FFP Omaha: We’re a Steak Town, homelessness rising, story time

FFP Omaha newsletter

Hey Omaha,

I spend a lot of time searching datasets for the words “Omaha” and “Nebraska.” Typically it’s not surprising. Not the worst. Not the best. Much like our geography, we’re somewhere in the middle.

That’s not the case with homelessness.

Since 2013, unsheltered homelessness, meaning people living outside, has grown more here than any other major U.S. metro area. We’ve also added some of the fewest housing options for very low-income people — and our rental market is very competitive. It might be why we also have one of the highest rates of people returning to the homelessness system within two years of leaving it.

I’ve written about the people navigating this world, as well as others trying to help, but this year I wanted to see how this data gets collected and why it’s changing so much. Every January teams go out across Omaha and Council Bluffs to count people, part of a national endeavor required by the federal government.

Check out the story (or click the link above) to learn more about the count and what this data tells us.

Our friends at Silicon Prairie News also have a story about a new three-phase economic plan to grow business, retain talent and improve quality of life in Omaha. The Greater Omaha Chamber of Commerce hopes to tackle some perennial challenges — affordable housing and the brain drain among them through its plan called “A Greater Omaha.”

Sidenote: I wonder if anyone at the chamber has ever heard the song “Greater Omaha” by Conor Oberst’s band Desparacidos. This might surprise you but it’s got a very different take on development.

Steak Town USA: A new SBH series
Steak Town USA

Today is an exciting day. It marks the beginning of a project I’ve been conceptualizing for years and working on for the past several months. Steak Town USA is a year-long series in the Flatwater Free Press wherein I’ll be reviewing 11 Omaha steakhouses, starting now and continuing through 2025. Plus, I’ll be road tripping outside Omaha to write four more features about steakhouses around the state. The series begins, fittingly, at a steakhouse loaded with my own childhood memories. Jerico’s isn’t the most well-known of the Omaha steakhouses, but you’ll read why it holds a very important place for this food writer. 

Today Flatwater is also debuting a map of every steakhouse in the state of Nebraska as part of the project, a thing that, amazingly, does not exist. Today you can also listen to me chat about the series on the Omapod podcast with host Tony Bock. 

Here’s where you come in: Have a steakhouse outside of Omaha you think I should visit? Or have a steakhouse we need to add to our steak-wide map (see what I did there?) Drop me a line at sarahbakerhansen@gmail.com

Read my review (or click on the photo above).

Plum Market, Eppley Airfield’s new concessionaire, is working to improve food options amid staffing shortages despite raising wages and offering shift incentives. Passenger traffic has rebounded to 5.3 million, surpassing pre-pandemic levels, while ongoing renovations include a glass canopy and terminal updates. The Omaha Airport Authority board, now meeting at Metro Community College, highlighted construction progress and discussed challenges with quality control and passenger experience. Read the full summary here and the full meeting notes on the Documenters website.

Want to help inform your community and create better journalism while getting paid? Become a Documenter today.

What I'm Into

Every Friday, the Omaha Public Library’s Bess Johnson branch in Elkhorn hosts a half-hour storytime for young kids. Storytime has everything: music, dancing, games, books, coloring sheets, and the occasional tantrum. The facilitators are gracious and engaging, and the event has become a (free!) staple for me and my twin toddlers this winter.

OPL’s event calendar is chock full of similar kid-friendly events throughout the week at its various branches. Add it to the long list of reasons to cherish our public libraries.

Sara Gentzler
Read This Next

Omaha Public Schools officials worry attendance could suffer under President Donald Trump’s planned immigration crackdown. More than 41% of OPS students are Hispanic and a quarter are English language learners. Trump signed an executive order allowing immigration officers to enter schools and churches. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen pledged full cooperation with federal law that could rock the state socially and economically. (You may need a subscription to read The World-Herald from the OPS School Board meeting.)

More than 100 protesters, many of them the children of immigrants, gathered at the busy 24th and L intersection in South Omaha on Monday to demonstrate against the new administration’s immigration enforcement, WOWT reports. Car horns constantly blared in support of the protest, where demonstrators held handmade signs and waved Mexican, Honduran and Guatemalan flags.

Omaha officials were shocked by news that the Trump administration would pause trillions in federal grants, WOWT reports. The city is still expecting reimbursement for disaster relief it provided after last year’s tornadoes, its finance director said. On Tuesday a federal judge blocked the administration’s funding pause.

The tenants of another apartment complex have unionized, Bella Caracta at WOWT reports. Residents at the midtown, Lund Company-owned building join a handful of groups across the metro banding together with neighbors to put pressure on landlords. Flatwater Free Press reported on the first unions in September.

Work continues to address concerns at City View apartments near downtown. The city has given the building’s Florida-based owner until tomorrow to make fixes or it will vacate the property.

Omaha: mentioned. A movie bearing our humble city’s name, in which a father takes his two kids (and a dog it looks like) on an I-80 road trip to the greatest city on Earth, is getting good reviews at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah. I really hope they feature the World’s Largest Truck Stop.
Mutual of Omaha’s skyscraper is about halfway to its planned height of 677 feet. Mark Stitz at Channel 3 has a good update on some of the next phases in the massive construction.