Lincolnite

I'm not nearly as opposed to the proposal to build housing for mentally ill residents in the Salt Creek floodplain as many others seem to be. Population that needs housing + a place for that housing = sounds good to me. Ok ok, it's not that simple. But why shouldn't it be? The main complaint seems to be that the housing will flood. Well, yeah, it is in a floodplain after all. But aren't there very simple methods to prevent that? Like bringing in dirt and building up the area under the homes? If there's a flood, they'll have their own private island for a while. That doesn't seem so bad. And even if the houses to flood, it's not like folks with mental illnesses are stupid. They'll just evacuate. Or go upstairs. Of course, if they aren't bringing in dirt, why the heck are they proposing to build there? Because somebody in the flood insurance business has a vote on the City Council? Unfortunately the news I've seen and heard about the proposal doesn't mention raising the area five feet. I haven't seen any reference to extra dirt at all. If it's true that the plan is just to build in the floodplain and roll the dice, that sounds risky. I think others have already tried that experiment. Early results from the lab haven't looked good.

I don't buy into the argument that follows the pattern "If you have nothing to hide, what's the big deal?" Sometimes it's right to refuse to do something, even though doing it would cause you no harm or hardship. Still, when you're the most hard-headed among all Catholics in the country -- as the Lincoln Diocese is on the subject of sex abuse in the church -- well, that's saying something. On that topic the Lincoln Diocese is back in the news, as Call to Action members were denied the ability to sneak petitions into a U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meeting. It's not quite the press you'd like Lincoln to receive, but whaddayagonna do. I knew the Lincoln Diocese forbids girls from assisting at services, but I didn't realize it's the only one in the country to have that policy, too. I don't know a whole lot about Bishop Fabian Bruskewitz, but I suspect he is not often described as "progressive". At least the guy has -- or wants to appear to have -- principles.

The University of Nebraska-Lincoln was ranked the #8 "Best Place to Work in Academia" by The Scientist. UNL jumped from #28 in 2004 to #8 this year and received some nice press as a result. Good peer relationships and strong research support helped boost Nebraska this year. Congratulations, UNL!

I can only imagine how angry most Nebraskans will be when they hear that an illegal immigrant and his family may get a free ticket to stay in the U.S. The only requirement? He has to cooperate with police. He has already been doing that. I wonder if Lexington will welcome him back with open arms?

I hope you didn't plan to cross the Harris Overpass into or out of Downtown today. Or tomorrow. Or any time until about a year from now...

Aaargh, Alltel's cell phone service has been crappy these last few days, and it was especially bad yesterday afternoon and evening. Unconnected calls; calls that say they connect but never really do; calls that connect on the caller's end but not on the receiver's end; incorrect caller ID information; and so on. I haven't had problems with my cell phone service in ages so I'll give them a break for now. But that doesn't mean this customer doesn't expect an apology of some sort. I accept apologies in the form of discounts and/or service upgrades. Unsurprisingly, Alltel's website is silent on the problem. The LJS comments, not so much.

Lincoln has been rated the nation's top "digital city" (population 125,000 - 249,000) by the Center for Digital Government. I'll admit I'm surprised. True, InterLinc offers lots of online services and plenty of information. But I can think of many ways Lincoln could improve its digital offerings. Then again, that's not such a bad thing. If we've already got the ball rolling, it will be much easier to keep it rolling. Imagine if we were one of the bottom tier cities trying to catch up...

Mayor Beutler on Wednesday booted Karl Fredrickson as Public Works director, and on Thursday named Greg MacLean the new head of the department. Public Works isn't one of the departments you're going to hear a lot of praise about, but whether or not the somewhat negative reputation is deserved is a topic worthy of debate. In any event, keep an eye on news coming out of Public Works, especially after the new year. It'll be interesting to see what Mr. MacLean has in store.

Some of you might remember that JournalStar.com underwent a facelift about a year ago. But as many of us noted, the new site was missing RSS feeds. I had a good conversation about it with Online Editor Steve Smith and he told me more about the company's position on RSS, the technical hurdles they faced, and his own personal opinion about it all. Tonight Mr. Smith contacted me to let me know that JournalStar.com finally has RSS feeds. I have only just briefly looked at the feeds so I don't know details like if they are updated in real time and so on. But with just a quick glance it looks like the feeds are nicely separated by topic. The notes on the page indicate that the feeds can be displayed on "non-commercial" websites. Lincolnite is, for now, non-commercial, but hopefully that won't be the case for long. I'll need to have a chat with the LJS folks to determine if I will be able to display the feeds here, and under what terms.

Schaefer's has moved across the street to their new location at 46th and R. The new store opens this morning at 10:00am. Schaefer's will keep the old building as their service and warehouse location. Many of you have shopped at Schaefer's, and most of you have at least heard of it. (Surely you remember their annoying "Christmas in July" commercials!) Schaefer's consistently ranks as one of Lincoln's favorite places to buy appliances and electronics. Congratulations on the move and expansion, Schaefer's!

I'll admit I was a little nervous about his return -- I have more faith in the Mercury capsules than I do in the hunk of junk we call the space shuttle -- but Clay Anderson and the Discovery crew made it home safely yesterday. Good job, Clay! Anderson had been in orbit for 152 days. Look for a hero's welcome when he makes it back to Nebraska. It would be cool if he could make it to Saturday's football game, but that's probably too soon.

If you like data about Lincoln, you'll like this...

Centennial Mall bugs me. It is ugly as sin, and it is so woefully wasted as a potential community gathering point. It represents some of the best real estate in the city and the best we can do is offer cracked, inaccessible pathways and broken down fountains. Harrumph. I would love to be on a committee tasked with redesigning Centennial Mall. There are four main segments. (Let's ignore the question of whether we should "de-street" the segment between M and P Streets.) Within those four segments I would create a tour of Nebraska. Some of the features I would mix and match include:

1. A stream of water stretching north to south through all of the segments, representing the Platte River. Where it dips underground (i.e. at street crossings) it would represent our underground water resources.
2. In one segment, several small, shallow pools, representing the state's small lakes, ponds, and reservoirs.
3. Real or simulated wagon wheel ruts, representing the pioneers.
4. Native grasses and flowers.
5. Sandstone formations for climbing and sitting.
6. A traditional band stand, representing the city parks in towns across the state.
7. A play area for kids, preferably near the Children's Museum.
8. Some flat areas, some rolling "hills".
9. Several small sculptures, or better yet, one single sculpture that ties together the four segments.

It sounds a little disorganized, I know. That's how my brain works when it's dumping ideas. It probably looks better in my head than it does in list format. I should draw it out sometime. What would your ideal Centennial Mall look like?

Former Councilman Terry Warner's living wage ordinance may be headed to its end, at least if Jon Camp has anything to say about it. Camp wants to chip away at the ordinance by exempting non-profit groups. I'm sure his druthers is to ditch it altogether, but such a proposal would likely face the wrath of Mayor Beutler's veto pen. Lincolnites haven't made much of a fuss about the impact of the living wage ordinance. Every now and then we hear that bids for various projects came in higher than expected in part due to the ordinance, but so far that has done little more than arouse a subdued grumble or two. I suspect Camp's proposed change will have the same effect on the general population. What's your take on the living wage ordinance?

The news is a bit premature, but it looks like Lincoln's EMS will make a small profit this year. The folks at LFR are likely issuing a strong "Hallelujah!", considering the rough times the department has been through. Just think: Only five more years of nothing but good news, and LFR may begin to re-earn some of the credibility it shed these past several years.