Lincolnite

The Missus and I did something last night we don't do very often: we hired a babysitter and went out for a nice meal during which neither of us had to say the words "sit down" or "eat your supper". We opted to go to 9 South Chargrill, one of our local favorites. The Missus went with the tuna melt ($7.00), which she said was fantastic, and a salad. I chose the teriyaki salmon ($13) with garlic mashed potatoes and mixed veggies (yellow squash, red bell pepper, broccoli). I wish I had taken a photo because the food was quite picturesque on my plate; it tasted as good as it looked. As we were leaving, The Missus and I talked about how 9 South is a bit of an enigma. The property formerly housed auto repair shops and used car lots, hardly the sort of place you would expect to look for a nice meal. Tina's Cafe, located just down the street, seems a perfect fit for that chunk of South Street. 9 South, on the other hand, seems better suited to a location on South Street closer to the Country Club neighborhood. And the size! 9 South is such a tiny space. Yet it works, and it works very well. The worst thing I've ever heard someone say about 9 South is that "it's ok", whereas most folks seem to think the food, service, and atmosphere is quite good. That all makes me wonder if there are "rules" about making a business succeed where you wouldn't expect it to. I suspect there's an element of misdirection involved -- if you offer up the right distractions, people will either forgive the "wrong" location or even fail to notice it altogether. What other examples of businesses in "wrong" locations can you think of in Lincoln? Do they share any commonalities?

In her column today, Deena Winter initially calls "preposterous" the idea that Lincolnites might volunteer their time and donate goods to support the city through difficult financial times. It's not unreasonable of her to think such a thing. As she notes, Lincolnites are no fan of taxes. Why would we willingly subject ourselves to what amounts to a tax by another name? Simple. People are more generous in two situations: First, people tend to be more generous when they get something in return for whatever they give. That's why so many fundraisers give donors a gift in return for their donation. That Tootsie Roll the bell ringers give you in December? The chance to enter a raffle? That brick in the sidewalk? All are examples of donors receiving something tangible for their gift. Few people will write a $40 check to an organization. Raise the cost to $50 and throw in a fancy meal and you've got yourself a full house of eager donors. Second, people are more generous when they know exactly where the thing they give is headed. People don't like taxes not just because we are forced virtually at gunpoint to pay them. (Yes, at gunpoint. If you don't pay taxes for long enough, who shows up at your door? That's right, dudes with guns.) People also don't like taxes because it's so easy to think that their little contribution does nothing in the grand scheme of things. If I already think that my $100 isn't doing any good -- or worse, is being wasted -- then I will resent any increase because that's just more of my money that disappears into the abyss. On the other hand, if I know that my $100 bought that pair of gloves for that fire fighter which protected her hands in that fire, allowing her to help save that family ... it's easy to see how a person would feel pretty good about that. Let's put this all together and imagine a simple fundraiser for the City. Imagine if B&R Stores started a Feed the Firefighter campaign. Their goal: cover 100% of grocery costs for local firehouses for a year. To raise the cash, cashiers would ask each person at checkout, "Would you like to give a dollar to feed a firefighter?" Folks who donate would get to write their name on a paper cutout of a fire engine which would then be taped to a wall at the store. Donors would also get a sticker that says "I Fed a Firefighter Today" -- not unlike the classic "I Voted Today" stickers. I wouldn't be surprised if the goal were met in a couple weeks. If you expand that concept even just a little, I suspect you could see quick and impressive results. Similar programs are already reasonably successful. Consider the Adopt-a-Mile trash pick-up program, for example, and Lincoln Cares. One of the keys, in my opinion, is being sure to send the message that for maximum effect the efforts should be ongoing. We won't do ourselves much good if we only get ourselves fired up for a month. Lincolnites are willing to get behind local rally-the-community efforts. Take a look at Tour de Lincoln, or the aftermath of a typical Cindy Lange Kubick column. With the right approach, there's no reason we couldn't do our city a lot of good by taking a few things into our own hands.

Drat. The Lincoln City Council won't get any extra spice this round, because "Dr." John Haltom won't be on the ballot. Not that he was probably going to win a seat anyway. I suppose less likely things have happened... I wasn't so much rooting for the Doctor on the issues as I was for the sideshow he represented. Politics is too often far too boring. When people like John Haltom show up it gets the public interested. One hopes that as a side effect voters also learn a bit about the issues. Voters tend to be frighteningly ignorant when they head to the polls. Anything that gets a little actual data into their heads -- as opposed to merely biases and preconceived notions -- is a good thing in my book.

