I’ve been thinking about this for a while.  

Does Omaha need to get it’s groove back? 

Or has the old excitement become so normal that it’s just not as noticeable anymore.  Has all the road construction dampened our enthusiasm for progress? 

About twenty years ago or so there was a real buzz about Omaha.  We had just built the arena and convention center. We were building a new stadium with a 25 year guarantee the College World Series would stay in town. Events like the Olympic swim trials, brought new luster and international attention to our fair city. 

Twenty years ago five Fortune 500 corporations were headquartered here. Now there are only 4 with concerns about the possibility of losing Union Pacific.  

Berkshire Hathaway is staying in town for the time being, but the Oracle of Omaha has stepped down, and the company is now being run by the Wizard of West Des Moines.  I wonder if the annual meeting will bring as many people and get as much worldwide media attention now that Warren won’t be in charge.

I hate to be a Debbie Downer here, but it seems that I’m not the only one who has concerns that Omaha, and indeed the entire state on Nebraska has lost some of its shine. 

A recent report funded by the AkSarBen Foundation found that Omaha and Nebraska are falling behind, compared to similar cities and states.  

According to this report Omaha has fallen behind and lost out on 68,000 jobs in recent years.  Those lost jobs represent $11 billion in lost wages and up to $800 million in lost tax revenue.  

I moved to Kansas City in 1999.  When I first got there, the only point of reference people had of our city was the Furniture Mart and the old AkSarBen racetrack.  Five years later when I was moving back home, I heard comments about all the good things they were hearing about Omaha.  There was a buzz about our growth. They heard about the concerts, events and conventions we were getting that was bypassing KC. Connor Oberst and Saddle Creek Records had the music scene talking about the Omaha sound. 

The buzz was so strong about what we were doing, it kicked the KC leaders in the ass and they started investing in their own downtown.  They built the Sprint arena. They created the Power and Light district. They added a streetcar to their entertainment district. 

And that’s just Kansas City Missouri. On the other side of the state line, Johnson County Kansas has built a complex that includes a NASCAR Speedway, hotels, restaurants, and an even bigger NFM than we have here.  And to really add salt to the wounds, Johnson County  will soon be home to the College Baseball Hall of Fame. 

Speaking of Johnson County Kansas, they just gave Fiserv enough incentives to get Fiserv to sign a contract where the company will spend $150 Million over the next decade to bring 2,000 jobs to Overland Park. Fiserv is the former First Data which was founded in Omaha. And even though Omaha lost their corporate headquarters years ago, Fiserv chose not to increase their presence here, instead taking their business 190 miles south.

To be fair there are still some cool things happening here. The Luminarium and the Riverfront development are recent improvements to the city.  On the horizon, the new Mutual of Omaha headquarters, the development of the streetcar, expansion of the CHI convention center, and the growth of Nebraska Medicine and UNMC are all exciting projects.  

But as this report points out, there are a lot of exciting things happening in places like Fayetteville North Carolina, Sioux Falls South Dakota, and Huntsville Alabama.  

I’ve written in the past about how we do precious little to bring tourism to our state. This report sponsored by the AkSarBen Foundation shows that we aren’t doing enough to bring more high paying jobs to our state as well.  

It appears that this report has gotten the attention of the area’s Chambers of Commerce, our State Legislators, and many in the business community.  Now it’s time for action.

We may sing that there is no place like Nebraska, but there are a lot of places that are pretty damn close and leaving us in the dust.  

It’s time to take these challenges seriously.  We may know this is a great place to live and work, but we need to entice others to get the Omaha buzz back on people’s radar. 

Tom Becka is a long time Nebraska broadcaster who for over 30 years has been covering Omaha and Midwest issues on both radio and TV. He has been a guest on numerous national cable and news shows, filled in for nationally syndicated talk radio programs and Talkers Magazine has recognized him as one of the Top 100 talk show hosts in the country 10 times. Never afraid to ruffle some feathers, his ‘Becka’s Beat’ commentaries can be found online on Youtube and other digital platforms.