Lincolnite

Is it just me, or has Lincoln Police Chief Tom Casady been a bit of a downer lately? He seems to be really promoting the notion that Lincoln isn't as safe as you think it is. That isn't necessarily a bad thing. Lincolnites, as a general rule, like to think of our city as a happy, mostly crime-free place. Sometimes a little slap to the face is good for keeping our heads out of the clouds. Still, I wonder what Casady's angle is. There's the cynical interpretation: Casady's negative tone is designed to build support for LPD, thus raising its budget and increasing its prominence in the city. That would be a very typical government bureaucrat approach to protecting one's job. Then there's the ominous interpretation: Casady knows more than he lets on. His warnings are just the tip of the iceberg; if we don't do something soon, we could find ourselves in an ugly situation. Or maybe he just has these topics on his mind these days and he isn't trying to be negative at all. I'm sure there are other interpretations as well. What's yours?

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I was surprised to read this morning that LPD has all but cleaned up The Core, so now they have time to focus on selectively enforcing a ludicrously broad statute designed to keep folks from getting giddy. The focus of LPD's attention is the demon weed Salvia divinorum, or salvia, an herb from the sage family that induces psychedelic effects for a few minutes. So far salvia has not been linked with criminal activity or serious health effects, though it is possible to experience an unpleasant high ("dysphoria"). I can't help but mock Chief Tom Casady's desire to go after distributors of salvia, for two reasons. First, with no connection to criminal activity and no impending health crisis, salvia is all but harmless compared to all of the other things LPD could -- and should -- be working on. LPD effectively had to go to the trouble of creating a crime where none exists. Doing so requires a substantial investment of officer time and resources. And the investment isn't over; now that tickets have been issued, LPD's officers will have to deal with the court process as well. Second, let's take a look at state statute:

28-419. Inhaling or drinking certain intoxicating substances; unlawful. No person shall breathe, inhale, or drink any compound, liquid, or chemical containing [long list of substances], or any other substance for the purpose of inducing a condition of intoxication, stupefaction, depression, giddiness, paralysis, inebriation, excitement, or irrational behavior, or in any manner changing, distorting, or disturbing the auditory, visual, mental, or nervous processes. For the purposes of sections 28-419 to 28-424, any such condition so induced shall be deemed an intoxicated condition.

28-420. Selling and offering for sale certain compounds; use; knowledge of seller; unlawful. No person shall knowingly sell or offer for sale, deliver or give to any person any compound, liquid or chemical or any other substance which will induce an intoxicated condition as defined in section 28-419, when the seller, offerer or deliverer knows or has reason to know that such compound is intended for use to induce such condition.

Statute 28-419 is so ridiculously broad I have a difficult time understanding how it could hold up in court. Take a look at the definition of illegal substances. Alcohol is illegal. Tobacco is illegal. Caffeine is illegal. Many or most medications (OTC and prescription) are illegal. If LPD wants to use 28-420 as their justification for pulling salvia from Lincoln's shelves, they must also explain why our bars, grocery stores, gas stations, pop machines, and pharmacies are all still in business. Perhaps Chief Casady and crew have a good reason for going after salvia. Maybe they have access to medical studies that show its irreversible addictiveness, or maybe they have sociological studies describing the terror we will face from the impending wave of salvia-induced visions. If they have a justification -- any justification -- for their actions I would love to hear it. Or better yet, rather than inventing crimes and wasting time trying to come up with a justification for their misuse of resources, perhaps LPD will instead reassign its officers to deal with real problems. I hear The Core needs some help.

Now that the City Council has decided not to let the public vote on barring elected officials from holding local government contracts, do you think Lincolnites should organize a petition drive to put the issue on the ballot? Is it something Lincolnites want to push, or do you think we're generally fine with the way things have gone so far?

Tonight when I fired up my laptop a very unusual message awaited me in my e-mail inbox. The subject: VAlxiUM. I was in shock. I didn't realize until that moment that it had been months since any spam had made its way all the way to my inbox. You read that right. I just checked; I hadn't had a true spam message in my inbox in all of 2008. Nothing makes you realize how good anti-spam measures have become like the arrival of a rare piece of spam. Random fact: Spam (the tasty [?!] kind) is made just up the road from us in Fremont.

