Omaha ALL OVER national media lately

Candleshoe · Post by **Candleshoe** » Sun Aug 11, 2013 8:49 pm

Mo Rocca did a feature on Omaha artist Jun Kaneko on CBS Sunday Morning, this morning.

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-3445_162-57 ... un-kaneko/

almighty_tuna · Post by **almighty_tuna** » Mon Aug 26, 2013 4:38 am

This is old news, quite literally, but I stumbled across it this morning.

The Time Magazine Persons of the Year cover shot, along with a few more poses featured in the Dec 26, 2005/Jan 2, 2006 issue, was shot here in Omaha. Bono was in town at the time to play his show at the (then) Qwest Center and Bill & Melinda Gates flew in specifically for the shoot. They did it in the QCO/CLC ballroom in 45min where the photographer, Greg Heisler, had 7 different setups pre-lit and, well, set up so they could get through all in time. Photo and photographer's youtube comments below.

[youtube][/youtube]

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 4:41 pm

This article sucks, but I guess it fits.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighb ... maha/7110/

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Thu Oct 03, 2013 5:14 pm

They never went downtown or to the Old Market or Midtown. Or Village Pointe. Or Elmwood Park or Aksarben. Or anywhere that would have pedestrians...

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 8:59 am

iamjacobm wrote:This article sucks, but I guess it fits.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighb ... maha/7110/

It fits the east coast media prejudice about the Midwest. Thus it got published. I have been from coast to coast and frankly those pics could have come from any place.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 9:31 am

bigredmed wrote:
iamjacobm wrote:This article sucks, but I guess it fits.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/neighb ... maha/7110/
It fits the east coast media prejudice about the Midwest. Thus it got published. I have been from coast to coast and frankly those pics could have come from any place.

Such fine journalism.

jessep28 · Post by **jessep28** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 12:43 pm

Did Streets write that?

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 1:13 pm

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 3:16 pm

But the thing is, Omaha ***IS*** VERY car-centric!

TitosBuritoBarn · Post by **TitosBuritoBarn** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 4:05 pm

It's like they went out of their way to post an article about a guy who photographs only the boring, trashy parts of town.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 6:54 pm

Omababe wrote:But the thing is, Omaha ***IS*** VERY car-centric!

Yes, but it is hardly the wasteland that he depicted. He even contradicted himself in his answers.

I am always looking to put some human element in my images.

He then went on to say:

As far as the photographs, I tend to gravitate towards the unpopulated.

So he looks for a human element in his pictures, just make sure it gravitates toward the unpopulated. Huh?

He also got very close to incredible neighborhoods and obviously chose not to include them. He went to 24th and I-80, but not the mile south where 24th is a bustling main street constantly packed with people walking. He chose to highlight 52nd and NW Radial instead of Maple St in Benson that is a very walkable area. He chose to shoot 33rd and Leavenworth instead of 4 blocks north in the heart of MTC. He chose 72nd and Cass instead 67th and Center at A/V.

It is obvious that the goal was the display ONLY car centric images in the poorer areas of the city. This photo essay easily could of highlighted the multiple walkable areas. Both positive and negative views carry their own agendas. It is pretty obvious what the agenda was here. A fair interview could of mixed the good with the bad. Show what we are doing right then what we are doing wrong and this would be a fair piece.

bigredmed · Post by **bigredmed** » Fri Oct 04, 2013 7:49 pm

TitosBuritoBarn wrote:It's like they went out of their way to post an article about a guy who photographs only the boring, trashy parts of town.

They did a piece on Alexander Payne?

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Sun Oct 06, 2013 8:58 am

Well, it is true that Omaha is not very pedestrian friendly. It used to be, 70 or 100 years ago. But now streets are designed mostly for vehicles and with little thought given to pedestrian friendly features. You take your life in your hands walking along portions of Dodge Street. And some major thoroughfares lack sidewalks altogether!
I see some small improvements lately, with wider sidewalks being built along some streets, and a trail system gradually being linked together. But relatively un-dense cities like Omaha struggle when it comes to constructing people friendly infrastructure and businesses.
As to the photo journalism piece, I just rolled my eyes. Yes, it is accurate. But no, it is not completely representative of the city.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 5:01 am

iamjacobm wrote:
Omababe wrote:But the thing is, Omaha ***IS*** VERY car-centric!
Yes, but it is hardly the wasteland that he depicted. He even contradicted himself in his answers.

...

So he looks for a human element in his pictures, just make sure it gravitates toward the unpopulated. Huh?
.

Ya know, I'm very hesitant to criticize another photographer's work!

However (comma) I'm gonna make an exception here. Those photos are incredibly amateurish! They look like something I would have done at age 8 or so with my Brownie Starflash. At best they look like casual snapshots.

Obvious blunders such as bad verticals and poor composition. Things that any professional or serious amateur knows! One of them looks like it was shot through the windshield -- from the driver's seat, when in motion. (Light is green.)

