Lincolnite

I can certainly understand why many Lincolnites are all in a froth over Time Warner Cable's craptacular Navigator software for digital set-top boxes. What I don't understand is why crummy software is the public's business. It seems like subscribers should be attacking the company through avenues like the Better Business Bureau and the media, not the City Council. Not to mention the fact that the easiest solution to the problem for most subscribers is to simply ... drop the service. (As an aside, this is exactly the sort of issue where I think it would be appropriate for the mayor to step in to provide some leadership and help find a solution. Not through a task force or a committee or a study group, but via direct involvement with the parties.) What do you think? Why should the City Council be involved? Why should they butt out?

I'm awfully surprised I hadn't noticed that our water stinks. I guess I just haven't been drinking very much tap water lately (I tend to drink a lot of milk in the winter). Oh well, I figure we've been pretty lucky with our drinking water in Lincoln. In some communities -- Crete, for example -- it's a good day when you can see the bottom of your glass. Yuck.

Today’s report in the Journal Star about the 2015 Vision pillars isn’t too surprising. I was one of the anonymous folks who showed up at their meeting, listened to their presentation, and filled out their survey before departing for the evening (which was a frankly somewhat confusing “survey” as Mr. Wilson noted previously). I also ranked completion of the Antelope Valley projects and the Research Corridor highly, and it seemed like a number of people in my small group had similar sentiments, so I am not stunned that they were the most supported pillars among the meetings’ participants. One wonders, however, why the proposed Arts and Humanities Center received the lowest support. I’m just as much a fan of the arts and humanities as anyone else, but here is one reason why I ranked it low on my survey: I think Lincoln should invest in its main library before building a whole new center devoted to the arts and humanities. I realize that it is unfair to equate an arts and humanities center with a library, and certainly the vision for the former is more expansive than that of a new library. But it seems to me that resources are better spent on improving the main library - which definitely needs to be improved - instead of leaving it as the neglected wreck that it currently is and then pour money into a new arts center. If they are going to push on with the arts and humanities center plan, at the very least I would think they should integrate the two into the same structure. Can anyone here tell me why the main library here in Lincoln has been neglected for so long? No offense to its employees or the patrons there, but it has the atmosphere of the bar scene from Star Wars: its dark, crowded, and generally not a pleasing place to stay for longer than 30 minutes. Contrast that with Gere or Eisely, which are brightly lit, comfortable places where one can spend an entire weekend afternoon at. I realize there are some legitimate obstacles that impede development of an expanded downtown branch. Parking would be one obvious issue. But isn’t parking a wider downtown issue in general? One can’t help but come to the cynical conclusion that the reason the main branch has been neglected for so long is because it’s a neighborhood with a low income client base. After all, the students use the UNL library, and all the downtown office workers are in and out during the day. I realize that is not a fair and entirely accurate depiction, but it makes one wonder. I hope that as future visions of Lincoln continue to develop, the main library won’t be left behind.

The 2015 Vision Group has released the results of its (extremely unscientific) informal survey handed out to attendees at the group's community meetings. Nearly 1,000 people attended the meetings, but it's not clear how many of those completed a survey. The most popular -- a UNL research corridor along Antelope Valley -- doesn't surprise me at all. Nor does #2, the Antelope Valley projects, surprise me, primarily because we're pretty much already stuck with them whether we like the idea or not. It makes good sense that the two items are nearly equally popular, since to some extent they rely on each other. The two least popular pillars are also the ones that are most likely to be completed next. Supporters of a Haymarket humanities and arts center are pretty well dedicated to its completion. That's all well and good, but it looks like those supporters will have to do some work if they expect much public financial support. (Other than the potential partnership with UNL, I'm not sure that they will even ask for public dollars, so don't jump to any unfounded conclusions here.) And the Q Street parking garage/high rise project is already out for bids (due March 16). A couple notes about the survey. First, the survey was not constructed nearly as well as it could have been. Consider these results indicative only of very general trends. This is not a mandate, and it's certainly not a true vote of the people. That doesn't mean it isn't interesting or that we can't learn a thing or two. Just don't read too much into the results. Second, it would be very big of the 2015 Vision Group to release the full results of the survey. They aren't under any obligation to do so, of course, but it would constitute an act of good faith that could go a long way toward placating skeptics. It would also give the survey results much more depth. The percentage of people saying "Hell no!" to the pillars is just as interesting as the percentage saying "Hell yeah!". I have submitted a request to the Group for the results. I'll let you know if I hear from them.

