March 30, 2026 • 41 mins
Discussing bus lines, roundaouts, and a variety of city issues. A casual day on the KFAB Comment line in preperation for some big time guests in the middle of the week.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Not going to back away from anything, whether it's city, state, national,
and the world. And we will also have guests. Peyton's
here with me this morning too. Good morning, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Morning, Jean. How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm doing good, you know, find myself in here in
the Gary Sattlemeyer studio on a wonderful Monday. My chair
is a little bit warm after Scott's sat in it
all morning.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, you're in the hot seat. Yeah, like I said,
he's over there. It looks like the Wizard of Oz
with the auto audio panel. They are controlling everything. But
we will have guests this week too. We have some
really good guests on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and so
of course we will be hearing a lot from me
and a lot of opinions from me too.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Send your emails to comment at kfab dot com or
you can call us at four two five to five,
eight eleven ten. So we have a lot to talk
about this morning. Did you do anything fun this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Peyton, not too much.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm getting married in August, so this weekend we had
our marriage counseling thing where we met with a bunch
of other couples in the church, there's about fifteen couples,
and you know, we go through just listen to marriage
advice for about twelve hours straight, and then you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Get married and you face the real world there.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yes, and your fiance's name is let's say it.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What do you call her Lulu? Lulu? I love it, yeah,
because that's my middle name.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
My middle name is Louise, so but nobody I'm Jean Louise,
but nobody calls me Jean Louise except.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
My mom and my grandma. So that you know.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
My favorite weekends are when I have nothing to do,
because for twelve years is Mayor. I swear I probably
had something scheduled every night of the week, sometimes two
or three times a night, and on the weekends too.
So I love weekends when I don't have much to do.
But yesterday my daughter took my two grandkids that are here,
Raymond who's eight, Max that is six, to the movie.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I've talked about Max last week a little bit for
those who weren't tuned in last week, but he's six
years old. He's in kindergarten and I get to and
I mean this, I get to watch him every Wednesday
at two thirty to about four thirty because he goes
to Miller Public Schools and they have early dismissal every Wednesday,
and my daughter Elizabeth and my son in law Tom,
(02:16):
they work at Union Pacific, can't get home by two thirty.
So it's really really fun. And I brought up last
week because this kid is so funny, I almost call
him Maxisms. His name is Max, I call him Maximus.
But last week, my daughter, I said, was trying to
teach him to be kind and he said, well, I'm
going to tell Grandma today she has a big head,
which I thought was hilarious. And my daughter said, Max,
(02:38):
try to be kind. Don't tell grandma she has a
big head. And he said, no, she has to have
a big head because she has a big brain, and
that means she's smart. And so my daughter said, well,
just stick with telling her she's smart. Max, don't tell
her she has a big head. But so yesterday we
go out to Village Point to see a movie yesterday
afternoon and we went to see Project tail Mary, which
(02:59):
is a great movie, just great movie.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
But anyway, it's all quiet.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
It's about the middle of the movie and all of
a sudden he says, really really loud, Grandma, did you
know that SpongeBob is more popular than Donald Trump or
Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Where did this kid get this? And I said, what, No,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I didn't know SpongeBob was more popular than Donald Trump
or Lebron James. And then about twenty minutes later, he says,
real loud, do you know who Donald Trump is? And
I said, yes, I know who Donald Trump is. This
is from a six year old. This kid is so funny.
Though he comes out with these things. He's super smart,
but it's pretty funny coming from a kindergartener. You just
(03:40):
have to laugh at these things that go on in
their little brains. But I remembered when my.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Kids were six years old.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So it's really fun to be with him and to
be able to spend time with him, which I couldn't do,
by the way, when I was mayor because I was
busy all the time. So and you know I just
mentioned Donald Trump. I'm going to say another thing about
Donald Trump, because you know, we had some prote here
this weekend, a lot of no Kings protests all over
the country, and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I mean, it's your.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Constitutional right First Amendment, freedom of speech. There is a
line that people draw, though, I mean, protests are fine.
And I will bring up when I was mayor back
in May twenty twenty, and remember that the George Floyd
we had protest here in Omaha that turned into riots.
And I remember when I would talk about this publicly,
(04:29):
a lot of people would be angry and they would
correct me and they would say it was not a riot.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It is our right to protest.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
But when you cross the line, when it becomes violent,
or when you destroy public property, are you're hurting people
are and you're breaking the law, then it becomes a protest.
And that's exactly what happened in Omaha back in the
summer of twenty twenty. It started out, if you recall,
at seventy second in Dodge at Crossroads in the parking.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Lot, where it usually does where it usually does.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
That's not where the No King's rally was this weekend,
though I thought that was interesting. But on a Friday
night it was a protest and it got bigger and
bigger and bigger, and we had able one in the air,
and you know, our police had developed a station there
in the parking garage, trying to keep the peace and
let people protest as they wanted. But then, if you recall,
(05:17):
it marched down downtown and then it became unlawful. And
that's when Chief Schmater and I put a stop to it,
and we thought, this is not just a legal protest,
this is a riot and we had to stop it.
And we did call in the National Guard within three days,
and we got criticized for that, but I said, not
(05:37):
in Omaha and Omaha, We're not going to be tearing
up downtown, breaking windows, hurting people. And we had to
put a stop with it. And so there is a
limit and I think that that's really important for people
to understand. Now, Donald Trump, I'm going to go back
to Donald Trump. There's a lot of talk. People are saying,
no kings people. Some people don't a lot of people
don't like what he's doing. They don't like personality, and
(06:01):
that's fine, that's everybody's opinion. But I just want to
say I've met Donald Trump three times, and for those
who have never met him, I have to tell a
few little stories about him. One time, it was before
he announced that he was running for the presidency. It
was over in Pottawatamee County at the Republican Party. I
(06:21):
think he announced he was going to run for the
presidency just a few months after the event over there
that I met him. But anyway, I was standing in
the room, lots of Republicans in that room, obviously, with
my husband. Donald Trump was standing in the middle of
the room. The chair of the Pottawatamee County Republican Party said,
(06:42):
mister Trump, would you like to meet the mayor of Omaha,
And he said, sure, yes, and so they walked towards
our way and he went right up to my husband
and said hello, mister mayor. Nice to me, which I
thought was pretty funny. And I said they go, no, no, no,
she's the mayor. And he looked at me and he
said no way, and I said way. And that's how
we first met. He thought, obviously my husband had to
(07:05):
be the mayor, which I thought was a little bit
of a funny story. But I met him two other
times at the base after he was president, down at Stratcom.
And I'm telling you, whether you like the president or not,
whether the president is in your party or not, or whatever.
When Air Force one lands, it's pretty dark, impressive. The
thing is huge, and there's huge cargo plans that land
(07:30):
before Air Force one that have all the Secret Service
in their vehicles in it. You know, they're not just
sitting here in Omaha, but they fly them in right
before the President comes. And two times I met him
down at the base. The first time it was me,
the commander and the governor who was Governor Ricketts at
the time.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Tell you the three times I met Trump, the one
in Patawuaamee County before he announced in the two times
down at the base. Honest to goodness, he was delightful.
He was funny, he was witty, he was very tongue
in cheek. He was very knowledgeable. He got right off
Air Force one. He came up to me and he
(08:07):
called me Gene. Obviously they had briefed him, but they
told him a bit about Omaha. And he looks right
in your eyes, he makes eye contact. He was funny
the way he was talking about the media across the tarmac.
And I'll tell you all the Secret Service they were
demanding what we did, even the commander down at off
it and the governor and me, and it was like
(08:28):
you stand here. You don't move, You don't move away
from this spot, you don't follow the president, you don't
do this, that or the other. And the President gets
off the plane and he sees all these reporters across
the tarmac behind this fence and deb Fisher, Senator Deb
Fisher flew in on Air Force one with him, and
he looks across the tarmac and he goes, deb Gen,
(08:49):
walk over here with me.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Let's go talk to these reporters.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And I thought, after the Secret Service was beaten in
our heads, we couldn't move. I thought, well, the President
told me to follow him, so I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It's like when you're mom says no and you go
to your dad and you're like, yeah, big.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Dad, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And so Deb Fisher and I and a little crowd
walked across the tarmac with the President to go over
and talk to the media. But I'm telling you in person.
