Omaha's Next Mayor

Light Rail

Please please visit the idea of light rail. Think about this, put a rail down the center of dodge for people who want to park and commute to work downtown or out west. Think of the amount of people that could use it that are within 2 blocks of dodge street. the center lane switched back and forth any how, and it could still be a lane for cars when the train is not there or you could go around it etc.. I think if you had this and then top it off and make a “T” with a route from the airport to the Zoo, down 10th street…. If you dont want to pay for it with tax dollars then privatize it and it would work too.

-Jamison Hiner

A more progressive, inclusive, sustainable, transparent, and economically vibrant community

Personally, I hold a vision for a more progressive, inclusive, sustainable, transparent and economically vibrant community. It is time for the young leaders in this community to insist upon a local government that engages citizens well before decisions are made about our future. 

I see a city where there is a holistic approach to both for-profit and non-profit endeavors, where there are no longer lines separating us by class and race, where our neighbors are different from us and that is something we celebrate together.

I’d like to live in a city where we can boast about our high school graduation and college entrance rates for all youth, regardless of color. Where struggling youth and their families have access to the behavioral services they need and early childhood education is publicly funded.

Bike trails, green space and good public art are a part of every new real estate development. Economic development is focused less on military endeavors and more on growing local entrepreneurs and Green jobs. And, what the heck, let’s build a light rail mass transit system that connects North and South, East and West so we are no longer so reliant on our cars.  Is that too much to ask?

-Kristin Williams

Empower Department Directors

For many years the adjacent neighborhood to an area owned by the City of Omaha, has requested a cleanup of the property at 45th & F through D Streets. The Omaha Parks Dept has the responsibility for the trees, and Public Works has the maintenance of the (unimproved) road and the City property. Each and every year we request that the overgrowth and weeds be tended.  We were told 4 years ago that this area was scheduled for 9 trims, per growing season. That was wrong, it is cut only twice per season.

Our South Omaha neighborhood has had some success going through official channels. So far this Spring, half of the area trees have been trimmed by Parks and Recreations - E through D Streets is still overgrown.

We are appreciative of the help from Parks and Recreation, but it has taken a long time to get through the process and to find out who is responsible for what in this area.

The Mayor should have a clear mandate to the Department Directors to deal with this type of problem, and help them eliminate turf wars, which cause “right of way” public areas to lack proper maintenance. Our neighborhood intends to plant good trees to replace the old dead “volunteer” trees, should we receive permission to do so. Omaha is an Arbor Society “Tree City”, and we would like, in our small way, to better this small area of OUR City.  Our vision is to cleanup and improve. 

http://www.arborday.org/arborday/celebrate.cfm

-Kay Schneider

Aggressively fight crime in North and South Omaha

I’ve seen alot of good ideas mentioned here, so I won’t restate them. I would like to say though, that the next mayor of Omaha needs to aggresively fight crime in North and South Omaha. The Omaha Police Department is a great agency already, but as always they could improve further and the next mayor can have a major impact on that. Here are some of my ideas. 

• More police on the street. Funding for new recruits is essential and most not be lowered. The money used to get officers on our streets should be one of the last places the city looks to cut spending, not the first. 
• Modern, in-car laptops for police cruisers to replace the outdated systems currently used. 
• Increased use of the Able 1 helicopters. Have them spend more time in the air, if only for use as a deterrent. 
• Increase “community policing” to strengthen the bond between the public and the police. 

-Eric Powell

Make Omaha more beautiful

If you’ve ever been to California, you would see how pretty the traffic medians are. The small islands between traffic lanes are tree-lined, nice foliage (shrubs, flowers) and sometimes even lighted! That’s a huge step above our concrete or sometimes grass medians we have here. It really gave so much charm to what would have been dull-looking streets and made every street look cozy, inviting and took away the industrialized feel most of our streets have. I think it would be a big step in keeping Omaha beautiful. 

-Jennifer Eddy

Extend public transportation

I would also like to see the MAT system extended to the places where people who have limited skills are employed.  It is sad when someone finally secures employment & two or so weeks later must quit becasue of lack of transportation.

-Vernon Davis

Attractions and developments to make Omaha more fun

In my vision of Omaha’s future there is a monorail elevated train system, such as the one at Disneyworld (or Sydney, Australia). It is quiet, efficient and out of the way of traffic so it doesn’t stop for red lights nor does it impede traffic by using up a lane in the street. I see a carousel in a focal point downtown as a center for children to play and families to congregate. There are organizations that actively seek cities in which carousels can be placed. Omaha needs to have more fun! I also hope that we take advantage of an opportunity staring at us from the Society of American Magicians to build The Magic Center which would essentially be the center of the magical arts for the world. It would contain a book and video library, classrooms and a small theater for performances along with displays of artifacts. I believe this would fit perfectly with the increasing emphasis on the Arts. -Jerry Golmanavich

Recognize and support the significance of the arts

I think a major platform should be recognizing the significance of the arts in Omaha and thus support, even with simple words and action, the creativity going on around us here so that the people in the community can recognize it as well.  As a leader its obviously important to be a role-model in some ways, and so by sharing their support publicly it would help out the arts (organizations, programs, independent artists and other creative ventures), and therefore the entire community as a result.  Benefits of the arts are well known regarding educational, social and economic impacts that I won’t get into, but it all starts from leadership and awareness, which I think the Mayor should definitely play a strong role with.

-Sally Deskins

Drug abuse - prevention and reform

I would like to see mandatory drug testing in the schools.  I am surprised by the popularity of drug use in the schools.  It has also filled our jails.  The expense is overwhelming.  I would rather see money spent on prevention and reform.  What is the anger and rebel environment being caused by?  Parents gone, stress on parents to provide financially, or pressure on the kids to excel before having a chance to grow up?  It again is a surprising statistic!  Jails and drugs are costing our city a lot and the funds can be better spent elsewhere.

-Cindy Otten

Open dialogue between the mayor and the people of Omaha

I challenge the next mayor of Omaha to keep an open dialogue between the office of mayor and the people of Omaha.  But instead of an exchange of campaign-style rhetoric from the mayor and a laundry list of beefs from the constituency, I would love to see things along the lines of a series of small-group coffees with representatives from different sectors and interests; a Mayoral Blog so that children and teens can get a sense of the day-to-day duties of the mayor; or some kind of an Omaha storytelling project, where the wisdom and community memory of older generations can be saved for future generations to improve upon.  Creating these connections among people and leaders can enrich the discourse of the entire community.

-Sarah