I hope Marvin Eduardo Carias is the man who killed Nathan Johns. If he is, then the Lincoln Police Department has taken a murderer off the streets. It sounds, however, like the case is far from closed. We'll have to wait and see how the case evolves. In the article, I noticed one of my little pet peeves. The article says

Just before 11 p.m., police read [Carias] his Miranda rights, and he invoked them, refusing to talk, according to the affidavit for his arrest.

It may seem trivial to most of you, but I don't like the use of the word "refusing" in that sentence. It makes the act of invoking a fundamental right sound obstinate, rather than admirable. Why not "declining" or "choosing not" instead? If you watch the media closely, you will see some interesting word selection patterns, of which this is just one example. Most of it is the sort of unconscious word selection bias we all display in our daily lives. Trouble is, one reporter's word choice affects countless individuals' perceptions of a story. I would like to see media organizations make a conscious effort not to portray the invocation of rights as an act of rebellion or obstinance. Rather, I would like to see a more active celebration of those rights. The legal system is far from perfect. Knowing and using your rights could very well spare you or someone you know a heap of trouble.

Would you be surprised to learn that it is legal for the State of Nebraska to steal cash from you without convicting you of anything or even charging you with a crime, and without any legal due process? All the government needs is a "belief" that the cash was gained illegally. They don't need proof, and they don't need to take you to court. They can literally gather up your money and walk away. Which is odd, because I thought there were rules about that sort of thing.

I like to give kudos to local businesses that provide excellent customer service, products, or both. Today I want to offer a tip o' the hat to The Grain Bin, located near 48th and Highway 2 in the Briarhurst Shopping Center. I have enjoyed Grain Bin's products for as long as I can remember them being open. Since moving within a quarter mile we have been fairly regular customers. The Missus and Robbie go there often enough that the folks behind the counter are always ready to offer Robbie a piece of the product of his choice. (The other day he opted for a slice of spinach, artichoke, and cheese bread.) I'm not sure which is my favorite product, but I do know that I first came to love Grain Bin via their honey wheat bread. Good stuff. Are you a Grain Bin fan? Which is your favorite bakery in town?

The Journal Star editorial board isn't exactly a prime place to look for ideological consistency or logical reasoning, and today's editorial shows why. The editors have long been strong supporters of smoking bans. So naturally they should oppose the "cigar bar exemption" currently working its way through the Unicameral, right? Wrong:

A few cigar bars in Nebraska would be tolerable under a narrowly drafted exemption to the state smoking ban.

That's odd. After years of demonizing tobacco, what made them change their minds?

But allowing members of the public to light up a favorite Montecristo with a martini or a brandy snifter close at hand in the company of like-minded companions in a public bar strikes us as a worthy broadening of community options.

Oh! I get it now. It's fine if people who drink expensive alcohol while smoking expensive tobacco products want to gather with "like-minded companions" in a public bar. It's not fine if people who drink cheap beer and smoke Marlboros want to hang out with their buddies in a public bar. What a bunch of elitist bull excrement. Seriously, Journal Star editors, this is really pathetic. Your argument -- like-minded adults should be permitted to smoke in a reasonably-regulated environment -- is exactly the argument you should be using to oppose any smoking ban. And yet here you are trying to have it both ways: connoisseurs of snooty products should get a pass, while those silly blue collar types should suck it up and smoke outside. How do you justify freedom for some, but not for all? In related news, I spent 90 minutes in the presence of smokers on Friday, at a bar in Fremont. Oddly enough, nobody forced me to go inside and nobody forced me to stay. It was almost as though I were free to decide whether or not to patronize the business, and the business were free to decide whether it would allow its customers to smoke in the presence of "like-minded companions". What a refreshing concept, even if the air quality was awful.

I hope those of you with lots of yard waste in your yard had a productive weekend, because you're about to be charged extra for your grass and leaves. Tomorrow is the last day you can get away with not separating grass and leaves from your regular trash. Of course, trashing compostable waste isn't a very eco-friendly thing to do. Are you sure you don't have another option?

