- Neighbors in downtown Omaha are searching for answers after a shooting occurred on their block
- A local photography business has experienced issues with vandalism and is considering leaving the area
- The Omaha Police Department has added overtime officers and extra patrols to help ensure safety in the neighborhood
BROADCAST TRANSCRIPT:
Last week a deadly shooting occurred near 16th and Farnam, neighbors are still trying to understand how something like this could happen on their block.
"People are used to this perhaps in bigger cities and stuff like that and it's happening here," said resident Tom Dinaro.
Earlier this year, the Omaha Downtown Improvement District held a forum for neighbors where they said they were making strides in safety by offering lions gate security and adding lights to alley ways. A local photography business says they have yet to see these changes.
"I'd heard about the lighting. I've heard, I've even heard stories of we'll have artists down here like painting murals and it's all gonna be pretty and that never happened," said business owner Sammie Rodriguez.
Rodriguez moved her photography business to 16 street in March of 2024 and says she's already experienced a wide range of problems.
"We've had a few issues with vandalism here. People defecating in my doorway, throwing paint all sorts of things," said Rodriguez.
She's put work into bettering her business and bettering this street, adding mulch and grass turf for neighborhood dogs, but despite the hard work, she's thinking about leaving.
"We're already talking about it. I haven't even been here six months and we're already talking about it," said Rodriguez.
I wanted to see how OPD is handling the neighborhoods concerns so I met with Lieutenant Bryan Schmaderer.
"We have added overtime officers to provide extra officers in the area. This also includes the riverfront unit and the horse patrol unit that's in conjunction that's already assigned there as well. The Southeast precincts meets with business owners residents and also me of security. So we can be transparent with information. And we're also looking to add additional resources in the area such as our police helicopter drone unit and even using officers on bikes," said Lt. Schmaderer.
Small businesses owners aren't the only people in downtown that feel at risk, neighbor Dinaro says he feels burnt out after trying to get help from the city.
"There are a lot of people with children that are, would like to have their children go outside and play and have to deal with something like this," said Dinaro.
KMTV reached out to the improvement district about Dinaro's concerns and haven't heard back yet.
"I think that as a taxpayer in Omaha, we should be, have the same expectation of safety as folks in West Side or Dundee have," said Dinaro.