One of the things I love about Lincoln is the ability to randomly run into people you know (or who know you) at any time. Of course, that can also be a bad thing, depending on who you are, what you're up to, and what sort of mood you're in. Overall, I think it's fun. I like the possibility that, at any moment, I could run into the mom of a kid I played soccer with back in elementary school. For example, in the past month, I've met three Journal Star employees who happen to read Lincolnite. It seems Lincolnite is fairly widely read over on P Street. (Actually, I already knew that from looking at my visitor stats, but it's nice to meet folks face-to-face.) So "Hi!" to all of you LJS'ers, and to those of you I met recently, thanks for introducing yourselves. In another example, on Saturday I ran into a guy I went to high school with. He came up to me and said, "You're Brent, right?" His face was familiar, but I couldn't quite trace it under his beard. Well there was my problem; I was trying to picture him without a beard, but he went with the Grizzly Adams look in high school, too. As soon as he told me that I instantly remembered things about him. We weren't in the same social group, but even in a graduating class of 600 we managed to remember bits and pieces about each other. The story gets better. That night I told The Missus who I had run into. She hadn't known him, so the conversation didn't go very far. The next day, The Missus took Robbie on some errands. At one stop, Robbie started pointing to the car next to them while babbling something. The Missus couldn't understand him, so she looked in the general direction he was pointing. She never did figure out what he was talking about, but she did see a binder in the backseat of the car with a "Hello my name is..." sticker on it. The name on the sticker? Yep, it was the name of the guy I ran into the previous day. Are you a fan of random run-ins in Lincoln? Or are you like my mother-in-law who, prior to moving away, thought it was a little creepy? (Now that she lives in a much bigger city, she says she misses the chance of seeing people she knows. But every time she comes back to town for a visit she sees an old friend or two.)

Poor ol' Ken Svoboda. I'm sure he wanted his company's former city contracts to remain an issue of the past. But now it looks like his will be the deciding vote in determining whether the charter amendment proposal to prevent city officials from having city contracts goes to voters. Let's be fair. His vote isn't actually any more the "deciding vote" than any of the other three people he'll be joining. Yea or nay, his vote is only 25% of the total of the winning side. But the other six City Council members have already made their votes known; Mr. Svoboda has not. That, plus Mr. Svoboda's history with this issue, makes it tempting to place the bulk of the weight of the vote on his shoulders. I'm still not certain what I think about the proposed charter amendment. I am torn between the importance of preventing shenanigans by government officials, and the restrictions that will place on folks who are otherwise excellent candidates for office. Regardless, I am very disappointed in the three Republicans on the council who have already voted against sending the issue to voters. (The votes, so far, have fallen on party lines.) By casting their nay votes, they have told us that they don't trust us and that this issue is too much for us to handle. I strongly disagree. More than any other topic, matters of government ethics and accountability are exactly the sorts of issues the public should vote on. This issue falls under the same category as elected officials' term limits, salaries, and qualifications, all of which should be determined by the people to whom the officials are responsible. I suspect the Republicans think the stronger restrictions will receive the blessing of the public, and that's why they want to keep the item off the ballot. I am pretty sure they are right. But that is no excuse. We entrust the Council with decision-making authority that affects our everyday lives; in return, they ought to trust us to decide the guidelines by which they must abide if they wish to be granted that power.

Lincoln has been blessed with "bad" neighborhoods that aren't really all that bad. On the one hand, that's a good thing. A lot of communities would love to be in our position. On the other hand, several of the "bad" neighborhoods could very easily take a tumble. It could realistically be something as simple as the wrong person moving into somebody else's turf, setting off a chain reaction of events that could drag an entire neighborhood down a few notches. Mayor Chris Beutler's "Stronger Safer Neighborhoods" program is intended to help back some of Lincoln's neighborhoods away from the brink. The heart of the initiative -- restoring housing, increasing commercial activity, and reducing crime -- is solid. The Lincoln Police Department will oversee the effort, but it will take a lot more than a strong police presence to make a long-term difference. I get the impression that Police Chief Tom Casady truly understands that -- as opposed to just saying that he understands it -- but it'll take a community-wide effort to really get things moving. Some of you are excited about diving in and helping out. Good for you. For those of you who aren't so giddy about getting your hands dirty, let me offer you a simple and relatively passive way you can help out: shop. That's right, do business in these neighborhoods. You get something out of the deal (a good or service), the neighborhood gets something out of the deal (wages, profit), everybody wins. As a bonus, economic activity helps to address one of the major causes of neighborhood decline: poverty. More economic activity means more jobs means less poverty ... and so on. Sure, in reality it takes a while for that progression to play out. But it can and does happen. Here's your thinking question of the day: Let's say we had a choice between putting a large amount -- say, $50 million -- toward either a new arena, or a massive, community-wide economic stimulus package. Which would have the greater affect on the community? What are the ups and downs of each?

