Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcoming Omaha City Councilvan don Roe fifth District on the
program after yesterday's vote on the Brinker Harding Ordinance, which
would have made a misdemeanor of these homeless encampments on
public property, and on good morning you were a bit
of a surprise vote to me, one of the three
Republicans you voted now along with the four Democrats on
(00:21):
the council, and we chatted just briefly on text yesterday.
This was a tough one for you. What was your reasoning?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, yeah, thanks thanks for inviting me up to be
on this morning at o dark thirty in the morning here.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, I know you have appointments.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm supposed to be working off that Scott Borhe's type hours,
you know, showing up at nine and leaving at eleven.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, really, he actually shows up at nine and leaves
at nine oh five.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I do appreciate the chance to get to hang
out with you guys for a minute. Yeah, this was
a very complicated issue for me, and first of all,
I want to say that you know, I couldn't have
any more respect for Brinker and his bringing this to
the to the forefront for the council to discuss. It's
(01:12):
something that we've all know, We've all see it in
our district, every district from you know, one through one
through seven. We've got these issues going on and we
need to address it. And and it was the opinion
of all of us that we needed to do better
at addressing the issue. And so I was thankful that
(01:33):
Brinker brought this up. It sparked a new conversation that
we hadn't been having, and I mean conversations from council
Bluffs to Elkhorn and from Millard to Bennington. And so
I really do appreciate that and I couldn't have any
more respect for for him bringing that forward.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What was the issue the issue for you don in
this ordinance?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, I think you guys, I know, you guys know
that I'm christ follower. That's you know, that's a very
important part of my life. And and as I look
at the values that I have, you know, I just
couldn't get away from some of the things that really
hit me in the heart. And that's you know, loving
(02:19):
your neighbor as yourself, and you know, taking care of
people that are in need. And we know that, you know,
we've had people living with you know, in our ranks
that have needs, you know, for thousands of years. It's
not something new. And I go back, you know, like
he was seven hundred years before Christ was born that
you know, somebody asked, you know, what does God require?
(02:42):
And and he said, you know, to act with justice, love, mercy,
and walk humbly. And that's kind of what I wanted
to do.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, And that's that's important on but that's that's huge importance.
But in this case, the only difference between the Mayor's
proposal and Breakers is the law enforcement component. So what
you're saying is I don't think we need to have
the police or we need to have these people locked
up if they leave. Is that the essence of it?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, I don't know that we need to lock them
up and and find them with you know, dollars that
they don't have. The thing that really got to me
was I had conversations with a lot of the service providers,
from Candice Gregory and and Steve Raze down at the
Open Door Mission to Linda Toomey and you know, Brandy
(03:33):
Waller and all these people day and and I felt
like that the proposal that Jason put together from Steven
special was going to be something that we could maybe
get our hands around it. It seemed to me in
the past that we, you know, we've tried. Mayor Stothar tried,
(03:55):
she hired tamra On and uh TR wingmen to try
to address the issue, and they were out there doing
the best they could, but it felt like to me
that the providers were working in silos. They weren't working together.
And I think when Jason put this program together, this
plan together that the Mayor's talking about, there's going to
(04:17):
be collaboration. There's going to be a much more of
a sense of urgency to deal with the problem than
what we've had in the past, and I think we're
going to see great results. And we've talked about it
since the urgency. I've mentioned that to Jason. I said,
you really think you can get this done, because if
you can't, then we're going to go a different way.
(04:37):
And he felt like that, he that he felt like
that he could. And I've been talking with you know,
Chris and you know people at Stephen Center and the
Open Door Mission. I think they're willing to, you know,
take down those silos, work together, to work in concert
with each other, to get the boots on the ground,
get people on the street, and that's our goal. Our
(04:57):
goal is not to put people in jail or to
behind them. Our goal is to help solve the problem.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The thing about but don The thing about it is
the problem has grown. It's not getting smaller. It's growing,
and each day that goes by it grows larger, not smaller.
