There's a major school bus route and
on street parking is reduced to one lane. This is
an old neighborhood with no sidewalks, so of course I'm
concerned about what could happen here. Isn't there an ordinance
that limits the amount of cars for a single residence.
(26:40):
I've emailed my city council person for help, never received
a response. Tried searching online. I don't know the correct
legal terms to use. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Love the show that's from EJ.
Speaker 2 (26:51):
Thank you. You know what you know the I mentioned
the Mayor's Hotline many times, and I really paid a
lot of attention to to what complaints were coming into
the hotline when I was mayor and how we were
addressing those problems. But I will tell you the number
one issue that comes into the hotline is problems with neighbors.
(27:14):
Neighborhood problems, whether it's a darking bar, dog, noisiness, a
trashy yard, vehicles parked in the yard, people parked in
you know, there are RVs in the street, whatever, But
neighbor issues. Now I know. I know the current mayor,
Mayor Ewing has said his focus this year is going
to be the year of the neighbor and just being
friendly to your neighbor. Well that that works only so far.
(27:38):
I mean, when you have an issue like you're talking about,
it's it's difficult to say we'll just go hug it
out with your neighbor. So I will suggest to you
to call the Mayor's Hotline. That's why they're there. You
call four four four five five five five and report
that because to me, it sounds like that there are
several numerous issues that are violent leading wood is in
(28:00):
city code that can be addressed, whether it would be
by an inspector from the Planning department or actually a
police officer. That I do believe that there are quite
a few issues that could be addressed that are violating
city code. But I would I would encourage you to
follow or to call the mayor's hotline again. Four four
(28:22):
four five five five five. That's the hotline. Boy, do
I know that one?
Speaker 3 (28:25):
That's one number we can give out because that's why
they're there. Trish emails and says we were on stage
with you and Chris Isaac. He'd called up my daughter
and then me. That's from Trish. Oh yeah, comment CA
dance better.
Speaker 2 (28:36):
She danced better than I did.
Speaker 3 (28:38):
Comment at kfab dot com or four oh two five
five eight eleven ten, John, Welcome to the kfab comment line.
You're on with Jeans to third.
Speaker 1 (28:48):
Hey, good morning. My question is of the four eighty
bridge over in Missouri River. I've been coming up here
to Omaha for a long time, and I remember when
it was shut down for two years and since then
it has not been like free from construction every year since.
And I was wondering who coordinates between Iowa and Nebraska
(29:09):
the construction on that bridge. Why couldn't they have got
all that done when it was shut down for those
two years? And why does it continue to keep going on.
It just seems like it's the NonStop project of shutting
down lanes on the for eighty bridge going across the
Missouri River, which just causes problems daily because people don't
know how to drive right.
Speaker 2 (29:30):
And you know it's with bridges, especially those crossing the river.
It's like the never ending story.
Speaker 6 (29:35):
You know.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
I told every people many times. I grew up in Illinois.
My first job I had after I got a nursing
school was in Saint Louis. So that's when I moved
to Saint Louis when I was an adult. The Poplar
Street Bridge over the Mississippi has been under construction for decades.
This is just I mean, I don't understand it myself.
These are coordinated with the Iowa Department of Transportation and
(29:58):
the Nebraska Department of Transfer in rotation. The two dots
are the one that coordinate work on all the bridges,
including the ones over the river, you know, and the
bridges are always a concern. Like I talked about before,
bridges on four eighty. There are six bridges on four eighty.
They all were on the list to be reconstructed. All
(30:20):
six bridges we moved and with conversations with the Nebraska
Dot to move the Harney Street and the Farnham Street
up because of the streetcar reels being put in, but
they were already on the list to be done anyway.
And so oh and they're speaking of this. I'm getting
off track here, but there is some rumors out there
that four eighty is going to be closed down during
(30:42):
the College World Series. That is not true. That is
not true.
Speaker 3 (30:46):
There weren't rumors. That's what was reported.
Speaker 2 (30:48):
It is not true.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
They're not closing down the whole thing, but they'll be
squeezed down to only a few lanes.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
Well, no, not that I am aware of. But I
did call to find out if that rumor, if any
part of it was true, and they said, oh, good heavens, no,
not during the College World Series. So we'll see. We
could maybe get some more information. But it is the
two Department of Transportations with the state because they are
the ones that take care of our interstates and our bridges.
Speaker 3 (31:17):
John, thank you very much for the call. Four oh two, five, five, eight, eleven, ten.
Got emails here from Randy says we shouldn't ever vote
for you for any office because you're not a conservative anymore.
