Lincolnite

Richard Bagby of Lincoln is all in a lather over the Journal Star's advice:

Stealing wireless Internet service from a neighbor is suggested in “A few serious and not-so-serious money-saving tips” (LJS, Jan. 31). That’s outright criminal. It’s not at all funny to list criminal activity as a way to save money, even if tongue in cheek. ... You owe the community an apology.

This may be a stupid question, but is it actually illegal to "steal" wireless internet service from a neighbor's unsecured network? Unethical, yes, but illegal? Does Nebraska have such a law on the books? Does this all fall under the broad definition of wiretapping? Regardless, if you don't have your network secured, shame on you.

You might be interested to know that Mayor Beutler has endorsed Barack Obama in the presidential race. Beutler's decision doesn't seem too surprising to me. His style feels roughly consistent with Obama's -- at least to the extent that you can compare the styles of a mayor and a senator running for president. Of course, Beutler's endorsement means approximately nothing in the grand scheme of things. But hey, you should know for whom your local leaders are stumping.

I don't suspect too many people will mourn the death of Tobacco Hut, but it is interesting to note that it's probably the first business to close at least in part due to the West O bridge reconstruction. According to the Journal Star, it seems that most other businesses are hanging tough, with just a few layoffs or cuts in hours blamed on the bridge. Then again, we're only three months into a one year project. Have you changed your West O travel habits as a result of the bridge work?

Anyone here planning on caucusing this Saturday? I am. I have never done it before and am interested to see what its like. I am a registered Republican, but I can switch over the night of the caucus in order to participate. You can find your caucus location here. Mine will be at the UNL City Campus union, which I imagine will be pretty interesting to witness.

Whether you're a Bread & Cup fan, or you're thinking about trying it, you'll want to read about the Camachos' recent experience.

This Sunday at Duggan's Pub (440 South 11th) there will be a benefit for the family of George Landolt, the infamous George of George's Red Pepper Grill and Crawdaddy's fame. You know, the guy behind quarter tacos, mofo salsa, and the big ass burrito. Landolt died last year of complications from diabetes at the age of 50. George's tacos will be available at the day-long event. Unfortunately, I can't find the details online and our Sunday newspaper already made its way to the recycling bin. I believe the timeline was something like Noon until 10pm. A number of bands will perform, and there will be a silent auction. If any of you happen to still have your Sunday paper handy, could you look up the article and post the details? If nobody posts, I'll give Duggan's a call later today.

The entire time I read about Taco Inn's move to ditch trans fats I shook my head. Does anybody really think trans fats are the biggest problem with Taco Inn's food, or with the restaurants in general? I enjoy the occasional trip to Taco Inn and, frankly, the type of fat attacking my body is one of the last things that worries me about eating there.

The Farmers' Almanac swung for the fences and missed big-time with its prediction of "heavy snow (a foot or more) for North Dakota south to Kansas" between February 1st and 3rd. There has been some snow in the region, but nothing approaching a foot. Drat. I like a good heavy snowfall. Lincoln hasn't had the sort of snow yet this season that gets neighbors outside and working together. Maybe next week.

In an opinion piece for today's LJS, Francis Moul proposes a green 2015 vision of sorts. Mr. Moul is no newby when it comes to environmental issues, so I read the piece with interest. Then I read that Mr. Moul wants to eliminate all gas-powered vehicles from Downtown by 2010. He calls such a move "simple, but traumatic". Traumatic indeed. Talk about a good way to destroy nearly all economic activity in the area, promote sprawl and, ironically, encourage even more driving. Many of Mr. Moul's other ideas are just as unrealistic. Moving sidewalks in our climate? If he can, in our climate, (a) get people to stand on the things and (b) get the things to work reliably, then more power to him. He even goes so far as to claim (without explaining why) there will be less crime in a green Lincoln's future. I honestly can't tell if Mr. Moul is actually serious about this stuff, or if he's just trying to stir the pot a bit. It's tempting to brush aside Mr. Moul's pie-in-the-sky vision as the rantings of a tree-hugging kook. Many of you already have, while others of you are drafting a fiery comment to condemn my use of the term "tree-hugging". Whatever you think of the piece's reasonableness, I suppose it raises some discussion points. First, Lincoln certainly could be more "green", and a "2015 Vision-like" plan wouldn't hurt. If somebody wants to jump in and build support for such a thing, more power to them. But good luck getting much buy-in from Lincolnites for anything but the most basic greenification efforts. Lincolnites will help pick up trash, and you might even talk us into recycling and composting more of our trash. Beyond that? The image of Sisyphus comes to mind. Second, Mr. Moul's goal of making Lincoln "unique" isn't such a bad thing. He wants us to be the greenest city; others want us to be the most wired (or wireless) city, or the city with the best recreational opportunities, or whatever. It could be pretty neat having a national reputation -- as opposed to a single ranking from some magazine or thinktank nobody has ever heard of -- for something like that. Perhaps it's worth having a discussion about what we want to be the best at. Or maybe Lincolnites are perfectly content having Lincoln just be a nice place to live.

