[btoverdrive]

"what Im trying to say is that if people say that negative things after leaving here, then they wont be happy anywhere they go....."

You could not be more wrong, ehenningsen. I will be happy as a pig in mud once I get out of this windy, frigid, overtaxed wonderland, and start enjoying life in Hot Springs, Ark, where I can play golf and fish all year long, without having to break the ice to do so or have the lure fly back into my face. I'm glad you love it here but don't assume everyone does and would never be happy elsewhere. Nowhere is paradise.

[star_gazer]

People in Kansas City have never heard of Omaha's Zoo. My shed has a more exciting lot of creatures than that sad ghastly collection of malnurished animals in Omaha.

I suppose there are a few people in KC who think that way. Perhaps the same ones who had never heard of Nebraska Furniture Mart before it came to Kansas City, KS (ie very few).

Hey, and guess who KC hired to try to turn around the Swope Park Zoo? The assistant director of Omaha's zoo.

[John475]

I grew up in California and moved to Omaha about 40 years ago.

Here is the good and bad, as I see it.

1. The zoo is outstanding, it is landscaped with beautiful flowers everywhere and is very clean compared to other zoos I have seen. Malnourished animals is a blatant lie, Dr. Simons who is in charge of the zoo and keeps raising millions to add things like the rain forest is as good as it gets.

2. Every city I have gone through has some depressed poor areas and Omaha is no different. But it has tons of average, nice and rich areas intermingled. Downtown has the old market area that has lots of restaurant and exotic stores.

3. The people are nice and far more genuine than a lot of places, with an excellent work ethic.

4. The weather is my only gripe, I love spring, summers even though they are humid & falls. Winters are another story, years back I absolutely hated Omaha because of the long bitterly cold winters that I worked out in. But over the last 20 years I have seen global warming gradually change it to almost acceptable. January 2006 averaged about 47 degrees for the high and that was great, I was in heaven. 40 years back 1-3 feet of snow would stay on the ground most of the winter, now it is more like 1-6 inches that last a few days to a couple weeks.

This year was colder, but most of the U.S. has been in the grip of this nasty cold that folks even 400 miles south of us are calling the coldest in years. So hopefully it is a fluke and the warmer winters will be the norm. If not, I would say expect 45-70 days a year when the daily high can be downright frigid or just gets up around freezing which can be pretty cold if it is windy or damp. If you stay inside and just walk from your car to a building a couple of times a day it isn’t too bad. And if don't mind the loss of outdoor activity for that amount of time, or are willing to bundle up for your outdoor activity then Omaha is a very decent place to raise a family & live.

5. Omaha has a homey feel to it that you wouldn’t expect for a city this size. I ran into lots of people who were here at Creighton Medical school and moved back to their home states and then moved back in a couple of years because they just missed Omaha and wanted to raise their families here.

[star_gazer]

Good assessment John. Thanks.

[dennismpat]

Thank you for your assessment of Omaha. I was hoping to get another Californian's perspective of the area, especially from someone who is a transplanted native now living in Omaha. I'm sure it was quite an adjustment for you, especially the long, cold winters.

As I said before in other posts, I wouldn't mind living in Omaha, but two things hold me back:

1) Even though I have friends there, I have NO family or relatives living there, and I'm quite close to my family. We all live here in SoCal, and my family members can never see themselves as leaving.
2) I'm afraid I wouldn't make the adjustment to the long, cold winters, even though they seem to be getting milder with each passing year.

So, even though I don't think I'd ever live in Omaha, I consider it one of my favorite out-of-state destinations!

[Raisedinnebraska]

I agree with you. Omaha is a wonderful place. But, beginning most of your points with "whatever" makes the people from Omaha sound like Jr. High girls in a fight. Let Omaha's beauty speak for itself. If others want to put down what they don't know, let them. It's their loss.

[FromtheEast]

Omaha is really a vast over sized suburb. There is no true city. Instead of doing away with older buildings & places, the city governmant are the bully on the block by annexing smaller towns for quick monetary reasons & to get rid of competition. Also taxing areas not even controlled by Omaha proves the bullu mind-set of the city. At what point does Omaha say it's sprawl enhancing policies are enough? When it reaches the other side of the state? City taxes 500 miles wide

[DTO Luv]

There are definantly city parts of Omaha. (You sound like you're from Elkhorn). We have a Downtown, a Midtown, older neighborhoods, ghettos > All the things that make a "city". (At least to suburban dwellers)

Omaha is actually one of the least sprawling cities in the country. For comparsion Omaha has around 430,000 people in 125 sq. miles where Kansas City has 445,000 people in 330 sq. miles. Omaha really doesn't sprawl as much as people think it does.

So are you saying that because the city doesn't wipe out older areas that it needs to annex? That's absurd. The reason areas "outside" of Omaha are taxed is because they are within Omaha's jursidiction and will eventually be Omaha.

[star_gazer]

Omaha is really a vast over sized suburb. There is no true city.

As of 2000, Omaha was the 45th largest city and 56th largest -urbanized area- in the nation with a population density of 2,768/sq mile... out of those 55 cities above Omaha, only 26 had urbanized areas with higher population density (source US Census). Indeed, Smart Growth America (http://www.smartgrowthamerica.org) ranked Omaha in the top 10 LEAST sprawled cities in the nation.

Instead of doing away with older buildings & places, the city governmant are the bully on the block by annexing smaller towns for quick monetary reasons & to get rid of competition.

Why get rid of older buildings? Omaha is encouraging re-use/re-development of existing structures. It has pushed the state legislature to provide tax breaks for developers renovating existing structures... furthermore, it has handed out more tax increment financing than ever before for inner city development (check my other thread... the inner city is booming with development).

As far as annexation... it is one of Omaha's great success stories. The reason other 'land locked' cities have -suffered-, was due to the loss of tax base to the suburbs. Case in point: Omaha builds the Qwest Center... thousands of residents from outlying communities come and take advantage of the facility... travelling across the city of Omaha's roads no less... the same roads they use every day to go to work as well. Are these people supposed to get away with using these facilities/infrastructure without any obligation to helping pay for them? Absolutely not... fortunately, we ARE in a state of liberal annexation laws... and Omaha can chase after this tax revenue, so that it may tap the surrounding populous to ensure they pay their fair share. It's unfortunate that annexation ends at the county line... obviously Sarpy residents are getting away with using the city of Omaha's amenities without ponying up.

Also taxing areas not even controlled by Omaha proves the bullu mind-set of the city. At what point does Omaha say it's sprawl enhancing policies are enough? When it reaches the other side of the state? City taxes 500 miles wide

I don't even know what you're talking about here... the city of Omaha has no taxation jurisdiction over areas outside of the city limits... unless you're referring to MAT/Metropolitan Community College/etc, which are not associated with the city... although still represent more resources which residents well outside the city use, and thus Of COURSE they should be contributing to these.

[DTO Luv]

The only thing I can think of Omaha taxing "outside of our control" is the 3 mile planning jurisdiction for SIDs not in the City limits but just outside of them.