And Brinker and Amy's point is we have to have
some teeth behind our actions. And right now, the essence
of the mayor's proposal, correct me if I'm wrong, is
(05:25):
that we are asking these people to voluntarily give up
their lifestyle, voluntarily give up the drugs and alcohol, voluntarily
give up the freedom to come and go and camp
wherever they like. The problem is the neighbors that live
across the fence line. Okay, they don't feel safe in
their homes. And it's not like it's in one part
of town, City Council and Donroe. It's all over town,
(05:48):
including seventy second in West Center, which I believe is
your district.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
No, I'm a little farther west, okay, but it's go
to one hundred and ethan l Yeah, it's there, So
I'll show you encampments.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So I think Donald, we're short on don let me
ask you this because I think the bottom line for
Omahan's and for OMA leadership should be We're not going
to have this. This is not going to be on
our streets anymore. When under the plan that you think
has promised, the plan that shows promise, when will that
(06:22):
day come?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's going to be. The mayor asked for a thirty
day period to put the plan into you know, to
implement the plan, to put all the final details in place.
And then Tom Warren yesterday we questioned him about that
and said, you know, we want to have reporting back
on what the results are, how is it going, where
(06:44):
are we making progress? And he committed to getting back
to us on a monthly basis once that plan is
in place, and that's going to be within thirty days,
no more than thirty days, that plan will be in place.
The providers are committed to making the effort to get
the boots on the ground in dealing with these people
and helping them find solutions to their problems, whether it
(07:06):
be an addiction problem or a mental health problem, or
just bad luck, whatever it is, whatever is forcing them
to be on the streets and and that's gonna that's
gonna happen. So we're gonna get reporting back on a
monthly basis from the mayor's Mayor's Office.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Very good, thank you for the time this morning. I
appreciate you coming on Fifth District Councilman Don Rowe. Okay,
we ain't gonna ignore this. Keep an eye We're gonna
keep an eye on ye
Welcoming Omaha City Councilvan don Roe fifth District on the
program after yesterday's vote on the Brinker Harding Ordinance, which
would have made a misdemeanor of these homeless encampments on
public property, and on good morning you were a bit
of a surprise vote to me, one of the three
Republicans you voted now along with the four Democrats on
(00:21):
the council, and we chatted just briefly on text yesterday.
This was a tough one for you. What was your reasoning?
Speaker 2 (00:29):
Well, yeah, thanks thanks for inviting me up to be
on this morning at o dark thirty in the morning here.
Speaker 1 (00:35):
Well, I know you have appointments.
Speaker 2 (00:38):
I'm supposed to be working off that Scott Borhe's type hours,
you know, showing up at nine and leaving at eleven.
Speaker 3 (00:44):
Yeah, really, he actually shows up at nine and leaves
at nine oh five.
Speaker 2 (00:51):
Well, I do appreciate the chance to get to hang
out with you guys for a minute. Yeah, this was
a very complicated issue for me, and first of all,
I want to say that you know, I couldn't have
any more respect for Brinker and his bringing this to
the to the forefront for the council to discuss. It's
(01:12):
something that we've all know, We've all see it in
our district, every district from you know, one through one
through seven. We've got these issues going on and we
need to address it. And and it was the opinion
of all of us that we needed to do better
at addressing the issue. And so I was thankful that
(01:33):
Brinker brought this up. It sparked a new conversation that
we hadn't been having, and I mean conversations from council
Bluffs to Elkhorn and from Millard to Bennington. And so
I really do appreciate that and I couldn't have any
more respect for for him bringing that forward.
Speaker 1 (01:52):
What was the issue the issue for you don in
this ordinance?
Speaker 2 (01:57):
Well, I think you guys, I know, you guys know
that I'm christ follower. That's you know, that's a very
important part of my life. And and as I look
at the values that I have, you know, I just
couldn't get away from some of the things that really
hit me in the heart. And that's you know, loving
(02:19):
your neighbor as yourself, and you know, taking care of
people that are in need. And we know that, you know,
we've had people living with you know, in our ranks
that have needs, you know, for thousands of years. It's
not something new. And I go back, you know, like
he was seven hundred years before Christ was born that
you know, somebody asked, you know, what does God require?
