[nebr]

Originally Posted by HandBanana

Because Omaha has a lot of people with money, but very few people with money AND taste.

Until Tifanny agrees to brand Husker red women's sweatpants in size 40, Im afraid they are an unlikely addition.

Ha, ha, ha! That's so spot on!

[Katarina Witt]

Originally Posted by Raphael07

How can the OPD possibly prevent things like this? Honestly, Omaha has only had 12 homicides this year, and typically people who get shot are not random strangers, typically.

Agreed. I think there's too much ado about crime in Omaha. Other than that, Omaha is nice, has a lot of cultural activities, but it's soooo midwestern!

I do not, and never have lived there, but DH is from there and I've spent a lot of time there.

[ecd.]

Here's my list, in the hope that it can be used constructively. Some of the items are specific to my situation.

- Lack of decent public transit. In specific, I cannot easily use it to commute from my apartment (Old Market) to my workplace (Offutt) effectively. There is bus 95, which technically could work but it only has two morning routes and two evening routes, M-F. More significantly, it does not seem to have a bus stop close to the Bellevue gate. Also, there is a stretch from the bus route to the gate that has no sidewalk and would require walking on (presumably) private land. I hate being reliant on my car, and living in this city I am. If I worked downtown, I likely would not have wasted my money on a car. I've previously lived in cities where it was not necessary to own a vehicle.

- Lack of good parks. Those being defined as: Large, having 2+ miles of hiking trails, within 1.5 hours of downtown, with plenty of trees, and free. These criteria might seem strict to some but everyplace I've lived previously has had numerous good parks.

- Lack of trees/nature. I'm not even considering West Omaha, which I avoid like the plague. The land just seems barren compared to the west coast or the east coast.

- The weather. I'd prefer sunnier and warmer weather. Not much can be done about this one

- Lack of interesting terrain/mountains/oceans/rivers. Missouri river seems like it should be cool. It would be cool to take a riverboat on it, etc. But it doesn't seem to be that great, particularly with occasional raw sewage runoff after storms.

Those are my main gripes. Some other less important ones:

- The roads around here are horrible. It's like I'm driving around in a third world country. Potholes are all over. I've lived in a couple places on the Rust Belt, with lake effect snow and similar freeze/thaw cycles, but it was nowhere remotely this bad.

- Extremely conservative politics. There was an uproar about some minor sales/restaurant taxes. What? If this money could be used effectively to repair roads, etc., sign me up.

- The culture of being reliant on automobiles is dominant. Thankfully, living downtown is fairly good: I walk to the grocery store, gym, movies, restaurants. But still, it seems that the general populace does not even realize that it might be possible to do an errand without a vehicle.

[edit] Don't get me wrong; there are good things about Omaha, specifically the downtown area.

[Akirahito]

I moved here 8 years ago after growing up in an ultraconservative small town, and living in many other places in the country, and couldn't be happier. This town has a lot going for it.

1. Lots of parks, including Elmwood and Zorinsky which are huge and wonderful.
2. Parks and Rec has all kinds of activities listed in their booklets like cheap classes and $3/day gyms.
3. This is true, especially when the weather is remotely nice, there are lots of free and fun activities to do here.
4. It's not a barren wasteland of a dump like the 'city' 90 miles north.
5. Crime is low all considered.
6. Great school districts, particularly District 66.
7. State parks surround Omaha.
8. Downtown is nice.
9. Restaurants of all kinds galore
10. Plenty of cool kid places
11. Cheap housing
12. Considered one of the best towns to rent a house.
13. Not overwhelmingly huge.
14. All kinds of variety in everything. Grocery, activities.
15. Several choices in colleges.
16. Lots of art galleries
17. Lots of theater
18. A great zoo
19. Old Market


I could go on, but really, it's a great town. And don't let anyone fool you, just because we are considered conservative, doesn't mean we all are. There are lots of liberal people with varying interests, beliefs, and views. And trust me, there are groups for all of them here.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Akirahito

I moved here 8 years ago after growing up in an ultraconservative small town, and living in many other places in the country, and couldn't be happier. This town has a lot going for it.

