Moved after seven years
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12/26/2006
I moved to the Southeast after seven years in Omaha. The main reasons for my move was to be in a nicer climate, closer to the coast, and out of the Mid-West. Omaha is not awful, but the city is eternally continental with extreme climatic changes. The city can't change it's location, but it seems to make the best of it's situation. It has some of the best steakhouses and really any type of food. The people are nice enough, although their moods change with the weather. Taxes are very high for what you get in return. The city and state lack any natural amenities and no efforts are made to build or create things people want or need to enjoy life. The area lakes are small, shallow, artificial, and polluted. The surrounding country side is all farm and prairie -- no forests, mountains, coast, etc. With the exception of the zoo and a paltry childrens museum, there is little to do for kids. Adults have a few more options with various museums, shops, restaurants, bars/clubs. The downtown area in particular doubled in size and went upscale in the time I was living there. It's worth a visit, but some areas like "Heartland of America" park are very contrived with a gate blocking the public from the Con-Agra campus. Omaha has the "build it" mentality, but this usually means tearing down the old, stripping the natural, and replacing with "canned" developments. Sadly, I never saw Peony Park, the lost amusement park, or Jobber's Canyon, the largest national historic neighborhood leveled. I think the need for amenities is becoming more clear and people are slowly understanding the value of historic buildings/neighborhoods. There's a push to broaden the success of downtown's development west into the Midtown area. Creighton University, Mutual of Omaha, Peter Kewitt, and University Medical Center are major players in this effort. The area is densely populated with apartments built into old neighborhoods. Midtown is a young, diverse, and liberal stronghold -- rare in Nebraska. I hope when I return to visit Omaha this area has progessed and received the support it desserves. It's great that Omaha is growing by leaps and bounds westward, but the city needs to maintain its core neighborhoods. I would recommend the Midtown area to anyone considering a move to Omaha that may not be ready to live amongst the homogenous, family-frienly, "red" crowd. For the more conservative, weathly folk who don't mind driving everywhere, you'll love West Omaha.
Michael | Augusta, GA