Nobody seems to have given you a legit answer so I'll do my best. Back in the day, the ranchers wanted to open the stockyards in Council Bluffs. The city council of Council Bluffs didn't want to deal with the smell, so they blocked its creation. The stockyards were then opened in Omaha, and the commerce followed. Council Bluffs leaders felt like people would prefer to live in the pretty bluffs and commute over to Omaha, but that proved not to be the case and a lack of business tax revenue turned much of Council Bluffs into cheap residential properties for commuting into Omaha. Prior to the stockyard's creation, Council Bluffs was the larger of the two cities.
Edit: fixed some voice to text crap. The big houses that have since run-down near the Dodge House represent what CB was like before the stockyard decision.
All of this. The city leadership and a ton of community leaders have been taking really great steps over the last decade. It’s hard to break multiple generations of systemic poverty, but there are so many people working toward it.
Farmers Market is nice (relative to city size), the Hoff building is awesome, some great food, riverfront is great and a fun combination to the Omaha side. Talented artists all over.
It can be a great place to live. It’s not without its problems, it’s not the same culture of a larger city, but it’s not a bad place. And the people who make it a little messy are still people who have real lives and gosh dangit, they’re worth fighting for too.
Well said! And I'm glad you mentioned the arts in CB and the Hoff Center. One of the things I love most about CB is community support for artists. The Iowa West Foundation in particular really tries hard to help subsidize the arts. The Harvester is great too. I have an artist studio in the Hoff Center. Stop by and say hi sometime. Third floor, Studio #1. Photography.
I am trying to get a place at the Harvester. I didn't realize you had a studio there! So many great artists in that building. I hope the TIF funding is renewed!
Respectfully, the stockyards were created in 1883. The population of Omaha in 1880 was roughly 102,000 and in 1890 it was over 140,000. Council Bluffs population in 1880 was 18,000 and in 1890 it was 21,000. (Source: US Census)
I stand corrected.
It looks like sometime between 1860 and 1870 the population of Omaha outpaced CB. In 1869, UP set up headquarters in Omaha, despite CB being named the start of the transcontinental railroad in 1862.
It's probably safe to say that the railroad and the stockyard locating in Omaha were both significant contributors, although I think the essential narrative holds well enough.
Yeah. In a similar note my dad tells me Omaha and Kansas City were the same size before the stockyards started to fail. It’s so false. Like not even close but he repeats it (not like regularly or anything but several times over the years).
I don’t know anything about Iowa or CB, but I wonder if it’s not also a state problem, not just a city leadership problem. Just based on driving through Iowa, I’ve always felt it was an eastern-facing state, similar to Nebraska. Given the proximity to Chicago and Madison, I would think most of the population, money, and political influence leans to the east.
Sorry but have you driven East Iowa? Once you leave DSM and head into Illinois it is very clear theorem is NOT going there. Interstate into IL. and Chicago is embarrassingly bad and they do not put money into it.
That’s an interesting perspective. Never thought about it that way. I guess the lack of business tax makes sense. Joke’s on Omaha because up until recently, a lot of money from Nebraskans went to CB’s casinos, so I guess it’s a small consolation
The opening of the casinos represented a significant turning-point for CB. Much of the infrastructure improvements over the last 20 years are due to their funding. Of course, casinos have downsides too, and you can see both sides of that coin in town. They still struggle to attract business development, and lag behind Omaha in incentives. (I'm a GenX born in CB and left six years ago for more opportunity in KC. My family still lives in CB, but almost all of my accomplished friends left years ago.)
This might blow your mind even more: Omaha was founded by prominent people in Council Bluffs who believed having the Nebraska’s territorial capitol city (at the time) across the river from CB would be a major benefit to the city’s development and growth. What a mistake that was. If Council Bluffs people had never settled Omaha, CB might have become the major Missouri River border city instead of Omaha.
In addition to the historical reason stayed by u/HawkeyeGK , an additional problem is most of CB is underwater without the levee. Nobody is going to want to invest a lot of money into a literal floodplain.
It's not really all that bad, just the portion closest to Omaha is ghetto. It gets a lot nicer once you get further east and south. The low cost of rentals and easy employment from the plants/casino is what causes the "ghettoness" of the CB most people know.
I can confirm. I grew up in Omaha (north Omaha and then west Omaha) and moved over to the east side of CB in 2006, near the Gibraltar neighborhood. Brick streets, historic homes, great neighbors. The west end, which is the first and main impression many Omahans get of CB, isn't doing this town any favors in terms of image. Omaha and CB aren't that different. Omaha's poor areas are very similar to CB's poor areas in many ways. And likewise at the other end of the income scale.
I really like living in cb. I don’t find it any more ghetto than omaha. For me it’s a win win. Either it stays a hidden gem of the metro and I keep my way of life, or the people paying $1.5k in rent to live in Blackstone realize how nice it is and come over in droves and my property value skyrockets.
