News Release
Date: Jan. 10, 2007
Contact: Connie Spellman, director
Phone: 402.342.3458
Fax: 402.342.3582
BENSON-AMES ALLIANCE NAMES LEADERSHIP TEAM
OMAHA – A team of community leaders has formed to guide the revitalization of the Benson-Ames area.
Clarence Nichols, vice president of corporate banking at Great Western Bank, will serve as chair of the Benson-Ames Alliance Steering Council, and Lisa Dale, principal of Benson High School, will serve as vice chair.
The Benson-Ames Alliance was formed in September 2005 to plan for and implement the revitalization of the Benson-Ames area. Covering a portion of north-central Omaha roughly six miles in area, it contains more than 800 businesses - including schools, civic and religious organizations - and 15,543 households.
“The alliance provides the opportunity to take a wonderful part of Omaha and make it even better,” Dale said.
The Benson-Ames Alliance plan, passed unanimously by the Omaha City Council in November 2006, sets forth a new framework of principles for future development and redevelopment projects in the alliance area, paying special attention to the design of commercial centers and their relationship to surrounding neighborhoods.
Four individuals have agreed to chair the alliance committees. Each will join Nichols and Dale as members of the alliance’s executive committee. They are:
- Lillian Burkhalter, owner of JB’s Beauty Salon in North Omaha, will chair the business affairs committee;
- Paula Glissman, CFO with Simmonds Restaurant Management Inc., will chair the finance/development committee;
- Liz Moldenhauer, an administrative coordinator with The Gallup Organization and a member of the Benson Neighborhood Association, will chair the marketing/public relations committee; and
- Tim Butz, executive director of the Nebraska Justice Center in Fremont and a member of the Clairmont Heights Neighborhood Association, will chair the neighborhood affairs committee.
The Benson-Ames Alliance Steering Council meets the first Wednesday of the month at The Omaha Home for Boys. Representatives from Omaha by Design, the Neighborhood Center for Greater Omaha and the City of Omaha serve as support staff to the steering council.
For more information about the Benson-Ames Alliance, contact Teresa Gleason at 402.342.3458 or teresa@omahabydesign.org.