Michael emails and says it'll be a great day when
Jean Stothard comes back to Omaha politics and runs for something.
And then we've got Ollie who says, would you consider
(31:40):
running for streetcar conductors? So we're getting no, no, a
little bit of everything, he says, Toot. Those are all
In comment to kfab dot com, here's a question, and
it has to do with the street car. Jim says,
just curious why we bought the street cars from Spain
when there are companies in the US say that make them.
Speaker 2 (32:00):
There are very few companies in the USA that makes them.
But we got the best price on the company in Spain,
and that's where Kansas City bought theirs, So we were
able to look at those cars, see what they look like,
and we got the best price with that. So yes,
we did look at the American companies, but that one
was the best price and that's why we wanted to
take that. I do have to mention Scott didn't let
(32:22):
me respond to those three calls, but to two. No,
I'm never going to be the streetcar conductor. I'm sure
that was a little tongue in cheek comment right there.
I am not going to run for any political office anymore.
I've been in an elected position for twenty seven years.
I loved it. I've said this before. I love school board,
(32:43):
I love city council, I love being mayor. But I
think my time is done as far as running for
an elected position. Plus I'm on kfab right now too,
which is pretty good.
Speaker 6 (32:54):
Bet.
Speaker 2 (32:54):
I do want to comment about one comment that Scott
just read saying I'm no longer conservative, and I would
say that is absolutely wrong. In fact, one of the
reasons why I didn't win a fourth term is because
of my conservative position that I have in the blue dot,
which is what Omaha is right now. And I have
(33:14):
always said that I would be the mayor for everybody,
whether you are a Democrat, Republican, what the color of
your skin was, whether what your gender was, and I
meant it that I'll be the mayor for everyone. But
I also said I am not going to change who
I am and my conservative points of view and my
conservative feelings for anyone or to be elected. I'm a conservative,
(33:37):
I'm a Republican. People know that and that's who I am.
So I want to make that very very clear.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Well, you know how it works. If you agree with
someone nine out of ten times, but that tenth one, yes,
you're just slightly off. You are a rhino and should
should never be heard from. Yes, we make enemies out
of friends all the time, and I hate that term.
Let's get to this call from Dave Hanging on for
a while here. Dave, you're on the KFAB comment line
(34:03):
with your host Jean Stothard.
Speaker 4 (34:06):
Good morning, Good morning.
Speaker 7 (34:08):
I live in Millard in a circle type area and
a tree truck that came to trim trees had a
big hydraulically and left that huge dark stain out in
the circle at the end of my drive on. Oh,
I mean we're talking, you know, twenty foot long, five
foot wide. It's an ugly stain. Would the city come
(34:29):
out and remove something like that, powerwash it if you
call them, or how would you address that?
Speaker 2 (34:35):
H the tree company? Is that somebody that you had
doing work for you or was it just were they
doing it in the neighborhood.
Speaker 7 (34:45):
Well, it was doing some work for me and some
of the neighbor Yes, right, you know, that's.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
A question I've not been asked. The city typically does
not come by and powerwash in neighborhoods. They do, you know,
they have street sweepers and and that they bring out
in the in the springtime, but usually those are on
the mains and secondaries. But I know I'm saying this
a lot, but with that issue, it's it's hard for
(35:11):
me to answer what the city really has the capability
of doing. But I would encourage you again to call
the Mayor's hotline because that's why they're there, and they
will take your your concern and they will they will
send it to the appropriate department and that would be
Public Works. So that's that's what I would suggest you do.
And again it's four four four five five five. I'm
(35:33):
getting a lot of calls going to come into the hotline.
Speaker 3 (35:36):
Well, there are lots of cleaning products you can get
at the store that clean concrete as well. Every once
in a while, you know you're one of your kids, right, Well,
friends will come over and park in your driveway and
there'll be a little oil drip there, drive every parent crazy.
But they got some concrete cleaner. I don't know how
big this stain is there that day's dealing with.
Speaker 2 (35:54):
If just a garden hose, and you know, it's just
good to go out there and really scrub it down.
If that would work too, And maybe there's a maybe
there's a lot of dirt and debris in that stain
too that will wash away. Maybe we need a good rain,
we need to We need it to rain a lot.
Maybe that had wash it.
Speaker 3 (36:09):
Away for several reasons. Let's go back to the phones here, Michael,
you're on the KFAB comment line with Jean Stothart.
Speaker 4 (36:17):
Good morning, Jean, good morning.