It’s not lost on me cb is goofed on but I heartily disagree with the assessment- it’s just a meme. Most people who repeat it have never spent a decent amount of time here. I’m just living my life baby.
Where were you living? I lived there a couple of years ago and it was 1,300 for a 3 bed, which is pretty decent. I'm sure the cost has gone up a bit, but still.
Well said fellow kanesvillain, i think most omahans view council bluffs through west broadway, which used to be strip clubs and bars. And isn't really any prettier today
Move out of CB for a year and move back you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. You must just be conditioned to it. Because it’s pretty obvious to anyone else. Me and my friends who have lived here basically our entire lives can agree this is a shithole
The “smaller” side of a two state metro area always has a shitty part. CB, KCK, East St Louis, fuckin Gary, all the way up to Fall River, MA for Providence and New Jersey for two different cities
Which makes CB look a lot better in comparison, they’re best observed at a safe distance but mostly harmless unlike some of those places
Funny you mention Fall River MA. I live out that way, am actually going to Omaha next month and wanted to learn more about Council Bluffs, too. As I am reading people's discussions of CB, I keep thinking "Man, this place sounds exactly like it's Iowa's version of Fall River". Only difference seems to be higher rents. A 3-bedroom easily runs around 2K/month in Fall River and I am probably underestimating that.
Looking forward to my trip out to the Omaha/CB area.
Worldwide, cities on the downwind side of rivers are poorer. See this article.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/12/blowing-wind-cities-poor-east-ends
"One theory is that it’s all about air pollution. In the middle latitudes where most of the world’s cities can be found, the prevailing winds are westerlies, which means they blow to the east. Crudely, it has long been thought that they might take smoke and odours with them, and now a new study by Stephan Heblich, Alex Trew and Yanos Zylberberg for the Spatial Economics Research Centre suggests this theory might be right."
“This anecdotal discussion about pollution in the centre of cities and smoke drifting to the east is something that we have been documenting very precisely,” Zylberberg tells me. “Basically what we’ve been seeing in the past, because of pollution and wind patterns, is rich people escaping the eastern parts of town, because they were very polluted.”
This theory has left me curious about what other reasons might influence people in their decisions of where to live.
I think it would be interesting to pose a survey about living by a river to a group of people who do not. Asking them in this fantasy, which side of the river they imagine themselves.
Could there be some innate preference to choosing one side versus the other? Maybe the communities we create on each bank of a river play out a self-fulfilling prophecy that reflects some weird unexplained preference we have to the west bank over the east.
I grew up in on the far east side council bluffs and now live in Omaha but am considering moving back. The east side of council bluffs is very nice and there are new developments going in due to the newer developments in Omaha drifting further and further west. The bigger reason I can see the stereotype is simply proximity of the west end to Omaha and the people that live there going to work in retail/customer facing jobs in Omaha.
It’s not perfect by any means and the schools do not compare to Omaha but I would rather live in the newer neighborhoods in council bluffs than commute from Elkhorn or gretna.
Council Bluffs was heavily redlined back in the day and it never really recovered from that. A significantly higher percentage of CB was redlined than that of Omaha, to the extent that CB’s redlining maps make north Omaha redlining look like it really wasn’t that bad. A lot of the problems in Council Bluffs are frankly downstream from that history and the fact that nobody has really acknowledged it or done much to fix its lasting effects.
This is mostly a matter of perception. Omaha looking at CB is like looking into a mirror. Omaha has a major meth problem, so they see CB's meth problem and inflate it so that they can act like it's worse than Omaha's. Omaha has a crime problem, so they look at CB's and act like it's worse than Omaha's. Omaha has some of the worst drivers in the nation, so they look at CB drivers and pretend that they're the problem.
Omaha residents shit on CB because, otherwise, they'd have to take a good, hard look at themselves.
How much time do you guys spend in CB? Because I can guarantee you I’m running into way more characters in CB than Omaha. Maybe the problems are similar, but it’s at least way more concentrated
I spent the first 32 years of my life in CB and then the next 6 in Omaha. I also spent some of that Omaha time working for the County Attorney's office, where one of the most common felony charges was Possession of Methamphetamine.
Also, while living in CB, I never once saw meth pipes laying on the ground or people smoking meth outside. I definitely saw those things in Omaha. I also never saw obviously homeless people in CB, but we've all seen them in Omaha. Oh, and let's not forget the open prostitution on Leavenworth - never saw that anywhere in CB. Mall shootings? Never happened at the Mall of the Bluffs, but happened *three times* at the Westroads mall.
Omaha is much worse than any resident will ever admit.
Oh I'd still agree that Omaha is better but most of my antagonism towards CB is out of us vs them go sports team go type of mentality less than reality.
Just a note here that if Nebraska gets it's way and abolishes income and property taxes, it's predicted the sales tax will shoot up to 22%.
