The fourth installment of The New York Times Home Economics series: Sweet Home Omaha – New York Times, by Richard Dooling.
“HOUSING prices are falling on both coasts, and bubble panic is around the corner. The financial magazines are already grabbing their readers by the throat and taunting them with headlines like: “U.S. Housing Crash Continues!” “Where Will Housing Prices Fall the Most?” “Is It Time to Cash Out?”
“What if it is time to cash out? Where do you go? If you sell on either coast, then you need to find real estate somewhere that the housing bubble missed. Guam? American Samoa? Wait, how about eastern Nebraska? Downright frothless when it comes to housing: the median home price here usually chugs along at the annual rate of inflation and never goes down (up 4 percent last year, up 22 percent over the last five years). . . [more]
Or listen to NPR: Talk Of The Nation.
{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Dooling! You bad man! New Yorkers have had it in for us in the Mid-Heartlands since we started getting homeland security dollars here. Now you’re just taunting them.
Other than a pronounced lack of Jewish delis (and for that matter, Jewish people), and the fact that Moonbeam Bob Kerrey lives there rather than shacked up in the Nebraska guv’s mansion with Debra Winger, there is no telling many of poor souls in the 212 area code about life here in O-tizzle. It’s a shame; probably 40,000 of them heard your interview today waiting in line for the Holland Tunnel for an hour.
And darling, did you have to publish the granola-noshing rantings of Captain Sprocket above? Like everything else Canadian, the warming Chinook breeze is worth .68 real winds; weather here in the O is a spectator sport with more crashes than NASCAR. Tornadoes! Hail! Thundersnow! We know, but are not impressed, that Ann Curry can get her fallopians in a nationally-televised knot when the outer boroughs get an inch and a half of slushy snow, but then again, we do not rely principally for our transportation on a quarter-million new neighbors raised in the world’s deserts.
Unless your idea of culture is eating food out of a sidewalk cart (and Omaha has two of those anyway — about 60 feet apart at the Leahy Mall) or Broadway shows — most of which are populated by 268 people wearing fanny-packs from Ord, Nebraska and look like Edna Turnblad anyway, the argument for NYC over OMA was lost about 10 years ago.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to pick up my Blue Man tix.
Luvs,
Carly
Hi,
I just finished listening to you on NPR and wished I could have called in.
I drove cross country with my sister about 6 years ago, and we took 80, kindof expecting it to be boring. What a shocker when we went through Nebraska. We loved Lincoln and Omaha, finding the later to be incredulously hip. We ate at the Persian restaurant downtown, which was fantastic. And we spent a whole day shopping at a vast number of used clothing and retro stores in Lincoln.
To this day we sing the high praises of Nebraska to unbelieving ears, and tell how hard it was to make it out of the state for so many things to do and see. We often talk about taking a trip there again.
NY is addictive for a million reasons, but once you are out of its wake, you notice the virtues of other places.
Thanks for a great article.
Cheers,
Robbie A.
This comment is totally irrelevant to your opinion piece. I was just listening to NPR..tuned into the middle of a piece where they kept saying your name. I thought: Richard Dooling? Could there be two people with the same name or is this “my” Richard Dooling who wrote two of the funniest books of all time: White Man’s Grave and Brainstorm (I still choke up when I think of the latter one)?
Another book out? I can’t wait.
Cheers,
Barbara
I loved the editorial. Too bad many NYer’s can’t find Omaha on a map.
That said, we have had more than our share of violent crime of late, and this city is terribly segregated. But some East Coast blue blood could easily solve that.
Keep ‘em coming.
Richard,
Enjoyed your Times piece about Omaha. I recently cycled past Omaha (i.e., rode through Council Bluffs and looked across the river) on a 4,000-mile exploration of “flyover country†and made some similar observations. One lovely amenity you omitted mentioning is the Wabash Trace Nature Trail from Blanchard to Council Bluffs, a 65-mile former rail line that has been made into one of the most lovely trails I have seen. Even more impressive, it was built entirely by volunteer labor and donations. I encountered many Nebraskans on the trail and noticed their organizations among the supporters, so obviously it is considered a regional amenity.
For a visitor at the height of fall colors, the midwest was a delight, and I too wondered why more people don’t flock there. After all, South Dakota has the nation’s lowest unemployment rate, and Sioux Falls in particular is a fine little city. “Winter†was the one-word answer I usually got. Apparently the winters are quite long and bleak, not much snow but lots of cold wind and gray skies. For younger people, there’s also the feeling of being “out of it†and receiving all their culture second-hand from the coasts. And for professionals, whether in arts or sciences or commerce, only a big metropolis can provide the peers and competitors necessary to know whether you’ve truly succeeded.
I live in Calgary, Alberta, and am familiar with all these anxieties. One saving grace here is proximity to the Rockies with all the opportunities for hiking, biking, climbing and skiing. Another is the warm Chinook winds that bring a temporary spring at frequent intervals throughout the winter. The biggest one is probably just that it’s Canada, with public health care and without the “culture wars.â€
Anyway, I’ve lived in some fine cities — New York, Philadelphia, Toronto, Montreal (not sure if Ottawa counts) — and have no regrets about settling in flyover country 32 years ago. So thanks for the article. But next time you might give a little more weight to climate and outdoor recreation.
Regards,
Robert
p.s. There’s a bit more about my travels in the “Green Bike in the Red States†blog at http://bikecalgary.org and there may eventually be a book.
Richard,
Just read your latest op ed in the NYT, October 29th. I was speechless! Living in Omaha, I saw more murders and crime on TV than in Seattle. It is the most segregated city I experienced, so much so, it decided to break the school district into 3 ethnic parts. People are nice, yes. Genuine? No. Openminded? no.
You did not mention food. the options and quality was atrocious, and it alway baffled me that a citey surrounded by corn, the corn in the supermarket was good onlyfor cattle.
Take care,
David