In fact, all of them look like they were shot from the car. Yeah, I know, picky! And I would be a liar if I said I never did that!

Hey, get out of the car and compose! Try some angles, get up close and personal for some shots. Read the shadows and use them. Shoot into the sun.

The gamma also looks weak, especially toward the shadows. I'm sitting here flipping back and forth between those photos and some other urban scenes to be sure it's not just the screen or the settings on the laptop here. I seldom say that something needs **MORE** photoshopping, but these clearly lack any "punch" of any kind. Maybe that;s his style?

I really hate to poo-poo someone else's work. That's just not my style. However ...

Oh well, yeah I know, b*tch b*tch b*tch!

guitarguy · Post by **guitarguy** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 4:04 pm

The 58th and Ames picture was taken in the middle of winter there is even snow on the ground! This guy is obviously stretching quite a bit if he's using pictures in the frigid winter as evidence to the low pedestrian volume around town.. and his pictures suck too.. I could do almost what this guy did from my phone..

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Oct 08, 2013 9:04 pm

I'm pretty confident in assuming that Melinda is getting herself some Bono on the side.

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Wed Oct 16, 2013 11:04 am

Ever wonder what Peyton, Eli and Romo mean when they say "Omaha."

[youtube][/youtube]

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Thu Oct 17, 2013 9:31 pm

Omaha was on Househunters tonight. It painted a pretty nice picture of the city, I think.

Linkin5 · Post by **Linkin5** » Fri Oct 18, 2013 9:03 am

iamjacobm wrote:Ever wonder what Peyton, Eli and Romo mean when they say "Omaha."

[youtube][/youtube]

They are calling an audible.

EDIT sorrry just watched the video where they explained it was an audible.

Coyote · Post by **Coyote** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 7:20 pm

His former coach of 7 years Tony Dungy just said Omaha stands for 'One' as in hike on one.

Post by **Brad** » Sun Oct 20, 2013 8:50 pm

Coyote wrote:His former coach of 7 years Tony Dungy just said Omaha stands for 'One' as in hike on one.

Yep, I heard that too.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 1:46 am

Omaha made the huffintonpost. Woooo....o.... oh |expletive|.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/10/2 ... gay-voices

S33 · Post by **S33** » Wed Oct 30, 2013 10:29 am

Not surprising. Typical coward bullies treating people around them like total |expletive|. I don't even think it mattered that these guy were gay dressed in drag, they were looking fro a fight of some sort, that was just their excuse.

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Thu Oct 31, 2013 8:27 am

I think the gay+drag influenced which target they picked but yeah, more or less looking for a fight in the first place... Such a shame...

iamjacobm · Post by **iamjacobm** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 9:09 am

More from The Atlantic. This one about how young people can take bigger risks here because of the cost of living.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-a ... isks/7456/

S33 · Post by **S33** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:02 pm

iamjacobm wrote:More from The Atlantic. This one about how young people can take bigger risks here because of the cost of living.

http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-a ... isks/7456/

In the comments section, "Escoton," is pretty much the snobbiest dickwad I've ever had the pleasure of reading. Apparently, he's only in Omaha because, as a native New Yorker, the locals here simply cannot compete with his level of talent in the workplace. (that includes many transplants from more "competitive and dynamic" cities)

The guy needs a firm b*tch slap to knock him down a few pegs

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Mon Nov 04, 2013 6:58 pm

I love how they are all talking about how segregated Omaha is, as if all the other cities in the country aren't.

nativeomahan · Post by **nativeomahan** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 6:23 am

I have read studies that show Omaha is one of the most racially segregated cities in North America. I simply don't see such segregation when I travel to larger cities. It has been this way for many decades.

Omababe · Post by **Omababe** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 7:10 am

nativeomahan wrote:I have read studies that show Omaha is one of the most racially segregated cities in North America. I simply don't see such segregation when I travel to larger cities. It has been this way for many decades.

Omaha definitely still has a concentration of African-American folks in the long-standing traditionally African-American area, although the surrounding urban areas are far more integrated than when I first moved here. For the most part, yes, Omaha's 'burbs are very white. If that's not defacto segregation, I don't know what is!

Of the cities I travel to very frequently, many do still have high concentrations of African-Americans in the traditionally African-American areas. Chicago, St. Louis, and El-Lay obviously have this. I know that Kansas City does too.

NYC does have quite a bit of gentrification of what were solid African-American areas. Some areas (like Jackson Heights) are becoming diverse non-caucasian enclaves as well.

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:47 am

nativeomahan wrote:I have read studies that show Omaha is one of the most racially segregated cities in North America. I simply don't see such segregation when I travel to larger cities. It has been this way for many decades.

Just because something has been "this way" for many decades, doesn't make it right. Below is a link to a story from several years back discussing the gap between black and white prosperity in Omaha:

http://eomahaforums.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=6381

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 8:54 am

nativeomahan wrote:I have read studies that show Omaha is one of the most racially segregated cities in North America. I simply don't see such segregation when I travel to larger cities. It has been this way for many decades.