(02:42):
And and he said, you know, to act with justice, love, mercy,
and walk humbly. And that's kind of what I wanted
to do.
Speaker 3 (02:50):
Well, And that's that's important on but that's that's huge importance.
But in this case, the only difference between the Mayor's
proposal and Breakers is the law enforcement component. So what
you're saying is I don't think we need to have
the police or we need to have these people locked
up if they leave. Is that the essence of it?
Speaker 2 (03:10):
Yeah, I don't know that we need to lock them
up and and find them with you know, dollars that
they don't have. The thing that really got to me
was I had conversations with a lot of the service providers,
from Candice Gregory and and Steve Raze down at the
Open Door Mission to Linda Toomey and you know, Brandy
(03:33):
Waller and all these people day and and I felt
like that the proposal that Jason put together from Steven
special was going to be something that we could maybe
get our hands around it. It seemed to me in
the past that we, you know, we've tried. Mayor Stothar tried,
(03:55):
she hired tamra On and uh TR wingmen to try
to address the issue, and they were out there doing
the best they could, but it felt like to me
that the providers were working in silos. They weren't working together.
And I think when Jason put this program together, this
plan together that the Mayor's talking about, there's going to
(04:17):
be collaboration. There's going to be a much more of
a sense of urgency to deal with the problem than
what we've had in the past, and I think we're
going to see great results. And we've talked about it
since the urgency. I've mentioned that to Jason. I said,
you really think you can get this done, because if
you can't, then we're going to go a different way.
(04:37):
And he felt like that, he that he felt like
that he could. And I've been talking with you know,
Chris and you know people at Stephen Center and the
Open Door Mission. I think they're willing to, you know,
take down those silos, work together, to work in concert
with each other, to get the boots on the ground,
get people on the street, and that's our goal. Our
(04:57):
goal is not to put people in jail or to
behind them. Our goal is to help solve the problem.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
That's right.
Speaker 3 (05:04):
The thing about but don The thing about it is
the problem has grown. It's not getting smaller. It's growing,
and each day that goes by it grows larger, not smaller.
And Brinker and Amy's point is we have to have
some teeth behind our actions. And right now, the essence
of the mayor's proposal, correct me if I'm wrong, is
(05:25):
that we are asking these people to voluntarily give up
their lifestyle, voluntarily give up the drugs and alcohol, voluntarily
give up the freedom to come and go and camp
wherever they like. The problem is the neighbors that live
across the fence line. Okay, they don't feel safe in
their homes. And it's not like it's in one part
of town, City Council and Donroe. It's all over town,
(05:48):
including seventy second in West Center, which I believe is
your district.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
No, I'm a little farther west, okay, but it's go
to one hundred and ethan l Yeah, it's there, So
I'll show you encampments.
Speaker 1 (06:01):
So I think Donald, we're short on don let me
ask you this because I think the bottom line for
Omahan's and for OMA leadership should be We're not going
to have this. This is not going to be on
our streets anymore. When under the plan that you think
has promised, the plan that shows promise, when will that
(06:22):
day come?
Speaker 2 (06:23):
It's going to be. The mayor asked for a thirty
day period to put the plan into you know, to
implement the plan, to put all the final details in place.
And then Tom Warren yesterday we questioned him about that
and said, you know, we want to have reporting back
on what the results are, how is it going, where
(06:44):
are we making progress? And he committed to getting back
to us on a monthly basis once that plan is
in place, and that's going to be within thirty days,
no more than thirty days, that plan will be in place.
The providers are committed to making the effort to get
the boots on the ground in dealing with these people
and helping them find solutions to their problems, whether it
(07:06):
be an addiction problem or a mental health problem, or
just bad luck, whatever it is, whatever is forcing them
to be on the streets and and that's gonna that's
gonna happen. So we're gonna get reporting back on a
monthly basis from the mayor's Mayor's Office.
Speaker 1 (07:21):
Very good, thank you for the time this morning. I
appreciate you coming on Fifth District Councilman Don Rowe. Okay,
we ain't gonna ignore this. Keep an eye We're gonna
keep an eye on ye
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