Mary O’Donohue is our guest speaker for our Coffee Chat this Friday, July 21, at Spielbound. She is the Interim Executive Director of Midtown Vision 2050, an organization dedicated to “a bold and innovative plan that provides the overarching, coherent vision to guide and maximize growth and redevelopment in midtown Omaha for the next several decades.” Mary’s job is to “Coordinate and accelerate the next phase of midtown Omaha’s revitalization and progression into a dynamic, transit-oriented urban community.” We asked her five questions:
1. What is your preferred mode of transportation?
Automobile.
2. What, in your opinion, is the greatest challenge to multi-modal transportation in Omaha?
Limited financial resources for investment/development
3. What, in your opinion, the the greatest multi-modal success in Omaha?
Changing the way people view the use of streets, which has a long way to go, but everyday I see more progress being made on that front.
4. How did you come to have an interest in transportation?
Living in Washington DC for 10 years, many of which I did not own a car and used fixed rail transit daily
5. If you could magically change one thing about the transportation systems in Omaha, without limit to budget or feasibility, what would it be?
City-wide underground metro system.