Actually, Omaha isn't even in the top ten for most racially segregated cities. Not even the top 20. People from Omaha say it a lot, but in no actual statistical way is it true. Here are the results of an actual study by faculty at Brown and FSU.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-seg ... ner-city-1

http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report2.pdf

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 9:50 am

I suppose our degree of segregation depends on which neighborhood you live in...

icejammer · Post by **icejammer** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 10:14 am

Axel wrote:
nativeomahan wrote:I have read studies that show Omaha is one of the most racially segregated cities in North America. I simply don't see such segregation when I travel to larger cities. It has been this way for many decades.
Actually, Omaha isn't even in the top ten for most racially segregated cities. Not even the top 20. People from Omaha say it a lot, but in no actual statistical way is it true. Here are the results of an actual study by faculty at Brown and FSU.

http://www.businessinsider.com/most-seg ... ner-city-1

http://www.s4.brown.edu/us2010/Data/Report/report2.pdf

Here's another source: U.S. 2010 CENSUS: THE 10 MOST SEGREGATED CITIES IN AMERICA

Understand that each of these studies does not consider economic segregation. On that factor, only Minneapolis fares worse than Omaha.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:25 am

I think segregation is far too subjective and up for interpretation, and does nothing but create emotional reactions to the discussion. The topic I think we should be looking at is their income levels. Omaha, at one time, recently, was said to have the second poorest black population in the country. With public transit, endless interstates and main atrial roadways linking the entire city, fair housing laws, etc, the segregation argument is a little less impressive.

Go ahead, take 10,000 blacks from north Omaha and move them into Millard. Then take 10,000 residents from Millard, and move them into North Omaha. Nothing changes. The problem isn't segregation so much as it is a lack of a willingness to integrate. If you were to ask a typical black person in North Omaha if they'd prefer to work in an office of whites in west Omaha, they'd most likely decline. Just like many whites would not want to work in an environment of all blacks. People are people.

And let's all be honest here: the biggest problem for the North Omaha community are young people entering the job market with absolutely no skills in the workplace. It's odd, but this argument always goes full circle, and goes back to the parents. Blame previous decades all you want, but those decades aren't going to come back and fix the problems.

Got kinda rambly there, just illustrating that the segregation problem is much more complex than most make it out to be, and certainly more complex and that article would have you believe. The article seems to want to leave readers thinking that Omaha is simply a haven of white privilege, but that argument is far too easy. (and racist)

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:39 am

I think there are groups and people who have an interest (mostly political in nature) in not having people think too much of the topic. Take it at face value, react, and allow us to watch and fan the flames.

Also, some people are just very ignorant or employ slanted, shoddy journalism when writing these pieces.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:45 am

RNcyanide wrote:I think there are groups and people who have an interest (mostly political in nature) in not having people think too much of the topic.

not sure what you mean

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 11:49 am

Effectively: How does one gerrymander if those damn democrat voting blacks live with those oh so sought after republican whites? And vice versa.

S33 · Post by **S33** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:01 pm

The only modern redistricting that would have disproportionately divided the minority vote, I can think of, came in 2010 or 11, when it was proposed remove Bellevue from district 2 (North O), thus dividing the minorities of eastern Sarpy county from Omaha.

That also came shortly after Offutt had lost 2 consecutive bids for massive departmental military installments, as well as congress hinting to relocate a large portion of StratCom away from Offutt (I believe it was to go to Alabama, but I'm not sure).

Wasn't the motive behind that redistricting to ensure more representation in congress for the base? Sure, it might look bad if you're the type to assume everything is racially motivated, but was it really? (maybe it was, but I don't think any of us have any information to claim that)

RNcyanide · Post by **RNcyanide** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:22 pm

S33 wrote:
RNcyanide wrote:I think there are groups and people who have an interest (mostly political in nature) in not having people think too much of the topic.
not sure what you mean

There are people who incorrectly try to read racism and sexism and other isms into things where it might not necessarily exist for their own benefit. Usually, you see this done by politicians, or by people trying to misrepresent an area such as being done in the article.

Garrett · Post by **Garrett** » Tue Nov 05, 2013 12:26 pm

S33 wrote:The only modern redistricting that would have disproportionately divided the minority vote, I can think of, came in 2010 or 11, when it was proposed remove Bellevue from district 2 (North O), thus dividing the minorities of eastern Sarpy county from Omaha.

That also came shortly after Offutt had lost 2 consecutive bids for massive departmental military installments, as well as congress hinting to relocate a large portion of StratCom away from Offutt (I believe it was to go to Alabama, but I'm not sure).

Wasn't the motive behind that redistricting to ensure more representation in congress for the base? Sure, it might look bad if you're the type to assume everything is racially motivated, but was it really? (maybe it was, but I don't think any of us have any information to claim that)

Not so much here, but in other states like Michigan, Ohio, and I believe Maryland its a problem.