Lincoln's firefighters have endorsed Chris Beutler ... and Ken Svoboda, sort of. The union's official endorsement went to Beutler, but the decision was so difficult that they also included a "soft" endorsement for Svoboda. In other words, if you're a firefighter, flip a coin at the polls this year. For the rest of us, this is probably good news. If the firefighters are torn over their endorsement (if only unofficially), it may mean the union won't be as controversially involved as in past years (1999 anyone?). Or maybe the split endorsement is just the beginning of another LFD-related kerfuffle to keep the local media busy for the next couple months. I sure hope not.

Had an interesting dining experience last night. The Missus, Robbie, and I went to Blue Orchid with another couple and their young daughter. They were first-timers. We arrived around 5:30pm to discover that they were nearly booked solid with reservations. (Note to self: next time, make a reservation.) Fortunately, they were able to squeeze us in thanks to a recently-canceled reservation. As it turns out, I wonder if those people knew what was about to happen. We were seated, we ordered, and we had a nice conversation. Robbie was in a good mood, the atmosphere was great, the service was great ... it was developing into a fine evening. Heck, we had even managed to snag a parking spot in Blue Orchid's tiny parking lot. Suddenly, it got very, very noisy. Fire alarms tend to be like that. Everybody in the restaurant froze momentarily. I think everybody expected the chefs to come barreling out of the kitchen, chef hats and aprons aflame. When that didn't happen, nobody quite knew what to do. The staff did the only thing they could do: they went about their duties. A few moments later they had obviously been briefed and told to deliver a specific line: they had confirmed there was no fire in the restaurant, and the manager was checking the rest of the building to find out what was going on. Robbie was surprisingly tolerant of the noise, much to our relief. He didn't seem to be fazed by it, so we tried to ignore it as best we could. Until the firetruck arrived, that is. We all had to leave at that point. It only took a couple minutes to herd everybody outside. The staff did their best to apologize and to thank everybody for their patience. After a couple minutes the manager made an announcement that they had found the source of the alarm, and that we would be back inside within a few minutes. Sure enough, shortly thereafter a firefighter came out of the building with a smoldering and partially melted plastic bucket. They grabbed a hose, drenched the bucket ... and that was that. The bucket had contained discarded cigarettes, and apparently it began smoking enough to set off the building's alarms. It was never clear where the bucket came from (a break room? one of the building's apartments?). Once we were back inside, the evening carried on almost normally. Service wasn't quite as good because the staff's rhythm was out-of-whack, and our food was obviously delayed since the kitchen had to start over. But overall I was impressed with how smoothly the staff worked through such an unfortunate hiccup in the evening. I was especially impressed with how they all seemed to be on the same page at all times. As far as I could tell, nobody deviated from the script. That's good training, good personnel, or probably both. On a more general note, my seared garlic stir fry with shrimp was excellent. I still haven't had a bad meal at Blue Orchid.

I have pizza on my mind this morning -- why? I have no idea -- so today's Friday Five is five pizza joints I've never eaten at, but I want to try:

1. Cici's Pizza. The best compliment I've heard is that it's cheap. I wish "it's good" came up a little more often, but it sounds like I should at least give it a shot.
2. Piezano's. I just never think of this place, all tucked away in an unremarkable location on South Street.
3. Ramo's Pizza (with Busters BBQ). Where else can you get pizza and brisket under the same roof? I have had Busters, but I've missed out on Ramo's so far.
4. Nero's Pizza. I don't hear much about this place, but I know it has been around for years. Their Philly Steak pizza sounds interesting.
5. The Isles Pub & Pizza. I've heard plenty of positive feedback on The Isles, but I just don't get to Havelock very often. Maybe I'll pick up a pie on my way home from Abbott Sports Complex sometime this spring.

First she was (allegedly) a drunk driver, and now she's a procrastinator. This just hasn't been a good month for Sen. Danielle Nantkes.

Don't let it be said that Lincoln's airport doesn't offer enough destination options. Now you can fly to Scottsbluff for the low price of $550 round trip. Don't delay, the planes only carry six passengers. Book your flight today! Sarcasm aside, it is always nice to see more transportation options. I just don't see this one as being especially viable. I would be pleased to be proven wrong.

Kids all across the city bounced out of bed with enthusiasm this morning as they found out that school is canceled today. I haven't been out of the house yet, but from what I can tell it was a good decision. There was a time I would have been surprised that UNL closed, but over the past couple years -- since the October 1997 snow storm, really -- it hasn't taken nearly as much to cancel classes as it used to. I can't decide if I'm surprised that state basketball is sticking to its schedule. I suppose all the teams that have to drive any great distance are probably already in town. I wonder what happens if a team isn't able to travel -- or flat out refuses to travel? [Edited to add: Now I see that most roads in and out of Lincoln have been closed. I'm really surprised the NSAA hasn't revised its position.] I'm going to be working on the computer all day today. What are you up to today?