Good news, I think: The county jail you had planned to pay $100 million for will now cost you just $65 million. It's not clear to me where 1/3 of the cost disappeared to, but no matter; I don't trust this new number any more than I've trusted any of the figures tossed around by the County Board since this whole thing started. I've been pretty negative about this jail, so let me emphasize the one thing I do agree with. I like that the jail is being built to plan for the county's population 25 years from now. It's always good to plan ahead of course, but that's not the main reason I think it's a good idea. It's a good idea because need estimates seem to almost always come out too conservative. Consider new school construction, where portables pop up the day after a new school opens. Furthermore, legislators are finding more and more reasons to put people in jail for longer. Unless the Drug War ends in the next decade or so, we're just going to need more and more beds in our jails and prison.

A few years ago, I made the prediction that $3.50 was the magic number required to get American drivers to change their driving habits. We just might get there this year. Will my prediction hold true? I don't think so. For one thing, too much time has passed and my prediction hasn't been adjusted to account for changes in the interim. More importantly, $3 gas just isn't all that scary any more. Three bucks, three fifty ... what's the difference? I suspect the magic number is well above four bucks now. By the way, over the past couple weeks gas prices in Lincoln have run about $0.15 higher in Lincoln than in Omaha. Not that I blame the gas stations; I think they should charge as much as people are willing to pay. I just think it's interesting.

Steve Sipple wants to see the AAFL come to town, and he thinks the league would do well here. A new league in any sport is going to have a rough go, as a general rule. Indoor football has had an especially tough time getting a foothold in Lincoln. On the other hand, the Stars and the Salt Dogs are doing just fine, thankyouverymuch. Could a professional football league like the AAFL make it in Lincoln? If you could vote on a team name, what would you vote for? Personally, I don't see how there's any way we could pass up ... The Bugeaters.

Lincoln Electric System wants to raise rates by 5.5% (see the info sheet [PDF]). The Lincoln Employers Coalition and the Lincoln Independent Business Association disagree, preferring a 4% or 4.5% increase. (Well, I'm sure they, like all of us, prefer a 0% increase, but it doesn't sound like that's a viable option.) One of the points of contention is LES's sustainable energy program. Both the LEC and LIBA support a voluntary program -- not unlike Lincoln Cares, I presume -- in which folks decide on their own whether or not to give to the program. My barrier at this point is a lack of information. I'm not sure what the sustainable energy program entails, and why it needs funding of $1 million. If that $1 million will actually do something -- like generate sustainable energy or directly assist in cutting costs -- great. But if it's primarily an informational fund ("You should install CFLs!"), you can probably count me out. I'm reasonably happy with LES's current informational campaigns, and to me, an extra million isn't likely to have sufficient results to justify the costs. But again, I don't have details right now (and I don't see any on LES's website), so this is all hypothetical. What are your thoughts on the rate hike? Should we fight it, live with it, or consider it a bargain?

It has been a while since we've seen a big chunk of land declared blighted in Lincoln. Now we can add nearly a square mile near NW 48th and I-80 to the list of blighted properties. In this case, most of the land is currently dirt. It's difficult to say how perfectly good farmland can be considered dilapidated, but the land does meet the state's definition of blight. As a result, the recently-announced commercial development in that area will be able to take advantage of some nice tax perks. How long will it be before all new developments start seeking blight designations? Sure, some of them might meet the state's definition of blight. But isn't the intent of the law to help spruce up existing portions of the city? Speaking of blight and existing portions of the city, if you haven't been by 9th/10th and South lately, you're in for a shock. The south side of South Street has been cleared out, and construction on the new buildings (an AutoZone and a fast food joint, I believe) has begun. Some people have quibbled over the "quality" of the businesses going in there, but hey, at least somebody is putting money into a stretch of Lincoln that was falling into disrepair.

Are any of you folks planning to give the Lincoln Marathon a shot this year? I love the Lincoln Marathon. I have never run it, but The Missus has. Most of the people look like they're having such fun. Maybe you think that's a rosy interpretation of things, but I don't think so. Most people really seem genuinely happy to be running a marathon or half-marathon, and they're downright ecstatic to finish. Sure, the average runner swears a few times, but if you're twisted enough to try a marathon, you probably think swearing and grunting are just part of the experience. If you are planning to run in this year's marathon, I hope you've started training. May shows up sooner than you think. I can't wait to see Robbie's reaction to all the runners. I bet he'll think it's hilarious that all these crazy adults go streaming down the street for an hour.