Lincolnite

I found out today from Jeff Korbelik that Yia Yia's has updated its menu. That caught me by surprise, considering that Yia Yia's isn't the sort of place that screams "change". If anything, Yia Yia's is all about not updating just for giggles. I mean, check out that interior! From the looks of it, Yia Yia's new menu does a good job of keeping the old around, while adding some new and worthwhile options to the mix. I can't wait to try The Polynesian ("marinara and bbq sauce with cranberries, jalapeños, black olives, pineapple, bacon, pepperoni, cream cheese + provolone"). I'm also a sucker for a good baked potato, and Yia Yia's added some options there as well. The timing of the menu change (and Korbelik's feature) is interesting. Downtown Lincoln's dining options have really taken off over the past couple years, including a couple new pizza options. Was Yia Yia's business starting to slip a bit, I wonder? Or did owner Nader Sepahpur just feel the time was right to do a little sprucing up? As long as he's in the change mode, I wonder if I could talk him into opening a second Yia Yia's location in College View. Just think of all those hungry vegetarian Seventh Day Adventists! The beer selection might not go over as well in that neighborhood, though...

It seems that despite earlier reports (rumors?) to the contrary, next-day mail delivery will not go away after upcoming changes to local postal services. Our mail will head up the road to Omaha to be processed and postmarked, but Lincoln-to-Lincoln mail will still be delivered the next day. Supposedly. There are many things wrong with the postal service and I don't pretend to have any answers to the big questions it faces. I do, however, think it's a shame that they haven't already moved to mandatory multi-unit boxes (or whatever they're called) rather than door-to-door or streetside delivery. Dropping off mail at every address in town is remarkably inefficient. Think of the millions that would be saved in fuel costs alone! Then again, millions are mere pennies (so to speak) compared to USPS's overall situation. All of these changes at USPS make me wonder if they're second-guessing not closing down the Haymarket post office to make way for the arena. After all, there's a nonzero chance that facility will be kaput within the next five or ten years. For once USPS could have been ahead of the curve rather than behind. Alas, it was not to be. Instead, that building is left to sit in the shadow of the latest and greatest developments going up. How symbolic.

Here's the audio from my appearance with Leigh Esau and Joan Kinsey on the Jack & John Show this morning. It was a blast, as always. Thank you, Jack and John, for having us on the show. And thank you Leigh and Joan for joining me on relatively short notice. I like to think that we made at least a little bit of difference. The Missus was approached this morning at the Y by a woman who said she had heard the show. She had pondered forster parenting for a while, but she hadn't quite been able to pull the trigger on getting licensed. After listening to us on the radio, she decided to give it a try. Thank you, anonymous woman, for taking that next step. Remember folks, if any of you are thinking about getting into foster parenting or if you want to support foster children in some way but you aren't quite sure how, I'm here to help.

I will be on Jack & John (KLIN 1400AM) tomorrow morning starting around 8:00am to talk about foster parenting and related issues. Also appearing will be Leigh Esau and Joan Kinsey, both of whom are passionate foster parents. Please tune in! And remember, even if you don't have a radio or you're out of KLIN's coverage area, you can listen online.

Lincoln's favorite roadway design has won an engineering award. That's right, you haters out there. At least somebody loves the roundabouts outside Memorial Stadium. I don't have a big opinion of the roundabouts myself. I like roundabouts in general and in the right circumstances. I haven't traveled in this specific area very much, though, and not at all during periods of heavy traffic flow, either before or after the installation of the roundabouts. (Driving through them when there's nobody else around, as I've done to date, isn't particularly exciting.) Actually, the only thing I don't like about driving in that area is that when you leave the parking lot just north of Memorial Stadium, you can't turn left (southwest) onto Salt Creek Roadway, and you can't (legally) do a u-turn at 14th Street. That means I usually have to do a loop through Downtown rather than just going straight over to 9th Street as I'd prefer. Bleh.