Then when I met him, he was he was a
very nice, friendly no not arrogant whatsoever. And I really
did enjoy.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Talking to it.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I wish I had a cool story like that. So actually,
this one time I met Obama. No, I'm just kidding,
but I met Obama. It's okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I met him coming off Air Force one, and you
know he I will tell you honestly, where I thought
Trump was very friendly, Obama was the one that I
thought would be very friendly, and he was a bit
I will use the word awkward, socially awkward. He didn't
make eye contact, He kind of you know, didn't spend
a lot of time talking. But I know I've told
(09:54):
this story before too. I met Biden. It has to
be twelve years ago when our cancer center opened up,
and so it was quite a while ago. But he
was very nice. Joe Biden was very nice when he
was here when the cancer center opened up and he
was here, he was the keynote speaker because his son
Bo obviously died of cancer and he died down at M. D.
(10:16):
Anderson down in Houston. But he was very, very nice.
But Obama was a little bit more awkward. But we
don't have a guest this morning. We got some great
ones later on in the week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But
you know, there's a couple other things I wanted to
bring up this morning. I don't know why I keep
on reading the public polls because it drives me nuts.
It did that when I was mayor to and I
(10:37):
would read it and I would go, I'm never going
to read this again, and I'd pick up the paper
and read it again the next day. But there were
several public post letters that I wanted to bring up
and one phone call and it all a street car
related and we don't have to just talk about the
street car, but it seems to be a popular subject.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But one man called in last.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Week at the end of the week and he did
say that I keep on saying that the street car
is not going to be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
But he said, but TIFF is paid by for the taxpayers.
And I answered this person, but I want to answer
it again because I think it's so important to reemphasize
this TIFF is not paid by the taxpayers. TIFF is
(11:23):
paid by the developers that receive or is awarded the tiff,
which is tax increment financing, and we follow to the
t what is in state law. And I want to
emphasize that when the City of Omaha awards TIFF to
a developer, there is no risk to the city at all.
(11:43):
The developer goes to the bank and gets a loan.
It's not putting the city at risk at all. And
it's only tiff eligible expenses that are allowed by state
law which the developer gets the tiff loan for. The
developer pays back the tiff loan, not the taxpayers. Look
(12:04):
on your tax bill, there's no tiff tax on it.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
So this is not paid back in my property taxes five, ten,
fifteen years down the line after I forgot about it.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And most tiff loans are fifteen year loans, most of
them with the City of Omaha are paid off earlier
than that. And then who are the big winners are
the schools and the cities because now that property that
has been redeveloped or something new built there is worth
so much more than it was before, and they are
(12:35):
now paying taxes on that higher amount of value for
that property.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And they always make sure that but four.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Clause that is in saint that is in the state law,
that that developer could not build this property without but
for the tiff. So I and this is not unlike,
for instance, what we did with the Sarbone village, you know,
and every likes exarbon. I mean, it is just booming there.
I think there's only a couple areas that are still
(13:06):
left to develop.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
They call them zones.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
But what happened with Exarbon Village is that the city
up front paid for a lot of the infrastructure, and
then the city was paid back with the profits from
the tiff loan. And so you know, this is what
we're doing with the streetcar, and it's not unusual. We've
done something very very similar before to Exarbon Village. One
(13:32):
public pulse letter I addressed last week and the heading
was streetcar projects shouldn't get more funding, And the writer
says no federal, state, or city money should go towards
the streetcar. And it says this writer Michael Osterguard called
Pete Rickett's office and let him know that I don't
want any federal money going to the project. There is none.
(13:54):
There is no city money, there is no state money,
and there is no federal money going into the streetcar.
And that's the one reason that I wanted to go
forward with the streetcar. I mentioned it before, but it
was the number one recommendation from the Urban Core Committee
that was a lot of Omaha businessmen, and their number
(14:16):
one recommendation was the streetcar.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And I said.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Okay, I understand the benefit of the streetcar, but I said,
find me a way to fund it that I don't
have to raise taxes, and they did, and that was
using tiff. There was another letter that came up in
this I'll tie this together in a minute in the
World Herald this weekend and it says the Omaha streetcar
(14:41):
route makes no sense. And the person says, the streetcar
project didn't make any sense from the very beginning, and
the planned root or route, however you want to say,
it makes even less sense now that Epley is undergoing expansion,
excuse me, and modernization, And why shouldn't have that been
the plan from the beginning to start at the airport.
(15:02):
I'll tell you the reason why. Number One, when you
start at the airport, you got to have a place
that you're going to end. The interminus and where's it
going to end. It's great that we could have a
route to the airport eventually, and we've already applied for
a grant and received it to study going to the airport.
Excuse me, But what we have now is the initial route.
(15:24):
The initial route goes from Eighth Street downtown and it
goes all the way out to thirty eighth Street. Originally
it was going to go to forty second Street, but
we stopped it at thirty eighth Street because the Metcenter
really wants the streetcar to extend and go to Saddle
Creek because it's going to be a great benefit to them,
So we stopped at thirty eight Street. So you start
(15:46):
at the airport, where's the interminus going to be making
I'm coughing this morning, and I know there's a cough
button and I'm not using it here.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
But the thing of it is is, you know where
would it end?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Would it end at the Arena Convention Center, would it
end at the Hilton or the Marriott? Well what about
the Farnham Hotel? Well what about the Cottonwood Hotel. You
got to think where you want it to do the
most good. And there is not a lot of people
that live along this route that would extend to where
the current route stops, which is at tenth and Capital
(16:21):
to the airport. There's not a lot of people that
can jump on and off the streetcar along that route,
and that hasn't been decided yet. I mean, it could
go up twenty fourth Street, it could go up thirtieth Street,
nothing has been decided yet because we have to study that.
But you have to think the way we are currently
paying for it by the USATIF because this massive amount
of development that is occurring along the streetcar route wouldn't
(16:43):
occur along the route that would extend up to the
airport if you look at what is going on in
the land and the property in that area. And so yes,
this is why we didn't plan that to be the
initial route at all. It would be the matter of
how we're going to pay for it and where does
the most good. The Urban Core Committee really looked at
was looking at how we can bring more business downtown,
(17:06):
how we could replace parking lots which is half a
downtown with new businesses and new residents and new employees.
And this is where it's going to do the most
good now, and that's why it was originally planned. I
get this all the time, but the rest of this letter,
and it was from a woman named Margaret Nipper, it
says this is why Jeane Stouther didn't win. And I
(17:28):
will say again it's part of the reason. I'll admit that,
and I'll own the street car because I still am
one hundred percent for it and support it, and I
could talk about it till I'm blue in the face,
but it's one of the reasons. But you know, you've
got to look at really what's happening with elections and
with Republicans. I was the mayor, the Republican mayor of
(17:49):
the Blue Dot, There's no doubt about it. And if
you look at what is happening to Republican incumbents all
over the country right now, and not every city in
the country is building a streetcar, it's a lot of
Republican incumbents, their positions, if they're running again, are really
threatened by what is going on all over the country.
(18:10):
And I think we have to keep that in mind.
It's never just one issue about why someone doesn't win
a race, but all Republicans are are. I mean, they're
in a position right now that they are really struggling.
And I mentioned this before on the air, and it's
worth mentioning again. The morning after my defeat with the
(18:31):
last election, Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, called me
from California and he said, Gene, this is what's going
to happen to every incumbent Republican in twenty twenty six,
and so I think we got to keep that in mind,
you know, if we want Republicans elected. And again I said,
I was going to be the mayor for everybody, Democrat, Republican.
I didn't care your gender, I didn't care anything. I
(18:54):
was going to represent all of you. But I think
if Republicans seriously want to really focus on keeping Republicans elected,
we've got to get out there and vote.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I got a call here from Ken that's going to
circle back to something that you spoke about just a
second ago in regards to the street car. Ken, you're
on news radio eleven to ten KFAB with Jean Stoutht.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Good morning, Hey, good morning, Jean. I really appreciate you
taking my call, and I got to tell you are
a class act. My dear God bless you. You are
a class act.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
But you were on the board He show a few
months back, and it was all about the businesses being
affected by the street car. Yes, and you said, and
if I misquote you, I apologize, But it was somewhere
around the neighborhood of a million dollars that was in
an account to help offset them losing business. Yes, well,
all I've heard since the election is there's no money
for him. There's nothing we can do. Is there should
have been more pre planned. They should have looked at, well,
(19:45):
what happened to that million bucks? And if I'm wrong,
I apologize, But could you address that and all hang
up and listen to your response. But God bless you,
you're a class act, my.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Dear, thank you so much. And yes we arranged that.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I know Mary Ewing mentioned this fund in the state
of the city, but we had that already and underway
and it went through the chamber. There was actually about
one point two million dollars came from a lot of
donors that people could apply for loans.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
That money.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
A lot of it has been given out, it already
has been. The issue is it wasn't enough, and it's
going to be very very difficult for the donors to
keep on wanting to give, to give money out and
to put more money in this fund.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Now we do know that.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Especially restaurants and bars are really being hit bad, and
we could tell that through the restaurant tax, and they
really are. The issue really is is there's not enough
money in that fund to give out, and that state
constitution prevents city government from giving money, taxpayer dollars to
(20:55):
private businesses. So the City of Omaha is not allowed
legally by the Nebraska State Constitution to give city money,
and all city money is all taxpayer money to these
businesses to help them out during this really hard period.
