Latest Blog Posts
Chris Beutler’s Solution for Lincoln’s Roads
I can’t say much for the timing of the announcement—who makes a big proposal right before a holiday weekend?—but Chris Beutler’s ”New Roads to Good Jobs” plan is worth a look. NRGJ is a proposal to fund Lincoln’s impending street needs (some $135 million worth) through sales taxes specially set aside within development districts on the city’s edge. The districts would be like tax increment financing districts, but with sales tax revenue.
Some quick thoughts:
- Awesome! The first big news of the election season is (1) an actual, honest-to-goodness plan, and (2) not an attack on another candidate’s character. That makes me very, very happy.
- If the new sales taxes are all going to roads, what happens to the funding for all of the things that would have been funded by the sales taxes had they not been directed exclusively to roads? Beutler’s comments so far seem to imply that he’s using “free money”. For example: “Tying those bonds to the sales tax created by new businesses allows the city to reap benefits without further burdening our taxpayers.” Well, right. But the plan isn’t costless. If the money is going into a pot for roads, it has to come out of a pot for something else. Whose pot is getting robbed?
- “New Roads to Good Jobs”? I don’t like it. For one thing it has the distinct ring of politspeak. For another, it implies that the roads to good jobs will be primarily on the outskirts of town (or, heaven forbid, out of town). And the letters (NRGJ?!) don’t even spell anything neat. But picking on the proposal’s name is a minor quibble.
Prize Patrol
I enjoy creating games and puzzles here on Lincolnite and, as demonstrated by how many of you participated in Where’s Wilson, many of you enjoy playing. But I know you would enjoy them even more if a prize of some sort awaited the winner. I have plans to supply a few prizes on my own dime for some games I would like to do, but since Lincolnite earns me exactly $0.00 every month (technically even less than that), the prizes won’t be too exciting. If any of you own a local business or have the ability to offer a prize or two, I would be happy to give you a little free chatter here on the blog in exchange.
And just as a teaser, I am working on a game that I think a lot of you will really enjoy. It’s a Lincoln-themed version of a TV show you may have heard of. I even heard a rumor that Sean Connery might play along…
Where’s Wilson? He’s Still Missing!
C’mon, folks, don’t give up on finding me just yet! With four questions remaining, you know the following:
- I’m not in a park or a building
- I am in the Haymarket, and I am:
- On or north of P Street
- On or west of 7th Street
- At the Train Station or its surrounding grounds
- I’m not at the Farmer’s Market
- I can smell food or beverage
You have used 16 questions, so you have four remaining. (And remember, making a guess counts as a question!) Four questions is plenty to figure it out given what you know. So come on, Find Mr. Wilson!
Let’s Get Digital
As the title suggests, I’m all in favor of allowing Lincoln’s billboards to go digital. I have seen digital billboards in other communities, so I have a few reactions to some of the concerns:
- They are too bright. Of the ones I have seen after dark, I wouldn’t describe any as being obnoxiously bright. They aren’t so bright that they are a hazard or annoyance while driving, and they certainly are not so bright that I wouldn’t want one within a mile of my house. (Not that I would want one directly next to my house.)
- They are a distraction. Not much more than a regular billboard, and certainly no more than any of the thousands of other distractions on the road. I’m far more distracted by waiting for slow time and temperature signs to switch from celsius to farenheit while I drive by.
- They are obnoxious. I don’t find them to be obnoxious. They could be, I suppose, but with the regulations Lincoln is currently considering, it would be tough.
LES Rates Stable, for Now
The good news is, LES hasn’t asked for a rate increase for next year. Last year’s 4.5% rate increase, along with a group of new fees, has improved LES’ bottom line. The bad news is, they will probably ask for one next year.
One item worth discussion is LES’ advertising budget. The Lincoln Employers Coalition wants it cut. The current advertising budget is $400,000, and it is mostly directed toward informational and educational advertising. (i.e. “Here’s how you can save money on your electric bill...") Trying to pare down $400,000 in an almost $200 million budget seems a little silly, but I suppose the group figures it has to start somewhere. Fair enough. Still, spending less than $2 per Lincolnite for informational and educational advertising doesn’t seem unreasonable to me. Perhaps what the Lincoln Employers Coalition needs to do to convince me is to speak in terms of what they would cut (and what they would leave), rather than in dollar figures. Then I could be a better judge.
What’s your take on it?
Where’s Wilson? A Game of Twenty Questions
I call this game Where’s Wilson? It’s a very simple, Twenty Questions-style game. I am thinking of a place somewhere in Lincoln. Your task is to figure out where I am by asking questions. Here are the rules:
- I will only respond to yes/no questions. Be sure your question can be answered with a simple yes or no.
- Each person should only ask one question at a time. If a single person asks more than one question at a time, I will only answer one. (It is fine if several people at a time ask one question each.)
- A guess ("Are you at 27th and A?") counts as a question
- Please number the questions so that it is easy to follow along and see what questions have been asked.
- You have twenty questions to figure out where I am.
Ask away!
