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Omaha sucks. I lived Downtown for two years. Old market is played, The waterfront at ConAgra is as clinical and as generic as they come, most of Downtown is dead, no original character, no identity. Not even Great Plains friendly, just mid-western bland, blah, banal.
Not worth even a visit.
-Former resident.
P.S. The pedestrian 'bridge to nowhere' royally SUCKS.
I know of at least 6 friends who have moved there this past year. They all love it. I have been seeing tons of activity on social media by the creative community who have also relocated.
It seems like it's really going to explode in the next 2-3 years.
FWIW, I just spent a long weekend in Omaha and really liked it. The public market area is lame, but I'd never go there again anyway. I was much happier in the western suburbs. Traffic is so light and drivers are so much less aggressive than in Denver that I felt like I was traveling back in time. I found hidden gems like Orsi’s Italian Bakery & Pizzeria and the Lithuanian Bakery & Cafe to satisfy the foodie in me, and even the outlet mall was better than the ones in Colorado. The lack of hipster presence was a huge relief as well. I haven't seen so many regular people in ages. Too bad that the drive from Denver is so long and boring. I think that I've found my soulmate of a city.
FWIW, I just spent a long weekend in Omaha and really liked it. The public market area is lame, but I'd never go there again anyway. I was much happier in the western suburbs. Traffic is so light and drivers are so much less aggressive than in Denver that I felt like I was traveling back in time. I found hidden gems like Orsi’s Italian Bakery & Pizzeria and the Lithuanian Bakery & Cafe to satisfy the foodie in me, and even the outlet mall was better than the ones in Colorado. The lack of hipster presence was a huge relief as well. I haven't seen so many regular people in ages. Too bad that the drive from Denver is so long and boring. I think that I've found my soulmate of a city.
Glad you enjoyed our city! Come back when you can. You might try looking for cheap flights and just pick up a rental car here if you'd like to skip the very long drive.
There are two points of view and neither are wrong, it just depends on your worldview.
If you are from Chicago, New York, LA, SF, San Diego, Denver, DC, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Seattle, Houston, New Orleans or anywhere else that has a strong city center, actual business presence and authentic culture, a part of you will die being in Omaha. Omaha is metaphorical hummus or plain oatmeal. It is not horrible, but it is soulless. Despite what is posted, their downtown is a few streets like what a suburb has. People hardly congregate there and there is not a rich social scene if you have lived in a real city before. You will be startled by the deadness of it. They do not have the large museums, pro-sports teams, and especially do not have the commerce that a person who has lived in a real city expects. They have only a few (less than 5) Fortune 500 HQ and continue to lose them because CEOs do not want to live in Omaha, nor do talented young people who want to have rising careers. It's just factual. Omaha is not a sophisticated metropolitan. It is a place to live because your family is from Omaha and you are not allowed to leave/believe you don't want to be separated from your family. It is ALL about your family in Omaha.
Omaha is lacking the realness of other cities. It is just too cut off from any major part of America. No one from outside of middle america (who does not have family from omaha) knows this place exists outside of steak, Warren Buffett and a word to call out during a football play. It's just not a relevant place for 90% of America. The people from Omaha should realize that. When they continue to try to defend against that, they sound even more out of touch with the rest of the country because they cannot see that most people have never heard of Omaha and are not planning or hoping to move here. Kids growing up in major parts of america are not dreaming of a future career and booming 20s and 30s living in Omaha. That just is not real. Being moved to Omaha would be a punishment for most people.
If you are someone who really really really love the suburbs and does not want to live in a suburb by a major city, or has never left middle america, or grew up in a tiny town in Nebraska or Iowa, you will like Omaha. It is primarily commercialized and you can expect a lot of predictable chains. The sub-divisions are always been built with identical and cheaply built homes. People value the new car, the big house (that is cheap) and the kid's baseball game lifestyle. Families are competitive and cliquey, but for some people this is comfortable and mirrors the grade school/high school experience they are comfortable with. The landscape, people, life, religion-based world is predictable and, for some people, that equates to comfort. If you are currently living near a suburb, you will probably like the suburb you are living in just as much or more than Omaha if it is near a real city or not in the middle of the country.
