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Yahoo
22-03-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bedbug bill aimed at helping Omaha public housing residents gains traction in Legislature
Bedbugs have been a complaint at a dozen Omaha Housing Authority sites. One of the bugs is shown in some bedding. (Stock photo by) LINCOLN — A now-broader bedbug bill is gaining traction in the Nebraska Legislature as Omaha lawmakers seek to stomp out the blood-sucking parasites and other problems that might creep out public housing residents in the state's largest city. 'What we hear is horrific,' said State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha. 'And we, as a legislative body, can't just sit by and do nothing.' Boosted to priority status by the Legislature's Urban Affairs Committee, Legislative Bill 287 has been amended and combined with LB 514 to seek quicker and better remedies to bedbug infestation and other concerns voiced by low-income residents of the Omaha Housing Authority, primarily those who live in publicly subsidized apartment towers. State legislators Thursday advanced to another level in the lawmaking process the reinforced and amended LB 287 in a 29-1 vote. The proposed intervention follows public outcry by OHA residents and advocates, including a class-action lawsuit led by 17 current or former residents of 10 public housing high-rise apartments represented by attorney and former State Sen. Justin Wayne of Omaha and two Iowa lawyers that specialize in bedbug cases. That complaint, filed in Douglas County District Court, seeks death for the bugs, at the expense of the public housing authority, and monetary damages for what the attorneys say could be as many as 1,700 past and present residents. The lawsuit included photos of bedbugs and scabby tenant arms, alleging the infestation dates back to 2016. Among key elements of the legislation under consideration by Nebraska senators — and resisted by Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert and several city council members — is an option for the City of Omaha to step in and regulate OHA in areas such as providing for pest control, inspections, penalties for code violations and requiring monthly updates to the city council. But State Sen. John Cavanaugh of Omaha told his colleagues that the option allows a city discretion to take more local control. There's been 'a lot of kicking back and forth of who's responsible' and the option, he said, would eliminate the reason the city has given for not engaging more in an oversight role. 'They claim they don't have the authority this bill would grant them,' said Cavanaugh, an Urban Affairs committee member. 'It just takes away their opportunity to say, 'We can't do that.'' In a two-page missive to lawmakers, City Attorney Matthew Kuhse said that even though Omaha's mayor appoints and the city council confirms OHA board members, the housing authority is a separate legal entity and that any additional oversight or regulations should be done by the Legislature. Kuhse cited the the Nebraska Housing Agency Act, passed in 1999, and said passage of those standardized local housing rules and procedures makes the Nebraska Legislature — not the city — responsible for additional oversight. 'Abdicating that authority to the City of Omaha is not appropriate,' he wrote. Bedbugs prompt lawsuit, new potential law aimed at Omaha Housing Authority Jennifer Taylor, an assistant Omaha city attorney who serves on the Omaha Housing Authority Board, spoke earlier to the Urban Affairs Committee, clarifying that she spoke in her capacity as an OHA board member. She said the OHA is about 90% funded and 'heavily regulated' by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, and risks financial cuts if it fails federal inspections on a repeated basis. She said housing units managed or owned by the housing authority' also are to comply with city codes. Taylor said the OHA has no qualms with being accountable, but noted that its funding comes obligated to specified uses. She said OHA provides third-party and in-house pest control service, but noted that the agency's high-rises — where the bedbug complaints are most prominent — are old and that the agency is seeking funds to modernize them. 'To add one more layer of government oversight just makes things more complicated, difficult, expensive and time-consuming for the housing authority,' she said. McKinney, however, said the bed bug problem in particular has persisted despite ongoing complaints to OHA and the city about residents suffering from what experts describe as hitchhiking and fast-spreading parasites that cause physical pain and mental anguish. State Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha said the proposed legislation 'gives permission' for Omaha leadership to help remedy problems for the city's most vulnerable residents. 'It is disappointing the city does not see the potential with this,' she said. 