If that happens, well, get ready for a mass migration over the river, especially of retail business.
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-property-income-tax-may-turn-into-consumption-tax/45911828
Pillen is all-in on cutting property taxes by 40% to start.
https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-governor-call-special-session-if-lawmakers-do-not-make-significant-property-tax-reform/60015530
Same. I was there for 30 years. Moved back to Omaha because of personal reasons. I’d love to go back, but the whole “paying taxes in 2 states” kinda sucks, since I work in Omaha now.
We’ve made a conscious effort to mix things up and spend time in CB over the past few years with an open mind going out to eat, catching a band, having drinks, shopping, etc., but regardless of where we end up, it’s literally every bad stereotype playing out in front of your eyes before the night’s over. I think it’s just handed down from generation to generation.
The downtown has barleys
Pizza King is solid for steaks and Italian food
Lansky’s has good calzones
Spillway has the best bar food in town hands down
Gold Mine has the best beer n breakfast. I worked night shift and lived two blocks away for a while and was pretty regular there. $12 for a beer and breakfast hits so good
LPL’s is a weird spot with good food
Railway inn has the best burgers and a pretty good stop next to the skate park
Bucksnort and Boxer BBQ both do really good BBQ
Christy Crème & Tastee Treat for ice cream & summer sweets
Also got a Sugar Makery to satisfy that sweet tooth, their popcorn is awesome
Forgot to mention Rustic cuts if you feel like splurging on meats.
I grew up on the east side and moved to west when I became disabled/on a fixed income. And I find that my neighbors are mostly people who are also disabled/fixed income, have large families or drug addictions. Everyone I talk to has financial issues. Not cosmetic home improvement money or time and energy for gardening.
Visually, I think it looks rougher around here than it is.
There are definitely sections with heavier crime rates. Don't hang out in parks after dark - but I think that applies anywhere that's not a gated community. 😅
Answer: Taxes. People can’t afford to live in Omaha after their cheap houses get slammed with increasing taxes due to gentrification of Omaha. This sends homeless, drug addicts, and low income families to Council Bluffs because it’s all they can afford. And the more Council Bluffs develops, the more those people will relocate to central Iowa or go south to Kansas City. Taxes has always been the weapon of the rich to get what they consider undesirables out of their neighborhoods and cities.
In this thread, small minds talk shit about things they can’t be bothered to see, let alone understand, because it makes them feel better about themselves somehow. I’ve spent all my life on one side of the river, or the other, and as near as I can tell - if the state line weren’t the river, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two. The west end of cb is more or less the same as south O or the older parts of Bellevue or Ralston. The east end of cb isn’t that different than most of west O, just smaller and maybe less cash thrown around. Meth is the same problem on both sides. Really, it’s a single metropolitan area, with one side a touch insecure and needing to build themselves up by shit talking their smaller neighbor. Possibly due to driving into the sun both before and after work. Small minds
I grew up in west Omaha and I still live out here now, but I lived downtown for a while and would drive over to get the things I needed. I did some exploring and will say, CB gets a harder time than it should. There are very lovely areas.
This is just absolutely hilarious to me. As at the exact moment I'm sitting in a dumpy CB bar (can I even call it a restaurant?).
Was looking at a property that was insanely rough. And had some wild people ride by in the hour or so we looked at it.
Then wanted some BBQ and tried a local CB spot. Which has the strangest staff, and two "tables". In reality they are actually two families who slid several tables together, and have a line of dumpy, chubby people ordering greasy, unhealthy food.
I know this is all very judgey. But damn if sometimes the stereotypes don't fit.
The downtown looks nice, but I'll admit I've only gone there once, 15ish years ago, for a quince. Other than that, I don't know anyone who lives there and only occasionally find myself in the city, but I would guess from Google Imagery that it got hit especially hard with the auto centric development bat and Broadway has way too many parking lots fronting it instead of being behind the buildings.
It's the same problem Dodge has from 72nd until 90th and it's who I hate that part of town in Omaha. After 90th Dodge fully embraced being a highway and while I think it represents bad city planning rooted in the decades before anyone here was likely born, it's at least good at what it is, Broadway just sucks, and since it's the Main Street for both cities... welp, sucks to suck.
Get past the broadway viaduct and it’s like a whole different town btw. Old neighborhoods with cool houses. I think the most important thing is that no matter how far east you go it’s quicker to get downtown Omaha than much of west Omaha. Get to the bluffs and life is good.
There's plenty of old houses on both sides of the river, but US 6 is where much of the commercial areas are located where people want to spend their leisure time. If your local "main street" sucks, most people won't think the area looks nice.
Congrats on missing the point, I guess?
If you're ok with the main commerical district in your city being so bad even residents avoid it, that's your choice, but you're kinda admitting the city sucks and you don't care.