Omaha does not have mountains, substantial lakes and the western suburbs are built on cornfields so there are very few trees. It lacks the natural beauty of Michigan, the mountains of Tennessee, the fall colors of New Jersey, the weather of California, the lakes of Minnesota. It is just corn fields. Forever. And the weather is freezing in the winter and very muggy and nasty in the summer.
People here drink a LOT of alcohol and take a lot depression medication, from what I experienced. There is a nice to your face, gossip behind your back, culture that is not straight forward. There are a lot of registered sex offenders because a lot of shady behavior happens in the "family communities" that goes reported and unreported. A lot of the kids in junior high and high school are having sex, smoking weed and vaping because there is not much else to do. Bored kids = sex and drugs.
The people in Omaha are not nicer than other places in America. I have lived in Omaha, LA, New York, Detroit and Chicago and I would say that the people in LA are nicer than in Omaha. I'd rank Detroit, LA, NYC, Chicago then Omaha. People in Omaha are very competitive and they have a complex that mothers rule the world and can do no wrong. Narcissism runs very high here, since they are not connected to the rest of the country in a meaningful way. There is a "we know best" attitude and an elitism for living in Omaha that covers up a deep insecurity for not actually being a city of substance. This is evident that people from Omaha tell others they are from a large city, when factually they do not even have a pro-sports team. A zoo is not a real attraction for someone to live in a city- you cannot go to a zoo multiple days a year unless you are very hot on a zoo. Realistically, Omaha is in denial that they do not have it going on, which creates a weird defensiveness about the city. They cannot just come out and say "This is the middle of nowhere, we obviously are not a hot place to be or live, but we are making the best despite being culturally 10 years behind most of America".
It is not wrong to be a city person or a suburb person. Omaha is a small town with a large suburb attached for people who like to live in the suburbs. You can have the lifestyle that you would expect in the suburbs of Chicago (Schaumburg/Naperville) or Detroit (Northville, Farmington). With the caveat that you will not have access to the career benefits of being near the city centers of these towns. It is like living in a suburb that does not have a city near by, or a city anywhere near by, for a really really long drive.
If you are looking for a high paying job in a forward field and are qualified for one, you don't need me to tell you not to move to Omaha because your co-workers will already inform you it is career death unless you want to travel 24/7. There are no major companies to do business with here. There are no major companies emerging from here.
If you are looking to be at the center of art, fashion, technology, culture or finance, you don't need me to tell you not to live here, you already know not to live here.
If you are a person who is looking to settle, is happy living a suburban life, is down to see a few pop concerts at an average venue and have a virtually unchanging life until retirement with kids and then spending time pretty much proving you have a perfect family, this is your place. No knock on Omaha, some people actually like that.
If you are a metropolitan person, you don't need to ask if this is a flyover state. It's a silly question.
If you are business person of any magnitude, you know that too.
If you are are a forward thinker you have already left Omaha or have never been there.
If you are average, this could be a stop for you on the way to California where you can have an average home, average house, average life and likely be happy enough.
Last edited by woman0929; 12-21-2017 at 11:21 AM..
Wow. LOL. The post by “woman0929” might be both the most hysterical and pathetic anti-Omaha rant I’ve ever read. My impression is that it was more therapeutic for her than, of course, the actual reality of living in the greater Omaha metropolitan area..
In reviewing her post, for me, I could overlay everything she stated negatively about Omaha, and apply it to my time living in the Phoenix, AZ metro..
And it’s laughable that she criticizes Omaha as not being a real city..for not having a pro sports franchise; while at the same time stating that Omaha having a world class zoo is somehow not a defining attraction. With pro sports, say NFL, you can only enjoy that event 8 times a year and within a 3 month period. With Omaha’s world class zoo, I can choose to attend it anytime I want, any time of the year, 12 months of the year..
The misrepresentation of the Omaha business community and career opportunities for people in their 20’s 30’s etc is even more laughable. If she was describing the Omaha of the 1980’s or even 1990’s, I could give her rant a limited bit of credibility..
Clearly, this person had a negative, more likely than not, PERSONAL experience..and unfortunately for her, it happened in Omaha..