'But I appreciate this body and Urban Affairs creating an opportunity for the city to step up and engage, without creating an unfunded mandate.' To the pushback from city officials, McKinney asked: 'What skin in the game should they have to hold OHA accountable?' He said the Legislature should take some responsibility, but underscored that the mayor and city council appoint commissioners and are 'closer to the situation than we are.' McKinney said he targeted the legislation to Omaha, but was open to broadening to other communities and their public housing authorities. Included in the amended bill also was a measure by State Sen. Rita Sanders of Bellevue unrelated to the OHA and involving sanitary improvement districts. While much of the public criticism of OHA has been about bedbugs, McKinney outlined a few other 'critical issues' he believes still require action, including 'poor living conditions' of residents with public housing vouchers in downtown Omaha. Among other provisions of the proposed legislation require that OHA: Before renting a unit, visually inspect it for evidence of bedbugs and disclose to the prospective tenant if a nearby dwelling is infested or being treated for the bugs. Upon notice that a person suspects an infestation, inspect within 10 days and provide remedial services from a professional pest control company within 21 days. Inspect or obtain professional service for neighboring units within 10 days of a notice. Be responsible for the costs of investigating and remediating bedbug infestations. Omaha lawyer and OHA Chairman David Levy, in a hearing before the Urban Affairs Committee, said he has reached out to state lawmakers and is happy to continue discussions. 'We want this problem to go away as much as anybody else,' he said. 'It's a very difficult problem.' OHA chief executive officer Joanie Balk has said the agency takes the safety of tenants and treatment of all pests seriously. She said the agency had started to install heat treatment rooms in addition to the pest control teams. State Sen. Stan Clouse of Kearney — who was originally a no-vote when the committee advanced the amended proposal to the full Legislature — told lawmakers Thursday he is now a supporter. Upon further consideration, he said that while the measure could lead to additional responsibility and cost for the City of Omaha, it allows Omaha leaders the option, should they accept, to get more involved with the local housing agency. 'They just can't pass the buck so to speak,' he said. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
A new twist in $90M Omaha airport area business park plan gets mixed reaction
Shown here is a 160-acre site of a business and industrial park envisioned west of Eppley Airfield and north of Carter Lake. This tract is included within the larger boundaries of Omaha's Inland Port Authority district. The latest twist is a bill that could allow the development team to explore sites beyond an original two-mile distance from the airport, though the project must still be in the port authority boundaries. (Courtesy of Lamp Rynearson) LINCOLN — A bill making its way through the Nebraska Legislature would open the door for yet another alternative site on which to build the long-anticipated North Omaha business park — a project to be funded in part by $90 million from the state. Depending on where one stands, adding a third option to the mix could be a reason to celebrate or grouse. One neighborhood leader called the evolving circumstances confusing. Another resident said she remains on edge. Indeed, the business park venture — intended to provide new industry and jobs for one of the most historically disinvested areas of Nebraska — has evolved and stirred intense emotion since a preferred site became public in late 2023. The $90 million to create a shovel-ready site was the largest single project funded from roughly $400 million appropriated by the Legislature for North and South Omaha recovery initiatives following the COVID-19 pandemic. Many residents bristled early on at learning their homes stood in the way of the priority location for the business park, identified as about 160 acres west of Omaha's Eppley Airfield and north of Carter Lake. Some have raised concerns since about possibly being ousted from a neighborhood where their families have lived in for generations, though officials insist that eminent domain would not be used to force sales of property. The team awarded the state contract also named a second potential site. But because environmental cleanup at that smaller site west of Carter Lake has been projected to cost as much as $40 million, development there appears cost prohibitive, said State Sen. Terrell McKinney of North Omaha, a key supporter of the funding. Those barriers led McKinney to introduce this year's Legislative Bill 290, which would drop a previous statutory requirement that the business park be located within two miles of a major airport. If passed, the development team then could consider a wider area, as long as the project remains within the boundaries of Omaha's Inland Port Authority. The Inland Port Authority, under previously adopted law, has oversight over the business park. As currently shaped, the port authority covers as much as nearly 3,000 acres, though some of that area is parkland and other unbuildable property, said Davielle Phillips of the Port Authority board's real estate committee. LB 290 has cleared a few early hurdles, though it has met resistance from a few state lawmakers who have questioned the $90 million allocation in the first place, despite that funds for the project were approved previously by the Legislature and Gov. Jim Pillen. Pillen, in January 2024, formally awarded the contract to develop a shovel-ready site for a business park to a team led by the Omaha Economic Development Corporation, Burlington Capital and the Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce. During legislative debate last week on LB 290, freshman State Sen. Bob Andersen of western Sarpy County quizzed McKinney in an exchange that at times grew testy. 