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?
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I’m not the biggest advocate of it, but the arena is money more well spent than a community-wide stimulas package. I’d love to have the arena, but to me it’s a want versus a need.
The reality is, Pershing still pumps money into the economy after 40 or 50 or 60 or however many years it’s been there. A new arena will do that, and then some.
We are already in a community-wide stimulus package called the Antelope Valley Project.
And since we’re throwing around a few hundred million, I still say that kicking the State Fair out of its current home and letting the University build a tech park there will pay benefits for this city and state for decades and generations to come, much more than the fair does.
I’d like to see it stay in Lincoln, at the Lancaster Event Center site and adjacent to it. However, if it goes, it goes. It’s kind of a dying breed.
I hate to agree with Fletch but I do. The State Fair is kinda cool to have in town but we are talking about a second rate event for 2 percent of the year. The research corridor and the types of business and jobs it should attract will have a much larger permanent bonus for the community.
I lived in Portland when they started investing in the “Silicon Forest” area. The living wage jobs and investment led to a resurgence all over town.
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