Posted on 12/11/2002 5:54:16 AM PST by jim_trent
Wilson plant fight is landlord's legacy
BY CHRISTOPHER BURBACH WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER
Otis Glebe, the landlord with libertarian leanings who once made a condemned factory his castle, has died, one month after explosives crumpled much of that erstwhile home, the former Wilson Packing Plant.
Glebe, 83, died Tuesday at Creighton University Medical Center, according to Douglas County records. The cause of death was not available. His older brother, Glen Glebe, died earlier this fall.
Services for Otis Glebe were pending at Boyd E. Braman Mortuary.
"You can't prove it, but after that packing plant went down, maybe Otis just had no reason to go on," said lawyer Martin Cannon, who represented Glebe in battles with the city. "I liked Otis. He was feisty, and he was very intelligent and he had an unwavering adherence to his principles.
"There was only one of him, and I'm sorry he's gone."
Glebe was best known recently for his connection to the Wilson building, 6007 S. 24th St. He lived there for years in the 1990s, even after it was condemned and the utilities shut off.
When forced out, Glebe enclosed three nearby vacant lots with a sheet-metal and plywood fence. He moved in plastic pipes, rusty metal, shelving and other things from the plant, prompting another battle with neighbors and the city.
But even before that, the former Clatonia, Neb., farm boy had attained a measure of fame - or notoriety, depending on one's perspective - through nearly four decades of dealing in low-cost real estate in Omaha and Lincoln.
Glebe ran for the Senate at age 20, the first of five runs for Congress.
His philosophies often had him on government's bad side.
He had a history of refusing to pay property taxes.
And Glebe also didn't believe a city should be able to force a landlord to repair rental property. Practicing this philosophy had Glebe in almost constant hot water with the City of Omaha.
"He wasn't known for investing in his properties," City Planning Director Bob Peters said.
While Glebe owned them, many of the properties had "no heat, no running water and full occupancy," Peters said.
When Glebe died, he left three code violation cases pending at City Hall.
Peters said the city had acquired almost every property Glebe owned, "for renovation or demolition, usually demolition."
An exception was a North 16th Street apartment complex for which the city paid Glebe more than $200,000 before renovating it into the Strehlow Terrace apartments.
Glebe then bought the Wilson plant. Later, after a protracted struggle with Glebe, the city paid him more than $275,000. Cannon said that belongs on the list of Glebe's wins in fights against City Hall.
Peters called Glebe "a character P.T. Barnum could have embraced, but those days are gone."
And then there are a lot of people who can't understand that excessive intrusion by government starts with minimal intrusion by government. As in your example, government has the right to tell you that you must keep your property at a certain standard because after all it is for the good of the whole. And everybody can agree, that is a good thing. However, by establishing that principle we end up with a government that tells us that you can't use your property for anything because there is a rodent that lives on it that might be going extinct.
There are a lot less people on here who can grasp that concept.
I guess it depends on what "minimal" and "upkeep" mean. In the past, these have meant no people of color, no guns, no prayer meetings, required color, required roof style, required mailbox style, no TV antenna or dish, gentiles only, no American flags, no Christmas displays, etc.
The residents must have kept warm by smoking "medicinal" crack.
Do people have a right to maintain property values, outside from protecting them from direct theft or damage?
If you answer yes, does this apply to all property, or just homes?
Indoobitably.
What was once a vibrant part of Omaha's economy is now a partially imploded pile of rubble. The first phase of demolition at the old South Omaha, Wilson packing plant is complete.
Demolition crews toppled part of the structure Friday afternoon.
Approximately half of the building was imploded in step-one of the demolition plan.
Along with meatpackers Armour, Swift and Cudahay, the Wilson plant employed thousands, fed millions and stood for more than a century.
It was once considered cutting edge in the meat packing industry but more recently, it's been little more than an eyesore.
Willie Byrd lived in the shadow of the plant ever since he moved here looking for work.
He says, "If it had stayed open, that'd been all right."
When the plant closed it fell into disrepair and took the neighborhood with it but Byrd remembers his days on the Wilson payroll.
"Plenty of people working there, working night and day; plenty of people. It was nice," he says.
Once the demolition is complete, there are plans to convert the site to an industrial business park.
Remember the topic we discussed in FreepMail the other day? Here are some prime examples of what I was talking about.
(sigh) No, nor did I say anything that could even remotely be construed as arriving at such a conclusion. You will most assuredly have to explain to me how you could have come to that conclusion, as I am sure your explanation will be most enlightening as to your reasoning processes.
Changing the titles of articles makes FR searching difficult and results in many duplicate posts.
Put your editorializing in the comments.
:) </ lecture>
Otherwise, he’ll just disregard all unenforced rules of civilized behavior, that are clearly stated and understood by all.
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