Dear Self, Please stop reading the comments on articles over at JournalStar.com. You know how it causes your brain to seize up, and the frustration, anger, confusion, and complete loss of hope for the future of humanity you experience while reading the comments only puts you in a sour mood. And don't get yourself started thinking about all of the spelling and grammar errors! Instead of torturing yourself by reading the comments, how about doing something more productive with your time? Possibilities include:

• Smash your head against the basement wall to create holes for the egress windows you plan to install
• Count the number of hairs on Daisy the Wonder Schnoodle's back
• Eat gravel
• Engage in omphaloskepsis

Please, Self. I beg you. Yours, Me

Fans of Wilderness Park should keep March 17th circled on their calendars for the upcoming Run for the Bridges benefit trail run. A marathon, half-marathon, and 6-mile run will be held to raise proceeds for the various bridges that need repair work throughout Wilderness Parks. The registration deadline is March 7th. The run starts at the day camp area at 1st and Park, and will then go south past Old Cheney. Timing chips will be donated by the Lincoln Track Club. All entrants will receive a string bag for participating in the run. This sounds like a pretty cool, low-key event. Even though there will be timing, in events like this walkers are encouraged, and I imagine that many of the runners will join just to help benefit the cause and not for competitive reasons. Hopefully by then the trails will be reasonably dry!

You'll be shocked to hear that Whole Foods is the grocer being discussed to go in to the new LPS project at 59th and O Streets. That was one of the worst-kept secrets in recent memory in Lincoln. The only remaining question, I suppose, is will it actually happen? Momentum seems to suggest that yes, it will. But we'll see. If nothing else we now have solid evidence that Whole Foods is shopping in the Lincoln market, and we have a rough idea of the sort of location they're looking at. Even if this particular project doesn't work out -- and I'm not aware of any good reason to think it won't -- we can be fairly certain Whole Foods is going to show up somewhere eventually. That'll make many locals giddy.

I don't know all the facts of the case. I wasn't on the jury. I didn't investigate the case. I wasn't there at the time of the crime. But after the conviction of Armon Dixon based largely on his selection out of a photo line-up, this MSNBC piece seems relevant.

Which would you rather pay: property tax or sales tax? Mayor Beutler wants to lower your property tax rate in exchange for raising the sales tax rate by a portion of a cent. A 3 cent deduction in the property tax rate (ten-ish percent) would save the average homeowner about $45 per year and cost the City about $5 million. Meanwhile, a half-cent increase in the sales tax would bring in about $19 million annually. One of Beutler's goals with the suggestion is to provide property tax relief, since that's such a popular refrain among voters. I'm not so sure they meant "provide property tax relief ... while charging me more for everything I buy", but perhaps I've misunderstood them. Voters are pretty goofy, after all. It's not clear just how much extra a person could be expected to pay under an increased sales tax plan, or how regressive or progressive it would be relative to the property tax. Anybody who buys anything pays sales tax; anybody who owns or rents property pays property tax. Both scenarios cover pert near everyone. One of the "special projects" that could be funded if extra revenue were generated is the South Beltway. I would argue that the South Beltway should be filed under "mandatory projects" rather than "special projects", but let's not get wrapped up in semantics. The point is that we could, hypothetically, find ourselves able to pay for things we aren't otherwise able to afford. Important, necessary things. I'll gladly pay a couple extra cents on my weekly Oso Burrito trip if it means making those projects happen. On the other hand, there are of course no guarantees right now that any extra revenue wouldn't go toward what might be called in voterspeak "red tape". I'm not exactly sure what that would look like, but if Lincolnites think that's what would happen, it would be poison to Beutler's plan. Perhaps he could pinkie swear that all the projects paid for by the extra revenue would be awesome. Is the tax swap a good idea in your eyes?

Ivanna Cone is hosting a fundraiser for the William G. Lauer Foundation on February 28 from 6pm to 9pm. The foundation supports individuals living with ALS in Nebraska. For a $10 donation, attendees get to sample 30 flavors of ice cream. Last year's event raised over $2,000. Ivanna Cone offers the best ice cream in Lincoln, but the toughest part of going there is deciding which flavor of ice cream to order. At the fundraiser you won't have to decide -- try 'em all! That's my kind of fundraiser.