Adventures in Customer Service
Compare and contrast these three customer service experience The Missus, Robbie, and I had today:
1. We had photos taken today at a place that advertises that you’ll be in and out with your photos in “about an hour”. We have had photos taken there before, and we have been pleased in the past. Today, though, was different. Troubles began after the photo session was completed. We were told we could come back in 15 minutes to pick up our photos. Great! We hadn’t had lunch yet, so we went and had a leisurely lunch. Lunch took about 30 minutes. When we went back for our photos, they weren’t ready. They had had to “restock the machine”, whatever that means. But we would have our photos “in about 15 minutes”. Fine, we could wait 15 minutes. So 15 minutes later we went back. The photos weren’t ready. We told them to give us what they had finished, and we would pick up the rest later. The woman went in the back to fetch our photos...and came back 10 minutes later, supposedly with our entire order. As we walked to our car, The Missus happened to look at the photos. The first one was great! So was the second one, except it wasn’t a photo of any of us. We stormed back in, only to be brushed aside. Long story short (too late!) we left dissatisfied, angry, and frustrated. What would have prevented all of that frustration? If the woman had simply said, “I’m sorry, our machine is down right now and we’re so busy I’m not sure how long it will take us to catch back up. I don’t know how long it will take. Would you like to wait, or would you prefer to come back another time? I apologize for the trouble; please accept this coupon for free services on your next visit.” Would that have been so difficult?
2. We spent a lot of time at Westfield Gateway today. The Missus and Robbie investigated the family lounge for the first time. The Missus was incredibly impressed. Comfortable chairs, private nursing booths, changing stations with individual Diaper Genies and heated wipes… In short, Gateway’s family lounge is top notch. Two thumbs up for Westfield Gateway!
3. The Missus ran into a problem with a prescription at Hy-Vee. I’m fuzzy on the details, but the basic story is that it was a messy case of computer error, forcing the pharmacist to have to go back to the original paper copy of the prescription from over a year ago. But that isn’t the story. The pharmacist was so concerned about getting things right that long after The Missus had left the store, the pharmacist (a) called the on-call doctor, (b) called the insurance company, and (c) called The Missus at home to let her know that all the loose ends were tied up. How’s that for service?
Now, is there really any question which businesses we will eagerly patronize in the future, and enthusiastically promote to our friends and family? I wonder how much extra business they will see as a result.
Deadly Fire at Wesleyan University
Keep an eye on this story as it develops. An early morning fire at Phi Kappa Tau at Nebraska Wesleyan killed one man and critically injured three others.
Friday Five
It’s a game edition of the Friday Five. Below are anagrams of five Lincoln neighborhoods. Can you figure them out?
- THEIR LAND HOGS (as opposed to their water hogs?)
- WEE EVIL CLOG (a bad movie about small, vicious wooden shoes?)
- HERO AUNTS (a new show on the CW?)
- LUST? A VICE. IN PYRE. (a verdict and sentence?)
- MOB IN, OUSTS TSAR (the newspaper headline the day after the revolution?)
Buy Cheap Drugs
Wal-Mart’s cheap drug program, which offers over 300 generic prescription drugs for $4, has made its way to Lincoln.
Public Night at Behlen Observatory
If you would like to spend a chilly night under the stars, consider heading out to Behlen Observatory in Mead, which is hosting one of its periodic public nights from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.
Realty Trust and the Great Switcheroo
I have to hand it to Realty Trust. They really know how to play the real estate game. Flash back to January 2005:
Of particular interest has been a parcel on the northeast corner of the intersection of 48th and O streets, where an abandoned Amoco station sits. The city paid $923,000 for the property, which was assessed by the county at $456,000. The parcel was owned by Realty Trust Group, which had a lease agreement with Starbucks that fell through when the city cut off corner access because of safety concerns.
Realty Trust didn’t get its Starbucks (or the $3.9 million it initially sued the city for as a result), but it did get a $475,000 premium over the assessed value of its property. Not a bad profit. But it gets better.
Now that the O Street widening is finished, only one company bid for a redevelopment contract of the northeast corner of 48th and O. Who is the bidder? Realty Trust. They want to buy back their old property, and they will be able to use tax increment financing to do it. Not a bad deal, if you ask me.
Realty Trust hasn’t announced their proposed tenants for their project, but I’ll give you one guess to come up with a prime candidate.
Hat tip: Neal.
Yeah, But How Much Time Did He Spend in the Bathroom Afterwards?
Many of you know that Crawdaddy’s and Knickerbockers host $.25 taco days on Sundays and Thursdays, respectively. But do you know the record for most tacos eaten for a quarter a pop? I didn’t, so I asked. 42. That’s a lot of tacos. My measly 17 tacos is pretty pathetic in comparison.
Building Bridges
Thanks, bridge builders! You helped Lincoln save over $45,000 in labor costs, and you further demonstrated Lincolnites’ commitment to quality trails throughout the city. I tip my hat to you.
Mayor’s Race Notes
Mayoral Candidate Chris Beutler plans to end his consulting contract with the city prior to next year’s election. Beutler is currently paid $62,000 annually for 1,250 hours of work as a fund raiser for Parks & Rec. Expect that contract to get a little attention from his opponents as “excessive”.
Another candidate, Ken Svoboda, has a $24,000 contract to maintain medians around the city. Svoboda will end that contract as well. Cynical Lincolnites are probably saying: the medians are so poorly maintained, we won’t be able to tell the difference!
In other Mayor’s race news, candidate Mike Deal announced his candidacy in the forums. Mr. Deal appears to be a fiscal conservative interested in finding solutions to Lincoln’s money problems.
And as long as I’m mentioning all the candidates, don’t forget about Roger Yant.
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