Omaha Streetcar Public Forum Recap I am writing this recap for our members who wished to attend the Omaha Streetcar Public Forum, but were unable to do so. I am happy to report that as a result of the Forum, Omaha Streetcar's membership has grown, so I'd like to welcome our new members. When we began planning for this Forum (our first), we really didn't know what to expect. I suppose you could call it an experiment. We have been developing ways to get the information out there to the people, and the Forum was one of these developments. Our reason for doing the Forum was simple: Finding a better way to help the community learn about streetcars by bringing in a streetcar expert that oversees their operations on a daily basis. Thus Omaha Streetcar Public Forum was born. So we set to work making all of the necessary arrangements such as lining up a space, locating speakers, finding accommodations, and creating and distributing many invitations. A big thank you goes out to Keith Jones, Executive Director from the Central Arkansas Transit Authority (www.cat.org) for speaking, UNMC for the great facility, DoubleTree hotel for donating a room for Keith, NP Dodge for Omaha Streetcar brochures and bottled water, Siedler & Siedler and Architectural Concepts for the financial contributions, not to mention all of the time and labor invested by Omaha Streetcar volunteers and supporters. Without these contributions we would not have been able to successfully launch the Omaha Streetcar Public Forum. In a nutshell, the Forum was a success. We received great exposure from KETV Channel 7, KFAB, KT103.7, the Omaha World Herald, the City Weekly, and the Creightonian to name a few. Omaha Streetcar also received a great response from the many merchants of the Old Market, who let us display our Forum fliers. We had a wonderful audience of 75. There were public officials, business leaders and professionals, and concerned citizens. We had some familiar faces and many new faces, and the consensus was that each walked away knowing something more about the future of streetcars than before. Many great questions were asked. In fact, we've already posted many of those questions in the FAQ section of our website. Keith Jones' presentation will also be posted. Look for that and the many wonderful pictures that it contains of Little Rock's streetcar system. Thinking back to Keith's presentation reminded me of two things that struck me: 1.) Prior to implementation, Keith was opposed to streetcars. However, after being in operation since 2004, he is now an ardent supporter and, 2.) There are many parallels between Omaha and Little Rock, such as both have recently built convention centers, both cities have developed their river fronts, both are building foot bridges over their respective rivers and both are experiencing condo booms and general development in their downtowns. Of course a key difference is Little Rock, which is a smaller community than Omaha, has streetcars and we do not. Of course, we're working diligently to change that. So what did Omaha Streetcar accomplish? First and foremost, we've helped some folks acquire more streetcar knowledge. After a multi-month hiatus, we've brought focus back to streetcars. We've succeeded in bringing exposure to streetcars and to our organization. We were also successful in team building: We have new members and we are continuing to bring more organizations on board. And, we hope we've managed to convince some folks that streetcars have a bright future in Omaha. Moving forward, what can you expect from Omaha Streetcar? For starters, you can expect more Public Forums! The response has been so positive, that we are encouraged to plan future Forums. We also have a lot of work ahead of us. It has now been 51 years since the last streetcar rolled in Omaha, so we have generations that need to be taught what a streetcar is and what they do, and how they can benefit our community. Rest assured we'll work to combat this, so keep your eyes peeled on www.omahastreetcar.com for announcements for future events. We're always looking for volunteers so if you're interested in contributing, please send a note to info@omahastreetcar.com. Regards, Gerald W. Kopiasz -- Omaha Streetcar 304 South 16th Street Omaha, NE 68102 www.omahastreetcar.com