Omaha Needs A Jolt

Omaha needs a jolt.

Bridget and I live near these dormant grain silos.

Sadly, the silos are no longer home to one of the more novel public art projects we've had the good fortune to experience in this city...

An ambitious young lady named Anne Trumble started an organization called "Emerging Terrain" several years ago. The organization was responsible for the "Stored Potential" art project on the silos (which began in 2010), and had set its sights on bigger urban renewal and revitalization efforts in the Omaha area. 

Trumble left Omaha in 2014. She lives in California now.  

The website -- www.emergingterrain.org -- is still active. I'm not altogether sure if the organization itself is currently working on anything, but the website houses some interesting information on past projects. 

I've never met Anne Trumble, and only followed her efforts from afar. I liked the way she thought, and appreciated her mindful perspective on our city.

One of the initiatives I found fascinating was the group's "Belt Line" proposal. The project would have revitalized a long forgotten north-south transit corridor through the middle of the city (running by the grain silos pictured above, near 35th and Vinton). Emerging Terrain wanted to bring light rail to this area -- hoping to introduce mass transit and renewal to a neglected corridor running from North Omaha down through South Omaha.  

Sadly, the plan never got its footing, but you can read about it on the site:
www.emergingterrain.org/archives/practice/belt-line 

The idea of light rail (or even something less intrusive like street/trolley cars) is a hard sell in Omaha these days. The topic has become a "hot button issue" in this year's mayoral and city council races -- and candidates seem eager to distance themselves from the concept. 

The reality is that older parts of the Omaha are in need of revitalization and forward thinking. We're talking about areas that feature the oldest homes and commercial structures in the city -- property that is often being maintained by a lower income population that struggles to have the wherewithal to improve these structures. 

Projects like train and light rail might sound expensive on the surface, but they help promote development in older areas and jump start private investment and community interest. 

The novel art on the grain silos served as a catalyst to spur conversation on some of these heady topics facing our city. 

We live in a world where people want to shrug off responsibility, and focus solely on "immediate" wants and needs. 

For a city to thrive, it has to think beyond maintaining the status quo, and steer things in a different direction. 

I miss the artwork on the grain silos. The structure stands today as just another withering eyesore in Omaha's urban core...bland and faceless.

But for a while, the silos illustrated what our city could become...

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Listen to Anne Trumble talk about the "Stored Potential" art project (from 2011):