Lincolnite

All you folks who've been itching for better taxi options in Lincoln are probably giddy over news that three Omaha-based cab companies have submitted applications to service Lincoln. Indeed this is good news, but let's not get too excited just yet. For one thing, there's exactly zero chance that four separate cab companies can be successful in Lincoln at the same time. The economics of it don't make sense. Don't be surprised if one or more of the newcomers doesn't even finish the application process. Entering a new market is a risk. Entering a new market at the exact same time as two other competitors is insane. Methinks we're going to witness a game of chicken. Will anybody blink? Or will all three new companies be stubborn and go ahead and start serving Lincoln, only for one or more of them to bow out later? Also remember that Lincoln's service provider can protest the applications, dragging them into a lengthy legal process. That's what happened back in 2006 when OMALiNK tried to enter the Lincoln market. At that time, would-be competitors used a number of lame arguments for keeping OMALiNK out. They all boil down to simple protectionism: existing companies want the Public Service Commission to protect them at the expense of newcomers and, arguably, consumers. For as many complaints as there are about cab service in Lincoln, it boggles my mind that the current provider, Servant, hasn't increased service availability. There are two possibilities. One is that Servant is run by incompetent baboons who wouldn't recognize an opportunity to grow their business if it stared them in the face. The other is that the opportunity for expansion in Lincoln isn't as lucrative as a group of intoxicated frat boys would like to believe. As with most things I suspect the truth lies somewhere between those two extremes. A year from now we'll have a better feel for the answer.

Some State Senators are in a huff because KVC requested extra funds -- to the tune of $1.8 million -- or it was going to put in its 90 days notice as one of Nebraska's lead child welfare providers. Sen. Bob Krist says that's extortion. I say his ire is misdirected. What Krist calls extortion I call a bribe from HHS to keep the Department out of the deepest pile of poo it has ever been in. After all, although KVC has done a lot of things wrong in the child welfare reform debacle, it's not like they were given a great foundation to work from. Frankly, I'm shocked they've stayed around as long as they have. It won't surprise me in the least if they don't survive through the end of 2012, whether because they leave on their own or because the Unicameral gives them the boot. Buried at the bottom of the World-Herald's version of this story is a bit about how HHS actually started working on a change to how KVC is paid "a year ago", yet HHS head Kerry Winterer doesn't know why no changes have been made. Could swifter action on HHS's part have prevented this? Could it have prevented some of the hiccups experienced in 2011? Considering how quickly HHS is moving to enact changes now -- they want a new system in place by the end of January -- one has to assume the answer to those questions is yes. It's hard to believe how Kerry Winterer still has a job. And don't get me started on Governor Dave Heineman, who ultimately is the primary driving force behind all of this yet who has managed to escape almost all accountability. The timing of this announcement is horrible for HHS. They already had an uphill battle to try to convince the Unicameral to butt out and leave Families Matter alone. This may be the 1.8 million straws that broke the camel's back.

You can tell a lot about a politician by observing how they distort reality to fit their agenda. To be honest, we all are guilty of it to a certain degree. But most of us only affect ourselves and our families when we do it. Elected officials affect all of us. Consider Senator Bill Avery and his proposal to tax pop (LB 753). In Sen. Avery's curious version of reality "there is no logical reason to define soft drinks as food", thus it oughtn't enjoy the sales tax exemption enjoyed by carrots, ground beef, and Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. It's not a matter of liquids versus solids, either. Milk, milk substitutes, and 100% fruit or vegetable juice are not considered soft drinks. (It's not clear if a product like V8 Fusion meets the bill's criteria. The bill describes "one hundred percent vegetable or fruit juice" [emphasis added], whereas V8 Fusion is vegetable and fruit juice. The programmer side of me sees a big problem there.) Contrary to Avery's assertion, there is a perfectly logical reason to define soft drinks as food. Simply: it's something humans eat. Well, we drink it, but that's a distinction without a difference. What Sen. Avery actually means to say is that soft drinks are, in his view, "bad", and their use should therefore be punished. He wants a sin tax, in other words. We're surrounded by sin taxes in one form or another so it's not like this is something new. I'm not a fan of them. To the extent that they recoup actual costs associated with "harm" caused by the product or activity they aren't inherently awful. But far too often sin taxes are used for purposes akin to social engineering. Punishing people for what they choose to consume is not my cup of tea. (Tea, by the way, would be subject to taxation under the bill. Even sugar-free products that are nothing more than water and tea.) Sin taxes also tend to have a disproportionate impact on the poor without providing them with any relief. Avery's bill is no exception. I understand Sen. Avery's desire to "do something" about obesity, but his "there oughtta be a law!" approach is misguided. Soft drink taxes have been tried in many places, and yet they haven't been shown to be successful. Why copy a failed approach? Beyond adding $11 million to State expenditures each year, a soft drink tax will accomplish virtually nothing.

