Buffett gala a boon to Omaha, but not all of it

'I've got a lot of meat to cut this weekend!' shouted Manuel Alferes, owner of Don Gaby's restaurant on South 24th Street in South Omaha, as he sliced chuck roll for the nearby Cinco de Mayo festival.

It's five miles but a world away from what downtown Omaha, where Warren Buffett welcomed 27,000 people to the gleaming four-year-old Qwest Center for the annual meeting of his Berkshire Hathaway Inc..

Shopping, meeting shareholders, and of course the chance to see the famed 76-year-old investor, especially as he mulls passing the baton to younger people, are the main draws. 'We had such a good time last year, we wanted to come back and sink in as much of this event as we can,' said Jerri Anderson, a retired school secretary from Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota.

Only the College World Series rivals this weekend as the top annual event in this city of about 415,000. Baseball brings in more fans. Buffett brings in fans with more to spend.

'They are relatively well-heeled, or else they wouldn't own Berkshire shares, and all of them are willing to spend money,' said David Brown, president of the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

On Friday, Berkshire class A shares rose $650, or 0.6 percent, to close at $109,250 on the New York Stock Exchange. Berkshire class B shares climbed $13.25, or 0.37 percent, to

$3631.00.

Based on what the chamber estimated was $800 of spending per person per day in 2006, this year's attendees might spend some $43.2 million on Saturday and Sunday alone. The College World Series last year added $38 million to the economy.

Yet much of the spending is at Berkshire-owned businesses, and attractions near downtown. Berkshire's visitors guide lists no restaurants along Alferes' stretch of South 24th, an anchor of Omaha's burgeoning Mexican community, estimated at 28,691 in 2003. Neither does the city's official visitors guide.

CAPITALISM

A high-end Berkshire-owned jeweler, Borsheim's, is in both. It hosts the weekend's first official event, a Friday night cocktail reception that fills the mall housing the store, as well as an adjacent outdoor tent. The Thursday-to-Monday period generates more than 10 percent of Borsheim's annual sales.

The store is mobbed. Nine men in suits stand elbow to elbow behind the counter, serving customers. Snaking through and outside the tent are multiple, 100-plus lines of shareholders angling to down Grey Goose martinis, cheese cubes, meatballs, fried chicken winglets, carved roast beef, and raw fruits and vegetables. This is capitalism at its most famished.

John Barrientos wishes more of that would flow his way.

'South Omaha is inner city,' the president of the South Omaha Business Association said. 'People who own Berkshire stock are very rich people. They don't necessarily feel comfortable coming into an inner city. Until Omaha embraces the inner city, it's probably going to be difficult for people like Warren Buffett to invite people to come to South Omaha.'

Many shareholders congregate in the Old Market, a group of renovated warehouses filled with restaurants, shops and nightlife. Others favor nearby museums.

'A lot of weekends are strong for us, but the Berkshire weekend is certainly unique,' said Brian Magee, owner of the Upstream Brewing Co. restaurant in the Old Market. Saturday night, 15 shareholders lined the main downstairs bar.

Those who explore have much to find, according to some shareholders who have. 'I've done just about everything in this city I've done back home,' said Kevin Anderson, a retired San Diego dentist who has attended 17 Berkshire meetings.

Marcelo Lima, a portfolio manager at Horn Eichenwald Investments in Miami, turned 29 on Saturday, the day of his second Berkshire meeting.

'This year, I made it my objective to find out where the cool bars are,' he said, naming areas far off the beaten track. 'I want to meet the young people and hang out with the locals. People here are very friendly, very down-to-earth, super-nice, even the girl today at Starbucks.'

Many shareholders, though, say they see much less. Some, like Tatsuya Nakamura, who took at 14-hour flight from Tokyo to attend his fourth meeting, have little choice.

'We're here only two days, so this is all we do,' he said, referring to official events. 'We have a long holiday in Japan, so we take advantage. Like everybody says, it's a pilgrimage.'

Source : http://news.monstersandcritics.com