We know it's a hard period for them. We knew
(21:17):
that they would have some hardships during the construction. But
keep in mind too that originally when I pushed the
streetcar forward and laid it in front of the city council,
it was supposed to be completed in twenty twenty six,
that is this year, So those hardships were going to
be till the end of this year. Then with the
(21:38):
additional money, our additional work that Mud was requiring, the
original time frame went extended about another year. Now this
more work being done by Mud is pushed it to
two more years. So now the completion date is at
(22:00):
twenty twenty eight if they're lucky. And this is mostly
because of utility work that Mud is insisting on doing.
And I've brought this up before, but originally MUD's work
was going to be less than ten million dollars. Now
it's about forty four million dollars. In some of the
work that they are insisting on doing, which is going
(22:22):
to be paid for by the streetcar project, is not
even near the streetcar. And you know, these these are
waterlines and gas lines, and the water lines are very
deep and you have to literally tear up the street
to repair or to replace the water lines. And the
water lines are on one side of the street and
the gas lines are on the other and they crisscross
(22:43):
in the middle of the street to go to the
buildings on the other side. So when they're doing water
lines and they're they're having to replace where they crisscross,
they have to tear up the whole street. So there's holes,
and there's piles of dirt, and there's fences everywhere. And
I really think that the concentration has to be on
what are we going to do to help these businesses,
(23:03):
even parking. I mean, you know, if if it's something
that public works can do with some wayfinding and some
options for parking. I know mayor Ewing brought up some
parking available at low cost in the city's garages. But
these businesses, a lot of them are really supported right
now by what's the thing Peyton, You know that that
(23:24):
that you order and you have delivered DoorDash.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Shortage a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Uber Eats and door dash support these businesses and they
can't find a place to park to pick up the food.
So I think that there are things that we could
really look at to make this easier. But number one,
MUD needs to get their work done and not to
expand or extend that completion time anymore, because this is
just utility work now that you know. Then then we
(23:50):
come in and put the rails in and so you've
got to say that all this additional work and added
two more extra years onto the completion data of the
street in my opinion, is what is causing most of
the problems. And I think we've got to do something
to help these businesses out. But the money is not
It cannot come from the City of Omaha tax payers.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We got lots of questions rolling in Froya. Jean, let's
hit it right away. This one comes from Keith. He's
been waiting patiently. Keith, you're on news radio eleven to
ten KFAB with Jean Stouthart.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Good morning, Good.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Morning, thanks for taking my call of Jeane Sure. My
question is you know the pros and cons of the
street car I'm tired of even thinking about it, and
I just kind of trust people to do what's right.
But my trepidation is, like we talk about how you know,
all these people are going to ride the street car,
(24:43):
and I certainly hope that's the case. But when it
comes to as trump ism would be the great big,
beautiful buses. We wasn't that long ago that we bought
great big buses to go all around Omaha. I've worked
at the med Center as a nurse for forty seven years,
and I can tell you that when I go up
and down Dodge Street before work, after work and rush hour,
(25:06):
there's nobody using those buses. You could use a small
van to transport the number of people that generally on them.
So I just was wondering why we aren't reducing the
size of our buses or if that was a good
thing that we did back when.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Sure, and thank you, fellow nurse, because you know I
am a former critical care nurse. Once a nurse, always
a nurse. But you know, the bus system in Omaha
is not run by the city. It is run by
Metro Transit. Up until about a year ago, I did
appoint the board to Metro Transit the mayor appointed the board,
(25:42):
so I did for the last twelve years, but it
has now changed to be an elected position, so they
are elected.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The thing with the bus system.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Is they always need to be looking at making and
creating more routes that are more and more convenient. The
big buses that bought, the big articulated buses that Metro
Transit has that are out working now is called the BRT,
the Bus Rapid Transit, and it is meant to go
(26:11):
at higher speeds. It is meant to have multiple stops
along the way, and you don't need a bus schedule
because if you miss it within five or ten minutes,
another one is going to come by. The BRT started
out at about eighth Street downtown and it went straight
out to the West Roads. You have to look at
it as the initial route because not unlike the streetcar,
(26:34):
they are already looking into multiple routes that will come
off this initial route with the BRT going up to
North Omaha and to South Omaha. And I will tell
you that Metro Transit does keep track of ridership and
people do use our buses. That's the issue I know.
I hear a lot of times people saying well, I
(26:55):
saw one of those big articulated buses and no one
was on it. But there are millions of people in
Omaha that ride our bus system every year and depend
on it. Some people absolutely depend on it and don't
have cars and it's their only way to get from
their home to work or to the doctor's office or whatever.
And so it's it's in Metro Transit's hands where these
(27:18):
bus stops are going to be with the regular buses
and the big articulated buses, but people do use them
and do depend on them. And it's so important to
have a public transportation city or a system for a
big and growing city. We have to look at every
way people commute, and so that's by automobiles, by bikes,
(27:40):
and pedestrians and public transportation. I get a lot of
people saying, well, nobody's using the bike lanes either, but
some people do depend on it. Now that is true
that in Omaha about ninety no I would say maybe
eighty eighty eighty five percent, And that's just an estimate
of people commute by using cars, and it will probably
probably stay that way. But you need to have other
(28:02):
options available for those that want to use public transportation.
Or one a walk or want to use their bikes.
So all of those things are important. But there is
that ridership there with our bus system, and we can
only hope that the Metro transle will continue to look
at more routes to make it more convenient for more
people to use the buses.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Just because you are not actively using a bus line
or a bike lane doesn't mean that other people aren't
or that it's not important.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
That's exactly right. You know, there's a Millard Express. I
live in the Millard area. I live about one hundred
and twenty thin Q and that Millard Express goes downtown
every morning and it's full. I mean it really does.
But I tried riding the bus one time, just when
I was married. Oh yeah, really for really, just to
see what it was like, and I wanted to experience
it myself. And the experience wasn't that good. I mean,
(28:51):
I live again about one hundred and twentyeth ink QU.
The closest bus stop was right by where H and
H Chevrolet used to be, which is eighty fourth and L.
So I had to get down there and then the
bus was late, and then but when I got on
the bus, I mean it took forever to get downtown,
and I had to go through Exarbon Village, I went
through the Med Center, I went through a seemed like
(29:14):
a dozen different areas and then the bus dropped me
off at Joslin and then I had to walk from
Joslyn down to City Hall. So that one experience that
I had. Now, this was years ago and they might
not even have that route anymore, but you have to
make it convenient for people that depend on it.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, hey, that says a lot about you willing to
go out and actually experience it and see what it's like.
Because people can tell you anything, oh, this and that,
but actually seeing it yourself, that's interesting context.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It is and it's helpful to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And so if you if you haven't experienced what it's
like to use the bus or to use the BRT,
the bus rapid transit, you know, I suggest that you do.
Now one thing about the bus Rabbit Transit. It was
launched and first started running and COVID hit so I
mean bam, and yeah, when it was first launched, there
(30:04):
weren't a lot of people riding the buses at all,
but there weren't many people flying in airplanes. Either and
we weren't going to shut down the airport, so we
just had to get through COVID. And since COVID, the
ridership has increased and increased.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
We have a new caller here on the line. This
comes from Larry. Larry, you're on news radio eleven ten
KFAB with Jean's author.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Thank you for taking McCall. Thanks. In relation to Vision zero,
but also the homeless situation along the Northwest Radio Highway.
I went to the meeting last week. Very confusing, but
it does explain what appears to be severe neglect of
the Radio Highway and Saddle Creek along the northwest between
(30:53):
Coming and a little ways north of Hamilton. Severe neglect
in the Walnut Hill area and part of Dundee ranging
from forty fifth Street to about forty eighth Street. Now
Kiff development is part of it also. But Vision zero
(31:16):
meeting was pretty confusing, but it's a large scale plan
for reducing traffic difference to zero. It's correct, a lot
of smoking mirrors, I think, but that explains what that
area is really severely blinded.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes, I agree, I agree with you, and let me
explain Vision zero a little bit first, because when I
first put a Vision zero team together. You know, I
got some criticism for it, saying it's just a it's
a liberal movement. But Vision zero is a multi national
traffic safety program and the strategy is to eliminate and
(32:04):
reduce all traffic deaths and fatalities and injuries. Now that's
a very lofty goal. We're never going to meet it.
