Latest Blog Posts
Jazz in June Kicks Off
Jazz in June kicks off tonight, featuring Nebraska Jazz Orchestra with featured guest soloist Paul Glasse.
The Missus, Daisy, and I hope to get there tonight. Come say hi if you see us.
Southwest Village Takes Shape
Southwest Village is turning into quite the mega-development. Planned for the area around U.S. 77 and West Denton Road, the 1.3 million square feet project is even bigger than Gateway’s 1 million square feet. The area is marked for development as a “community center” which, according to the Comprehensive Plan (PDF), “may vary in size from 300,000 to nearly a million square feet of commercial space. Typically, new Community Centers will range from 300,000 to 500,000 square feet.”
In the case of the proposed Wal-Mart on North 84th Street Mayor Colleen Seng opposed the megastore precisely because it was “too big” for the area’s land use designation, even though the project as a whole met the guidelines for the area. (In that case the development was a “neighborhood center”.) Will she oppose this development as a whole because it is 30% larger than the Comprehensive Plan’s stated limitation for the size of a “community center”, and over 150% larger than the “typical” size of a “community center”? If she doesn’t, expect an outcry over her inconsistency. If she does, expect an outcry over her blocking a huge economic investment in Lincoln. Frankly, I think the criticism is fair either way. But in this case I’m hoping for a little inconsistency from the Mayor; losing this project would be a tremendous blow to Lincoln’s economic development efforts.
Van Dorn Project Zoning Change
The controversial project at 9th/10th and Van Dorn received zoning change approval from the City Council yesterday. It isn’t technically a done deal just yet, but it’s pretty close.
Even more interesting is the city’s move to explore a blight designation that would open the door for tax increment financing (TIF) for the project. That by itself isn’t unusual (Lincoln loves blight designations). But it does strike me as odd that the city, not the developer, is initiating the discussion about handing over tax dollars. It is especially curious since the project doesn’t seem to meet the TIF test. In short, a project is only eligible for TIF funding if the project wouldn’t exist without the TIF funding. That’s obviously not true in this case. Why is Lincoln so eager to hand over tax dollars? I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Auto Repair in Lincoln
Would anyone care to share positive personal experiences with auto repair shops here in Lincoln? Much to the delight of people who know me and have ridden in or seen my car, it (a 13 year old Mercury) is currently suffering from a battery of problems: vapor lock, failing power locks and windows, a yet to be identified transmission issue, and a number of electrical issues that have pretty much killed most of the car’s bells and whistles. Plus it looks pretty dumpy after being through a few dings.
In the past few years, I have had direct experiences with three shops in town. Two of them have been very positive. One is Fayad’s way down in the southeast portion of town (5002 Rent Worth Drive). Fayad managed to squeeze me into a tight queue in an emergency situation with little notice, and fixed the problem quickly and inexpensively so I could leave town for an important trip. Although that is my only experience with his shop, I would likely go back again. The other notable place I take my car to regularly is Kevin Gilbert’s shop - Economy and Performance Auto, - at 233 N. 19th St., a stone’s throw from UNL city campus. Someone told me that Kevin has a reputation for being honest, helpful, and for doing good work. In the 3-4 times I have taken my car there, I have always been satisfied. Since I live and work near that area, I take my car to Economy and Performance regularly. Are there other reliable auto repair shops out there worth knowing about?
Friday Five
Five things to do while you wait for your sub at Planet Sub:
- Start a double-elimination paper-rock-scissors tournament
- Get the other patrons to join you in singing Row Row Row Your Boat in a round
- Create a life-size astronaut on a mission to Planet Sub using the foil from other customers’ sandwiches
- Nap
- Every time a number is called out, yell “That’s me!” and run up to the counter. Look dejected when you realize it wasn’t your number
Do it For the Money
While I was reading an article about the latest LPS teacher salary contract, I noticed this very common quote from a teacher:
“None of us went into teaching for the money.”
Maybe that’s part of the reason teacher salaries are so low. (Or perhaps I should say “low”, since I know the notion that teachers are underpaid is far from universally accepted.) Perhaps if teachers entered the profession with higher expectations, salaries would respond in kind.
Or maybe I shouldn’t stir up this topic since I know it will just lead to rants about how teachers are overpaid, or about the dozens of ways teachers are hosed by the system, or any of scores of related rants that come up whenever teacher pay is discussed. Oh well, it’s a Friday. I suppose a little ranting is called for. Have at it.
Mission: Planet Sub
I’ll cut right to the chase: don’t go to Planet Sub. Not yet. They have a few (dozen) kinks to work out right now.
The Missus and I ate there today. Dave K was there (4th comment) too:
I went there for lunch, and it was a complete disaster. ...after 45 minutes I called it quits and got my money back.
Mr. Wilson, I saw you in line...and thought about telling you how long you were going to wait, but I really wanted to read your take here. How did things go?
Gee, thanks, Dave! Actually even had you warned me I still would have stayed. I get a certain masochistic kick out of visiting restaurants in their early days. Sometimes it works out great, and sometimes, well, it doesn’t. Besides, it was fairly obvious that there were some problems. Several people asked for their money back after having waited for a while, and I noticed that restaurant staff brought out the same orders twice on a couple occasions, demonstrating some significant backstage disorganization.
The long and short of it is that the time between when The Missus and I ordered and when we received our food was about 50 minutes. That wasn’t a typical wait time, though (typical was probably in the 15-25 minute range). I’m pretty sure our food went to the wrong people. (Damn that couple in the corner booth!) Plus, we didn’t make a fuss very early because we were talking about some important things so we hardly noticed. Still, 50 minutes for a sub?
The list of problems I noted at Planet Sub is too long to list here. And frankly, I don’t feel like kicking them while they’re down. I’m telling you flat out not to go to this restaurant for at least a couple weeks. That alone should tell you all you need to know. Give them some time to work things out. If they still suck in mid- to late-June, then I’ll pounce.
I should mention that The Missus and I ended up getting our money back for our meal. The manager (?) did a reasonable job of taking care of us once she discovered our plight. She probably should have comped our next meals too, though. That way she either gets us back in the door to give them another chance, or we hand off the coupons to somebody else so they can give the restaurant a chance.
DOR in Financial Distress
The Department of Roads is short on cash, so it wants to push back some projects a few years. One of the projects that may be delayed? Lincoln’s South Beltway. Ouch.
The DOR is working with a smaller budget but facing higher costs—an unfortunate combination. But I can’t say I feel too sorry for a department that thinks that the entirety of Highway 2 from Van Dorn to just past 56th Street must be resurfaced this year. There’s a project parts of which could very easily be delayed. I don’t doubt there are plenty of others around the state.
Hail to the Chief?
I have heard a fair bit of murmurring about this topic lately, with several people arguing that it will (or should) cost Mayor Seng her job in the next election. I wonder what you folks think, so here’s your topic:
Resolved: Fire Chief Mike Spadt should be fired.
Discuss.
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