[valleygirl75]

When my family moved to Omaha from Orange County, CA it was a sudden and total cultural shock.

I grew up on Long Island, NY and living on both coasts, consider myself a open minded person. The overall picture I get after living here for 14 years is one of a city that is in a cultural "Bubble".

The local newspaper only prints what it wants to and leaves out the rest of the world or only puts a small story somewhere near the back of the paper.

The "Huskers" are all this city thinks about - does the world really revolve around a college football team?

No one will admit that we are NOT a culturally diverse city. The women I work with have admitted that they are afraid of African American people - they won't even drive north of Dodge because the think every part of "north" Omaha is part of a gang. and I am talking about people who live in Papillion.

Recycling takes a backseat here - even the school districts (and yes - Omaha Public Schools is the only district for most of the city - unless you live in the predominately White -Westside district, Millard, Elkhorn or Papillion)

I was thrilled to see the city start recycling its metal and glass trash pickup service - but not for long - glass was banned because it might cut someone, Maybe they have special gloves that people could wear like the rest of the nation?? Large companies chose not to recycle because their trash companies don't offer it - so millions of tons of paper gets haulded away to the dump.

Omaha does offer lots of things to do - but not gambling. Oh heavens - not in our city - but thousands of residents make the "20 minute" ride into Council Bluffs, IA to spend their thousands of dollars in another state.

enough of my ranting for now - but let's pop the "Bubble" and let the city know how the rest of the world sees things.

[Steve_W]

Maybe you would feel more at home if Omaha would adopt similar immigration policies(or lack of) as southern Cal. The state may go bankrupt but at least you would feel comfortable. You just let us know what we can do to accommodate you hun.

[pablo-me]

[quote=Steve_W;1736684]Maybe you would feel more at home if Omaha would adopt similar immigration policies(or lack of) as southern Cal. The state may go bankrupt but at least you would feel comfortable. quote]

It appears Omaha DOES have the same immigration policies as California.

[green_mariner]

Originally Posted by ehenningsen

is ridiculous...

here are some myths....

Omaha's cost of living is not that great due to high taxes...
An average house in Omaha is $170,000 verses $600,000 in Los Angeles, a fews measley thousand dollars does not
offset the cost, and as a matter of fact the cost of living is so low here that we have to charge higher tax amounts to be able to exist as a state...

There's nothing to do in OMaha...
Whatever!!! What is it that your looking to do, there is so much here to do, We get the top concerts (Qwest Center with the eigth heighest amount of concert ticket sales in the world) and large conventions, we have nationally ranked college sports here, minor league teams, A great indie music scene, a world reknown zoo, the college world series, the opera and symphony is huge here, many many many miles of bike trails, we have casino's, state and national parks nearby, more golf courses per capita than any city in the us including the nationally seen Cox Classic, many campgrounds nearby with boating facilities, hunting grounds, the largest furniture store in north america, Bass Pro and Cabela's here, great restaraunts here including the Cheesecake factory, many YMCA's for amatuer sports, a great riverfront park stretching for miles with marina's. Every year there are several major NCAA tournament events at the well-publicised Qwest Center, 5 major indoor malls and several outdoor malls, Kansas City is just a couple of hours away, a proposed theme resort with an amusement park in between Omaha and lIncoln Port Nebraska, A great child's museum, three bar-gaming facilities dave and busters and inplay and an amazing pizza maching, there is more, but these are all I can think of off-hand... so there goes that theory....

Omaha's education is not that great...
Whatever, Omaha's education is great in all areas including the small ghetto that it has. Omaha is home to Creighton University which is ranked as the best university to get an education in the midwest, also UNO, UNMC, Bellevue University, New Horizons, ITT, among others....

The pay is low in Omaha....
This is a terrible stigma, Omaha's average wage is $3,000 average higher than the national average and the cost of living is 12% lower than the national average... so much for that...

Omaha is a cow-town....
What-ever.... Conagra, Union Pacific, Berkshire Hathaway, Valmont, Peiter Keiwitt all fortune 500 company's are headquarted here, and that doesnt include TD Ameritrade, First National BAnk and many the presence (but not home to) many other fortune 500 companies.

Omaha is small...
Depends on what your definition of small is actually...
If you think 859,000 for a CSA is small then your right.. Lincoln is just around the corner and soon the CSA will
include it, that would put it between 1.1 and 1.2 million people

Omaha is cold...
It's not that bad here, you get used to it like anything else, I will agree that at times it does get terribly cold but usually no more than a couple weeks a year otherwise it can be considered pretty cold for about 3 months a year, it really depends on what you consider cold, but has humans we adapt

Miscellanious...
Omaha is a 20 minute city, that means that from one end to the other you CAN get there in 20 minutes, one of the largest cities to be able to claim this, the traffic is mild...
The Downtown is booming with 2 recently built skyscrapers, there is a 32 story condo tower that is going to be built, a new corporate headquarts from an insurance firm is moving there, and the ex-mayer Hal DAub announced on grow omaha that a new scraper is going to be built from yet another corporate headquarters move...
Omaha has average-above average growth in population and jobs boasting a current 3.2% unemployment rate
Other cities from around the country and even the globe of come to Omaha to see how exactly the city officials have
cause this once dying city into a boom-town and on the plains none-the-less..

