People's comments on why we need to recall Omaha Mayor Fahey...
Some people do not want their opinions openly attributed to them, for fear of some sort of retribution or other adverse repercussions: a sad commentary on the state of our democracy. So, unless we have been given express consent to identify them, we will not include the contributors' names.
Mayor Recall (This one is a .PDF file, so you need Adobe Reader to view it.)
Below are comments we've received from concerned citizens regarding Mayor Fahey's performance to-date:
"There was a story in the OWH maybe a year or so ago about Fahey. His son had gotten married and the new inlaws had a car accident the same night. They called the police but the police did not come fast enough for them. Fahey intervened and called the police telling them who he was and demanding they get out to the accident. The story reported that the police , in their defense, said that they do not run to non in jury accidents when they have more important things to take care of....be it the Mayor or not.....cannot recall if cops never came or if they came and they just came hours later. Point is Fahey thought he could direct the cops to do what he wanted. This is just abuse of power. To me, a guy who does not see anything wrong with this likely has skewed ethics altogether."
--from an email received at recall-fahey.com
"The Washing Nationals are in the process of building a new stadium. $611,000,000 for an open air 41,222 seat stadium. Cost per seat $14,822. The Twins are also in the process of building an open air stadium, $495,000,000 for 40,000 seats at a cost of $12,375 per seat. Do you think Fahey's cost of $5,833 per seat are a little low, a lot low, or not even close?
ECON 101: Economics of scale: When you build something, the cost per sq. ft. seat, etc, go down, as you make the item bigger. In other
words, small stadiums cost more per seat than larger stadiums. If the final cost is $13,000 per seat that comes to $312,000,000. If it comes in at $15,000 per set that is $360,000,000.
If you look at all the stadiums that have been built, you will see one thing in common, massive cost over runs."
--a member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
"Here are some of my observations on the Fahey situation:
Baseball is all about tradition and emotion; one must be emotionally involved with the game to be a player or fan.
Today's college stars come to Omaha to play on the exact same field, on even the same dirt where so many of Professional Baseball's stars once played; this and only this makes Rosenblatt a special place to the college players and their fans; nothing else really matters. This is the only card that no other city can play.
Fifty-eight years later, if the home of the College World Series moves even one block, it will never be the same.
If the NCAA is willing to leave Rosenblatt and its irreplaceable tradition behind, it is because these shallow individuals do not and cannot ever understand the game, its players or its fans. These are the bean counter bureaucrats, condemned forever to be outsiders, so close to the CWS yet so far away, no more than parasites on the sport.
If the home of the World Series is to be moved, then there are at least 100, and probably 200 cities in the USA that are better locations for generating income; what possible reason exists then to keep the CWS in Omaha?
Fahey is too much the fool to understand this; his cronies, his ego and recently-acquired love of power further blind him to reality.
Only a few individuals in Omaha benefit greatly from the College World Series financially; if you own a hotel, car rental business, or restaurant you may be one of them.
Or, if you really don't care about baseball, the CWS may just be a two-week burden to be endured, with slowed traffic, blocked lanes, and backed-up entry and exit ramps; but don't expect anyone to pay you for your hardships.
So now Fahey plans to spend $140 million, sacrifice the Quest Center and saddle us with years and years of debt and higher taxes. Our representational city council is now hamstrung and made helpless by this tyrant.
If these few business gain $13 million in business from the CWS, it would be cheaper to just hand over the net profits they realize, perhaps $7 million dollars to these select few individuals each year; send them each a check for their share, proportional to their average gross increases for the 10 days of the CWS.
That is what Fahey now stands for; tax everyone to financially benefit the select few, who are already financially better off that 95% of those common citizens and visitors that will be footing the bill.
Fahey must GO, as a matter of principle, even if we shorten his tenure by only a fraction; he must not get away with such injustice against the citizenry; our cause is just and noble and we will prevail because we must."
-John
"Looking back at the successful recall of Mike Boyle in 1987 the issue was 'Pattern of Behavior' I think it is the same here. while the new stadium can be an example. I don't think we want to be linked to the Save Rosenblatt issue. Mike Fahey is promoting his own agenda locking out the City Council and the people of Omaha, forming committees that do not allow for opposing views and presenting only his ideas with the groups he meets with. ... I think the main issue we need to focus on his attitude and lack of respect for other peoples views and the way he worked around it. That way we don't lock out people that may support some of his projects. You just can't trust the man at his word."
