January 13, 2010
Connie Spellman
We’ve come a long way since our 2001 founding as Lively Omaha, an initiative launched to help make our city more vibrant, connected, distinctive, sparking and fun.
These five words, identified as indicators of Omaha’s future “wants” in a study commissioned by the Omaha Community Foundation, inspired us to begin building a better Omaha. Some nine years later, they remind us that our work as an organization is not yet complete.
2010 marks the beginning of a newly defined direction for Omaha by Design, one that’s slowly been taking form during the past 12 months. Today:
- We are a civic planning organization dedicated to the development, implementation and monitoring of urban design and environmental public policy in the metro.
- We maintain four areas of focus – Green Omaha, Civic Omaha, Neighborhood Omaha and Environment Omaha. The first three stem from our urban design public policy interest, and the latter stems from our environmental public policy interest.
- We have a new board of directors, a new web site and a new plan for becoming a sustainable organization.
On the docket for the next 12 months are projects both new and continuing. In the urban design arena:
- We will explore new partnerships for implementing the remaining Urban Design Element recommendations that have not yet been acted upon;
- We will, in conjunction with the Omaha Public Art Commission, launch a new web site dedicated to the city’s public art offerings;
- We will pursue landscaping the city’s edge along the Interstate 80 corridor;
- We will take a new look at historic preservation and pursue a pilot project that relates to the built or natural environment;
- We will facilitate the completion of the Downtown Omaha Wayfinding Project;
- We will work toward the completion of The Cole Creek Project and explore new opportunities for additional creek enhancement projects throughout the city;
- We will continue to serve as project manager for the Benson-Ames Alliance with a new focus on connecting the area’s greenbelts and engaging the alliance’s neighborhood associations in mutually beneficial activities.
In the environmental arena:
- We will complete the process – begun in 2008 – to create an environmental element for the city’s master plan;
- We will launch a community education campaign based on the new environmental element;
- We will seek planning board and city council approval of the new environmental element;
- We will begin to identify pilot projects that bring the new environmental element to life – projects that can be implemented in 2011;
- We will coordinate a new collaboration of regional partners formed to address opportunities stemming from a new federal “livable cities” partnership involving the U.S. Department of Transportation, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
Although our direction is newly defined, our process – guided by the long-serving Omaha by Design Advisory Committee – remains the same. We will continue to rely on the support of our visionary donors, whose contributions assure us that our efforts are indeed making a difference in Omaha’s quest to become a premier Midwestern city. We will continue to rely on the generosity and ingenuity of our volunteers – the many who populate our project advisory committees, conduct our Place Game workshops and pursue countless other tasks that make our organization stronger. We will continue to rely on the people of the metro to tell us what they think, get involved and make a difference in the life of their city.
Is Omaha more vibrant, connected, distinctive, sparkling and fun than it was in 2001? We believe it is. Is there more to be done? After nine years, our resolve has never been stronger to do just that. Please consider joining us in 2010.
