TOUR - Historic Vinton Street Business District

CommunityWalk Map - Historic Vinton Street Business District

Wider streets or better transportation and neighborhoods

The May 11 headline from the Omaha World Herald trumpeted the city bond passage as “a green light for street widening.” In addition to adding lanes and lanes for more cars, trucks, and SUVs, it appears almost all of the $58 million approved for streets and transportation would go into far-west Omaha street work.

Arise, East Omaha! Ask City Hall now to set money aside and divert street dollars for the following:

• Widen streets and add street parking spaces along 16th Street downtown
• Two-way traffic all the time along Farnam and Harney as proposed by Destination Midtown
• A planned, 2-3 mile route for an Omaha Streetcar
• Add public transportation between Omaha/Midtown and Eppley Airfield

Vince Furlong

16th Street Downtown - Another Look

OMAHA MAIN STREETS 101

Case Study – 16th Street Business District

Saturday, June 3rd from 10 AM until Noon

Sheraton Omaha Hotel, 1615 Howard, Omaha

AGENDA

10:00 Introductions – The Main Street Concept

10:15 Panel discusses the 16th Street area – panel members will include neighbors, local small and large businesses, local institutions, the City of Omaha,
apartment/condo owners, and others

10:45 Walk the street and complete worksheet evaluating street
characteristics

11:15 Review worksheet; submit other key questions

11:45 Define the case; next step?

The public is welcome. There is no charge to attend.

Please RSVP to Vince Furlong by emailing vfurlong@cox.net.


Omaha Main Streets is a volunteer, non profit organization advocating the revitalization of Omaha’s traditional neighborhood business districts. For information contact coordinator Vince Furlong at 553-5644 or vfurlong@cox.net

more about the Main Street concept

www.mainstreet.org
www.nebraskamainstreet.org

Want to help the Omaha community?

Omaha Main Streets, Inc. is seeking to grow its Board of Directors.

Our requirements are:

• Attendance at quarterly Board meetings
• Promotion of the Omaha Main Streets mission
• Attendance at related events
• Fundraising
• Approximately 5-10 hours of time per month

Further, we are seeking expertise in -

1. financial management
2. real estate development
3. fundraising
4. legal issues
5. urban design
6. historic preservation
7. safety

Current projects – early 2006

• Restore Omaha conference, exhibition, and tour
• 40th Street – a premier Omaha street
• Business district support – 40th and Cuming, 40th and Farnam
• Historic business district nomination – Vinton Street from 18th to Elm
• Board membership – Midtown Neighborhood Alliance and Omaha Streetcar
• Omaha Main Streets 101 case studies – 13th Street, 16th Street…

We encourage minorities, young people, and women to inquire.

Current Board members are:

Steve Andrews, Nebraska State Recycling Association
Ayanna Boykins, Metro Community College Workforce Development
Kevin Farmer, Paradigm Creative Media
Vince Furlong, American Journal of Gastroenterology

For information contact coordinator Vince Furlong at 553-5644 or vfurlong@cox.net


Omaha Main Streets (OMS) is a volunteer, non profit organization advocating the revitalization of Omaha’s traditional neighborhood business districts. OMS is an affiliated fund with the Nebraska Community Foundation.

Upcoming 13th Street Case Study

OMAHA MAIN STREETS 101

Case Study – 13th Street Business District

Saturday, March 11 from 10 AM until Noon

Rebel2 Studios, 1217 South 13th Street, Omaha

AGENDA

10:00 Introductions – The Main Street Concept

10:15 Panel discusses the 13th Street area – panel members will include neighbors, local businesses, local institutions, the City of Omaha,
local property owners, and others

10:45 Walk the street and complete worksheet evaluating street
characteristics

11:15 Review worksheet; submit other key questions

11:45 Define the case; next step?

The public is welcome. There is no charge to attend.

Please RSVP to Vince Furlong by emailing vfurlong@cox.net.


