Aimee Melton talks Affordable Housing, Streetcar Project

Aimee Melton, an Omaha city council member first elected nearly ten years ago, spoke to guests at the Pizza Ranch today about an affordable housing “action plan” before the city council and a long-planned streetcar project finally coming to fruition in downtown Omaha.

Melton spoke briefly first on the affordable housing “action plan,” which both she and fellow councilmember Brinker Harding recently voted against — after four changes they proposed were rejected. These changes included removing provisions for guaranteed lawyers for eviction court, (appointed council similar to those guaranteed in the fifth amendment of the U.S. Constitution), and language regarding rent control. The action plan is still just “words on paper” and will have to be passed individually by ordinance, and Melton hopes that Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert will veto more controversial parts of the plan. The city council, which has a narrow 4-3 majority of Democrats, and would be unable to override a Mayoral veto if the three Republicans decide against it.

The streetcar project, which has been idea underway since Omaha Mayor Hal Daub supported it in 1998, is now in its final stages of approval. Melton had long opposed the project, particularly if it were financed with taxpayer dollars. She publicly debated Daub on this issue in 2017. The current proposal would use funded using $369 million in “redevelopment bonds,” which are not backed by taxpayers. Municap, public finance consulting firm based in Columbia, Maryland, was hired to rate the bonds, and Melton’s vote on the project was “no” until their report was completed. Maintenance for the streetcar, which would be around $6–7 millions per year, would be paid for with an “enterprise fund” funded with fees from Omaha parking garages.

The streetcar would operate different from the current bus system as it would “circulate” pedestrians within a specific corridor downtown. The line would run from 10th street downtown to 42nd and UNMC, with a line going from 10th to the Riverfront, the CHI Center, and Charles Schwab Field. This would theoretically free up the need for parking garages downtown, creating an area that could be developed in other ways.

You can watch Melton’s talk as it was live-streamed below.