WSJ - Omaha

[GoVerticalDSM]

The Wall Street Journal had a good article on Omaha last week. I can't find the article online, but an excerpt is below from the Omaha Chamber site.

One important point they mentioned, and one DM should learn from, is Omaha annexed many towns as it grew. It didn't want to get surrounded by suburbs like KC and St Louis, which has resulted in massive population loss and stagnation for those central cities.

DM is at a point where it needs to continue to expand south and continue to keep those avenues of growth (land) open or it will become landlocked too (as it has to the west).

http://www.omahachamber.org/news/NewsDe ... ryID=12062

[Ingersoll1978]

The Wall Street Journal had a good article on Omaha last week. I can't find the article online, but an excerpt is below from the Omaha Chamber site.

One important point they mentioned, and one DM should learn from, is Omaha annexed many towns as it grew. It didn't want to get surrounded by suburbs like KC and St Louis, which has resulted in massive population loss and stagnation for those central cities.

DM is at a point where it needs to continue to expand south and continue to keep those avenues of growth (land) open or it will become landlocked too (as it has to the west).

http://www.omahachamber.org/news/NewsDe ... ryID=12062

Des Moines can't annex towns without voter approval (of both those being annexed and of the city annexing). Nebraska has very lax annexation laws, which has enabled Omaha to grow with or without the support of the community being annexed. One big difference though is that Iowa cities can annex into surrounding counties (which is something Nebraska cities can't do), which is exactly what Des Moines is doing on the southside.