2020
2020
Fifty years ago, this author and many others who worked on this project chose “Alternative A” (please see the pink pamphlet.) This decision relative to sprawl is tied into so many financial, construction building, and customs of the time. Any of the other choices could generate more government intervention. Although there are many positive outcomes from a more compact city, the spread model allows for even small housing that is popular in America at the time.
Terms used in this paper are those used now. However, the terminology back then as an example “super industrialism” is now called “globalism.”
Further, our own personal feelings had to be set aside. We wanted to be accurate. Much of the report appears to be mainly valid.
First, the city will probably move westward, we noted back then. The first 30 miles from the Missouri is hilly and green. There is now today, a major westward movement as suggested by us. Latest maps indicate housing out to 250th street. The Platte is now fairly close.
The downtown is now a business park & mixed use zone. The death of Herzberg’s, Kilpatrick’s and Brandeis and other big box retail has diminished. Retail activity is now more centrally located in the Old Market and in the Suburban malls.
The city is not a melting pot of folks. Rather it is like a salad. There are many multiple nuclei that form villages through the city. Perhaps, the area that has retained its most solid consistency in construction and attractiveness begins at 56th and Corby where Country Club begins and moves to Harrison, Dundee, Memorial Park, University of Nebraska -Omaha and the complimentary homes on the south side of Dodge.
Further, eastern Dodge leads to the refurbished Downtown, Old Market and over to Council Bluffs.
We did not see space age living. We were wrong about cable systems as opposed to satellite systems with artificial “cloud boosters.” We believed that you could have a home filled with electronics that would connect you to a neighbor or to the world. We predicted “Skype.” No average family has a helicopter or has a car that can be a plane and or boat described in popular science/tech journals of the 50’s and 60’s.
The city shares cultural impacts of other cities. There is “anomie” a mild level of anxiety and depression over local and world events there are some problems with drugs, crimes, gangs and related.
We were not sure how much of this would happen and discussed this in very general terms. The “white flight” number appears to be about 5 to 7 percent. However, there is not the racial harmony that W.E. B. Bubois had hoped. The stat on how 50% of African-Americans have moved out of poverty is from Eugene Robinson “Disintegration: The Splintering of Black America.”
Fifty years ago, we faced stagflation. However Keynesian economics survived for nearly 70 years. It was followed by Neo-Classical “trickle down” economics. In 1965, the income gap and wealth gap was about 20 times the median of most families compared to the elite today where there is over 100 times or more between the two groups. We did not see that.
Many families have “doubled up” so that a number of generations live under one roof. We predicted “sex role” changes and “fluidity.” Today, 25% of dating age females are bi-sexual. The divorce rate is down, but that is blurred by more couples not marrying. Please see the CDC.
The tribalism includes the Religious Right vs. Secularism. For people of color, many Hispanics appear to be over the poverty line living in Florence. For African Americans, 50 years ago only 10 % transcended the poverty line. Today, Blacks and Browns have moved past poverty into 50 % over this measure. In the far Northwest neighborhood of the city, there are Mc Mansions that predominately house Blacks. They stay close to the Black Community in church activities.
If we were wrong, so be it. On the other hand, we don’t want to appear foolish or fraud. The library at U.S. Army Corps of Engineers should have more material.
I have not been back to Omaha in about 5 years. I nearly died in 2015. My back and neck are in pain. So I have talked with friends over the years along with 4 relatives. My wife goes back often. I still drive down streets with Google. Thus, that information is anecdotal. However, your reporting or someone else must be guarded. I lived in and around Omaha for 35 years and have spent 40 years here in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. I rarely go out of the house. One booklet tells much of the story. There is a Omaha World Herald article from 1974. (I was misquoted.) There is the pink booklet along with this material that is being reported now. However, I truly believe the following:
With exceptions, as a vast generalization the city is much prettier than 50 years ago.
joelsnell@hotmail.com/