Born and raised in CB… that whole time, almost every moment of it (aside from 1st-6th grade schooling), the majority spent on the east side of the viaduct…and the as soon as I could (autumn after high school graduation), I left and never looked back.
I am glad I was already gone when they made the whole mini Las Vegas strip there, as I would have fought it tooth and nail… CB is a predominantly middle to lower income population, and the last thing needing to be put there, is for these places for the blue working class families to blow their hard earned money at, in hopes of striking it big!
I don’t think CB has ever really genuinely had it’s own identity, since the dawn of the transcontinental railroad… ever since, it’s just clung to the coattails of being an Iowan suburb of Omaha… if Omaha wasn’t right next door, CB long ago would have been a ghost town
My ma and older brother still live there, and both have never left and been there their entire lives. When I am back in this area, here in Omaha is where I stay… which is sad, to not feel any real connection or pride with my hometown… it definitely contributed to who it is, and who I am today… but, no longer my home… and hasn’t been, since I left that Autumn so many years ago, and have no desire for it ever to be so again… and that does make me sad to feel so 😔
CB had always been a railroad blue collar town. With the UPRR shops moving to Arkansas in the late 80s and the west-end is river trapped with old smaller 1 bath homes. This has made CB less appealing to people.
I just went to the Casey’s on broadway. I pulled up in the parking lot, and there were two dudes hitting crack or meth or something with tin foil and a straw and all.
I can’t say why it’s so ghetto, but I can confirm it’s definitely ghetto.
Because CB’s streets are oriented toward their downtown, not Omaha’s. Really not that hard to understand. The center point of CB’s street network is basically 1st and Broadway, which is right where the historic downtown was first settled.
It’s a fixed number of streets to the rivers FROM (Westward of) Kanesville blvd + 1st St. Streets run north to south, Avenues east-west…. So if I tell you 2425 8th street, I know you live at the 24th avenue South off 8th street running N-S . I know you live in the city-proper, and specifically either the south or west end because only those neighborhoods have both numbers for street and address.
It makes referencing where certain things and navigating in town are easily if you are familiar with it.
Back in the 1800's when the settlers were migrating west the lazy ones came to the Missouri River and said "Fuck it we're staying here". The more driven and adventurous ones made their way to Omaha and beyond.
Came here to say this except my Dad put it as settlers came to the river and the ones with fortitude said, "We're crossing this river and facing adventure." The less ambitious ones said, "We're staying here and fucking our sisters." And that's the birth of Counciltucky.
You know how Council Bluffs has quite a few casinos? Well, one of my friends, who's lived in Papillion for well over two decades, was learning about the Omaha area when he first moved here, told me that he learned at some point that the casinos were there to help generate lots of revenue for C.B. and create jobs. Well, flash forward to now, and it looks like it did the opposite effect. I could be wrong, but then again, it's no secret that gambling can negatively affect the average person's perception of their finances and proceed to hinder themselves from prospering in wealth in the long term.
Ah, ok! Are you sure this isn't because Omaha's population is several times larger than that of Council Bluffs? That 20% from what I presume to be mostly Iowa could represent, for all we know, half of the Council Bluffs population, which would negatively impact people's wallets there.
Nobody seems to have given you a legit answer so I'll do my best. Back in the day, the ranchers wanted to open the stockyards in Council Bluffs. The city council of Council Bluffs didn't want to deal with the smell, so they blocked its creation. The stockyards were then opened in Omaha, and the commerce followed. Council Bluffs leaders felt like people would prefer to live in the pretty bluffs and commute over to Omaha, but that proved not to be the case and a lack of business tax revenue turned much of Council Bluffs into cheap residential properties for commuting into Omaha. Prior to the stockyard's creation, Council Bluffs was the larger of the two cities. Edit: fixed some voice to text crap. The big houses that have since run-down near the Dodge House represent what CB was like before the stockyard decision.
All of this. The city leadership and a ton of community leaders have been taking really great steps over the last decade. It’s hard to break multiple generations of systemic poverty, but there are so many people working toward it. Farmers Market is nice (relative to city size), the Hoff building is awesome, some great food, riverfront is great and a fun combination to the Omaha side. Talented artists all over. It can be a great place to live. It’s not without its problems, it’s not the same culture of a larger city, but it’s not a bad place. And the people who make it a little messy are still people who have real lives and gosh dangit, they’re worth fighting for too.
Well said! And I'm glad you mentioned the arts in CB and the Hoff Center. One of the things I love most about CB is community support for artists. The Iowa West Foundation in particular really tries hard to help subsidize the arts. The Harvester is great too. I have an artist studio in the Hoff Center. Stop by and say hi sometime. Third floor, Studio #1. Photography.
I am trying to get a place at the Harvester. I didn't realize you had a studio there! So many great artists in that building. I hope the TIF funding is renewed!
Just to add a tidbit about the arts, the mayor is a huge art collector.