But I thought we could never say, well, I just
I want only X many deaths with traffic, so the
goal is none. It started in nineteen ninety seven in Sweden,
and like I said, it's a national, multinational effort, and
(32:27):
it isn't just smoke and mirrors, because what it does
is that team worked with public works and our engineers
and they looked at all in any way that we
could make our roads safer. What have other communities done,
What of other cities in other you know, in Europe
and other countries done. And for example, in New York
(32:48):
City when they implemented their Vision zero, their number of
traffic deaths fell to a historic low. And so I mean,
we're looking at how we construct our roads. We're looking
at safety things that are proven, like roundabouts. People when
I mentioned a roundabout, they tend to go, oh my gosh,
(33:09):
I hate the thought of a roundabout.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I don't like them.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I hate them, but they work because the number one reason,
there's two reasons that people get into traffic accidents and
ended up in fatalities are two things, and number one
is red light running and number two is speeding a
traffic You know, a roundabout takes care of both of
them because there are no signals and you have to
(33:33):
slow down. So all of these recommendations that came from
the Vision zero group and task force that I put
together are now being implemented in our road projects, and
so yeah, they really do make a lot of sense.
But like I said, this has been around since nineteen
ninety seven, and I gave New York City as an example,
(33:55):
But cities that have implemented have seen a lot less
fatality serious in reason traffic crashes.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, I'm gonna run for mayor and propose putting roundabouts
at every single intersection.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I bet I'll get you would.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Be very unpopular by doing that. But they do work,
is the thing. And people always think it would inhibit
fire trucks public safety for getting around them. Those fire
trucks are going to get around to roundabout. There's no
way they won't. If they have to go over the top,
they'll get through.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
And they're designed to be accessible by all those vehicles.
You're not gonna build one and not have that in mind.
Are those big trailers or a semi coming through? Sometimes?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know, people hate the thought of them, but they work.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
It's accounted for, right, DJ, You're on news radio eleven
ten KFAB with Jean's author.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Good morning, Good morning, just curious.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I'm DJ, the grandson of W. D. Clark.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Yeah, why.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Hi, I'm wondering if his name goes away from the
library system with the closing of that branch.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You know when that's a gal really good question, because
it you know it did. And you know when when
the opportunity came to me to build a brand new
skyscraper downtown and they really needed to be on a
streetcar line because of the number of employees they had,
(35:23):
we thought as a team that the very very best
place to put it would be at the site of
the Dale Clerk, the old Dale Clark Library.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Now, I will be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
All, I got criticized a lot for taking that library down. However,
the library did many, many, many studies before that decision
was made, and they did not like The library director
did not like that library at that site anymore. It
was outdated, it was not safe, there was a it
was not functional anymore, and they really wanted a new
(35:57):
downtown library to be built really serve the client tele
that is down there now, and so we did make
the decision to take that down. We did build a
new downtown library and it is not called the Dale
Clark Library, because it was pretty iconic that one building
was the Dale Clark. But you know, I would have
to do a little more research into that to see
(36:21):
about will that name and can that name be preserved,
because I think when people talked about the Downtown library,
they talked about the Dale Clark Library, and you hate
for that to be lost, and you hate for the
history of.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
That to be lost too. So I understand your question.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I was, you know, I could dig into that a
little further and we could talk about that maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah, that's interesting too. What does it mean for naming rights?
I mean, it was already named that it was.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's changed over the years naming rights, and that's in
city code.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I know.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I told the story about when Webster Downtown when I
was on the council was renamed Mike Fahey. Now that
is a permanent renaming. But then the council at the
time and I was a no vote on this, changed
what is in city code and says you have to
be not only dead, but you have to be dead
ten years to get something permanently named after you. Interesting,
(37:19):
but you can have a commemorative like people will say, well,
then why did mayor you ain't get a street named
after him after he was mayor two months? That's a
commemorative street renaming. So if you look at a map
of the city, I can't even remember the original name
of the street that is now commemoratively commemoratively named after
mayor you ing that stays permanent, so that naming rights
(37:41):
are for city applied to streets and city facilities. So
like the arena Convention Center there, you know, now it's
called CHI, but they went through a big process for
naming rights for CHI for example, and so but it's
it's like a twenty twenty five year agree and it
costs c CHI millions and millions and millions of dollars
(38:04):
to have their name on the arena convention Center. And
the same with the ballpark. Remember the ballpark has changed
what the names were to. Yes, so but I'm going
to do a little research into the Dale Clark if
if that name can be preserved in any way, and
we'll talk about that tomorrow. Mary Ewings is low that's
right Low. Yeah, and that was an area where he
(38:26):
kind of grew up in that area. So it's still
if you look at the map of the city, it
still remains low Thrup. But if you drive around there,
there's a round sign underneath that would say Mayor John
Ewing Jr.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Very interesting. Thank you for the call.
Speaker 6 (38:39):
DJ.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
That's that's good questions. And I always like interesting new
topics like that too. And now Gene has to do
a little homework and see where we can go with
the naming rights. I'm good at that too, yeah, as
she always likes to go. All right, we're going to
touch on this real quick before we get out of here.
This is coming from people, and they you said something
about Nebraska state law or constitute law, constitution. They said,
(39:06):
miss mayor, is the city allowed to partially or completely
defray property taxes on the businesses involved?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Pure?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay, so the city not reimburse the businesses in form
of a loss of compensation. You have about sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Well, like I.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Said, it's there in the Nebraska State Constitution. It prevents
government from giving out public funds. This is taxpayer funds
because the city, all the city's budget is based on
taxpayer funds sales tax, property tax, restaurant tax. But it
prevents any government from giving up public funds to private
business and that includes loans and grants. And there is
(39:45):
no exception to that prohibition, no exception, no exception at all.
And the businesses that I know have been already informed
of that. So it is it's the City of Omaha
is not able to give taxpayer dollars to private businesses.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
And that one point two million that you had in
an account that was from donations. That was people giving
their own money on their own accord.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
It was from donations and mostly from bigger businesses giving donations.
It was run through the chamber, so it was not
run through the City of Omaha. But those a lot
of that money has been dispersed. But there is the problem,
like I said before, is they are still these businesses
being affected and being affected very negatively in mostly the
(40:30):
restaurants and the bars, and a lot of it is
just that they can't even find a place to park.
But it's because now it's taking two years longer than
it originally was, and so they're going to be inconvenienced
and perhaps devastated their business because now this is going
to last two more years, which is not positive.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
We have some really really good guests on the slate
this week. I know Gene knows, but you don't know yet.
You'll have to keep listening to find out. This This
is the gens Au third show. Cafa be comment line.
My name is Peyton Highlocked, producer of the show. We
are going to catch you guys tomorrow
Speaker 2 (41:06):
And thanks for listening, Thanks for being with us today.
Not going to back away from anything, whether it's city, state, national,
and the world. And we will also have guests. Peyton's
here with me this morning too. Good morning, Good.
Speaker 2 (00:08):
Morning, Jean. How are you.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
I'm doing good, you know, find myself in here in
the Gary Sattlemeyer studio on a wonderful Monday. My chair
is a little bit warm after Scott's sat in it
all morning.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
Yeah, you're in the hot seat. Yeah, like I said,
he's over there. It looks like the Wizard of Oz
with the auto audio panel. They are controlling everything. But
we will have guests this week too. We have some
really good guests on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, and so
of course we will be hearing a lot from me
and a lot of opinions from me too.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
And it's your chance to speak up and sound off.
Speaker 1 (00:41):
Send your emails to comment at kfab dot com or
you can call us at four two five to five,
eight eleven ten. So we have a lot to talk
about this morning. Did you do anything fun this weekend?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Peyton, not too much.
Speaker 3 (00:56):
I'm getting married in August, so this weekend we had
our marriage counseling thing where we met with a bunch
of other couples in the church, there's about fifteen couples,
and you know, we go through just listen to marriage
advice for about twelve hours straight, and then you.
Speaker 2 (01:12):
Get married and you face the real world there.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Yes, and your fiance's name is let's say it.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
What do you call her Lulu? Lulu? I love it, yeah,
because that's my middle name.
Speaker 1 (01:23):
My middle name is Louise, so but nobody I'm Jean Louise,
but nobody calls me Jean Louise except.
