October 23, 2025 • 9 mins
By popular demand, we're posting this segment after Mayor Ewing's townhall last week on the streetcar.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Seems like Mayor Ewing got an airfol about the street car.
Last night. He did a town hall. He's doing a
series of town halls, and one of them was last night,
and I saw some of the television coverage and he
had a lot of it was about the street car,
although of course that was put in a place before
(00:20):
he was in office. People are still going to the mayor,
of course with concerns, and a lot of the concerns
are the business folks along that route that's torn up
for the street car. I can't, I can't, I can't.
I can't get people to come in here. I want
to move my bit. What are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah? Major problem, but it is a major problem. Is
confused or surprised by this. I don't know how they're
tearing up the street. They're tying up two streets, Farnam
and Harney to put these rails in. Yeah, and Farnham
was already kind of narrow, yes, because of the bike
lanes and the parking and midtown crossing. And if anybody
is surprised, well then I don't know how. You know,
(01:02):
but what are you gonna do about it? You're either
going to have this or not. Frankly, I thought the
tearing up of the street was the least of the
concerning issues involving the street. But long term, yes, yeah,
but it's big for those who have businesses along there.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Sure, I mean, what are you supposed to do? So
he was hearing about that and asked that and people
asking for help, and he said, well, I'll see what
I can do.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What are you gonna do. You're gonna get to drop
your customers in via helicopter or whirley bird, maybe parachute
them in. Now, if this were the federal government and
it can be done, of course, on the municipal level,
two uh, the government would be asked to bail them out,
to help them out, and that would take that would
(01:51):
take money from appropriated by the city council for that,
and maybe that's possibility.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I don't know. I mean, just to survive as a business.
I'm sitting near minding my own business and all of
a sudden, you make my business inaccessible.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So and these people have already gone through COVID. You'll
remember we talked about how Republicans are kings, and Republicans
are you know, anti business, and Republicans you know, say hey, look,
you guys out there, you do what I tell you
to do. Well, it was the government under Joe Biden
(02:26):
and all who put the big box stores in play
during COVID but shut down the mon pops. Well, guess
what it's happening again. Mos and pops are getting cranked,
getting cranked on big boys, no problem, and then they'll
reap the rewards because the mon pash shops. I don't
have any retail stores are actually led along that route,
but enough that it's a concern.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I don't, uh, I don't have any businesses along that
route that I that I patronized, So I can't speak
to it personally, but I would imagine that it's it's
helped a little bit by the fact that a lot
of people who would go to those businesses live in
that area and it's walkable. But still, you know, when
(03:15):
you cut down on the number of but especially if
you have employees that work on commission and they say
I gotta leave sorry. So so that's going on, and
this is going to be this is going to be
going on for a while. This is a long term.
You know, we had a disruption here and you know
what it's like when you do when you have remodeling
(03:37):
or whatever done in your house. It's just brutal. It's
just brutal. While it's going on. We had a milder
version of the street car disruption here in our building
over the last few weeks. Recarpeted the whole thing, and yeah,
and it was, it was. It was horribly disruptive because
(03:59):
obviously you have to move everything and declutter and basically
take your workspace apart so they can recarpet. Now, imagine
if that went on. I mean, there were, as you know, Rosie,
there were days on end here where you basically couldn't
(04:19):
do anything except in the studios here. You go to
your office, okay, well, okay, I guess I'll just go home.
I can't, you know. And now you multiply that by
an actual business for which you depend on your likelihood,
and you can't get people to come in. It's a
big problem. But we'll take suggestions for solutions from Kfabe Nation,
(04:42):
as we always do studio at kfab dot com. And
I can hear a lot of people right now as
I tell you it's a bad idea of the streetcar.
But this is the construction phase. The opposition to It
was about the concept of a streetcar itself. That's the
macro view, and I imagine and a lot of people
are still upset that that happened. And I think that
(05:06):
was a big, big part of John Ewing defeating Mayors Docter.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think it was the no question about it. It
didn't necessarily get people to vote for John Ewing, but
it kept Republicans home. Now, the easy explanation is not that,
but I'm sorry. American political history is dotted with incidents
by individual candidates or sitting office holders that drove them out.
(05:36):
And there's no doubt in my mind that this was
it for her. The opposition to this thing was wide,
it was deep, it was it was emotional because they
just don't they just don't believe the finances. And you know,
Omahans are not dumb, they're smart people. They pay their
bills every month. They did the math and said, how
(05:57):
do we justify this, especially since one hundred percent of
it was locally financed by property taxes that are not collected,
that are not in the bank, that are subject to
going away with a formula or legislative change, and none
of that stuff was ever discussed. They didn't. They weren't
(06:17):
transparent about it. They didn't talk about how the buildings
that are going to be tipped are in many cases
already tiffed. They said, it's only going to be within
a few blocks of the streetcar route. That's not true.