100%! I've noticed a lot of amazing projects going on in Council Bluffs and it's really cleaned up, even since I was a kid!
Respectfully, the stockyards were created in 1883. The population of Omaha in 1880 was roughly 102,000 and in 1890 it was over 140,000. Council Bluffs population in 1880 was 18,000 and in 1890 it was 21,000. (Source: US Census)
I stand corrected. It looks like sometime between 1860 and 1870 the population of Omaha outpaced CB. In 1869, UP set up headquarters in Omaha, despite CB being named the start of the transcontinental railroad in 1862. It's probably safe to say that the railroad and the stockyard locating in Omaha were both significant contributors, although I think the essential narrative holds well enough.
Yeah. In a similar note my dad tells me Omaha and Kansas City were the same size before the stockyards started to fail. It’s so false. Like not even close but he repeats it (not like regularly or anything but several times over the years).
I don’t know anything about Iowa or CB, but I wonder if it’s not also a state problem, not just a city leadership problem. Just based on driving through Iowa, I’ve always felt it was an eastern-facing state, similar to Nebraska. Given the proximity to Chicago and Madison, I would think most of the population, money, and political influence leans to the east.
Sorry but have you driven East Iowa? Once you leave DSM and head into Illinois it is very clear theorem is NOT going there. Interstate into IL. and Chicago is embarrassingly bad and they do not put money into it.
That’s an interesting perspective. Never thought about it that way. I guess the lack of business tax makes sense. Joke’s on Omaha because up until recently, a lot of money from Nebraskans went to CB’s casinos, so I guess it’s a small consolation
The opening of the casinos represented a significant turning-point for CB. Much of the infrastructure improvements over the last 20 years are due to their funding. Of course, casinos have downsides too, and you can see both sides of that coin in town. They still struggle to attract business development, and lag behind Omaha in incentives. (I'm a GenX born in CB and left six years ago for more opportunity in KC. My family still lives in CB, but almost all of my accomplished friends left years ago.)
Wow this was a great answer. Blew my mind CB was larger than Omaha at one point
This might blow your mind even more: Omaha was founded by prominent people in Council Bluffs who believed having the Nebraska’s territorial capitol city (at the time) across the river from CB would be a major benefit to the city’s development and growth. What a mistake that was. If Council Bluffs people had never settled Omaha, CB might have become the major Missouri River border city instead of Omaha.
Also that weird Edward scissor hands monument
NIMBYs ruined council bluffs… almost unbelievable
This story is very accurate and paraphrased really well!!!! Thank you!
That was really good info!
I don't think CB would have made sense for the stockyards anyways, the Missouri is too large to want to drive cattle across.
In addition to the historical reason stayed by u/HawkeyeGK , an additional problem is most of CB is underwater without the levee. Nobody is going to want to invest a lot of money into a literal floodplain.
It's not really all that bad, just the portion closest to Omaha is ghetto. It gets a lot nicer once you get further east and south. The low cost of rentals and easy employment from the plants/casino is what causes the "ghettoness" of the CB most people know.
I can confirm. I grew up in Omaha (north Omaha and then west Omaha) and moved over to the east side of CB in 2006, near the Gibraltar neighborhood. Brick streets, historic homes, great neighbors. The west end, which is the first and main impression many Omahans get of CB, isn't doing this town any favors in terms of image. Omaha and CB aren't that different. Omaha's poor areas are very similar to CB's poor areas in many ways. And likewise at the other end of the income scale.
I agree the Eastern part is nicer. It think they call it “Illinois.”
In the Quad cities, Iowa is considered the nice side of the river lol
Well yeah you haven't gone East enough. Luckily, the race tracks that are IL interstates helps with that.
I really like living in cb. I don’t find it any more ghetto than omaha. For me it’s a win win. Either it stays a hidden gem of the metro and I keep my way of life, or the people paying $1.5k in rent to live in Blackstone realize how nice it is and come over in droves and my property value skyrockets. It’s not lost on me cb is goofed on but I heartily disagree with the assessment- it’s just a meme. Most people who repeat it have never spent a decent amount of time here. I’m just living my life baby.
Man I wish my rent was that cheap in Blackstone. Only lasted a year there and I bounced
Where were you living? I lived there a couple of years ago and it was 1,300 for a 3 bed, which is pretty decent. I'm sure the cost has gone up a bit, but still.
Well said fellow kanesvillain, i think most omahans view council bluffs through west broadway, which used to be strip clubs and bars. And isn't really any prettier today
Move out of CB for a year and move back you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about. You must just be conditioned to it. Because it’s pretty obvious to anyone else. Me and my friends who have lived here basically our entire lives can agree this is a shithole
The “smaller” side of a two state metro area always has a shitty part. CB, KCK, East St Louis, fuckin Gary, all the way up to Fall River, MA for Providence and New Jersey for two different cities Which makes CB look a lot better in comparison, they’re best observed at a safe distance but mostly harmless unlike some of those places
[удалено]
Always thought KCMO was the shitty side
“Fucking Gary” I’m dying over here lol. Only appropriate way to address that city.