Speaker 2 (01:29):
My mom and my grandma. So that you know.
Speaker 1 (01:32):
My favorite weekends are when I have nothing to do,
because for twelve years is Mayor. I swear I probably
had something scheduled every night of the week, sometimes two
or three times a night, and on the weekends too.
So I love weekends when I don't have much to do.
But yesterday my daughter took my two grandkids that are here,
Raymond who's eight, Max that is six, to the movie.
Speaker 4 (01:55):
Now.
Speaker 1 (01:55):
I've talked about Max last week a little bit for
those who weren't tuned in last week, but he's six
years old. He's in kindergarten and I get to and
I mean this, I get to watch him every Wednesday
at two thirty to about four thirty because he goes
to Miller Public Schools and they have early dismissal every Wednesday,
and my daughter Elizabeth and my son in law Tom,
(02:16):
they work at Union Pacific, can't get home by two thirty.
So it's really really fun. And I brought up last
week because this kid is so funny, I almost call
him Maxisms. His name is Max, I call him Maximus.
But last week, my daughter, I said, was trying to
teach him to be kind and he said, well, I'm
going to tell Grandma today she has a big head,
which I thought was hilarious. And my daughter said, Max,
(02:38):
try to be kind. Don't tell grandma she has a
big head. And he said, no, she has to have
a big head because she has a big brain, and
that means she's smart. And so my daughter said, well,
just stick with telling her she's smart. Max, don't tell
her she has a big head. But so yesterday we
go out to Village Point to see a movie yesterday
afternoon and we went to see Project tail Mary, which
(02:59):
is a great movie, just great movie.
Speaker 2 (03:02):
But anyway, it's all quiet.
Speaker 1 (03:03):
It's about the middle of the movie and all of
a sudden he says, really really loud, Grandma, did you
know that SpongeBob is more popular than Donald Trump or
Lebron James.
Speaker 2 (03:14):
Where did this kid get this? And I said, what, No,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 1 (03:19):
I didn't know SpongeBob was more popular than Donald Trump
or Lebron James. And then about twenty minutes later, he says,
real loud, do you know who Donald Trump is? And
I said, yes, I know who Donald Trump is. This
is from a six year old. This kid is so funny.
Though he comes out with these things. He's super smart,
but it's pretty funny coming from a kindergartener. You just
(03:40):
have to laugh at these things that go on in
their little brains. But I remembered when my.
Speaker 2 (03:44):
Kids were six years old.
Speaker 1 (03:46):
So it's really fun to be with him and to
be able to spend time with him, which I couldn't do,
by the way, when I was mayor because I was
busy all the time. So and you know I just
mentioned Donald Trump. I'm going to say another thing about
Donald Trump, because you know, we had some prote here
this weekend, a lot of no Kings protests all over
the country, and I'm okay with that.
Speaker 2 (04:06):
I mean, it's your.
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Constitutional right First Amendment, freedom of speech. There is a
line that people draw, though, I mean, protests are fine.
And I will bring up when I was mayor back
in May twenty twenty, and remember that the George Floyd
we had protest here in Omaha that turned into riots.
And I remember when I would talk about this publicly,
(04:29):
a lot of people would be angry and they would
correct me and they would say it was not a riot.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
It is our right to protest.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
But when you cross the line, when it becomes violent,
or when you destroy public property, are you're hurting people
are and you're breaking the law, then it becomes a protest.
And that's exactly what happened in Omaha back in the
summer of twenty twenty. It started out, if you recall,
at seventy second in Dodge at Crossroads in the parking.
Speaker 2 (04:54):
Lot, where it usually does where it usually does.
Speaker 1 (04:57):
That's not where the No King's rally was this weekend,
though I thought that was interesting. But on a Friday
night it was a protest and it got bigger and
bigger and bigger, and we had able one in the air,
and you know, our police had developed a station there
in the parking garage, trying to keep the peace and
let people protest as they wanted. But then, if you recall,
(05:17):
it marched down downtown and then it became unlawful. And
that's when Chief Schmater and I put a stop to it,
and we thought, this is not just a legal protest,
this is a riot and we had to stop it.
And we did call in the National Guard within three days,
and we got criticized for that, but I said, not
(05:37):
in Omaha and Omaha, We're not going to be tearing
up downtown, breaking windows, hurting people. And we had to
put a stop with it. And so there is a
limit and I think that that's really important for people
to understand. Now, Donald Trump, I'm going to go back
to Donald Trump. There's a lot of talk. People are saying,
no kings people. Some people don't a lot of people
don't like what he's doing. They don't like personality, and
(06:01):
that's fine, that's everybody's opinion. But I just want to
say I've met Donald Trump three times, and for those
who have never met him, I have to tell a
few little stories about him. One time, it was before
he announced that he was running for the presidency. It
was over in Pottawatamee County at the Republican Party. I
(06:21):
think he announced he was going to run for the
presidency just a few months after the event over there
that I met him. But anyway, I was standing in
the room, lots of Republicans in that room, obviously, with
my husband. Donald Trump was standing in the middle of
the room. The chair of the Pottawatamee County Republican Party said,
(06:42):
mister Trump, would you like to meet the mayor of Omaha,
And he said, sure, yes, and so they walked towards
our way and he went right up to my husband
and said hello, mister mayor. Nice to me, which I
thought was pretty funny. And I said they go, no, no, no,
she's the mayor. And he looked at me and he
said no way, and I said way. And that's how
we first met. He thought, obviously my husband had to
(07:05):
be the mayor, which I thought was a little bit
of a funny story. But I met him two other
times at the base after he was president, down at Stratcom.
And I'm telling you, whether you like the president or not,
whether the president is in your party or not, or whatever.
When Air Force one lands, it's pretty dark, impressive. The
thing is huge, and there's huge cargo plans that land
(07:30):
before Air Force one that have all the Secret Service
in their vehicles in it. You know, they're not just
sitting here in Omaha, but they fly them in right
before the President comes. And two times I met him
down at the base. The first time it was me,
the commander and the governor who was Governor Ricketts at
the time.
Speaker 2 (07:46):
And I'm going to.
Speaker 1 (07:46):
Tell you the three times I met Trump, the one
in Patawuaamee County before he announced in the two times
down at the base. Honest to goodness, he was delightful.
He was funny, he was witty, he was very tongue
in cheek. He was very knowledgeable. He got right off
Air Force one. He came up to me and he
(08:07):
called me Gene. Obviously they had briefed him, but they
told him a bit about Omaha. And he looks right
in your eyes, he makes eye contact. He was funny
the way he was talking about the media across the tarmac.
And I'll tell you all the Secret Service they were
demanding what we did, even the commander down at off
it and the governor and me, and it was like
(08:28):
you stand here. You don't move, You don't move away
from this spot, you don't follow the president, you don't
do this, that or the other. And the President gets
off the plane and he sees all these reporters across
the tarmac behind this fence and deb Fisher, Senator Deb
Fisher flew in on Air Force one with him, and
he looks across the tarmac and he goes, deb Gen,
(08:49):
walk over here with me.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
Let's go talk to these reporters.
Speaker 1 (08:52):
And I thought, after the Secret Service was beaten in
our heads, we couldn't move. I thought, well, the President
told me to follow him, so I'm gonna do it.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
It's like when you're mom says no and you go
to your dad and you're like, yeah, big.
Speaker 2 (09:03):
Dad, exactly.
Speaker 1 (09:04):
And so Deb Fisher and I and a little crowd
walked across the tarmac with the President to go over
and talk to the media. But I'm telling you in person.
Then when I met him, he was he was a
very nice, friendly no not arrogant whatsoever. And I really
did enjoy.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Talking to it.
Speaker 3 (09:24):
I wish I had a cool story like that. So actually,
this one time I met Obama. No, I'm just kidding,
but I met Obama. It's okay, okay.
Speaker 1 (09:32):
I met him coming off Air Force one, and you
know he I will tell you honestly, where I thought
Trump was very friendly, Obama was the one that I
thought would be very friendly, and he was a bit
I will use the word awkward, socially awkward. He didn't
make eye contact, He kind of you know, didn't spend
a lot of time talking. But I know I've told
(09:54):
this story before too. I met Biden. It has to
be twelve years ago when our cancer center opened up,
and so it was quite a while ago. But he
was very nice. Joe Biden was very nice when he
was here when the cancer center opened up and he
was here, he was the keynote speaker because his son
Bo obviously died of cancer and he died down at M. D.
(10:16):
Anderson down in Houston. But he was very, very nice.