I take her post with a grain of salt (as should anyone else who reads it) as it is not even, REMOTELY, a fair and realistic impression of life and living in Omaha.. Which has transitioned nicely into a livable, diverse and even fun mid major metro of 1 million..
" It is a place to live because your family is from Omaha and you are not allowed to leave/believe you don't want to be separated from your family. It is ALL about your family in Omaha."
So basically it's a completely normal place just like everywhere else with plenty to choose from in regards to housing and businesses.
Based on your description, Omaha seems like a nice place to work and raise a family.
Heck, it probably has some perfectly reasonable parks and activities around, and the schools probably aren't too incredibly screwed up yet like they are in many cities around the country. People can probably also find plenty of options to attend church and engage in all sorts of hobbies too....you know....actually live life and stuff.
I have lived in Omaha, LA, New York, Detroit and Chicago
This may be a clue as to the tone of the perception. Comparing the Omaha MSA of 1M population to any of these places with 4M and up to 18M is ridiculous.
There are two points of view and neither are wrong, it just depends on your worldview.
If you are from Chicago, New York, LA, SF, San Diego, Denver, DC, Boston, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Seattle, Houston, New Orleans or anywhere else that has a strong city center, actual business presence and authentic culture, a part of you will die being in Omaha. Omaha is metaphorical hummus or plain oatmeal. It is not horrible, but it is soulless. Despite what is posted, their downtown is a few streets like what a suburb has. People hardly congregate there and there is not a rich social scene if you have lived in a real city before. You will be startled by the deadness of it. They do not have the large museums, pro-sports teams, and especially do not have the commerce that a person who has lived in a real city expects. They have only a few (less than 5) Fortune 500 HQ and continue to lose them because CEOs do not want to live in Omaha, nor do talented young people who want to have rising careers. It's just factual. Omaha is not a sophisticated metropolitan. It is a place to live because your family is from Omaha and you are not allowed to leave/believe you don't want to be separated from your family. It is ALL about your family in Omaha.
Omaha is lacking the realness of other cities. It is just too cut off from any major part of America. No one from outside of middle america (who does not have family from omaha) knows this place exists outside of steak, Warren Buffett and a word to call out during a football play. It's just not a relevant place for 90% of America. The people from Omaha should realize that. When they continue to try to defend against that, they sound even more out of touch with the rest of the country because they cannot see that most people have never heard of Omaha and are not planning or hoping to move here. Kids growing up in major parts of america are not dreaming of a future career and booming 20s and 30s living in Omaha. That just is not real. Being moved to Omaha would be a punishment for most people.
If you are someone who really really really love the suburbs and does not want to live in a suburb by a major city, or has never left middle america, or grew up in a tiny town in Nebraska or Iowa, you will like Omaha. It is primarily commercialized and you can expect a lot of predictable chains. The sub-divisions are always been built with identical and cheaply built homes. People value the new car, the big house (that is cheap) and the kid's baseball game lifestyle. Families are competitive and cliquey, but for some people this is comfortable and mirrors the grade school/high school experience they are comfortable with. The landscape, people, life, religion-based world is predictable and, for some people, that equates to comfort. If you are currently living near a suburb, you will probably like the suburb you are living in just as much or more than Omaha if it is near a real city or not in the middle of the country.
Omaha does not have mountains, substantial lakes and the western suburbs are built on cornfields so there are very few trees. It lacks the natural beauty of Michigan, the mountains of Tennessee, the fall colors of New Jersey, the weather of California, the lakes of Minnesota. It is just corn fields. Forever. And the weather is freezing in the winter and very muggy and nasty in the summer.
People here drink a LOT of alcohol and take a lot depression medication, from what I experienced. There is a nice to your face, gossip behind your back, culture that is not straight forward. There are a lot of registered sex offenders because a lot of shady behavior happens in the "family communities" that goes reported and unreported. A lot of the kids in junior high and high school are having sex, smoking weed and vaping because there is not much else to do. Bored kids = sex and drugs.
