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Arenas and Baseball Stadiums

June 4, 2008 at 8:20am By: Mr. Wilson Posted in The Lincolnite Blog

Have you been paying attention to Omaha’s effort to build a new baseball stadium to replace Rosenblatt? It makes for an interesting contrast with Lincoln’s push to build a new arena.

Both efforts are highly controversial. They share several similarities, in fact. And yet the Omaha stadium is all but a done deal, while Lincoln’s arena still has many, many hurdles to overcome. Why the stark difference in timeline? It’s simply a matter of approach. Omaha used a “shove it down the taxpayers’ throat and get it done yesterday” approach, while Lincoln is opting for the much slower “let the voters decide, but before that, spend enough tax dollars on the project that voters feel like it’s inevitable” approach.

I have only just begun comparing and contrasting the two projects, so I will probably have more observations in the future. What similarities and differences do you see in the two projects? Will either project be helped or hindered by its supporters’ approach?

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The Big Red blues

June 3, 2008 at 6:54pm By: D.M.B. Posted in D.M.B. Sports Report

A year to forget.

State of Evolution

June 3, 2008 at 8:15am By: Mr. Wilson Posted in The Lincolnite Blog

I am a little ashamed to admit that I still haven’t been to the new State Theatre. I have had every intention of stopping by. But y’know, this whole kid thing really changes a guy’s entertainment options.

Showing second-run movies hasn’t proved lucrative for the State, so they’re switching gears a bit. The theater will be different things on different days, ranging from a video gamer’s paradise, to a dance club, to a Husker game day headquarters. I hope the new changes go well for them.

Have you been to the State? Will you plan to go now that they’re making these changes?

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Crash!

June 3, 2008 at 8:00am By: Mr. Wilson Posted in The Lincolnite Blog

Having lived in the area for a few years now, I have followed with interest the periodic grumblings about the intersection of 56th and Elkcrest Drive, between Highway 2 and Pioneers Boulevard. The intersection is one of Lincoln’s most crash-prone. Thing is, I don’t really understand why. It isn’t a complex intersection by any means. Nor is it prone to poor visibility. Quite the opposite, in fact; the intersection sits at the bottom of a hill, so it is very easy to see what to expect as you approach.

I did always wonder why the City didn’t install staggered left turn lights. That is, the light cycle for 56th Street traffic could have been:

Red
Southbound green with turn arrow / northbound red
Green
Southbound red / northbound green with turn arrow

That would have taken some of the pressure off of turning traffic, assuring them an opportunity to turn and decreasing risk-taking. It also would have been a very cheap solution to try out for a couple months.

Nevertheless, enough drivers have not paid attention to what they’re doing that the City finally got fed up and decided to redo the entire intersection. A left turn lane is being added and other parts of the intersection are being reconfigured.

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No New Taxes

June 2, 2008 at 8:44am By: Mr. Wilson Posted in The Lincolnite Blog

“I think they can take that to the bank.”

That’s Mayor Chris Beutler (sort of) assuring Lincolnites that property taxes won’t be used to pay for the new arena. The big question is: can we do it?

For now, nobody knows. We do know that Omaha didn’t fare so well with their plans to minimize the use of property taxes. Omaha’s big mistake was allowing consultants to overhype the Qwest’s potential. Unfortunately, those consultants get off without any accountability. Instead, the taxpayers get screwed. That isn’t unusual. It only takes a few minutes of research to come up with examples of the same sort of overselling and under-performance at arenas, ballparks, and similar projects all across the country. In Nebraska, our other classic example is the infamous Great Platte River Road Archway.

On the other hand, Haymarket Park has been a pretty decent success. Maybe Lincoln knows what it’s doing with these big projects. Or maybe we just got lucky. I don’t know.

Regardless of whether property taxes are used to pay for the new arena directly, let’s not forget that property taxes could very easily be used to indirectly fund the project. The arena may very well rely on other funding sources on paper. But if those funding sources used to cover services that now have to rely on property taxes instead ...

City officials say they are using “conservative” estimates of the arena’s performance. Great. Hopefully they are also being conservative about things like construction costs, construction timelines, and so on. And hopefully those estimates are actually conservative, not simply the least outrageous of the hype-ridden possibilities. Presumably the public will have access to some of the City’s estimates prior to next year’s vote. Sure, they could just say, “The numbers work out, trust us!”. But if they are not honest with voters, then that opens the door for anti-arena types to more easily disseminate their own outrageous claims. The City has put way too many resources into this to not be honest with us. If an arena is a good idea, it should sell itself.

What’s your take on Mayor Beutler’s (quasi) promise not to use property taxes to fund the arena project?

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