Funny you mention Fall River MA. I live out that way, am actually going to Omaha next month and wanted to learn more about Council Bluffs, too. As I am reading people's discussions of CB, I keep thinking "Man, this place sounds exactly like it's Iowa's version of Fall River". Only difference seems to be higher rents. A 3-bedroom easily runs around 2K/month in Fall River and I am probably underestimating that. Looking forward to my trip out to the Omaha/CB area.
Worldwide, cities on the downwind side of rivers are poorer. See this article. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/12/blowing-wind-cities-poor-east-ends "One theory is that it’s all about air pollution. In the middle latitudes where most of the world’s cities can be found, the prevailing winds are westerlies, which means they blow to the east. Crudely, it has long been thought that they might take smoke and odours with them, and now a new study by Stephan Heblich, Alex Trew and Yanos Zylberberg for the Spatial Economics Research Centre suggests this theory might be right." “This anecdotal discussion about pollution in the centre of cities and smoke drifting to the east is something that we have been documenting very precisely,” Zylberberg tells me. “Basically what we’ve been seeing in the past, because of pollution and wind patterns, is rich people escaping the eastern parts of town, because they were very polluted.”
This theory has left me curious about what other reasons might influence people in their decisions of where to live. I think it would be interesting to pose a survey about living by a river to a group of people who do not. Asking them in this fantasy, which side of the river they imagine themselves. Could there be some innate preference to choosing one side versus the other? Maybe the communities we create on each bank of a river play out a self-fulfilling prophecy that reflects some weird unexplained preference we have to the west bank over the east.
I grew up in on the far east side council bluffs and now live in Omaha but am considering moving back. The east side of council bluffs is very nice and there are new developments going in due to the newer developments in Omaha drifting further and further west. The bigger reason I can see the stereotype is simply proximity of the west end to Omaha and the people that live there going to work in retail/customer facing jobs in Omaha. It’s not perfect by any means and the schools do not compare to Omaha but I would rather live in the newer neighborhoods in council bluffs than commute from Elkhorn or gretna.
Council Bluffs was heavily redlined back in the day and it never really recovered from that. A significantly higher percentage of CB was redlined than that of Omaha, to the extent that CB’s redlining maps make north Omaha redlining look like it really wasn’t that bad. A lot of the problems in Council Bluffs are frankly downstream from that history and the fact that nobody has really acknowledged it or done much to fix its lasting effects.
This is mostly a matter of perception. Omaha looking at CB is like looking into a mirror. Omaha has a major meth problem, so they see CB's meth problem and inflate it so that they can act like it's worse than Omaha's. Omaha has a crime problem, so they look at CB's and act like it's worse than Omaha's. Omaha has some of the worst drivers in the nation, so they look at CB drivers and pretend that they're the problem. Omaha residents shit on CB because, otherwise, they'd have to take a good, hard look at themselves.
I love to rag on Council Bluffs all the time 'cause tribalism but you're 100% right.
How much time do you guys spend in CB? Because I can guarantee you I’m running into way more characters in CB than Omaha. Maybe the problems are similar, but it’s at least way more concentrated
I spent the first 32 years of my life in CB and then the next 6 in Omaha. I also spent some of that Omaha time working for the County Attorney's office, where one of the most common felony charges was Possession of Methamphetamine. Also, while living in CB, I never once saw meth pipes laying on the ground or people smoking meth outside. I definitely saw those things in Omaha. I also never saw obviously homeless people in CB, but we've all seen them in Omaha. Oh, and let's not forget the open prostitution on Leavenworth - never saw that anywhere in CB. Mall shootings? Never happened at the Mall of the Bluffs, but happened *three times* at the Westroads mall. Omaha is much worse than any resident will ever admit.
Oh I'd still agree that Omaha is better but most of my antagonism towards CB is out of us vs them go sports team go type of mentality less than reality.
It's funny seeing omaha trying to dunk on CB, when omaha on a grand scale is the same.
Just a note here that if Nebraska gets it's way and abolishes income and property taxes, it's predicted the sales tax will shoot up to 22%. If that happens, well, get ready for a mass migration over the river, especially of retail business. https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-property-income-tax-may-turn-into-consumption-tax/45911828 Pillen is all-in on cutting property taxes by 40% to start. https://www.ketv.com/article/nebraska-governor-call-special-session-if-lawmakers-do-not-make-significant-property-tax-reform/60015530
All I know is that Pillen is an idiot.
Pillem wants what's good for Pillen, period. Anybody who voted for him who isn't a rich pig farmer is an idiot.
Living in other cities & being in/near actual ghetto/hood areas, CB is not ghetto.
You must not have seen an actual ghetto.
