For the last six months, The Daily Record’s Kai Van Ginkel has been working to bring attention to the Streetcar Project that has been started by Mayor Jean Stothert and the Omaha Streetcar Authority (OSA). As the final part of this series, we spoke directly to citizens to get their thoughts on the project and how it will affect them.

“I want to like the idea of a streetcar because it feels like a “real city” thing. But my guess is that it’s actually just trying to fix the problem of people not going downtown/midtown as much anymore. I understand the perspective that a permanent line to follow will concentrate people along that path and bring foot traffic to the businesses along that path, but I don’t think that fixes the problem that people just don’t want to go to our ‘urban core’.”  – Cody G, Omaha

“As someone who wants public transportation improvements, I think the streetcar is ill thought out, poorly implemented, and won’t actually help enough to justify its cost. Especially when that money could just be used to improve existing systems. I won’t be using the streetcar because it just doesn’t provide the transport I need. The line is too limited, and its current line is too inconvenient to justify not using my car.” – Alex M, Bellevue

“[I] started off positive because I like public transit. [I] turned negative the more I learned that this wasn’t an honest attempt at public transit, but more of a vanity project for the mayor. Seems like it’s not an attempt to make life better for people.” – Zane J, Omaha

“I’m a big advocate of it, and think it’s gonna do great for our community and help grow our population density in the area.” – Ted Kosch, Omaha Real Estate Assocation

“I think it’s a waste of money with a bus system already in place. It would be cheaper to extend bus routes and extend hours of the bus in general. Right now, the bus system could be a savior of the working class, but right now it ends at 11 and fucks over a lot of the late-night food workers.” – Blake W, Omaha

“The streetcar is going to be useless to like 90% of Omaha. I would still have to drive and pay to park somewhere to use it.” – Jessica L, Omaha

“Why are we focusing on a streetcar when we should be making public transit more useful, especially for those just outside Omaha, like Elkhorn and Bellevue?” – Ryan M, Bellevue

“I love it and I am excited to see it get started! The streetcar is one of the most important economic ideas for Omaha in my lifetime. Not only is it new development for transportation, but it is also development for [the economy], tourism, and business. I see it as a tool to create several billion in real estate development in the 3 or 4 blocks to the north and south. I think it will develop our urban core with 8 to 15 story buildings that will pop around that corner. I think a lot of the negative comments remind me of when we were discussing building the CHI Health Center back in the 2000’s. With how much it has done for the city, could we imagine what Omaha would be like without it today? I think people are going to wonder why we didn’t do this 20 years ago.” – Jeff Beals, Co-Founder of GrowOmaha Media

“I can think of about five things that should be higher priorities than the rail car. Money should be appropriated to those first. I’ve looked at the proposals, and I don’t believe that the funding and the costs is being accurately calculated and reported. It’s going to be twice as expensive and bring in half the revenue. When you put in those numbers, the project doesn’t make sense.” – Ryan K, Omaha

“I think they would be better putting their money into a regular transportation system. I’ve lived here about 55 years now, and I’ve seen city council make a bunch of stupid mistakes. They want to get people downtown, who wants to go downtown anymore? They are spending a lot of money, and it’s starting to show up. I think I could put several hundred million dollars to better use.” – Carl W, Omaha

“[I’m] still for it, though I thought it would go further. If they can get the parking figured out, it would be a great asset. Those areas have been the fasting growing areas already, and this should help grow them faster.” – Jeff Gehring, President of Mercury Buildings and Contractors

“I don’t see any reason for it, to be honest for you. I don’t get it. Take care of the homeless. They could spend their money better somewhere else. Let’s say it went further west, it’s a lot of work and MUD has to do a lot of work. It’s probably Stothert’s legacy, she’s hoping to get one. I’ll probably never take the trolley. I’m sure it’s probably cute for the businesses it’ll go by.” – Judy B, Omaha

“I feel that we don’t need a streetcar. That money can be used to enhance the bus system, since that’s the only major system we have in Omaha. We don’t have a train or subway system, the only system we really have is the bus, and if we are not meeting the total community, mainly West Omaha, because people can’t get to jobs from West to Downtown, and people in North O and South O can’t get to West. It’s a disservice to citizens in all aspects of the community. I’m going to advocate that, as the city grows, we get buses straight to the airport, like every other major city. I feel they should invest in the only carpool-based system that we have that can help the total community.” – William King Jr, Candidate for Regional Metropolitan Board of Omaha, District 2

“I often tell people that the impact on real estate development is just as important as the use-ability of the public transportation aspect. I would say that the development that is going to result from the construction of the streetcar is just as significant, if not more so, than the mobility elements. This may be controversial. The reality is that’s equally as motivating for that subject. I think it’s pretty incredible the impact [the streetcar] had [on Kansas City]. I’m a supporter. I understand the hesitation, and maybe people who don’t live downtown don’t interact down there. It’s going to add interconnectivity to downtown. I think it’s going to be bigger than anyone realizes for the impact it will have downtown. The development that will result from that project will be really impactful. I tell people to look at it through that lens.” – Jorge Sontolongo, Member of the Planning Board for the Streetcar