Every single piece of the urban core is going to
be taxed for this. It's just too expensive. It's seven
(06:37):
hundred million dollars, okay, and that includes interest, but that's
forty years of future property taxes that are going to
go to this. And they were never ever, ever able
to sell this because it was unsellable in that arm.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I think that was I think that was the tipping
point for the election. I think that was going to
be a close election anyway. I think there were other
issues the people had with Mayors Dothard, but yeah, that one,
and we mentioned it before. I have never ever, in
my ears in this chair seeing the kind of feedback
(07:17):
that we got whenever we would mention the street car issue.
It wasn't every day, but I mean, boom, that inbox
would fill up and it was a minimum Rosie as
you know, ninety percent negative.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it was an unsellable proposition. They kept trying to
jam this thing. They kept trying to put lipstick on
this pig, and you can't make a pig into miss
America despite ten gallons of lipstick. The truth is, if
you're gonna do the street car. And when Buffet's letter
hit the paper, that was a major problem when he said,
(07:47):
don't do this. Want people trust him on money. They
don't trust politicos. But if they had just been able
to say, okay, it's seven hundred million. They never never
ever gave us the true number. They I just kept saying,
this is how much for the street car. But they
never talked about the parking garages. They never talked about
the cost over runs, they never talked about interest. Okay,
(08:09):
they never ever did any of that, So that was
very non transparent. But if they had just said, okay,
it's seven hundred million, we got two hundred million from
the Feds, we got two hundred million from local property taxes,
we got two hundred million from the National Transportation Fund,
and we got two hundred million from big philanthropy. If
they do that, it's a good deal. It's a very
(08:30):
very good deal for the taxpayers. But no, they're going
to put this on property taxes and property taxes are
already exponentially higher here than doggone near anywhere else in
the country.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, and I don't know that most people got into
the weeds of it and understood it to that to
that level, but they just didn't believe, you could tell,
just did not believe that that they were not going
to be dinged for this somewhere along the line, even
though Mayor over and over said no, you're.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Not well, So they were never going to be in office.
That's the other thing that mayor and I love Jean,
I really do. I thought she did a great job,
a really really good job, but none of the people
making the decisions in the year twenty twenty four and
twenty twenty five were going to be in office when
the bills come due.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I ranked her up there and the mayor's that I've
known about fifty years in Omaha. I ranked her up
there with Hall, dob and PJ. Morgan. PJ and Morgan's
kind of taking a side turn she had later years,
but he was a really good mayor.
Seems like Mayor Ewing got an airfol about the street car.
Last night. He did a town hall. He's doing a
series of town halls, and one of them was last night,
and I saw some of the television coverage and he
had a lot of it was about the street car,
although of course that was put in a place before
(00:20):
he was in office. People are still going to the mayor,
of course with concerns, and a lot of the concerns
are the business folks along that route that's torn up
for the street car. I can't, I can't, I can't.
I can't get people to come in here. I want
to move my bit. What are we going to do?
Speaker 2 (00:40):
Yeah? Major problem, but it is a major problem. Is
confused or surprised by this. I don't know how they're
tearing up the street. They're tying up two streets, Farnam
and Harney to put these rails in. Yeah, and Farnham
was already kind of narrow, yes, because of the bike
lanes and the parking and midtown crossing. And if anybody
is surprised, well then I don't know how. You know,
(01:02):
but what are you gonna do about it? You're either
going to have this or not. Frankly, I thought the
tearing up of the street was the least of the
concerning issues involving the street. But long term, yes, yeah,
but it's big for those who have businesses along there.
Speaker 1 (01:15):
Sure, I mean, what are you supposed to do? So
he was hearing about that and asked that and people
asking for help, and he said, well, I'll see what
I can do.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
What are you gonna do. You're gonna get to drop
your customers in via helicopter or whirley bird, maybe parachute
them in. Now, if this were the federal government and
it can be done, of course, on the municipal level,
two uh, the government would be asked to bail them out,
to help them out, and that would take that would
(01:51):
take money from appropriated by the city council for that,
and maybe that's possibility.
Speaker 1 (01:56):
I don't know. I mean, just to survive as a business.
I'm sitting near minding my own business and all of
a sudden, you make my business inaccessible.
Speaker 2 (02:06):
So and these people have already gone through COVID. You'll
remember we talked about how Republicans are kings, and Republicans
are you know, anti business, and Republicans you know, say hey, look,
you guys out there, you do what I tell you
to do. Well, it was the government under Joe Biden
(02:26):
and all who put the big box stores in play
during COVID but shut down the mon pops. Well, guess
what it's happening again. Mos and pops are getting cranked,
getting cranked on big boys, no problem, and then they'll
reap the rewards because the mon pash shops. I don't
have any retail stores are actually led along that route,
but enough that it's a concern.
Speaker 1 (02:48):
I don't, uh, I don't have any businesses along that
route that I that I patronized, So I can't speak
to it personally, but I would imagine that it's it's
helped a little bit by the fact that a lot
of people who would go to those businesses live in
that area and it's walkable. But still, you know, when
(03:15):
you cut down on the number of but especially if
you have employees that work on commission and they say
I gotta leave sorry. So so that's going on, and
this is going to be this is going to be
going on for a while. This is a long term.