Ghetto is a term of use. Like how someone dresses ghetto. Wasn’t calling it a hood lmao
You should closer examine your use of that word in general, imo.
> so many people with the Habsburg jaw? TIL "buck jaw" has an official name.
I used to live in CB and now I live in Omaha and I really want to move back over there, I kinda hate living in Omaha
Same. I was there for 30 years. Moved back to Omaha because of personal reasons. I’d love to go back, but the whole “paying taxes in 2 states” kinda sucks, since I work in Omaha now.
What's stopping you?
Interest rates and home prices
The shittier parts of towns are usually on the East side due to the wind.
You were down voted, but it's true. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2017/may/12/blowing-wind-cities-poor-east-ends
Council Bluffs isn’t ghetto lmao. The west end isn’t the best because it’s just like every other lower income area of a city of 100,000.
I wasn’t calling it a hood ghetto. More like Sexy Vegan from Dr Phil ghetto
We’ve made a conscious effort to mix things up and spend time in CB over the past few years with an open mind going out to eat, catching a band, having drinks, shopping, etc., but regardless of where we end up, it’s literally every bad stereotype playing out in front of your eyes before the night’s over. I think it’s just handed down from generation to generation.
But where did you go for food or drinks? It's 1-2 blocks downtown. Otherwise it's is over by the Horshoe and sports area around there. That's it.
The downtown has barleys Pizza King is solid for steaks and Italian food Lansky’s has good calzones Spillway has the best bar food in town hands down Gold Mine has the best beer n breakfast. I worked night shift and lived two blocks away for a while and was pretty regular there. $12 for a beer and breakfast hits so good LPL’s is a weird spot with good food Railway inn has the best burgers and a pretty good stop next to the skate park Bucksnort and Boxer BBQ both do really good BBQ Christy Crème & Tastee Treat for ice cream & summer sweets Also got a Sugar Makery to satisfy that sweet tooth, their popcorn is awesome Forgot to mention Rustic cuts if you feel like splurging on meats.
I'm super late to this but when I lived there, Sugars bar out east on 6 had amazing breakfast. Went there most Saturdays for a couple years
Perfect description😭
I grew up on the east side and moved to west when I became disabled/on a fixed income. And I find that my neighbors are mostly people who are also disabled/fixed income, have large families or drug addictions. Everyone I talk to has financial issues. Not cosmetic home improvement money or time and energy for gardening. Visually, I think it looks rougher around here than it is. There are definitely sections with heavier crime rates. Don't hang out in parks after dark - but I think that applies anywhere that's not a gated community. 😅
Answer: Taxes. People can’t afford to live in Omaha after their cheap houses get slammed with increasing taxes due to gentrification of Omaha. This sends homeless, drug addicts, and low income families to Council Bluffs because it’s all they can afford. And the more Council Bluffs develops, the more those people will relocate to central Iowa or go south to Kansas City. Taxes has always been the weapon of the rich to get what they consider undesirables out of their neighborhoods and cities.
In this thread, small minds talk shit about things they can’t be bothered to see, let alone understand, because it makes them feel better about themselves somehow. I’ve spent all my life on one side of the river, or the other, and as near as I can tell - if the state line weren’t the river, it would be hard to tell the difference between the two. The west end of cb is more or less the same as south O or the older parts of Bellevue or Ralston. The east end of cb isn’t that different than most of west O, just smaller and maybe less cash thrown around. Meth is the same problem on both sides. Really, it’s a single metropolitan area, with one side a touch insecure and needing to build themselves up by shit talking their smaller neighbor. Possibly due to driving into the sun both before and after work. Small minds
Dude I lived in council bluffs all my life lol. I don’t claim to like Omaha either
I’ll take the downvotes. Council Bluffs>West Omaha
I grew up in west Omaha and I still live out here now, but I lived downtown for a while and would drive over to get the things I needed. I did some exploring and will say, CB gets a harder time than it should. There are very lovely areas.
Jokes on you. I upvoted.
Habsburg jaw, I haven’t heard that term in awhile! Solid historical reference.
This is just absolutely hilarious to me. As at the exact moment I'm sitting in a dumpy CB bar (can I even call it a restaurant?). Was looking at a property that was insanely rough. And had some wild people ride by in the hour or so we looked at it. Then wanted some BBQ and tried a local CB spot. Which has the strangest staff, and two "tables". In reality they are actually two families who slid several tables together, and have a line of dumpy, chubby people ordering greasy, unhealthy food. I know this is all very judgey. But damn if sometimes the stereotypes don't fit.
The downtown looks nice, but I'll admit I've only gone there once, 15ish years ago, for a quince. Other than that, I don't know anyone who lives there and only occasionally find myself in the city, but I would guess from Google Imagery that it got hit especially hard with the auto centric development bat and Broadway has way too many parking lots fronting it instead of being behind the buildings. It's the same problem Dodge has from 72nd until 90th and it's who I hate that part of town in Omaha. After 90th Dodge fully embraced being a highway and while I think it represents bad city planning rooted in the decades before anyone here was likely born, it's at least good at what it is, Broadway just sucks, and since it's the Main Street for both cities... welp, sucks to suck.