'In the current fiscal environment we're in, where we're $200 million to $400 million in the hole … is this still a verified and validated need?' State Sen. Mike Jacobson of North Platte chimed in: 'I have to ask the question: How much is enough money to be spent on North Omaha? When have we done enough?' Omaha State Sen. Christy Armendariz, who grew up in North Omaha, noted that Pillen has targeted millions of previously approved dollars for other programs to be clawed back or shifted to help address a state budget shortfall. But, she said, the business park fund was not one of them. She supports LB 290 and suggested giving 'a little grace' in allowing the plan to take root. State. Sen. Ashlei Spivey of Omaha added that the funds would help address past disinvestment and social stresses exacerbated by the pandemic. She said the 'potential it unlocks' should not only benefit North Omaha, but the state, too. McKinney, who over the past years has helped lead efforts to steer millions in pandemic-related and other funds to the district, said that although a site has yet to be finalized, pre-development steps were in motion. He said the new legislation 'simply allows more flexibility' to the development team, given obstacles that have surfaced with the two priority sites identified in a 2023 business park preliminary master plan. Those sites are still in play, said McKinney, who also serves on the Port Authority board. Burlington's George Achola offered an update Thursday on the business park plan during the Port Authority's monthly meeting. He said a relocation expert has met with multiple homeowners in the priority site area and is set to meet with others to gauge their willingness to sell. Many property owners have indicated that they would voluntarily move to make way for the project if the price was right, he said. A brief discussion during the meeting about LB 290 prompted questions from North Omaha activist Cheryl Weston. 'What is it? What is the plan for the business park?' she asked. 'Why can't it be clear?' A different neighborhood leader who in the past has balked at relocating told the Nebraska Examiner that he was more frustrated than relieved to learn that another potential site could be added to the mix. 'Confusing, especially at this point in the process,' said Joe Fox Jr., president of the East Omaha Neighborhood Association. 'It's been 400-plus days since our lives were turned upside down, and now we're starting over?' Lori Johnson, who has lived all her life in the neighborhood, said she and her husband would prefer to stay put because four of their children also live nearby with their families, and they've built a community. Homes, urban farm stand at site of proposed Omaha business park buoyed by $90M in state funds However, Johnson is concerned that prolonged uncertainty over the business park project has led both the City of Omaha and others to neglect the area. 'If they gave me what I have here somewhere else, I'd be fine with it,' she said. 'I just think they're going to come after us one way or another.' Thomas Warren, Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert's chief of staff who is on the Port Authority board, acknowledged the twists and turns with the business park project. 'Obviously it has evolved,' he said Thursday. Warren reiterated that the City of Omaha has no intention to exercise its power of eminent domain and that any relocation of homeowners would be voluntary. He said the board is supportive of LB 290 and the flexibility it would offer. Michael Maroney, OEDC executive director, has said an ongoing yearlong pre-development research phase will assess whether his team can assemble a big enough swath of land to pull off the project on the preferred site. If not enough owners want to sell, the new alternative site could come into play. Joe Higgins, president of the Levi Carter Sherman Neighborhood Association, said the potential for another alternative site would elicit varied neighborhood responses. He said residents in the priority site who are eager to relocate, given a fair price for their property, probably would be bummed. Others who want to stay put likely would be glad, he said. Personally, Higgins said, he believes an opportunity for improvements in the Carter Lake area would be missed, as an alternative site likely would move the business park westward. 'Is it good for the neighborhood? No, because we'd get zero improvements,' he said. 'This is a marginalized neighborhood. … If they remove the project there's no street, sewer upgrades. We don't even have high-speed internet.' Timeline, business park: Early 2022: State Sens. Justin Wayne and Terrell McKinney of Omaha seek $450 million in pandemic funds to help North and South Omaha recover economically from the COVID-19 pandemic. The business park was a key piece. June 2023: The Legislature adopts updated plan governing delivery of millions in grant money approved the year before. When fully implemented, officials said roughly $400 million will have been invested into North and South Omaha as a result of two years of work. December, 2023: A master plan by Omaha Economic Development Corp-led team obtained by the Nebraska Examiner identifies two possible sites for the business park. December 2023: Wayne sends email to some lawmakers criticizing that the OEDC plan would spend nearly $90 million in state funds to create shovel-ready land for the business park. 'That's insane,' he said of the estimated cost that didn't include structures. January 2024: Property owners on or near the priority site start voicing concerns. April 2024: A new law, pushed by Wayne and McKinney, gives oversight of the business park to the newly formed Omaha Inland Port Authority, McKinney later is named board chair. 2025: McKinney proposes LB 290 to drop the restriction that the business park be within two miles of the airport, as long as the site remains within Port Authority boundaries. 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