...run outside naked:

The man ... told officers he woke up without clothing on, ran outside because he was excited to be alive and was shouting because he was happy

I can't figure out White or Wheat, the sandwich shop near Russ's on 70th and Van Dorn. For one thing, I've never directly run across anybody who has been there. Yet when I ask people about it, many have told me that "a friend" or family member loves it. White or Wheat has never had a proper sign, instead settling for a hodgepodge of window decorations and temporary signs that I would think would embarrass the landlord and its neighbors. And just yesterday as I passed on my way to Oso I noticed that the storefront featured both an "Open" sign and a "For Lease" sign. You don't see those two together very often. Do any of you know anything about White or Wheat? Have you eaten there?

This has nothing to do with Lincoln, but bear with me. Over the past couple weeks we've been reading Brian Selznick's The Invention of Hugo Cabret to our boys. It's absolutely fascinating. I haven't been so into a children's book since ... well, probably since I was a kid. The story itself is fantastic, but there's much more to the book than that. For one thing, the book is written in a very non-traditional style, a sort of quasi-graphic novel approach that combines the written word with beautiful pencil drawings. The story introduced me to Georges Melies, a pioneer in early cinema with whom I was previously unfamiliar. And then there are automata which, as it turns out, are capable of far more advanced things than I ever imagined. In an all-too-uncommon twist, the movie Hugo is an excellent translation of the book to the screen. Whodathunk director Martin Scorsese of all people could pull it off? Our boys love both the book and the movie. I enjoyed both so much that I will most certainly purchase the movie when it comes out, and I've ordered the hard cover (the copy we read was from the library). Check out both if you can.

Wait a second, what is this? Does Lina's have a location at 7th and O? I have all sorts of questions. When did this happen? Is this Lina's associated with the Lina's restaurants formerly located on South 10th and 70th & O? The website mentions margaritas -- does that suggest this location is full-service? If any of you work or live near the Haymarket I'd love if you could swing by and see what's going on. I loved Lina's and I'd be tickled if it has come back. UPDATE: Derek Augustine works at 720 O Street -- supposedly right next to Lina's "740 O Street" location -- and he says he doesn't see any sign of a Lina's nearby. Maybe they mean West O?

It appears that the newest Haymarket parking garage will be located in the vicinity of 7th and O. That location involves an existing surface lot so nobody will need to move out to make way for its construction. Contrast that with one of the alternate locations at 9th and Q where Barry's sits. (Er, used to sit.) I'm not sure which location is best. Lincoln could certainly use a garage in the area of 7th and O. That's been true for years. But when considering not just present circumstances but also the future of the Haymarket, is that location still the best? A substantial part of me says yes, but I can't quite fully convince myself. One thing that most certainly would have been nicer about the 9th and Q location is that existing parking wouldn't have been obliterated during construction. Losing the current lot at 7th and O for several months during construction is going to be a giant pain in the rump for Haymarket visitors.

Have you noticed how many unseasonably large potholes there are around town already? There aren't a lot, at least not in any objective sense. But boy, I've hit a couple doozies that just seem out of place in December. As annoying as that is, at least the City makes it easy for all of us to tell somebody about it. Smartphone users should download the Lincoln ACTION Center app (available for Android and iOS for now; search for "lincoln action center") and use it as needed. You can report problems and even submit a photo and the problem's precise location. Handy stuff. Of the folks I know who've used it, every one of them has said that their problem was resolved within about 48 hours -- some much quicker. Too often we -- and yes, I'm including myself in that "we" -- sit around and gripe about how the City doesn't fix something without realizing that until it gets on a todo list somewhere, it's not going to get fixed. The Lincoln ACTION Center app helps get problems onto one of those lists so that they can be addressed. Use it. Your fellow Lincolnites thank you.

Adoption day is Thursday, so last night a couple ladies from the Foster Care Review Board came over to conduct an exit interview. The Foster Care Review Board is a fantastic organization. They work hard to help improve the child welfare system, and they've done a hell of a job trying to keep up with the disaster of child welfare reform. Last night's meeting gave The Missus and me a chance to reminisce on the ups and downs in our experience with the state's foster care system. I want so badly to tell you about the experiences we've been through and the lessons we've learned. In fact, I just spent a half hour writing some of them out. But I can't do justice to those stories right now. In time I will tell them all. It's important that I tell them. But not today. No, today I'm looking forward. Thursday is a big day for our family. That's the day that five years of pain, uncertainty, and confusion in the child welfare system finally comes to an end for two boys who did nothing to deserve such a crummy start to their lives. The damage from their experiences will be with them forever, but their time with us has already brought them some healing. Given more time, more consistency, and more proof of our long-term commitment to them, I know that they will grow up to become the men they deserve to be.

In the unlikely event you're ever in the same situation as the hatchet-wielding bystander who chased a would-be robber on Saturday night, a piece of advice: attempting to spill the robber's brains on the street is probably not a good idea. Don't get me wrong. Somebody who attempts a robbery at a liquor store deserves a good bop upside the head. But whacking a person on the head with a hatchet ... well that's venturing a bit too close to attempting homicide, and unless somebody's life is in danger right then and there I propose to you that the only person who's going to "win" in that situation is your attorney. I wonder what the thief thinks about all of this. Will he learn his lesson that grabbing a few bucks from the liquor store till isn't worth being chased by a shotgun and a hatchet? Or will he think, "By golly, I was beat in the head with a hatchet and I lived! I'm invincible!". Let's hope the former.