--another member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
"...Elkhorn has been a diaster, lack of police, fire, rescue, trash pickup. This deal has been in works for several years with the Zoo wanting this property. Everyone forgets this land the Quest sit's on is ARSCO land, that the EPA did not clean up, EPA just put a 2 inch concrete cap to prevent the lead problem's. Fahey has not been honest with the Citizens of Omaha, in every mess and study he spent millions for. The NCAA has signed no long agreement with Omaha, Re: ESPN Jan 31st 2088, nor will, what about the parking? higher taxes? ARSCO and EPA problems, I think its's time for tax relief in recalling MIKE FAHEY. HE IS BAD FOR OMAHA !"
--another member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
"Could I make a suggestion for the website?
I live in South Omaha (3 blocks from Rosenblatt to be exact) but the way the website looks and reads right now, its really looking like
those of us in South O are having a bit of a fit over this whole issue.
Might I suggest ALSO listing some of the other things that Fahey has done to piss off other people in Omaha. Remind the other people in
the other parts of Omaha what he's done to them since taking office to remind them that it's not just about the Stadium.
How about reminding them about the whole Elkhorn annexation issue?
How about those 'Sounding Stones' that midtown didn't want put in their park, even signed petitions and such, and when they had the town meeting, Fahey didn't even show, he had some lackey show and by then it was already too late since the foundations for that 'artwork' had been poured that previous weekend. He didn't bother to listen to those people either.
How about right after he took office and they were working on the Qwest center? Wasn't there something about Fahey rejecting the Daub
approved designs for that one chain of hotels to put up a really nice BIG hotel across from the Qwest center? Instead he brought in this
other hotel chain that built a small, box like structure across from the Qwest that is too small to handle any amount of tourist or
convention goers from out of town?
I would also list out other things that our tax money could be more wisely spent on like:
The CSO sewer project coming up?
How about fixing the damned roads around here?
How about revitalizing 13th Street from Rosenblatt to the Old Market as a sort of 'Gateway' to the downtown area, a way of drawing people down that direction from the Gardens, the Zoo and the Stadium. That way the people new to Omaha or returning are shown our best foot
forward from the moment they enter Nebraska off I-80?
Why not use that money to help catch those responsible for constantly graffitting up the South Omaha area on 24th Street and surrounding
communities. It has gotten so bad in the past few months!
Why are we looking to waste the taxpayer money on a stupid stadium when we already got one? There is so much more that we could be using
our tax money for than this stadium. We need to remind all of Omaha about his other 'issues' and give them a wider view of what we could
be using our tax money for instead of a stadium that nobody wants."
--another member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
"...Not all of us are from South Omaha. I live in West/Southwest Omaha. Fahey's current project may be located in South Omaha, but it concerns every tax paying citizen in this city.
It has been brought up in a prior post that this isn't just about the stadium. It's not just about South Omaha. It is much bigger than that. It is about a mayor who feels he is above the people and does not feel compelled to take into consideration what the people want nor what is best for the citizens of Omaha. It does not matter to him that we cannot afford a new stadium even if we wanted one, which we do not. Fahey has no interest in what the citizens of this city want. He has been allowed to get away with too much already. It is up to the entire population of Omaha to stand up to him and say 'Enough is enough.' We are done having his 'projects' shoved down our throats just because HE wants them. We voted him into office. We can take him out of office."
--another member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
"A coworker of mine helped me put together a list since he is more into watching politics than I am. He doesn't live in Omaha but he's still upset because he's being assessed a wheel tax. But here is the list he put together on other things that Fahey has done. I won't put his name out there but this was his email to me when we were discussing it at work today.
Add these to the list:
Fahey saddled the citizens with the Police and Fire contract allowing personnel to spike their pay, retire early and immediately draw huge pensions while leaving the departments shorthanded.
Fahey arbitrarily made the decision about who would win the hotel contract across from the Qwest Center.
He pushed the Elkhorn annexation, which devoured time and resources while further stretching our available resources while creating
animosity within the community.
Sewers need to be replaced. We have citizens with runoff and flooding problems and a federal mandate that we have a separate
system for storm water.
City parks need maintenance. Recreation areas need new sidewalks and paving.
He's extended the reach of the wheel tax and now wants to increase the lodging tax and sales taxes on prepared foods.
There has been no transparency but plenty of closed-door meetings with Omaha power-brokers.
Who benefits from all the new construction? New high-priced condos downtown and VIP boxes in a new stadium will benefit the average
Omaha citizen?? We get to foot the bill so the elite can have new VIP suites in a $180 Million park that will see most of its use 2
weeks of the year?
Did you notice that they bragged about all those neat features of the new stadium without mentioning who would actually be enjoying them??
So Mr. Website Administrator/programmer, please remember to focus on all of these things and that the Stadium is that final straw that
broke the camels back.
Thank you."
--another member of the Recall-Fahey Yahoo Discussion Group