1. Lots of parks, including Elmwood and Zorinsky which are huge and wonderful.
2. Parks and Rec has all kinds of activities listed in their booklets like cheap classes and $3/day gyms.
3. This is true, especially when the weather is remotely nice, there are lots of free and fun activities to do here.
4. It's not a barren wasteland of a dump like the 'city' 90 miles north.
5. Crime is low all considered.
6. Great school districts, particularly District 66.
7. State parks surround Omaha.
8. Downtown is nice.
9. Restaurants of all kinds galore
10. Plenty of cool kid places
11. Cheap housing
12. Considered one of the best towns to rent a house.
13. Not overwhelmingly huge.
14. All kinds of variety in everything. Grocery, activities.
15. Several choices in colleges.
16. Lots of art galleries
17. Lots of theater
18. A great zoo
19. Old Market


I could go on, but really, it's a great town. And don't let anyone fool you, just because we are considered conservative, doesn't mean we all are. There are lots of liberal people with varying interests, beliefs, and views. And trust me, there are groups for all of them here.

Good post and welcome to the forum. Just wanted to point out though that Omaha is a solid blue city. Omaha voted for President Obama by a significant margin, has had a Democratic Mayor going back to 2001 and 4 of the 3 City Council districts are currently held by Democrats.

[Raphael07]

Omaha isn't solid blue, it's a blend. If I remember correctly, before the elections in 2008 there were 144,000 democrats and 136,000 republicans and another 30,000 independants or so. And that was the first time Democrats overtook Republicans. Finally, the margin for the election was 51-49.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Raphael07

Omaha isn't solid blue, it's a blend. If I remember correctly, before the elections in 2008 there were 144,000 democrats and 136,000 republicans and another 30,000 independants or so. And that was the first time Democrats overtook Republicans. Finally, the margin for the election was 51-49.

When I say it's a blue city, I don't necessarily mean a deep deep blue like Boston or Portland, just that the Democratic party is the one of power. That can be said for most major cities though.

[Omahahonors]

Originally Posted by ecd.

Here's my list, in the hope that it can be used constructively. Some of the items are specific to my situation.

- Lack of decent public transit. In specific, I cannot easily use it to commute from my apartment (Old Market) to my workplace (Offutt) effectively. There is bus 95, which technically could work but it only has two morning routes and two evening routes, M-F. More significantly, it does not seem to have a bus stop close to the Bellevue gate. Also, there is a stretch from the bus route to the gate that has no sidewalk and would require walking on (presumably) private land. I hate being reliant on my car, and living in this city I am. If I worked downtown, I likely would not have wasted my money on a car. I've previously lived in cities where it was not necessary to own a vehicle.

- Lack of good parks. Those being defined as: Large, having 2+ miles of hiking trails, within 1.5 hours of downtown, with plenty of trees, and free. These criteria might seem strict to some but everyplace I've lived previously has had numerous good parks.

- Lack of trees/nature. I'm not even considering West Omaha, which I avoid like the plague. The land just seems barren compared to the west coast or the east coast.

- The weather. I'd prefer sunnier and warmer weather. Not much can be done about this one

- Lack of interesting terrain/mountains/oceans/rivers. Missouri river seems like it should be cool. It would be cool to take a riverboat on it, etc. But it doesn't seem to be that great, particularly with occasional raw sewage runoff after storms.

Those are my main gripes. Some other less important ones:

- The roads around here are horrible. It's like I'm driving around in a third world country. Potholes are all over. I've lived in a couple places on the Rust Belt, with lake effect snow and similar freeze/thaw cycles, but it was nowhere remotely this bad.

- Extremely conservative politics. There was an uproar about some minor sales/restaurant taxes. What? If this money could be used effectively to repair roads, etc., sign me up.

- The culture of being reliant on automobiles is dominant. Thankfully, living downtown is fairly good: I walk to the grocery store, gym, movies, restaurants. But still, it seems that the general populace does not even realize that it might be possible to do an errand without a vehicle.

[edit] Don't get me wrong; there are good things about Omaha, specifically the downtown area.

LOL.. Wrong on so many levels

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Omahahonors

LOL.. Wrong on so many levels

I think he was off base on a few points, but overall I think he was being pretty fair on the issue. I've seen Happygolucky post more bull**** than that in a single sentence, and he lives here.

[mostie]

I don't care for it here at all, but I'm of the opinion that since I'm here...and since we won't be going anywhere anytime in the near future that I can foresee, I will have to bloom where I'm planted.

That is, if the weather is agreeable, lol.