Speaker 6 (36:20):
I still live in Omaha, and one of my visits
back I attended Jerald R. Ford Memorial, and I just
pointing the upkeep of the area, who's responsor for that
the city?
Speaker 2 (36:34):
And you know, we had a caller about that the
other day too, and I totally agree with you. I
know what it looks like. Several years ago I went
by there, and you know, they had an American flag
hanging out front that was ripped into and I think
that that keeping that up that especially since the memorial
excuse me for the president, that that is something that
(36:54):
deserves a lot more attention. But that is exactly why
I ask our Parks Department to do a new parks
master Plan and really prioritize which of our two hundred
and fifty six parks that we have in Omaha should
be address the issues in those parks first, to prioritize it.
And I think Mary Ewing is going forward with that plan.
(37:17):
We already had in place. We had a consultant that
we hired. I was interviewed by the consultant about a
year or so ago. But I agree with you, and
that is definitely an area that they let run down
and didn't prioritize, and they absolutely need to do that,
and I'm sure that that will be on their list
of what is what will be a priority in the
(37:37):
coming year.
Speaker 3 (37:38):
So thank you very much for the call. Michael. Appreciate
that you can also send us a message with your
own voice via the talkback Mike. You don't want to
wait on hold, you can send us a message via
our free iHeartRadio app.
Speaker 8 (37:51):
Blessings, Jane, Thank you Ken from Lincoln. I just wanted
to call and thank you for the very kind words
you gave about Levanna Goodwin Levanna Wats and her maiden name.
Speaker 2 (38:06):
She's my little sister. Oh well, I like her a lot.
Speaker 8 (38:11):
Thank you.
Speaker 3 (38:12):
It was nice to hear good.
Speaker 8 (38:14):
Comments about my sister in politics.
Speaker 2 (38:18):
She does a good job and I appreciate what she
I appreciate her passion.
Speaker 3 (38:24):
And you worked with Frank Brown. He was on the
city council when you were on there. He wasn't now,
he was already out.
Speaker 2 (38:30):
Yeah, Frank had moved on when I was on the
city council. And I'm telling you in the council offices,
there are stories about Frank Brown and a lot of challenges.
But you know, I mean, everybody's a little bit different,
and everybody has a different focus and a different vision
about what they want to achieve.
Speaker 3 (38:50):
But former member of the Kfab team as well, and
he was on the council when I started here on
the radio, and he and I battled and battled, and
then we met at some event unrelated to politics and
started off bickering again, but it quickly turned to just
the most wonderful conversation and I was like, I like you, Frank,
(39:14):
And as we ended up getting along just fine after that.
Speaker 2 (39:17):
I didn't know him real well at all, but interesting
that that's what I've heard about him, and that's okay.
I mean, he will look at Ernie Chambers, you know.
I mean, I think that there are people that can
be very contrary, but they are forcing you to think
about things. They're forcing you to debate things. They have
their own vision about what they want in their area,
and that's just the way it is.
Speaker 3 (39:37):
Well, we just got about a minute in the left
half left here on the comment line. You've got a
great topic ready to go for tomorrow. Can you give
us an early heads up on that?
Speaker 2 (39:46):
Well, what is you really and this is not related
to the streetcar, but what is really burning up the
internet now, and I really want people's opinion on this
is should we have dress codes for restaurants? I mean,
this is burning up the the internet now and to
the point that some restaurants are actually putting out ads
saying we just want you to come and eat. We
(40:07):
don't care what you have on but I'd love to
have your opinion on it too. So thanks for listening
to us today and thanks for being with us, and
come back tomorrow.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Kingdom of Fraud
It’s the unlikeliest of criminal partnerships: a devout polygamist from an insular Utah sect joining forces with a shadowy Armenian tycoon from LA. The result - a billion dollar fraud conspiracy. In Kingdom of Fraud, investigative reporter Michele McPhee traces the origins of the extraordinary alliance between Jacob Kingston and Levon Termendzhyan. Together, the two men trigger the largest tax investigation in American history and weave around themselves a web of dirty cops, influential political relationships and transnational money laundering. All this is set against the backdrop of Jacob Kingston’s clan – The Order. A powerful and secretive polygamist organization in Salt Lake City. To whom Jacob is desperate to prove his worth. Kingdom of Fraud is produced by Novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from Novel, visit https://novel.audio/. You can listen to new episodes of Kingdom of Fraud completely ad-free and 1 week early with an iHeart True Crime+ subscription, available exclusively on Apple Podcasts. Open your Apple Podcasts app, search for “iHeart True Crime+, and subscribe today!