Terrible city to live in
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1/18/2020
I've lived in Omaha for almost 33 years. The first 10 were fine. But Omaha has been steadily been going downhill the last 23. The city government has become extremely corrupt. Spending is done based on what benefits the richest citizens. Most currently the City wants to spend 25 million dollars to build an electric trolley system that will only go 5 or 6 miles, mostly through one of the wealthiest parts of the city. Its will exist so those rich people can ride free from their 1/2 million dollar condos to the entertainment center of the city.
Our city/county has 7 school districts plus a disaster they call the Learning Community. The LC was created to stop 9 school districts in Douglas and Sarpy counties from suing each other for tax money. A total failure. That combination wastes over 30 million dollars a year in executive salaries and duplicated administrations. Teachers here frequently have to spend their own money for teaching supplies.
Waste collection has been an abomination for years. The city has been overpaying the same company for 25 years. That company always has excuses why it leaves trash all over the streets or just fails to pick up the trash. The original mandate was to have Yard Waste recycling, and Recyclable collection. Yard waste and much of the "recyclables" go to the landfill. Now they are hiring a new company at even higher cost, and have cut services even further. Even though Omaha citizens have consistently complained about the awful service, it falls on deaf ears.
Crime is horrendous. When my wife and I get up in the morning we turn on the TV to find out how many people were stabbed, shot or run over by some maniac hit and run driver.
And speaking of bad drivers. Omaha was named to the 5 worst cities for bad drivers in the United States. People drive at least 10 mph over the speed limit. They tail gate, run stop lights and stop signs, and drive like maniacs. There is one stretch of city street about 3 miles in length where these maniacs drive 80 to 90 miles per hour in a 45 mph zone. It's more like a drag strip than a city street. The Omaha police and Douglas County Sheriff's officers do NOTHING to stop them.
City maintenance of streets is a horrible joke. Each spring the majority of our streets look like they've been carpet bombed. The chuck holes are so common and so deep, thousands of cars every year are damaged. The city won't fix the streets properly unless you live in a wealthy area. The rest of us dodge pot holes for at least 6 months. The pot holes are usually "fixed" with cold patches which do not last more than a couple of months. Sometimes not even a couple of weeks.
Snow removal is probably the worst joke of all. Every year the city annexes more and more properties, but city services has not even come close to keeping up with the annexations. The majority of Snow removal on the streets is done by private contractors who are completely incompetent. Snow is typically dumped in the ends of driveways or front of street mailboxes to the point that Postal employees can't deliver the mail and citizens are left to dig out chunks of ice that can barely be lifted. The City Maintenance manager has nothing but excuses and lies to explain why his hired goons do such a poor job. Complaints to the city fall on deaf ears. And if you complain too loudly the City Attorney writes you a threatening letter.
Unemployment is low ( we have TONS of minimum wage jobs). But salaries are some of the lowest in the nation. If you look at Jobs quality web sites, you'll find that Omaha ranks down their with the worst in the nation.
About 1/4 of the city lives at or below the poverty level.
We have multiple powerful gangs (Bloods, Crips, etc.) that control the drug traffic in the city. Shootings are pretty much a daily event.
My wife and planning on leaving Omaha as soon as possible, and can hardly wait to leave this nightmare city behind. My suggestion to you is that if you are offered a job in Omaha, RUN AWAY!
Steve | Omaha, NE