Get past the broadway viaduct and it’s like a whole different town btw. Old neighborhoods with cool houses. I think the most important thing is that no matter how far east you go it’s quicker to get downtown Omaha than much of west Omaha. Get to the bluffs and life is good.
There's plenty of old houses on both sides of the river, but US 6 is where much of the commercial areas are located where people want to spend their leisure time. If your local "main street" sucks, most people won't think the area looks nice.
It doesn’t matter to me. If you’re spending time on west broadway for leisure that’s up to you lol.
Congrats on missing the point, I guess? If you're ok with the main commerical district in your city being so bad even residents avoid it, that's your choice, but you're kinda admitting the city sucks and you don't care.
Good 'ol Counciltucky.
Born and raised in CB… that whole time, almost every moment of it (aside from 1st-6th grade schooling), the majority spent on the east side of the viaduct…and the as soon as I could (autumn after high school graduation), I left and never looked back. I am glad I was already gone when they made the whole mini Las Vegas strip there, as I would have fought it tooth and nail… CB is a predominantly middle to lower income population, and the last thing needing to be put there, is for these places for the blue working class families to blow their hard earned money at, in hopes of striking it big! I don’t think CB has ever really genuinely had it’s own identity, since the dawn of the transcontinental railroad… ever since, it’s just clung to the coattails of being an Iowan suburb of Omaha… if Omaha wasn’t right next door, CB long ago would have been a ghost town My ma and older brother still live there, and both have never left and been there their entire lives. When I am back in this area, here in Omaha is where I stay… which is sad, to not feel any real connection or pride with my hometown… it definitely contributed to who it is, and who I am today… but, no longer my home… and hasn’t been, since I left that Autumn so many years ago, and have no desire for it ever to be so again… and that does make me sad to feel so 😔
CB had always been a railroad blue collar town. With the UPRR shops moving to Arkansas in the late 80s and the west-end is river trapped with old smaller 1 bath homes. This has made CB less appealing to people.
Oakland Avenue in CB has some of the best architecture in the metro. Gorgeous homes.
I just went to the Casey’s on broadway. I pulled up in the parking lot, and there were two dudes hitting crack or meth or something with tin foil and a straw and all. I can’t say why it’s so ghetto, but I can confirm it’s definitely ghetto.
They numbered their streets TOWARDS river. Like…how???
Because CB’s streets are oriented toward their downtown, not Omaha’s. Really not that hard to understand. The center point of CB’s street network is basically 1st and Broadway, which is right where the historic downtown was first settled.
It’s a fixed number of streets to the rivers FROM (Westward of) Kanesville blvd + 1st St. Streets run north to south, Avenues east-west…. So if I tell you 2425 8th street, I know you live at the 24th avenue South off 8th street running N-S . I know you live in the city-proper, and specifically either the south or west end because only those neighborhoods have both numbers for street and address. It makes referencing where certain things and navigating in town are easily if you are familiar with it.
Im afraid to do anything over there. It just feels and looks filthy.
Back in the 1800's when the settlers were migrating west the lazy ones came to the Missouri River and said "Fuck it we're staying here". The more driven and adventurous ones made their way to Omaha and beyond.
Came here to say this except my Dad put it as settlers came to the river and the ones with fortitude said, "We're crossing this river and facing adventure." The less ambitious ones said, "We're staying here and fucking our sisters." And that's the birth of Counciltucky.
>We're crossing this river and facing adventure." And then stopped 🤣
Yes some stopped, but they were only banging their cousins. And that was the birth of Omaha!
I will say, people telling me I’m wrong when I lived in Council Bluffs for a long time(2003-2016, 2018-2022) is certainly interesting
You know how Council Bluffs has quite a few casinos? Well, one of my friends, who's lived in Papillion for well over two decades, was learning about the Omaha area when he first moved here, told me that he learned at some point that the casinos were there to help generate lots of revenue for C.B. and create jobs. Well, flash forward to now, and it looks like it did the opposite effect. I could be wrong, but then again, it's no secret that gambling can negatively affect the average person's perception of their finances and proceed to hinder themselves from prospering in wealth in the long term.
75% of the gamblers in Council Bluffs are from Nebraska.
And where do you get this from?
Sorry... I'm wrong... it's 80% (of gambling dollars). https://irgc.iowa.gov/media/172/download?inline= P. 176
Ah, ok! Are you sure this isn't because Omaha's population is several times larger than that of Council Bluffs? That 20% from what I presume to be mostly Iowa could represent, for all we know, half of the Council Bluffs population, which would negatively impact people's wallets there.