Did I see a crane flying toward Holmes Lake last night? I was driving south on 70th Street when a bird that resembled a crane flew over the road. I couldn't get a good look because the car in front of me wasn't being managed by the most competent driver on the road. It was probably one of Holmes Lake's more common long-legged visitors. If it was a crane, somebody should point out to him that his buddies are all a ways west of here.

When I saw the headline "Chambers wants electric chair" this morning, the first thing I thought was: And plenty of Nebraskans want to grant him his wish. Then I read the article. Oh, that's different.

Look, I agree with the Platte Institute's position that some of Nebraska's spending and tax policies are out of whack. I also agree that some of Nebraska's public school structures are anachronistic and inefficient. But I have a hard time giving the report (PDF) a fair shake because I get distracted by one of the suggestions:

Consider increasing the student-teacher ratio in Nebraska’s public school classrooms

The single most effective and simplest policy to improve public education would be to decrease the student-teacher ratio; increasing the ratio might be an effective short-term money saver, but over time the costs of a diminished school experience in Nebraska would hurt us dearly. Mine is not a reflexively pro-public school opinion. On the contrary, over the past few years my opinion of public schooling has soured considerably. One of the reasons: public school teachers too frequently do not have the resources they need to effectively teach the kids in their classrooms. Increasing the student-teacher ratio will only make that problem worse. Seeing a noted economist propose what is, to me, such a transparently terrible "solution" to Nebraska's problems makes it very difficult for me to take the rest of the report seriously. What do you think of the report? Is it more right than wrong, or more wrong than right?

I get the feeling Shoemaker family gatherings are a little tense these days, what with a nephew building a new truck stop at NW 48th and O to directly compete with his uncle's place, and the uncle filing a lawsuit related to the matter. The lawsuit is interesting to me. Is it common for a lease agreement to stipulate that all tenant improvements to a property remain the property of the landlord? I also wonder about the location of the new truck stop. If I had to pick a location in town for a brand new truck stop, I think I would have gone for 56th Street / Highway 77 and I-80. Not that I know anything about traffic patterns either there or on NW 48th Street. It just feels like a better spot, what with the intersection of the highway and interstate, and the nearby industrial areas.

The Missus and I made a quick trip up 48th Street yesterday evening to visit Boston Market and Schaefer's. I only get to Boston Market about once each year, if that often. Yet every time I go I leave fairly impressed. When you strip it down to its essentials, Boston Market is basically just a fast food joint. From that perspective, BM has to be near the front of the pack. The facility is clean and inviting. The crew working last night were friendly and efficient. The quality of the food was high and it was presented well. The whole experience goes along pretty well until they hand you your food on a plastic plate, along with plastic utensils in a flimsy plastic wrapper. Prices are on the high side for fast food, but I think what you get is worth it. For example I ordered meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a piece of corn bread for $7, while Robbie's mac & cheese, fruit, corn bread and milk were $3.70. Next stop: Schaefer's. I hadn't been to Schaefer's new facility yet. I was very impressed. It is a wonderful showroom for appliances (we didn't get to the electronics side of the store). Yet something was off. Despite their commercials' promise that "the only thing better than our prices is our service", after 15 minutes of looking at refrigerators we weren't approached by a single sales person. For that matter, we didn't even see a sales person. It wasn't like we were lurking in the shadows; we had a two year-old with us, after all. I'm willing to brush aside the lack of attention as an uncommon glitch. But the experience at Schaefer's does stand in contrast to our subsequent visit to Lowe's. At Lowe's we were quickly asked if we needed any help; the salesman answered my question knowledgeably; he told us about an upcoming sale (bonus points!); and then he left us alone when I said that's all the help we needed. Good stuff.

LPS Superintendent Susan Gourley will call it quits in June 2010. Plenty of LJS commenters are either happy to see her go or furious that she will have only been here six years. I don't have any specific beefs with Dr. Gourley. I don't care for some of LPS's priorities, but LPS was and remains a decent school system. Most of my complaints about public education have little to do with the district's superintendent; instead, the state, the feds, and the culture of public education get most of my ire. I'm curious to hear what my friends and family in LPS will have to say about Dr. Gourley's retirement. I can imagine there will be no shortage of opinions within LPS. What do you think about Dr. Gourley and her eventual departure?