I can provide proof on any of these, and this is all that I came up with within just a couple of minutes, i think the locals that complain, just don't look and want to complain about something...

Any questions??

It is not so much what it is, but more where it is and what it is perceived to be. While Omaha does have some of the things of a big cities, it is perceived as a cowton because it is in Nebraska, a primarily agricultural state.

[valleygirl75]

ahem. like i said.... not in MY town. hun.

[Steve_W]

[quote=pablo-me;1742002]

Originally Posted by Steve_W

Maybe you would feel more at home if Omaha would adopt similar immigration policies(or lack of) as southern Cal. The state may go bankrupt but at least you would feel comfortable. quote]

It appears Omaha DOES have the same immigration policies as California.

No they don't. Immigration Is Destroying California - Right Wing News (Conservative News and Views)
right wing view but backed up with facts....how could you go wrong!

Mix that with lack of immigration enforcment.....maybe not written but it's an "active policy".

P.S. Omaha is afraid of the African American community north of Dodge St. for a very good reason. It's an exremely violent area and I know you can say, "well they aren't all violent", but simple fact is........If you are going to get shot or robbed.....it's most likely going to happen there. How could you even argue that?

[MarriedWithOutChildren]

[quote=ArrowThruTheMoon;323450]In the original post EHENNINGSEN gave a fairly good (and cautiously accurate) list of good things about Omaha. I only have one huge problem with it: "a world reknown zoo"...

...holy crap! Please don't believe your own hype! 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.

If the people of KC have never heard of our zoo, that is very sad, as Omaha's zoo has been ranked as the 2nd best zoo in the country/world several times. Read reviews as posted on mytravelguide.com and many other sites. For anyone to say our zoo is not one of, if the not the best, you havn't traveled or been to many other zoo's.

[mattpoulsen]

"It is not so much what it is, but more where it is and what it is perceived to be. While Omaha does have some of the things of a big cities, it is perceived as a cowton because it is in Nebraska, a primarily agricultural state."

So, you're going to hold the undereducated and ignorant opinions of others against Omaha!!

The truth is Omaha is not even remotely close to a cowtown!! Whether Paris Hilton believes it is or not is completely irrelevant.

Las Vegas is in the middle of a dessert...am I to assume Las Vegas is barren wasteland?? Chicago is in Illinois...which is a very agricultural state, am I to assume Chicago is a cowtown?? Should I go on?


For god's sake.

[mattpoulsen]

Valleygirl,

Every "local newspaper" prints what they want. You don't think that the NY Times prints what it wants?? You're problem is that your local newspaper doesn't print what YOU want, which isn't an uncommon gripe, but its hardly unique to Omaha.

Huskers are big business in Nebraska. Yes, when you're in or very near a major college town then you hear lots and lots of college football. Its no different in Austin, South Bend, Ann Arbor, Baton Rouge, or any other place with major college team as their major sports team. Again, you may not like how much sports permeates our society, but its not at all unique to Omaha.

As far as gambling, its not a city issue. Its a state issue. Gambling is not legal in the State of Nebraska...if it were I promise you there would be casinos lining the Nebraska side of the Missouri. I would also add there are tons of places where casinos aren't allowed. In fact...that's the norm!

What does Omaha Public Schools being the only school system in Omaha have to do with anything? That's not abnormal for a city. Papillion, Millard, and Elkhorn are separate because they are or were separate towns, which had their own districts. I don't see what your issue with that is.

Apparently the women you work with are idiots. Half the city is north of Dodge. But don't make a generalization of the entire population based on a few of your female coworkers. No one I know holds that opinion.

Certainly, there are small isolated areas in north Omaha that people tend to avoid, but it has nothing to do with race...it has to do with crime.

Basically, I see you complaining about the city of Omaha, but these issues are not unique to Omaha or really have anything to do with the city. They are issues that exist in all cities across the entire U.S. This seems to me to be a case of "the grass is always greener..."

[Synopsis]

Crime in Omaha has gone down tremendously in the last seven years, according to the CD main page that shows crime statistics. It's slightly higher than the national average (not by much), and the national average takes into account very small and rural areas. So, crime in Omaha is definitely lower than other mid to large cities. As far as my perception of Omaha goes, I have known several people that have lived there and rave about the place. Me thinks some people (as mattpoulsen says) always want to complain just to complain.
Oh, and go Huskers. Glad to see you cleaning house up there to get back on the right track.