The people in Omaha are not nicer than other places in America. I have lived in Omaha, LA, New York, Detroit and Chicago and I would say that the people in LA are nicer than in Omaha. I'd rank Detroit, LA, NYC, Chicago then Omaha. People in Omaha are very competitive and they have a complex that mothers rule the world and can do no wrong. Narcissism runs very high here, since they are not connected to the rest of the country in a meaningful way. There is a "we know best" attitude and an elitism for living in Omaha that covers up a deep insecurity for not actually being a city of substance. This is evident that people from Omaha tell others they are from a large city, when factually they do not even have a pro-sports team. A zoo is not a real attraction for someone to live in a city- you cannot go to a zoo multiple days a year unless you are very hot on a zoo. Realistically, Omaha is in denial that they do not have it going on, which creates a weird defensiveness about the city. They cannot just come out and say "This is the middle of nowhere, we obviously are not a hot place to be or live, but we are making the best despite being culturally 10 years behind most of America".
It is not wrong to be a city person or a suburb person. Omaha is a small town with a large suburb attached for people who like to live in the suburbs. You can have the lifestyle that you would expect in the suburbs of Chicago (Schaumburg/Naperville) or Detroit (Northville, Farmington). With the caveat that you will not have access to the career benefits of being near the city centers of these towns. It is like living in a suburb that does not have a city near by, or a city anywhere near by, for a really really long drive.
If you are looking for a high paying job in a forward field and are qualified for one, you don't need me to tell you not to move to Omaha because your co-workers will already inform you it is career death unless you want to travel 24/7. There are no major companies to do business with here. There are no major companies emerging from here.
If you are looking to be at the center of art, fashion, technology, culture or finance, you don't need me to tell you not to live here, you already know not to live here.
If you are a person who is looking to settle, is happy living a suburban life, is down to see a few pop concerts at an average venue and have a virtually unchanging life until retirement with kids and then spending time pretty much proving you have a perfect family, this is your place. No knock on Omaha, some people actually like that.
If you are a metropolitan person, you don't need to ask if this is a flyover state. It's a silly question.
If you are business person of any magnitude, you know that too.
If you are are a forward thinker you have already left Omaha or have never been there.
If you are average, this could be a stop for you on the way to California where you can have an average home, average house, average life and likely be happy enough.
From a factual standpoint, a lot of what you said actually IS wrong. For example, your statement about Omaha's job market is the opposite of the truth. I work in IT for a bank chain based in California that has a sub-headquarters in Omaha (I won't name which one, but I'm sure plenty of people can figure it out based on that alone), and right now the focus is on moving out of California, either to Omaha or other "soulless" cities like Omaha that have a thriving IT community. I don't know what you consider to be a high-paying job in a forward field, but I make more than enough to have an average life with an average house in California, and this is only the second job I've held since I moved here. Did I mention that Omaha has a thriving IT community? I've worked in the business long enough to be able to know that, and I highly doubt you have the qualification to offer any real insight on what Omaha has to offer in that department. As has already been mentioned, everything else you mentioned in comparison to the places where you've lived is obviously not going to exist in the same capacity, because you're comparing a metro area with approximately a million to people to metro areas with several millions. If I want to do or see things that Omaha doesn't have to offer, I can travel. It's nice knowing that the cost of living isn't so high here that I can't afford to do that. My wife and I don't have a family outside of a couple pets, we have zero plans to start a family, and we also have zero plans to leave here anytime soon. What exactly is your evidence for the claim that you have to have a family to be happy in Omaha?
I also find it very hypocritical of you to claim that Omaha has a culture that isn't straightforward when your post is peppered with claims that you're not trying to knock Omaha or the people who live here, when every other word in the post is geared toward doing exactly that. It's obvious from your condescending tone throughout the post that you've decided that you're better than anyone who could be happy living somewhere like Omaha. That's not culture, it's conceit. You've very little to offer in terms of useful information to anyone who'd consider moving to Omaha, except that since you've lived in LA, NYC, Chicago, etc., everyone else should too... you know, unless you're uncultured suburbanite swine, then living in Omaha would be fine (not that you'd be knocking on uncultured suburbanite swine, since some people actually like that, right?).
Last edited by brickhouse314; 01-11-2018 at 02:24 PM..
Do any of you own stock in ConAgra? When Chicago goes belly up will they come back? Anyone care to comment?
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Depends Who You Are