Omaha Main Streets is a volunteer, non profit organization advocating the revitalization of Omaha’s traditional neighborhood business districts. For information contact coordinator Vince Furlong at 553-5644 or vfurlong@cox.net

more about the Main Street concept

www.mainstreet.org
www.nebraskamainstreet.org

Omaha Streets:Safe and Secure

I attended a Community Policing Forum sponsored by the National Conference of Christians and Jews ( NCCJ )on December 16, 2005. The forum consisted of a talk on community policing by Chief Thomas Warren, a panel of several neighborhood and organization leaders (all women by the way), and then a Q and A with the audience of thirty or so (several officers and other organizational types).

Some highlights from the Chief Warren talk included:

1. the police have a program to help people who want to get guns away from family and friends, ie, using non-uniformed officers and use of Boys and Girls Club staff

2. crime stats are down in most areas of crime in Omaha

Some problems noted by the panelists and the audience were:

1. the public is not willing to be witnesses or testify
2. communication/dialogue outside of a specific complaint/incident can help neighbors and police
3. some officers have poor interpersonal skills – need for training and re- training
4. there is a rapid turnover in officers, lieutenants, and captains assigned
to areas

In doing some brief research, the following were identified as some of the best practices of community policing:

1. Involving neighborhoods in neighborhood action projects

2. Service blitzes, ie, towing abandoned cars, trimming bushes, cleanup, fixing streetlights (non-arrest items)

3. Decisions decentralized at precinct levels

4. Beat teams with identified beat officers

5. Monthly beat meetings which get 25+ to attend (more than the Captain-also the
beat officers

6. Residents turn out in court as witnesses and bystanders

7. Increasing the popularity of police amongst non-white folks

8. Officers live in the neighborhood

9. SARA ( scan, assess, respond, analyze ) practices used by police

Based upon this presentation and my own observations, Omaha is achieving in #1, #3, and #9. Some effort is noted in #2 and #5. While the other areas above need lots of work.

Despite community policing being around for the past 20 years, I feel the public still does not 'get it'. One of the things stressed in the forum. as well, was the need of the community to step up to the plate in working with police.

What would the public see on the street if community policing is in action?

1, a regular, long-standing beat officer walking/biking the streets and
sidewalks
2. the neighborhood residents 'ratting' on the thugs
3. all ages, all genders, and all races co-mingling on the street
4. strong maintenance of trash, buildings, parking lots, and amenities
5. officers living "up the street"
6. parents and their teen children on the street together

A view from 40th and Cuming Streets-

While I have been doing customer surveys around the small businesses on the corner of 40th and Cuming Streets, the facts of the streets bring forward these thoughts.

1. A street that should be a pedestrian wonderland is not. 40th Street from Davenport north to Hamilton has a feast for the eyes – St. Barnabas, interesting homes and apartments, St. Cecilia’s Cathedral, the bohemian-types walking into the Radial Café, the Walnut Hill Reservoir, and more. But, Omahans are not strolling it in significant numbers. Our car-dependent attitude, the tough time crossing Cuming Street, fear of the big city street life, few destinations, and the absence of children seem to be the barriers.

2. Lots of African-Americans use the Ideal Hardware location on Cuming Street.
When one uses Westlake Ace on Saddle Creek, drives to Home Depot, or visits Dundee Hardware, one sees a good number of African-American customers and employees. So, it would seem there could be opportunities for African-American entrepreneurs to look at hardware and fixup-related business opportunities in East Omaha.

3, People have been helpful in completing our short surveys and often a short discussion lets me know that the person “used to live/visit” in the 40th and Cuming neighborhoods. Even though people and their descendants have moved to western environs of Omaha or have moved completely out-of-state, there still is
an affiliation with the “old stomping grounds”. But, outside of the occasional restaurant, it appears that there are few amenities for the folks “coming home”.
Small gift shops, tiny ethnic museums, historic markers, and wee welcome centers might provide our former residents a great experience.

What is your view?