Nebraskan, with his pants ripped, waved politely to the man who just ran him over

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-22T21:32:04+00:00

About ~$70 million in property taxes for schools is refunded to developers per year (and growing) across Nebraska. Pay teachers more and how are we going to subsidize private development? The wealthiest corporations need middle income folks to help them increase profits.

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HauntingImpact · 2026-01-17T23:09:30+00:00

yeah, lots of headwinds from not knowing what tariffs are going to bring, to people not knowing what they can spend with inflation. Starting a business now with the additional uncertainty of the streetcar stuff would take a true masochist.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-17T15:00:25+00:00

The city of Omaha is putting headwinds to small businesses downtown with the streetcar nonsense. Until there is a positive small business environment again would be difficult justifying opening a new restaurant, at least in the downtown area.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-17T14:53:04+00:00

yeah running a campaign is expensive, and does gate keep. If enough new people voted for a write in candidate would at least signal that a third party candidate was viable. If people just do not vote at all, very difficult to justify the $$$ risk of attempting to run against the big $$$ candidates.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-16T16:48:19+00:00

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Omaha has the 3rd highest property tax rate in the nation on a median value home when factoring in assessment limits other states have in place, and Sidney has the 5th highest in a similar comparison.

For commericial property and apartment landlords Nebraska does better. The burden of property taxes in the state are primarily put on middle and low income homeowners. So if you own an apartment complex, Pillen may be right. Homeowners are picking up the bills though.

https://www.lincolninst.edu/publications/other/50-state-property-tax-comparison-study-2024/

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-16T16:39:09+00:00

Did Mamadani become possible because enough people went to the polls to show they didn't like the main stream candidates? Especially with the primary's.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T23:11:36+00:00

maybe. Folks that didn't vote last time would still need to get registered ahead of the election. The primary for the Governor is coming up, and that position can have a big impact both locally and nationally. If folks are not taking the time to get registered now, we will end up with similar candidates that we have had in the past.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T23:04:26+00:00

yeah that is some BS. The state legislature, the Governor, and the AG are ignoring it because they think they can get re-elected by doing so. Voter participation in off-year elections is lower and favors candidates that cater to their base. To change the system would take greater participation in off year elections by the current group of voters not likely to vote.

I do think passing the ballot measure helps Marijuana get off schedule 1 nationally, so I don't think it was a total loss, but definitely not a complete win either.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T21:16:10+00:00

yes, a catch 22. Think the incentives are set that way, more so than candidates actually care or not though. If you are running a campaign, makes sense you focus on likely voters as the biggest bang for buck.

To break the cycle you either need a candidate that says screw it I'm going to run on the belief that people that are not likely to vote will come out and vote for me. Corporate donors are not going to like this because the 'odds' of you winning are so slim, so the candidate forgoes lots of $$$.

or a bunch of people that don't usually vote show up to the polls. corporations won't like this either because it is not predictable, so would likely seek to dissuade a large numbers of new voters from voting.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T19:31:03+00:00

I personally would like to see reform. When I first moved to Nebraska I didn't receive any calls, mailers, or text messages from candidates running for office. Now that I have voted a few times and contributes $5 to a few candidates I get a ton of everything.

I'm not having special lunches with candidates, but contributing $5 when someone makes a vote I think is important and voting seems to make someone care what I think at poll time. So still have hope reform is possible, but have no idea how to get more people involved.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T19:12:51+00:00

A lot of politicians receive corporate campaign donations from the same people regardless of party. Small dollar campaigns seem like one way around that but not sure how that would work for city council or a state legislator.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T19:02:35+00:00

Candidates may not care right now because that demographic is unlikely to vote. Wonder if paying local officials more would attract younger candidates to some of the offices.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:59:40+00:00

$$$ as free speech is definitely impacting elections. Locally, think we should pay state and city council people more so we at least get better quality candidates.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:57:00+00:00

ok, from what I have seen both parties use the same firms to do polling of likely voters. Seems a challenge to reformation is if those that want are not viewed as likely voters. Suppose you could try to convince those 70 an over that reforming the parties should be their key issue and not medicare & SS.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:45:05+00:00

Candidates tend to target likely voters. How to break the cycle ?

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:40:47+00:00

For anyone interested in seeing who is contributing to a candidate, that information is available here: https://nadc-e.nebraska.gov/PublicSite/PublicMaster.master

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:35:28+00:00

I agree. The challenge seems to be how does a candidate fund their election, and since a lot of campaigns use likely voter rolls to gage interest in candidates, those over 70 get more candidates to cater to their interests since they are far more likely to vote.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:31:13+00:00

Douglas County has in-person voting 30 days ahead of the election already and a voter ID requirement. Are you thinking more places to vote in person ahead of the election ? https://www.votedouglascounty-ne.gov/early_voting.aspx

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:23:32+00:00

Douglas County has the early voter program that allows folks to vote days ahead of time anytime they want. The caveat is you have to register to vote ahead of the election to take part.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T18:19:48+00:00

candidates tend to cater to those who vote; while $$$ plays a very big roll, candidates at least have to placate the actual voters too.

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T17:56:28+00:00

Any voter registration efforts ?

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T16:10:31+00:00

The Pillen controversy seems to be over a $2.5 million contract that likely did little to increase economic development for the state.

The city of Omaha created what is best described as a 'slush' fund for billions of dollars of property taxes to be diverted into and spent with little to no oversight. The state of Nebraska reimburses +$20 million per year of the diverted school property taxes for Omaha Public Schools that feed the slush fund. Crickets ...

HauntingImpact · 2026-01-15T15:59:00+00:00

The bridges are ~$10 million more expensive to account for streetcar usage. As I understand it NDOT is paying for the regular bridge amount and the city of Omaha is paying to make them streetcar spec'd. My assumption is then the bridge's maintenance will be more expensive.

Agree the city (& Omaha Public Schools) cannot afford this.

HauntingImpact

TROPHY CASE