Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert reflects on legacy, accomplishments, criticism

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OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - Omaha Mayor Jean Stothert has spent a lot of time in the public eye.

Stothert served three terms on the Millard School Board, four years on the Omaha City Council and 12 years as mayor, winning three elections.

She is also Omaha’s first woman mayor.

Stothert said her job as mayor was by far the most visible, like a spotlight that followed her every move.

“It can be difficult, I will tell you this. I have no regrets. I loved my job, I loved being mayor, I loved coming to work every day,” she said.

What she didn’t love was the unfair and harsh criticism she received from people who would do their talking from a keyboard, she said.

“Social media from the time I was on the school board, the time I was on city council to now - it’s just changed so unbelievably, and it can be so mean and brutal and people like to say things they would never say to your face,” she said.

Stothert found out that nothing was out of bounds in the world of social media, she said.

“My husband died of suicide . That was very public, during that period of time my mom died. I was trying to get her moved out of the house, I grew up in Wood River, Illinois which is close to St. Louis - that’s when the rumor started that I don’t even live here, I live in St. Louis and that went viral on social media,” she recalled.

But Stothert knew when she was on the city council, for some people her gender was an issue.

“People come down to testify, they would come down and they would always say ‘councilman’ and that didn’t bother me, I was the only woman. But I wasn’t going to say, ‘call me councilwoman,’ and one guy came down one day and said ‘councilman’ and he looked at me and he said ‘oh, and you too, honey,’” she said.

Stothert said she was under a microscope, being examined and criticized about things no man would ever have to deal with.

“I would get emails about my clothes, my hair, somebody wrote me one day that I talk with my hands a lot, and they said I had ugly hands,” she said.

But for 12 years Stothert endured and she hopes she set an example, and said she has addressed city issues.

“Omaha is much better than it was in 2013. The budget is straitened out. I’ve had surpluses every year, led the city through COVID, which was extremely difficult,” she said.

Stothert said she has been true to the goals she set in 2013.

“That was public safety, it was managing the city budget, lowering taxes, job growth, economic development, and it was improving the taxpayer experience,” she said.

Stothert’s priority has always been public safety and she said her administration has made Omaha a safe place to live.

“It’s not a big flashy thing that you can look at, but that was my number one goal, and Omaha is definitely a safer city now than it was in 2013,” she said. “So as I leave this office, that has to be my proudest accomplishment.”

She is also proud of the city’s growth, especially in the urban core, and said the increased residences downtown will bring more jobs, along with the Riverfront Park and the Luminarium.

“When the downtown and the urban core are vibrant and grow and people are moving in and jobs are moving in, it’s good for the entire city,” she said.

Omaha roads were in bad shape when she took office 12 years ago but she said a $200 million dollar bond passed by voters will fix the problem.

“This is an enormous amount of money going into our roads in Omaha,” she said.

There are some projects she would have liked to see through to their completion, like the Mutual of Omaha Tower and the Street Car Project .

“I’m not going to stick my nose in things that I shouldn’t be sticking my nose in but if I can be of any help, if somebody wants me to sit on a board or something like that, if that’s something of interest to me, I would definitely consider that,” she said.

Stothert said she feels good about the city that Mayor-Elect John Ewing will now inherit. She added she will not run for any political office in the future and plans to spend time traveling and with her grandchildren.