Lincolnite

At the end of this morning's show, Jack posed a series of quick questions to Ken and me. Here are two of them, paraphrased a bit: First up, if for the rest of your life you could have only one pizza from some place in Lincoln, what would it be? I answered daVinci's barbecue chicken pizza. I'm not stuck on that answer. I could go with about ten other options. Ken Svoboda chickened out and tried to create a veritable tower of power featuring slices from all of Lincoln's best pizza joints. Not that I blame him. If there's one thing I've discovered after years of blogging, it's that you people are passionate about food. Well then, what would you choose? The next question was something along the lines of: "What intersection in Lincoln do you always try to avoid?" I said 27th and Highway 2 eastbound, though in reality the unpleasantness begins all the way back at 14th. When that stretch gets clogged it stays clogged, thanks in large part to slow-starting semis that dramatically reduce the flow of traffic. It's not unusual to see a mini caravan of semis run a red light -- while accelerating to a speedy 15 miles per hour -- because they've already sat through 3 lights and they're sick of waiting. I can't blame them. Which intersection(s) do you avoid?

I crawled out of bed bright and early this morning to participate in the inaugural Friday Forum on KLIN's Jack & John in the Morning show from 7:00am to 8:00am. Thank you to those of you who tuned in. This was my second appearance on the Jack & John show, though oddly enough I have not yet been in the room with both Jack and John at the same time. [Insert conspiracy theory here.] The first time I chatted with John and our own Dan McGuire for about 30 minutes. This time around Jack invited me to help kick off what he's calling the Friday Forum. The Friday Forum will feature relatively prominent-ish Lincolnites joining the show to talk about ... well, whatever Lincoln is talking about. I think it's a fun idea and I look forward to seeing how it evolves. For this "beta test" of the idea Jack invited me and none other than former City Council member (and current Ray's Lawn & Home Care pro) Ken Svoboda onto the show. Now longtime readers might wonder how that went over. After all, I've taken digs at Mr. Svoboda in the past, and I picked on him a bit when I gave him the nickname "The Hammer". I once described him as "The Thomas Magnum look-alike who dances like MC Hammer and whose home is filled with dead houseplants." I got in my digs, but I don't think I was ever outright mean to him, nor do I feel like I ever said anything inappropriate about him. Does he feel the same way? Sure enough Ken had read what I had written about him, but just last night. He didn't seem to hold any ill will toward me, indicating that either (a) he has a sense of humor, or (b) he's biding his time before he kills me and buries me under a bed of poppies in a median on 84th Street. Hopefully our common status as Lincoln Southeast alumni shifts his reaction more toward the former and less toward the latter. One shocking Ken Svoboda fact you may not be aware of: his mustache is gone. It was a little like finding out that Fabio is bald. The oddest thing about being on a morning talk show is how little time you actually have to speak. And when you do speak, boy does time fly. I was in the studio for over an hour but it may as well have been twenty minutes. Time flies when you're talking into a microphone. We covered a variety of topics this morning but I need to mention one in particular. Jack was really into the marijuana busts that happened in Lincoln this week. It made for a good topic. That being said, Jack, your show corrupted my son. The Missus and Robbie listened in at home. Thanks to our discussion on the show, my son asked "Mom, what's a stoner?". Thanks a lot, Jack! I don't know about Ken and Jack, but I had a lot of fun. Hopefully those of you who listened in enjoyed the show, and I hope to get invited back some day.

Thanks to an invitation from Jack Mitchell, I'll be on the Jack & John in the Morning show on 1400 KLIN tomorrow from 7:00am until 8:00am. Tune in on your radio, or browse to their UStream page to watch and listen live. It sounds like I'll be on with one or two other guests. The topics we'll discuss are still in development. Got a good topic idea? Let us know about it!

Oh come on, quit moping. You knew we weren't done with snow. It's the state basketball tournament, for Pete's sake! It happens every year. Don't worry, it will all be over soon. Before you know it we'll have moved on to the ferocious springtime winds we get to see every year. If that's not something to celebrate, I don't know what is.

