Last November, the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA) and the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association (BCBSA) announced that Omaha is one of ten cities across the nation to receive grant funding to host Play Streets in 2013. The Play Streets initiative promotes health and wellness by creating open activity space for youth, family, and community members. Play Streets will be the kickoff to future Open Streets Omaha events.

 

The Omaha Play Streets events will take place in Midtown, South Omaha, Downtown, and North Omaha neighborhoods. Play Street events will be targeted toward children and families in underserved neighborhoods.  Events will feature youth-friendly activities such as a rock wall, bike safety training, cooking demonstrations, vegetable seed planting, 4-square and more.  Each event will be connected to an existing farmer’s market or host healthy food vendors.

 

All events are free and open to the public.  Families across the metro are encouraged to attend. The 2013 Omaha Play Streets events will take place on the following dates and times:

 

• Sunday, April 28^th at Aksarben Village from 11:00am to 4:00pm—In conjunction with YMCA’s Healthy Kids Day
• Sunday, May 26^th in South Omaha from 2:00pm to 7:00pm
• Saturday, July 27^th in Downtown Omaha from 8:00am to 2:00pm
• Sunday, August 25^th in North Omaha from 3:00pm to 7:00pm

 

More information about the Play Streets program is available at: www.OpenStreetsOmaha.org and on facebook. To get involved please email info@OpenStreetsOmaha.org. Additional information about Omaha Play Streets will be released in the coming weeks.

Play Streets Save the Date (pdf)

The Omaha Brownfields Coalition, consisting of Metropolitan Area Planning Agency, Metro Community College, and the Papio-Missouri River Natural Resources District, was awarded funding by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to identify Brownfields in South Omaha Redevelopment Area. 

What is a Brownfield?

Brownfields are underutilized or abandoned properties in which future development is complicated by the perception or presence of environmental contaminants.  Brownfields sites can include land or buildings containing asbestos, mold or other pollutants; former industrial and commercial sites such as gas stations, dry cleaning facilities, grain elevators, and lands contaminated by historic landfills.

Private-public partnerships are often the catalyst in the transition of such properties from blight to vibrant developments. This project supports prospective purchasers in redeveloping urban properties by providing site assessments and redevelopment planning.

Why can Brownfields be dangerous places?

There are two kinds of dangers or risks at Brownfield sites:

Dangers you can see, like broken windows and glass, rotted wood floors, rusty nails, and old barrels, are a problem. All of these things are dangerous. Children playing at an old Brownfield site have the most risk to get hurt. They can find old underground storage tanks, and they can fall in.

Dangers you can’t see, like chemicals.  Chemicals can be at a Brownfield and you can’t see them. Some chemicals can be dangerous to human health. Toxic chemicals can make people sick if they eat them, breathe them or get them on their skin.

How can we turn bad spaces into good ones?

Get involved.  Residents know their neighborhood best.  If you are aware of development activities within your neighborhood and the site(s) in question may be considered a Brownfield, please contact us.    You may also know the history of the site (what are its past uses?) which is the basis for completing an environmental site assessment which is very helpful to us.

Public Health Screenings and Monitoring:

We will also be working with Douglas County Public Health and other organizations to support health screening and monitoring activities to identify health concerns such as asthma and elevated blood levels among South Omaha residents.  We hope to use these results as way to improve the health and well-being of community members living in South Omaha. Dates and locations for health screening and monitoring will be announced on the website listed below.

Questions?

For more information, please go to http://www.mapacog.org/current-projects or contact:

Lynn Dittmer – Metropolitan Area Planning Agency
2222 Cuming St., Omaha, NE 68102
Phone:  (402) 444-6866
Email:  ldittmer@mapacog.org

A public meeting is scheduled for Thursday, February 21, 2013 to discuss the CSO project along Missouri Avenue and Spring Lake Park. The work is part of an unfunded federal mandate requiring the city to reduce the sewage overflows into the Missouri River and Papillion Creek during wet weather.  The meeting will take place at Kroc Center, 2825 Y Street beginning at 6:30 p.m. There will be an opportunity to review the plans, to hear a brief summary of the project efforts and to ask questions.

WHO: Neighborhood residents in the Missouri Avenue and Spring Lake Park area

WHAT: Community Meeting

WHEN: Thursday, February 21, 2013

6:30 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.

WHERE: Kroc Center – 2825 Y Street

WHY: To inform neighbors of the design progress and seek input on the concepts designed from neighborhood residents.

The Parks and Recreation Department will be interviewing for 2013 Summer Employment on Thursday, December 27, 2012 and Friday, December 28, 2012. The following programs will be hiring: Aquatics, Golf, Hummel Day Camp, Park Maintenance and Rec’s Kids Clubhouse. Please apply online for all positions prior to interview at: http://www.cityofomaha.org/humanresources/employment.

 

Time and Location of Interviews

Please bring a valid picture ID and social security card.

 

Thursday, Dec. 27, 1pm-3pm

Florence Center 2920 Bondesson St. 402-444-5216

 

Thursday, Dec. 27, 6pm-9pm

Mockingbird Hills Center 10242 Mockingbird Dr. 402-444-6103

 

Friday, Dec. 28, 11am-1pm

Christie Hgts Center 5105 S. 37th St. 402-444-6280

 

Friday, Dec. 28, 3pm-6pm

Camelot Center 9270 Cady Ave 402-444-5972

 

Media Contact:
Emily Burgess
PIO, Parks Recreation and Public Property
444-4640

2013 recruitment-final

Today we met with HDR to discuss the initial plan for the replacement of the Q Street Bridge.  We are excited that infrastructure improvements are important to the city and the state and that they have prioritized this project.  We look forward to working a communications plan with residents about how the construction will be a short term inconvenience for another 50 years of safe travel over the tracks and JFK.