You know, we had a disruption here and you know
what it's like when you do when you have remodeling
(03:37):
or whatever done in your house. It's just brutal. It's
just brutal. While it's going on. We had a milder
version of the street car disruption here in our building
over the last few weeks. Recarpeted the whole thing, and yeah,
and it was, it was. It was horribly disruptive because
(03:59):
obviously you have to move everything and declutter and basically
take your workspace apart so they can recarpet. Now, imagine
if that went on. I mean, there were, as you know, Rosie,
there were days on end here where you basically couldn't
(04:19):
do anything except in the studios here. You go to
your office, okay, well, okay, I guess I'll just go home.
I can't, you know. And now you multiply that by
an actual business for which you depend on your likelihood,
and you can't get people to come in. It's a
big problem. But we'll take suggestions for solutions from Kfabe Nation,
(04:42):
as we always do studio at kfab dot com. And
I can hear a lot of people right now as
I tell you it's a bad idea of the streetcar.
But this is the construction phase. The opposition to It
was about the concept of a streetcar itself. That's the
macro view, and I imagine and a lot of people
are still upset that that happened. And I think that
(05:06):
was a big, big part of John Ewing defeating Mayors Docter.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I think it was the no question about it. It
didn't necessarily get people to vote for John Ewing, but
it kept Republicans home. Now, the easy explanation is not that,
but I'm sorry. American political history is dotted with incidents
by individual candidates or sitting office holders that drove them out.
(05:36):
And there's no doubt in my mind that this was
it for her. The opposition to this thing was wide,
it was deep, it was it was emotional because they
just don't they just don't believe the finances. And you know,
Omahans are not dumb, they're smart people. They pay their
bills every month. They did the math and said, how
(05:57):
do we justify this, especially since one hundred percent of
it was locally financed by property taxes that are not collected,
that are not in the bank, that are subject to
going away with a formula or legislative change, and none
of that stuff was ever discussed. They didn't. They weren't
(06:17):
transparent about it. They didn't talk about how the buildings
that are going to be tipped are in many cases
already tiffed. They said, it's only going to be within
a few blocks of the streetcar route. That's not true.
Every single piece of the urban core is going to
be taxed for this. It's just too expensive. It's seven
(06:37):
hundred million dollars, okay, and that includes interest, but that's
forty years of future property taxes that are going to
go to this. And they were never ever, ever able
to sell this because it was unsellable in that arm.
Speaker 1 (06:54):
I think that was I think that was the tipping
point for the election. I think that was going to
be a close election anyway. I think there were other
issues the people had with Mayors Dothard, but yeah, that one,
and we mentioned it before. I have never ever, in
my ears in this chair seeing the kind of feedback
(07:17):
that we got whenever we would mention the street car issue.
It wasn't every day, but I mean, boom, that inbox
would fill up and it was a minimum Rosie as
you know, ninety percent negative.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
Yeah, it was an unsellable proposition. They kept trying to
jam this thing. They kept trying to put lipstick on
this pig, and you can't make a pig into miss
America despite ten gallons of lipstick. The truth is, if
you're gonna do the street car. And when Buffet's letter
hit the paper, that was a major problem when he said,
(07:47):
don't do this. Want people trust him on money. They
don't trust politicos. But if they had just been able
to say, okay, it's seven hundred million. They never never
ever gave us the true number. They I just kept saying,
this is how much for the street car. But they
never talked about the parking garages. They never talked about
the cost over runs, they never talked about interest. Okay,
(08:09):
they never ever did any of that, So that was
very non transparent. But if they had just said, okay,
it's seven hundred million, we got two hundred million from
the Feds, we got two hundred million from local property taxes,
we got two hundred million from the National Transportation Fund,
and we got two hundred million from big philanthropy. If
they do that, it's a good deal. It's a very
(08:30):
very good deal for the taxpayers. But no, they're going
to put this on property taxes and property taxes are
already exponentially higher here than doggone near anywhere else in
the country.
Speaker 1 (08:42):
Yeah, and I don't know that most people got into
the weeds of it and understood it to that to
that level, but they just didn't believe, you could tell,
just did not believe that that they were not going
to be dinged for this somewhere along the line, even
though Mayor over and over said no, you're.
Speaker 2 (09:01):
Not well, So they were never going to be in office.
That's the other thing that mayor and I love Jean,
I really do. I thought she did a great job,
a really really good job, but none of the people
making the decisions in the year twenty twenty four and
twenty twenty five were going to be in office when
the bills come due.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
I ranked her up there and the mayor's that I've
known about fifty years in Omaha. I ranked her up
there with Hall, dob and PJ. Morgan. PJ and Morgan's
kind of taking a side turn she had later years,
but he was a really good mayor.
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