But Obama was a little bit more awkward. But we
don't have a guest this morning. We got some great
ones later on in the week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday. But
you know, there's a couple other things I wanted to
bring up this morning. I don't know why I keep
on reading the public polls because it drives me nuts.
It did that when I was mayor to and I
(10:37):
would read it and I would go, I'm never going
to read this again, and I'd pick up the paper
and read it again the next day. But there were
several public post letters that I wanted to bring up
and one phone call and it all a street car
related and we don't have to just talk about the
street car, but it seems to be a popular subject.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
But one man called in last.
Speaker 1 (10:59):
Week at the end of the week and he did
say that I keep on saying that the street car
is not going to be paid for with taxpayer dollars.
But he said, but TIFF is paid by for the taxpayers.
And I answered this person, but I want to answer
it again because I think it's so important to reemphasize
this TIFF is not paid by the taxpayers. TIFF is
(11:23):
paid by the developers that receive or is awarded the tiff,
which is tax increment financing, and we follow to the
t what is in state law. And I want to
emphasize that when the City of Omaha awards TIFF to
a developer, there is no risk to the city at all.
(11:43):
The developer goes to the bank and gets a loan.
It's not putting the city at risk at all. And
it's only tiff eligible expenses that are allowed by state
law which the developer gets the tiff loan for. The
developer pays back the tiff loan, not the taxpayers. Look
(12:04):
on your tax bill, there's no tiff tax on it.
Speaker 3 (12:07):
So this is not paid back in my property taxes five, ten,
fifteen years down the line after I forgot about it.
Speaker 2 (12:13):
Absolutely not.
Speaker 1 (12:14):
And most tiff loans are fifteen year loans, most of
them with the City of Omaha are paid off earlier
than that. And then who are the big winners are
the schools and the cities because now that property that
has been redeveloped or something new built there is worth
so much more than it was before, and they are
(12:35):
now paying taxes on that higher amount of value for
that property.
Speaker 2 (12:40):
And they always make sure that but four.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
Clause that is in saint that is in the state law,
that that developer could not build this property without but
for the tiff. So I and this is not unlike,
for instance, what we did with the Sarbone village, you know,
and every likes exarbon. I mean, it is just booming there.
I think there's only a couple areas that are still
(13:06):
left to develop.
Speaker 2 (13:07):
They call them zones.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
But what happened with Exarbon Village is that the city
up front paid for a lot of the infrastructure, and
then the city was paid back with the profits from
the tiff loan. And so you know, this is what
we're doing with the streetcar, and it's not unusual. We've
done something very very similar before to Exarbon Village. One
(13:32):
public pulse letter I addressed last week and the heading
was streetcar projects shouldn't get more funding, And the writer
says no federal, state, or city money should go towards
the streetcar. And it says this writer Michael Osterguard called
Pete Rickett's office and let him know that I don't
want any federal money going to the project. There is none.
(13:54):
There is no city money, there is no state money,
and there is no federal money going into the streetcar.
And that's the one reason that I wanted to go
forward with the streetcar. I mentioned it before, but it
was the number one recommendation from the Urban Core Committee
that was a lot of Omaha businessmen, and their number
(14:16):
one recommendation was the streetcar.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
And I said.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
Okay, I understand the benefit of the streetcar, but I said,
find me a way to fund it that I don't
have to raise taxes, and they did, and that was
using tiff. There was another letter that came up in
this I'll tie this together in a minute in the
World Herald this weekend and it says the Omaha streetcar
(14:41):
route makes no sense. And the person says, the streetcar
project didn't make any sense from the very beginning, and
the planned root or route, however you want to say,
it makes even less sense now that Epley is undergoing expansion,
excuse me, and modernization, And why shouldn't have that been
the plan from the beginning to start at the airport.
(15:02):
I'll tell you the reason why. Number One, when you
start at the airport, you got to have a place
that you're going to end. The interminus and where's it
going to end. It's great that we could have a
route to the airport eventually, and we've already applied for
a grant and received it to study going to the airport.
Excuse me, But what we have now is the initial route.
(15:24):
The initial route goes from Eighth Street downtown and it
goes all the way out to thirty eighth Street. Originally
it was going to go to forty second Street, but
we stopped it at thirty eighth Street because the Metcenter
really wants the streetcar to extend and go to Saddle
Creek because it's going to be a great benefit to them,
So we stopped at thirty eight Street. So you start
(15:46):
at the airport, where's the interminus going to be making
I'm coughing this morning, and I know there's a cough
button and I'm not using it here.
Speaker 2 (15:55):
But the thing of it is is, you know where
would it end?
Speaker 1 (15:58):
Would it end at the Arena Convention Center, would it
end at the Hilton or the Marriott? Well what about
the Farnham Hotel? Well what about the Cottonwood Hotel. You
got to think where you want it to do the
most good. And there is not a lot of people
that live along this route that would extend to where
the current route stops, which is at tenth and Capital
(16:21):
to the airport. There's not a lot of people that
can jump on and off the streetcar along that route,
and that hasn't been decided yet. I mean, it could
go up twenty fourth Street, it could go up thirtieth Street,
nothing has been decided yet because we have to study that.
But you have to think the way we are currently
paying for it by the USATIF because this massive amount
of development that is occurring along the streetcar route wouldn't
(16:43):
occur along the route that would extend up to the
airport if you look at what is going on in
the land and the property in that area. And so yes,
this is why we didn't plan that to be the
initial route at all. It would be the matter of
how we're going to pay for it and where does
the most good. The Urban Core Committee really looked at
was looking at how we can bring more business downtown,
(17:06):
how we could replace parking lots which is half a
downtown with new businesses and new residents and new employees.
And this is where it's going to do the most
good now, and that's why it was originally planned. I
get this all the time, but the rest of this letter,
and it was from a woman named Margaret Nipper, it
says this is why Jeane Stouther didn't win. And I
(17:28):
will say again it's part of the reason. I'll admit that,
and I'll own the street car because I still am
one hundred percent for it and support it, and I
could talk about it till I'm blue in the face,
but it's one of the reasons. But you know, you've
got to look at really what's happening with elections and
with Republicans. I was the mayor, the Republican mayor of
(17:49):
the Blue Dot, There's no doubt about it. And if
you look at what is happening to Republican incumbents all
over the country right now, and not every city in
the country is building a streetcar, it's a lot of
Republican incumbents, their positions, if they're running again, are really
threatened by what is going on all over the country.
(18:10):
And I think we have to keep that in mind.
It's never just one issue about why someone doesn't win
a race, but all Republicans are are. I mean, they're
in a position right now that they are really struggling.
And I mentioned this before on the air, and it's
worth mentioning again. The morning after my defeat with the
(18:31):
last election, Kevin McCarthy, former Speaker Kevin McCarthy, called me
from California and he said, Gene, this is what's going
to happen to every incumbent Republican in twenty twenty six,
and so I think we got to keep that in mind,
you know, if we want Republicans elected. And again I said,
I was going to be the mayor for everybody, Democrat, Republican.
I didn't care your gender, I didn't care anything. I
(18:54):
was going to represent all of you. But I think
if Republicans seriously want to really focus on keeping Republicans elected,
we've got to get out there and vote.
Speaker 3 (19:04):
I got a call here from Ken that's going to
circle back to something that you spoke about just a
second ago in regards to the street car. Ken, you're
on news radio eleven to ten KFAB with Jean Stoutht.
Speaker 5 (19:15):
Good morning, Hey, good morning, Jean. I really appreciate you
taking my call, and I got to tell you are
a class act. My dear God bless you. You are
a class act.
Speaker 2 (19:24):
Thank you.
Speaker 5 (19:25):
But you were on the board He show a few
months back, and it was all about the businesses being
affected by the street car. Yes, and you said, and
if I misquote you, I apologize, But it was somewhere
around the neighborhood of a million dollars that was in
an account to help offset them losing business. Yes, well,
all I've heard since the election is there's no money
for him. There's nothing we can do. Is there should
have been more pre planned. They should have looked at, well,
(19:45):
what happened to that million bucks? And if I'm wrong,
I apologize, But could you address that and all hang
up and listen to your response. But God bless you,
you're a class act, my.
Speaker 2 (19:52):
Dear, thank you so much. And yes we arranged that.
Speaker 1 (19:54):
I know Mary Ewing mentioned this fund in the state
of the city, but we had that already and underway
and it went through the chamber. There was actually about
one point two million dollars came from a lot of
donors that people could apply for loans.
Speaker 2 (20:11):
That money.
Speaker 1 (20:12):
A lot of it has been given out, it already
has been. The issue is it wasn't enough, and it's
going to be very very difficult for the donors to
keep on wanting to give, to give money out and
to put more money in this fund.
