Thank you to Marty Bilek,Chief of Staff for the Omaha Mayor‘s Office for the interview and insightful comments on Omaha and the College World Series.
Interview Marty Bilek at CWS Press Conference
What does the College World Series mean to the city of Omaha?
The College World Series has been here for so long that it has almost become a part of our legacy. Not only is the College World Series a great event, but Omaha has now become a city where minor league championships have come because it is such a popular city for sporting events of that type.
We have a great fan base. For example, we have had recent golf tournaments here. Those have been very successful. The baseball is great. The swim trials [are] great. The volleyball is great. A lot of people come here now to see college and minor league sports. It’s become a center for that kind of activity and we love it.
And now it’s helping revitalize our downtown area. We’ve got construction going on around as you see as you came in. There was a time when the College World Series and the Zoo were the big attractions –and they still are — but Omaha is starting to develop around that and we are really happy about that. I’ve noticed the city being very proactive with many things with trying to do revitalization for the whole city as well.
What are you favorite projects going on or those that are top of mind?
I believe that probably our riverfront is our greatest asset. Since I am from Omaha, I’ve been here for 65 years and I can remember what the riverfront used to look like. I can remember when there were smelters, salvage yards, and Union Pacific had a big rail yard there as well. That is all gone now, and now we just have a bunch of vacant space that needs to be developed. And if we do that properly, it’s going to be a great destination.
So for example, you come to the College World Series or some other event you are going to say, “Let’s go see the riverfront in downtown Omaha,” because we will be as famous for that as maybe San Antonio is or maybe Chicago is for their riverfronts. So it will be a great destination and one more reason why someone maybe from Des Moines or Kansas City might want to come to Omaha for the weekend.
What different plans do you have for the riverfront?
Well it is too early to say because it is truly is in the planning stage. There are community leaders meeting on a regular basis to decide what to do with the riverfront, what will work or won’t work.
It will [be] necessary to partner with the city because maybe we will have to create access to the riverfront that we don’t have now so that it can develop the way it should ….
It’s a public-private partnership to develop the riverfront.
There are several groups meeting to discuss that. Many groups have different ideas, and we also include Council Bluffs when we talk about the riverfront –we are just half of it — we work very closely with Mayor Walsh. What is good of them is good for us We do have the Bob Kerrey Bridge, which connects us that way. And so there is plenty of opportunity and great potential. And Mayor Stothert recognizes that and spends a lot of time thinking about how downtown Omaha should develop.
It would be nice if Downtown Omaha was a dense environment of mixed-use commercial, residential, retail, and we also have to concern ourselves with transportation too.