A recent survey says Barack Obama could split Nebraska's electoral votes. I'm not convinced. I'm not at all surprised that a survey says he could win a couple districts, but I'm hesitant to put my money on him actually performing that well at the polls. What do you think? On the other hand, it seems obvious to me that Hillary Clinton wouldn't stand a chance in Nebraska. And indeed, the survey indicates just that. It would take a monumental screw-up on John McCain's part to put Clinton within even 10 points of a district in Nebraska.

Where the heck did those three inches of snow come from? I certainly wasn't expecting to see so much white stuff on the ground. I woke up at 4:00am to check on Robbie, and I thought to myself, "There's only one reason it could be so bright outside at this time of day". Sure enough, we'd been blanketed. At least it was the light and fluffy stuff. Clearing the driveway and sidewalks was a breeze.

Boy, Robbie sure had a rough day yesterday. After a promising start, he spent most of the day as a ragdoll on the couch. He didn't even have the energy to sit up by himself. The worst came around dinner time when his fever peaked at 104.5. Fortunately, it dropped after that, and by 10:30 it was down to 99.5. This morning Robbie seems to be fever-free. He still doesn't have the energy to walk very far (or even the ability to stand still without wobbling), and he's only about 50% of his normal self. But he's doing better. Now the countdown is on for either The Missus or me to end up just as sick. The Missus already has a cold, so I think I'll be the lucky recipient of the full shebang. If you enjoy your health, you may want to stay away from me for a few days.

On the positive side, negotiations over the redevelopment project at 14th and Q are ongoing. Unfortunately, it appears they'll keep on going for many more months. That means Lincoln's shiny new high-rise building(s) probably won't see any construction until 2010. Monte Froehlich of Lincoln Synergy Group insists "Plan A" is still in the works, meaning an 18-story building on the southwest corner, and a 15-story building on the northwest corner. The holdups appear to be parking and whatever will line the future plaza at 13th and P. Notably, it appears the City is a primary cause of the slowdown. Insert mock astonished gasp here. In the mean time, we may as well enjoy our giant slab of blacktop. That gets me thinking: we should hold a movie night in the parking lot in honor of the site's former tenant. Hmm...

...the entire family is still in bed at 7:30 a.m. I ended up getting up and not feeling half bad. The Missus just has a bad cold. Robbie -- who spent almost all of yesterday afternoon and evening in a semi-conscious daze -- finally woke up relatively chipper, though his fever is still around 101. The Wilsons have had a pretty healthy winter, so we can't really complain. I just hope we're all in tip-top shape for this weekend's good weather.

Did you hear it? Did you hear the tornado sirens going off just a few moments ago? It's official. Spring is here. Woohoo!

The consultant has spoken, and he says Lincoln should build an arena in the 13,000 - 16,000 seat range. A convention center, on the other hand, isn't such a sure deal. The way I read it, it sounds like Lincoln would do just fine if we stay below the 15,000 seat mark. I don't know much about the arena market, but staying below that number feels a lot more comfortable to me than swinging for the fences. That being said, I'm a huge fan of constructing these sorts of buildings in such a way that additional seats could be added ten or twenty years down the road, if needed. I still feel like Lincoln should strive to dominate the mid-level and small events. So what if we don't win the biggest of the big events? Those events will always go for the latest and greatest facilities. Lincoln might attract a few of those shows in the first five years. After that, they'll become more and more rare. Let the Omaha's and Des Moines' and Kansas Cities fight over the huge spectacles. While they're beating up on each other, we should swoop in and become a formidable player in the market for smaller events. I look at it like the difference between Lincoln's and Omaha's zoos. They are very different creatures, they are both very successful, and they are both very good at what they do. Everybody wins. Whatever ends up getting built, look for a price tag in the $250 million range.