The attached plan is for preliminary discussion and there is a public meeting scheduled for Thursday October 25 from 5-7pm at the Kroc Center.  Please let your networks know.

Q Street Bridge Replacement_ProjectBriefing

Join us for our meeting this Thursday at the South Omaha Library for our continued discussion and efforts to strengthen South Omaha.

SONA_Agenda_October_2012

Sept_12_SONA_MIN

SONA 12 month cash flow statement_2012

Join SONA is celebrating the efforts of the Omaha Healthy Kids Alliance in making our neighborhoods safer and free from lead and other home hazards.

Monday October 22
4 – 5:30pm

UMB Bank
16929 Burke Street
Omaha, NE 68118

RSVP by Monday October 15
to Che Orduna at 402.934.9700
or che@omahahealthykids.org

 

The “turn-back” grants are back for another year to benefit South Omaha projects. A public hearing to gather community input is planned for Friday, Sept. 28, in the conference room at the old South Omaha City Hall, 5002 S. 24 Street. The meeting will begin at 5 p.m.

According to the revised Nebraska Convention Center Facility Financing Assistance Act, 10 percent of the funds received by the City of Omaha in “turn-back tax” from the State each year will be distributed to areas with a “high concentration of poverty.” Those funds are to be used to showcase important historical aspects of those areas, or to assist with the reduction of street or gang violence in the target area.

Areas in North and South Omaha have been determined by the Nebraska Legislature to meet the “high poverty” definition, and under statute, a committee has been established for each of those areas to oversee the distribution of the money. By statute, that committee includes the city council member and the county commissioner who represent the area, plus an area resident appointed by the other two members.

Councilman Garry Gernandt and Commissioner Mike Boyle, who represent South Omaha, will again work with Anita Rojas for this fifth year of the program. Under State law, they are to decide what projects will benefit from a portion of the funds that have been “turned back” to Omaha from state sales tax generated at the CenturyLink Center and Omaha Hilton.

The application period is underway with forms available online at the city and county websites, or in the City Clerk’s Office, 1819 Farnam Street, Suite LC-1. Applications must be submitted to Councilman Garry Gernandt no later than 3 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2012. There will be no exceptions for applications received after that time. The funding is open to 501 (C) 3 organizations or organizations that will use a 501 (C) 3 as their fiscal agent.

The qualifying area in South Omaha basically is the southeast corner of Omaha. It is bounded on the south by Harrison Street, by 42^nd Street on the west, Interstate 80 on the north from 42^nd to 24^th Streets and “L” Street on the north from 24^th Street to the Missouri River on the east. This year projects in an area with close geographic proximity to the target area that would have a significant or direct impact on the target area are eligible.

Grant recipients will be notified by mail in December.

DOROTHY M. PATACH, BSN, MSNED, BSHE
Dorothy Patach is a native of Omaha, Nebraska. She has
spent her life and career practicing and teaching nursing, and
advancing the nursing profession.
Dorothy received her nursing diploma at the University of
Nebraska in Lincoln in 1944, and went on to earn a Bachelor of
Science in Nutrition and a Master of Science in Nursing
Education from the University of Nebraska at Omaha. During
her diverse career, Dorothy worked at Jenny Edmundson
Hospital School of Nursing, Clarkson Hospital, and the
University of Nebraska Medical Center. Working in the
operating room, Dorothy accumulated many unique
experiences.

In the mid-1950s, Dorothy developed surgical drapes for new
procedures that were later made into pre-packaged sterile plastic drapes by the Minnesota Mining Company. She assisted with
the testing of Formula 99, a liquid soap, which in bar form later became “Dial Soap.” She was part of a team that modernized the
old Clarkson Hospital operating room which went on to receive the “Hospital of the Year Award.” When asked what motivates
her, Dorothy says, “I was raised to serve mankind and keep my community healthy and safe. In nursing, you work to meet the
medical, physical, and emotional needs of your patients, which is truly rewarding.”
Dorothy’s service to the nursing profession is vast and comprehensive. Among the many professional organizations she has been
involved with, Dorothy has served in leadership roles in the Nebraska State Nurses’ Association, the District 2 Nurses’ Association,
the National League of Nursing, the Nebraska League of Nursing, and in every office on the UNMC College of Nursing Alumni
Association Board of Directors. She continues to volunteer at UNMC, including in the Alumni Relations Office.
Dorothy has been involved with community and neighborhood betterment since 1945. She is involved with countless South
Omaha community groups, including the South Omaha Neighborhood Alliance, the South Omaha Business Association, and the
South Omaha Community Care Council, among many others.
In 2001, the Omaha City Council passed a resolution that designated a parcel of public property to be named the “Dorothy
Patach Natural Environmental Area.” This was in honor of her commitment and activism on behalf of neighborhoods, civic
organizations, the environment and public health. In her free time, Dorothy enjoys gardening and yard work, sewing
and hand crafts, non-fiction reading, home repair, and working to improve her community!
http://www.unmc.edu/alumni

Dorothy Patach Spirit of Service Award pdf