When our department was first told about the impending move, we heard we would be "hidden" away in Clayton, about 15 miles from downtown. The last thing any one of us wanted was to be transferred to Omaha! Then, we heard UP was closing the Clayton office too (as a result of Nebraska legislators putting pressure on UP to move more people). So, reluctantly, we began taking trips to Omaha to find a place to live.
But a strange thing happened to my wife and I, along with several other people who made the trip to search for housing -- while we originally looked forward to moving like we would a root canal, after we actually looked around, we all found Omaha to be a pretty decent place!
You DEFINITELY have St Louis beat on downtown development. St Louis abandoned downtown development a long time ago, and that's a shame. My wife and I were very surprised to see people downtown at the Gene Leahy Mall -- after dark! We're not quite used to the concept of spending time downtown after dark. And you have really done well on restoring your buildings downtown as well. Of course my opinion means nothing, and to someone who actually knows about the restoration of buildings, I may be way off base. But we liked what we saw.
So, when the new headquarters opens in mid-May, come on down and take a look. I hear it's going to be quite impressive. It certainly is so far from the outside!
Oh, and you folks are MUCH more friendly than St Louisans. Again, my opinion only. But hey -- do ya think you could do something about those taxes before we get there? We'd sure appreciate it!
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