Prepare yourselves, teachers at Pius X and Lincoln East, for you are about to be attacked by an influx of sugar and caffeine. Thanks to booming business at the Rocket Fizz at 14th and Pine Lake, a second location will open soon at 70th and A in Clocktower Shopping Center. Hmm, Clocktower just happens to be near Seacrest Field where I will referee several soccer matches this spring. A little pre- and post-game pick-me-up? I think so!

If you haven't already chosen your side in the Haymarket Arena debate -- or even if you have -- here are two websites you will want to keep handy. First up, Yes For Lincoln Haymarket Arena. Who runs their website?

Citizens FOR Jobs and the Lincoln Haymarket Arena is passionate about the opportunity we have to build a new arena and keep Lincoln moving in the right director. We are: neighborhood leaders, business owners, preservationists, trail supporters, students, youth sports leaders, Husker basketball boosters, concert and entertainment enthusiasts, union members, Democrats, Republicans and moms and dads from all over Lincoln.

On the other side we have No2Arena. Their mission:

Our mission objective is simple. We are here to arm all freedom-loving Lincoln citizens with intellectual ammunition to combat the Arena boondoggle. We are dedicated to bringing you the other side of the equation and show that the 2015 Vision Group's published information does not tell the complete story. We will show you “the real facts!”

Clearly these folks have a significantly smaller budget and the website hasn't been running nearly as long. Hopefully they are able to get up to speed relatively quickly.

I hear it often: We don't need to build a new arena, we should just remodel the Bob Devaney Center instead. The claim makes yet another appearance in today's LJS. This notion is foolish and needs to be addressed. The Devaney Center is appropriate for only one thing at this stage in its life: hosting certain kinds of sporting events. No amount of remodeling could possibly make it a suitable host for modern concerts or other types of shows and events. Besides, University officials have said repeatedly that they have no interest in pursuing a future in event hosting. They don't want to mess with the logistics, or the scheduling, or the other headaches that would arise. Furthermore, Devaney is ultimately under the control of the University and the State. Their interests are not Lincoln's interests. Devaney is not a replacement for a good community arena. Devaney's only role in this discussion is to provide a home for the Husker basketball teams if the Haymarket Arena doesn't get built. Nothing more. If you think that Lincoln needs to replace Pershing Center you have two choices: support some sort of publicly-funded arena (the one we will vote on in May or some other alternative), or sit around and wait for a private company to build one. The "Plan B" of using Devaney is a complete nonstarter. Promoting it as the "obvious" alternative makes you look like a doofus precisely because the idea ignores so many fundamental realities and facts. If you are one of the Devaney promoters, please stop. (Well that, or share with us your plan to remodel Devaney and get the University on board. I'll put your odds of success as "virtually nil", but that's technically greater than zero.) If you hear folks spouting the Devaney Plan, please educate them. They may vote yes in May, or they may vote no. But whatever their vote, I strongly prefer it be based not on ignorance, but on a good understanding of the true alternatives before us.

I didn't even realize this was a possibility, but it seems the Unicameral is talking about getting rid of the State Treasurer. The goal is to save the State some cash by shifting responsibilities to other agencies. There's nothing inherently treasurer-like about returning unclaimed property, for example. The amendment itself is pretty simple: the State Treasurer's office would cease to exist in 2013. (No problem, since we all know the world will end in 2012 anyway.) What isn't clear to me is where all of the office's responsibilities would end up. Or perhaps even more important than that, which responsibilities would be eliminated altogether. My gut reaction was that this sounds like a bad idea. But that initial reaction didn't last long. The more I thought about it, the more I realized I really don't know what things the Treasurer just has to do. After all, my only knowledge about Shane Osborne's activities include mostly ceremonial roles like handing big checks to little old ladies, and putting his signature on official letters. Which isn't to say that I think the Treasurer does no "real" work. I just honestly don't know much about the office's day-to-day activities. I assume it's a bit more in-depth than what I have described. What's your reaction to this proposal? What questions do you have?

Lately I have been watching some old episodes of Mythbusters in the evenings. That has got me wondering about Lincoln's biggest myths. Which myths dog Lincoln and Lincolnites? I propose that one of the most prominent myths is the notion that City government and LPS are somehow related. The myth comes in various forms, but the gist is that City leaders -- the Mayor, the City Council -- have some control over what LPS does or how it spends its money. In fact, the City of Lincoln and LPS are two entirely different animals. LPS is by far the biggest user of local property tax dollars and the City has zero say over that. What other local myths can you think of? Are there any things that are perceived as myths but which are, in fact, true?