Speaker 2 (20:28):
Now we do know that.
Speaker 1 (20:33):
Especially restaurants and bars are really being hit bad, and
we could tell that through the restaurant tax, and they
really are. The issue really is is there's not enough
money in that fund to give out, and that state
constitution prevents city government from giving money, taxpayer dollars to
(20:55):
private businesses. So the City of Omaha is not allowed
legally by the Nebraska State Constitution to give city money,
and all city money is all taxpayer money to these
businesses to help them out during this really hard period.
We know it's a hard period for them. We knew
(21:17):
that they would have some hardships during the construction. But
keep in mind too that originally when I pushed the
streetcar forward and laid it in front of the city council,
it was supposed to be completed in twenty twenty six,
that is this year, So those hardships were going to
be till the end of this year. Then with the
(21:38):
additional money, our additional work that Mud was requiring, the
original time frame went extended about another year. Now this
more work being done by Mud is pushed it to
two more years. So now the completion date is at
(22:00):
twenty twenty eight if they're lucky. And this is mostly
because of utility work that Mud is insisting on doing.
And I've brought this up before, but originally MUD's work
was going to be less than ten million dollars. Now
it's about forty four million dollars. In some of the
work that they are insisting on doing, which is going
(22:22):
to be paid for by the streetcar project, is not
even near the streetcar. And you know, these these are
waterlines and gas lines, and the water lines are very
deep and you have to literally tear up the street
to repair or to replace the water lines. And the
water lines are on one side of the street and
the gas lines are on the other and they crisscross
(22:43):
in the middle of the street to go to the
buildings on the other side. So when they're doing water
lines and they're they're having to replace where they crisscross,
they have to tear up the whole street. So there's holes,
and there's piles of dirt, and there's fences everywhere. And
I really think that the concentration has to be on
what are we going to do to help these businesses,
(23:03):
even parking. I mean, you know, if if it's something
that public works can do with some wayfinding and some
options for parking. I know mayor Ewing brought up some
parking available at low cost in the city's garages. But
these businesses, a lot of them are really supported right
now by what's the thing Peyton, You know that that
(23:24):
that you order and you have delivered DoorDash.
Speaker 2 (23:26):
Shortage a lot of them.
Speaker 1 (23:28):
Uber Eats and door dash support these businesses and they
can't find a place to park to pick up the food.
So I think that there are things that we could
really look at to make this easier. But number one,
MUD needs to get their work done and not to
expand or extend that completion time anymore, because this is
just utility work now that you know. Then then we
(23:50):
come in and put the rails in and so you've
got to say that all this additional work and added
two more extra years onto the completion data of the
street in my opinion, is what is causing most of
the problems. And I think we've got to do something
to help these businesses out. But the money is not
It cannot come from the City of Omaha tax payers.
Speaker 3 (24:11):
We got lots of questions rolling in Froya. Jean, let's
hit it right away. This one comes from Keith. He's
been waiting patiently. Keith, you're on news radio eleven to
ten KFAB with Jean Stouthart.
Speaker 2 (24:21):
Good morning, Good.
Speaker 4 (24:22):
Morning, thanks for taking my call of Jeane Sure. My
question is you know the pros and cons of the
street car I'm tired of even thinking about it, and
I just kind of trust people to do what's right.
But my trepidation is, like we talk about how you know,
all these people are going to ride the street car,
(24:43):
and I certainly hope that's the case. But when it
comes to as trump ism would be the great big,
beautiful buses. We wasn't that long ago that we bought
great big buses to go all around Omaha. I've worked
at the med Center as a nurse for forty seven years,
and I can tell you that when I go up
and down Dodge Street before work, after work and rush hour,
(25:06):
there's nobody using those buses. You could use a small
van to transport the number of people that generally on them.
So I just was wondering why we aren't reducing the
size of our buses or if that was a good
thing that we did back when.
Speaker 1 (25:21):
Sure, and thank you, fellow nurse, because you know I
am a former critical care nurse. Once a nurse, always
a nurse. But you know, the bus system in Omaha
is not run by the city. It is run by
Metro Transit. Up until about a year ago, I did
appoint the board to Metro Transit the mayor appointed the board,
(25:42):
so I did for the last twelve years, but it
has now changed to be an elected position, so they
are elected.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
The thing with the bus system.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
Is they always need to be looking at making and
creating more routes that are more and more convenient. The
big buses that bought, the big articulated buses that Metro
Transit has that are out working now is called the BRT,
the Bus Rapid Transit, and it is meant to go
(26:11):
at higher speeds. It is meant to have multiple stops
along the way, and you don't need a bus schedule
because if you miss it within five or ten minutes,
another one is going to come by. The BRT started
out at about eighth Street downtown and it went straight
out to the West Roads. You have to look at
it as the initial route because not unlike the streetcar,
(26:34):
they are already looking into multiple routes that will come
off this initial route with the BRT going up to
North Omaha and to South Omaha. And I will tell
you that Metro Transit does keep track of ridership and
people do use our buses. That's the issue I know.
I hear a lot of times people saying well, I
(26:55):
saw one of those big articulated buses and no one
was on it. But there are millions of people in
Omaha that ride our bus system every year and depend
on it. Some people absolutely depend on it and don't
have cars and it's their only way to get from
their home to work or to the doctor's office or whatever.
And so it's it's in Metro Transit's hands where these
(27:18):
bus stops are going to be with the regular buses
and the big articulated buses, but people do use them
and do depend on them. And it's so important to
have a public transportation city or a system for a
big and growing city. We have to look at every
way people commute, and so that's by automobiles, by bikes,
(27:40):
and pedestrians and public transportation. I get a lot of
people saying, well, nobody's using the bike lanes either, but
some people do depend on it. Now that is true
that in Omaha about ninety no I would say maybe
eighty eighty eighty five percent, And that's just an estimate
of people commute by using cars, and it will probably
probably stay that way. But you need to have other
(28:02):
options available for those that want to use public transportation.
Or one a walk or want to use their bikes.
So all of those things are important. But there is
that ridership there with our bus system, and we can
only hope that the Metro transle will continue to look
at more routes to make it more convenient for more
people to use the buses.
Speaker 3 (28:23):
Just because you are not actively using a bus line
or a bike lane doesn't mean that other people aren't
or that it's not important.
Speaker 1 (28:30):
That's exactly right. You know, there's a Millard Express. I
live in the Millard area. I live about one hundred
and twenty thin Q and that Millard Express goes downtown
every morning and it's full. I mean it really does.
But I tried riding the bus one time, just when
I was married. Oh yeah, really for really, just to
see what it was like, and I wanted to experience
it myself. And the experience wasn't that good. I mean,
(28:51):
I live again about one hundred and twentyeth ink QU.
The closest bus stop was right by where H and
H Chevrolet used to be, which is eighty fourth and L.
So I had to get down there and then the
bus was late, and then but when I got on
the bus, I mean it took forever to get downtown,
and I had to go through Exarbon Village, I went
through the Med Center, I went through a seemed like
(29:14):
a dozen different areas and then the bus dropped me
off at Joslin and then I had to walk from
Joslyn down to City Hall. So that one experience that
I had. Now, this was years ago and they might
not even have that route anymore, but you have to
make it convenient for people that depend on it.
Speaker 3 (29:31):
Well, hey, that says a lot about you willing to
go out and actually experience it and see what it's like.
Because people can tell you anything, oh, this and that,
but actually seeing it yourself, that's interesting context.
Speaker 2 (29:42):
It is and it's helpful to do that.
Speaker 1 (29:44):
And so if you if you haven't experienced what it's
like to use the bus or to use the BRT,
the bus rapid transit, you know, I suggest that you do.
Now one thing about the bus Rabbit Transit. It was
launched and first started running and COVID hit so I
mean bam, and yeah, when it was first launched, there
(30:04):
weren't a lot of people riding the buses at all,
but there weren't many people flying in airplanes. Either and
we weren't going to shut down the airport, so we
just had to get through COVID. And since COVID, the
ridership has increased and increased.
Speaker 3 (30:19):
We have a new caller here on the line. This
comes from Larry. Larry, you're on news radio eleven ten
KFAB with Jean's author.
Speaker 6 (30:27):
Thank you for taking McCall. Thanks. In relation to Vision zero,
but also the homeless situation along the Northwest Radio Highway.
