DEENA WINTER / Lincoln Journal Star | Posted: Wednesday, September 27, 2006 7:00 pm
It was the same hotel. Same conference room. Similar red, white and blue sign on the same north wall. But it was a totally different atmosphere Wednesday as Ken Svoboda formally announced he will run for mayor of Lincoln next year.
He made it official in the same Embassy Suites conference room where, 12 days earlier, Sen. Chris Beutler announced his candidacy for mayor.
While Beutler had a press conference in a noisy room full of supporters, Svoboda invited reporters for quiet one-on-one interviews, a campaign worker lingering in the background.
Their contrasting announcements are sure to be the first of many differences Lincoln voters will hear about in coming months.
Svoboda, a Republican, and Beutler, a Democrat, are the only two candidates who have formally announced, although businessman Roger Yant, an Independent, plans to run, too.
As expected, Svoboda said his priority would be restoring Lincoln’s “economic vitality” by opening up more land to development, streamlining the development process and getting government out of the way of growth.
The city recently ended its fiscal year with the smallest increase in gross sales tax collections since the 1980s, and the construction industry has struggled while flourishing elsewhere, he said.
That doesn’t mean opening up the city to unbridled development, he said, but rules should be less “time-consuming and erratic.”
Lincoln needs a mayor who goes beyond press conferences and ribbon-cutting to do things like cold-call company executives nationwide to get Lincoln on their radar.
He said it’s been a long time since Lincoln had a mayor with a strong business background, citing Mike Johanns as the last. Svoboda helps run his family’s landscaping and maintenance company, Ray’s Lawn & Home Care.
Even members of the Lincoln Partnership for Economic Development are “somewhat noncommittal,” he says, because the city and job creation group don’t have a “true partnership.”
The city’s economic development strategy could use some work, he said.
“I don’t know that we have a strategy and I think that’s part of the problem,” he said.
The city’s economic development efforts center around the use of tax increment financing. Svoboda said TIF is a great tool, but it’s not always used wisely in Lincoln. He cited 48th and O, where the city directed redevelopment of the dilapidated, vacant corner and now a Walgreen’s, Runza and bank are being built.
“Is that true economic development?” he asked.
And the Hy-Vee planned for the north side of the street is basically a relocation of the Hy-Vee at 70th and O, he said.
Those are fine businesses, but he would have let development occur without city involvement.
The mayor’s economic development coordinator, Darl Naumann, said higher-paying “primary jobs” would have been the city’s preference, but none of the developers offered them.
But Svoboda said private development was well on its way until the city got in the way, refusing to allow vehicle entrances on the northeast corner of the intersection Starbucks was eyeing.
However, Naumann said the corner sat vacant for years, but once the city got involved the private sector responded immediately.
In a subtle jab at Beutler — a state senator for nearly 25 years — Svoboda said he doesn’t have the “bureaucratic background” that would make him think government should direct development the way he believes the current administration sometimes tries to do, such as when Wal-Mart was steered away from 84th and Adams.
Government should be a catalyst for economic development, but shouldn’t dictate it, he said.
The city needs to go beyond TIF and identifying land that could be industrialized, he said. Cities such as Lexington, Grand Island and Topeka devote up to four times as much money, per capita, to economic development.
“We should be investing millions of dollars instead of $250,000 (annually),” Svoboda said.
Naumann agreed with that. “Any dollars that he wants to put into economic development are welcome,” he said.
Svoboda said one of the first things he’d do as mayor is clearly define the city’s role in economic development, he said. While Omaha leaders have narrowed their focus on business recruitment to four or five desirable areas, “we take whatever we can get,” he said.
But if elected, he wouldn’t immediately evict all of Mayor Coleen Seng’s appointees.
There are “certain department heads I would not be able to work with,” he says, but he’d give most a chance to prove themselves if they adopted a new “we’re here to help” attitude.
“It’d be interesting to know what (the) department heads would do under different leadership,” he said.
Svoboda promised to be a mayor whose door is open wider than past mayors, who gets in the trenches with employees and is a bold, strong leader but not a “my way or the highway” leader.
“I’m doing this because I have a passion for the city of Lincoln,” he said.
The chairman of the Lancaster County Democratic Party, Kevin Bernadt, said Svoboda is what they call out west “all hat and no cattle.”
In other, more easternly words, he talks about leadership but hasn’t proffered creative ideas to grow Lincoln.
“He’s all suit and no accomplishments,” Bernadt said. “He’s been on that City Council for more than six years and has not once taken a leadership position and passed any meaningful (legislation). … He’s always lined himself up after decisions have been made.”
Meanwhile, Beutler helped secure more than $1 million in extra funds for Lincoln streets this year in the Legislature, he said, and his experience will be a “huge advantage” because he knows how to work with senators to get what Lincoln needs.
Beutler was more diplomatic, saying he welcomes Svoboda to the race “and hopefully we can provide the public with a useful debate on the future of Lincoln.”
Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.
About Ken Svoboda
Age: 50
Personal: He and his wife, Pam, each have a child from previous marriages.
Background: Born in Wahoo, has lived in Lincoln almost all his life. Graduated from Southeast High School in 1973 and attended the University of Nebraska, majoring in architecture. He and his brother, Larry, and parents, Ray and Mabel, own and operate Ray’s Lawn & Home Care, a 40-year-old grounds maintenance and landscaping company.
Civic service: Nearly three decades of civic service. Past chairman of the Lincoln/Lancaster County Board of Health; past chairman of Keep Nebraska Beautiful; past secretary/treasurer of the National Association of Local Boards of Health; past chairman of the Community Health Partners Foundation; past chairman of the Business for Environmental Leadership and chairman of the Nebraska Innovation Zone Commission.
Member of the Lincoln Independent Business Association and Lincoln Chamber of Commerce.