I fully understand that there's more to this story than what was written up in the paper this morning. That's almost always the case. Still, read the article and think about if anything sounds fishy. Go ahead, I'll wait. Now then. Putting aside everything else, the very last paragraph kind of freaks me out:

The Supreme Court said nothing in Nebraska law or the Interstate Compact for the Placement of Children required the state to make sure Ashby had consented before allowing the Blacks to take the boy. The compact regulates adoptions between states.

Does that really mean what I think it means? In somewhat sensationalist terms, it sounds like the State can legally issue a big "Up yours!" to the birth father by simply ignoring him and carrying on with adoption proceedings without seeing what he thinks about the whole thing. Although that may sound implausible -- the government wouldn't do such a thing! -- the fact that the birth father filed for paternity two weeks before the published deadline and yet he wasn't given parental rights seems to support the accusation. I did some research. The information I found is bizarre. It sounds like the State's only obligation is to check for paternity claims that have been made prior to the date that the State is asked to give permission for the child to leave the state for the purpose of adoption. Since the birth father made his claim one day after that date, the State's move was legal and proper. Never mind the fact that the birth father apparently responded well within the timeline required of him by law. Also notable is that the adoptive family came to Nebraska to get the child four days after the birth father made his paternity claim. My research wasn't exhaustive, but it sure looks like birth dad got screwed. What's your take?

When visitors come to Lincoln -- as for this weekend's State Girls Basketball Tournament -- it seems they tend to congregate in certain specific locations. The Haymarket; Southpointe; Gateway; North 27th Street (thanks to the hotels). But we all know the result is they will tend to see the same old things and eat the same old food. If you were to offer advice to visitors to help them try some new grub while in town, what would you tell them? One place I would recommend is Parthenon, located near 56th and Highway 2 in Edgewood. It's reasonably-priced, the food is great, the service is excellent, and, for the purposes of this exercise, it's the sort of place most out-of-towners have never experienced in Lincoln. What would you recommend that's just a little bit different?

Lincoln's snow is officially down to a "trace" -- and surely it'll be all gone by the end of the day. It's a bittersweet milestone. Sure spring is great, but the snow has been around for a whopping 85 consecutive days. Build a couple big hills and we could have hosted the Winter Olympics. Of course we all know that the snow isn't gone in Lincoln. We accumulated some pretty nice piles over the past three months. I wonder when all the snow will actually be all gone? Heck, with a little cooperation from March we could even make it into April. Yeah, probably not. I wonder what this spring has in store for us. Last summer was the Summer Without Summer; this winter was Winter Without Warmth. Any guesses for what comes next?

The Lincoln School Board has offered the superintendent job to Grand Island's Stephen Joel. The Journal Star has some basic info on Joel, as well as a profile of him. I don't have much to say about Mr. Joel's selection, aside from that he looks fine on paper. My biggest hope is that he embraces Lincoln as his home and decides to hang around for a good long while. Do you have any thoughts about Steve Joel's selection?

OK Lincolnites, was this gesture honorable or tacky? LPS Superintendent candidate Dennis Van Horn has offered to take a "pay cut" of sorts by accepting a salary of $195,000, while putting $60,000 into some kind of class-size reduction fund. The cash outlay for the superintendent position is $255,000. I'll go ahead and say what I think about the offer. I think it's lame. It reeks like a cynical attempt to win votes via shallow pandering. It is the sort of lazy, uninspired idea that somebody with no other way to differentiate himself from the crowd might offer up as part of a desperate attempt to be noticed. It is a misdirection, a distraction from the things that really make for a good superintendent. I don't know Mr. Van Horn and I know nothing of his motives. He may take offense at my characterization of his offer because his motivations were completely innocent; or he may take offense because I hit the nail on the head. Either way this offer was a mistake, and it doesn't endear him to me as the person who ought to be in charge of Lincoln's schools for the next decade. That's my take. What's yours?