I went to the meeting last week. Very confusing, but
it does explain what appears to be severe neglect of
the Radio Highway and Saddle Creek along the northwest between
(30:53):
Coming and a little ways north of Hamilton. Severe neglect
in the Walnut Hill area and part of Dundee ranging
from forty fifth Street to about forty eighth Street. Now
Kiff development is part of it also. But Vision zero
(31:16):
meeting was pretty confusing, but it's a large scale plan
for reducing traffic difference to zero. It's correct, a lot
of smoking mirrors, I think, but that explains what that
area is really severely blinded.
Speaker 1 (31:38):
Yes, I agree, I agree with you, and let me
explain Vision zero a little bit first, because when I
first put a Vision zero team together. You know, I
got some criticism for it, saying it's just a it's
a liberal movement. But Vision zero is a multi national
traffic safety program and the strategy is to eliminate and
(32:04):
reduce all traffic deaths and fatalities and injuries. Now that's
a very lofty goal. We're never going to meet it.
But I thought we could never say, well, I just
I want only X many deaths with traffic, so the
goal is none. It started in nineteen ninety seven in Sweden,
and like I said, it's a national, multinational effort, and
(32:27):
it isn't just smoke and mirrors, because what it does
is that team worked with public works and our engineers
and they looked at all in any way that we
could make our roads safer. What have other communities done,
What of other cities in other you know, in Europe
and other countries done. And for example, in New York
(32:48):
City when they implemented their Vision zero, their number of
traffic deaths fell to a historic low. And so I mean,
we're looking at how we construct our roads. We're looking
at safety things that are proven, like roundabouts. People when
I mentioned a roundabout, they tend to go, oh my gosh,
(33:09):
I hate the thought of a roundabout.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
I don't like them.
Speaker 1 (33:12):
I hate them, but they work because the number one reason,
there's two reasons that people get into traffic accidents and
ended up in fatalities are two things, and number one
is red light running and number two is speeding a
traffic You know, a roundabout takes care of both of
them because there are no signals and you have to
(33:33):
slow down. So all of these recommendations that came from
the Vision zero group and task force that I put
together are now being implemented in our road projects, and
so yeah, they really do make a lot of sense.
But like I said, this has been around since nineteen
ninety seven, and I gave New York City as an example,
(33:55):
But cities that have implemented have seen a lot less
fatality serious in reason traffic crashes.
Speaker 3 (34:01):
Yeah, I'm gonna run for mayor and propose putting roundabouts
at every single intersection.
Speaker 2 (34:06):
I bet I'll get you would.
Speaker 1 (34:07):
Be very unpopular by doing that. But they do work,
is the thing. And people always think it would inhibit
fire trucks public safety for getting around them. Those fire
trucks are going to get around to roundabout. There's no
way they won't. If they have to go over the top,
they'll get through.
Speaker 3 (34:24):
And they're designed to be accessible by all those vehicles.
You're not gonna build one and not have that in mind.
Are those big trailers or a semi coming through? Sometimes?
Speaker 2 (34:33):
You know, people hate the thought of them, but they work.
Speaker 3 (34:35):
It's accounted for, right, DJ, You're on news radio eleven
ten KFAB with Jean's author.
Speaker 5 (34:40):
Good morning, Good morning, just curious.
Speaker 6 (34:46):
I'm DJ, the grandson of W. D. Clark.
Speaker 4 (34:51):
Yeah, why.
Speaker 6 (34:53):
Hi, I'm wondering if his name goes away from the
library system with the closing of that branch.
Speaker 1 (35:00):
You know when that's a gal really good question, because
it you know it did. And you know when when
the opportunity came to me to build a brand new
skyscraper downtown and they really needed to be on a
streetcar line because of the number of employees they had,
(35:23):
we thought as a team that the very very best
place to put it would be at the site of
the Dale Clerk, the old Dale Clark Library.
Speaker 2 (35:31):
Now, I will be honest with you.
Speaker 1 (35:33):
All, I got criticized a lot for taking that library down. However,
the library did many, many, many studies before that decision
was made, and they did not like The library director
did not like that library at that site anymore. It
was outdated, it was not safe, there was a it
was not functional anymore, and they really wanted a new
(35:57):
downtown library to be built really serve the client tele
that is down there now, and so we did make
the decision to take that down. We did build a
new downtown library and it is not called the Dale
Clark Library, because it was pretty iconic that one building
was the Dale Clark. But you know, I would have
to do a little more research into that to see
(36:21):
about will that name and can that name be preserved,
because I think when people talked about the Downtown library,
they talked about the Dale Clark Library, and you hate
for that to be lost, and you hate for the
history of.
Speaker 2 (36:34):
That to be lost too. So I understand your question.
Speaker 1 (36:37):
I was, you know, I could dig into that a
little further and we could talk about that maybe tomorrow.
Speaker 3 (36:42):
Yeah, that's interesting too. What does it mean for naming rights?
I mean, it was already named that it was.
Speaker 1 (36:50):
It's changed over the years naming rights, and that's in
city code.
Speaker 2 (36:55):
I know.
Speaker 1 (36:56):
I told the story about when Webster Downtown when I
was on the council was renamed Mike Fahey. Now that
is a permanent renaming. But then the council at the
time and I was a no vote on this, changed
what is in city code and says you have to
be not only dead, but you have to be dead
ten years to get something permanently named after you. Interesting,
(37:19):
but you can have a commemorative like people will say, well,
then why did mayor you ain't get a street named
after him after he was mayor two months? That's a
commemorative street renaming. So if you look at a map
of the city, I can't even remember the original name
of the street that is now commemoratively commemoratively named after
mayor you ing that stays permanent, so that naming rights
(37:41):
are for city applied to streets and city facilities. So
like the arena Convention Center there, you know, now it's
called CHI, but they went through a big process for
naming rights for CHI for example, and so but it's
it's like a twenty twenty five year agree and it
costs c CHI millions and millions and millions of dollars
(38:04):
to have their name on the arena convention Center. And
the same with the ballpark. Remember the ballpark has changed
what the names were to. Yes, so but I'm going
to do a little research into the Dale Clark if
if that name can be preserved in any way, and
we'll talk about that tomorrow. Mary Ewings is low that's
right Low. Yeah, and that was an area where he
(38:26):
kind of grew up in that area. So it's still
if you look at the map of the city, it
still remains low Thrup. But if you drive around there,
there's a round sign underneath that would say Mayor John
Ewing Jr.
Speaker 2 (38:38):
Very interesting. Thank you for the call.
Speaker 6 (38:39):
DJ.
Speaker 3 (38:40):
That's that's good questions. And I always like interesting new
topics like that too. And now Gene has to do
a little homework and see where we can go with
the naming rights. I'm good at that too, yeah, as
she always likes to go. All right, we're going to
touch on this real quick before we get out of here.
This is coming from people, and they you said something
about Nebraska state law or constitute law, constitution. They said,
(39:06):
miss mayor, is the city allowed to partially or completely
defray property taxes on the businesses involved?
Speaker 2 (39:15):
Pure?
Speaker 3 (39:15):
Okay, so the city not reimburse the businesses in form
of a loss of compensation. You have about sixty seconds.
Speaker 2 (39:21):
Well, like I.
Speaker 1 (39:22):
Said, it's there in the Nebraska State Constitution. It prevents
government from giving out public funds. This is taxpayer funds
because the city, all the city's budget is based on
taxpayer funds sales tax, property tax, restaurant tax. But it
prevents any government from giving up public funds to private
business and that includes loans and grants. And there is
(39:45):
no exception to that prohibition, no exception, no exception at all.
And the businesses that I know have been already informed
of that. So it is it's the City of Omaha
is not able to give taxpayer dollars to private businesses.
Speaker 3 (40:02):
And that one point two million that you had in
an account that was from donations. That was people giving
their own money on their own accord.
Speaker 1 (40:09):
It was from donations and mostly from bigger businesses giving donations.
It was run through the chamber, so it was not
run through the City of Omaha. But those a lot
of that money has been dispersed. But there is the problem,
like I said before, is they are still these businesses
being affected and being affected very negatively in mostly the
(40:30):
restaurants and the bars, and a lot of it is
just that they can't even find a place to park.
But it's because now it's taking two years longer than
it originally was, and so they're going to be inconvenienced
and perhaps devastated their business because now this is going
to last two more years, which is not positive.
Speaker 3 (40:52):
We have some really really good guests on the slate
this week. I know Gene knows, but you don't know yet.
You'll have to keep listening to find out. This This
is the gens Au third show. Cafa be comment line.
My name is Peyton Highlocked, producer of the show. We
are going to catch you guys tomorrow
Speaker 2 (41:06):
And thanks for listening, Thanks for being with us today.
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