Lincolnite

Keep an eye on this story as it develops. An early morning fire at Phi Kappa Tau at Nebraska Wesleyan killed one man and critically injured three others.

It's a game edition of the Friday Five. Below are anagrams of five Lincoln neighborhoods. Can you figure them out?

1. THEIR LAND HOGS (as opposed to their water hogs?)
2. WEE EVIL CLOG (a bad movie about small, vicious wooden shoes?)
3. HERO AUNTS (a new show on the CW?)
4. LUST? A VICE. IN PYRE. (a verdict and sentence?)
5. MOB IN, OUSTS TSAR (the newspaper headline the day after the revolution?)

Wal-Mart's cheap drug program, which offers over 300 generic prescription drugs for $4, has made its way to Lincoln.

If you would like to spend a chilly night under the stars, consider heading out to Behlen Observatory in Mead, which is hosting one of its periodic public nights from 7:00pm to 10:00pm.

I have to hand it to Realty Trust. They really know how to play the real estate game. Flash back to January 2005:

Of particular interest has been a parcel on the northeast corner of the intersection of 48th and O streets, where an abandoned Amoco station sits. The city paid $923,000 for the property, which was assessed by the county at $456,000. The parcel was owned by Realty Trust Group, which had a lease agreement with Starbucks that fell through when the city cut off corner access because of safety concerns.

Realty Trust didn't get its Starbucks (or the $3.9 million it initially sued the city for as a result), but it did get a $475,000 premium over the assessed value of its property. Not a bad profit. But it gets better. Now that the O Street widening is finished, only one company bid for a redevelopment contract of the northeast corner of 48th and O. Who is the bidder? Realty Trust. They want to buy back their old property, and they will be able to use tax increment financing to do it. Not a bad deal, if you ask me. Realty Trust hasn't announced their proposed tenants for their project, but I'll give you one guess to come up with a prime candidate. Hat tip: Neal.

Many of you know that Crawdaddy's and Knickerbockers host $.25 taco days on Sundays and Thursdays, respectively. But do you know the record for most tacos eaten for a quarter a pop? I didn't, so I asked. 42. That's a lot of tacos. My measly 17 tacos is pretty pathetic in comparison.

Can I redo last night, please? Because I'm too tired right now to be productive. It all began as Robbie's fault. For some reason he just didn't want to sleep. We fed him, burped him, changed him, all to no avail. I laid with him for a couple hours and he slept off and on, but I don't think it was a good sleep for either one of us. Eventually The Missus just threw him in his swing, turned it on, and shut the door. That alone would have been enough, but then I just had to go and have one of my stressful dreams. Last night's dream involved a giant nuclear explosion. It isn't easy panicking about a nuclear explosion, even while asleep. There was also a dream about running up and down escalators the wrong way, in a bad part of town, no less. Tiring stuff. Nevertheless, I'm surprisingly chipper this morning. I expect that to last until about 10. So how was your night?

Thanks, bridge builders! You helped Lincoln save over $45,000 in labor costs, and you further demonstrated Lincolnites' commitment to quality trails throughout the city. I tip my hat to you.

Mayoral Candidate Chris Beutler plans to end his consulting contract with the city prior to next year's election. Beutler is currently paid $62,000 annually for 1,250 hours of work as a fund raiser for Parks & Rec. Expect that contract to get a little attention from his opponents as "excessive". Another candidate, Ken Svoboda, has a $24,000 contract to maintain medians around the city. Svoboda will end that contract as well. Cynical Lincolnites are probably saying: the medians are so poorly maintained, we won't be able to tell the difference! In other Mayor's race news, candidate Mike Deal announced his candidacy in the forums. Mr. Deal appears to be a fiscal conservative interested in finding solutions to Lincoln's money problems. And as long as I'm mentioning all the candidates, don't forget about Roger Yant.

Ben Nelson now sits on the Appropriations Committee. He promises to "work with local officials in Nebraska to 'ensure Nebraska priorities are recognized in the Senate.'" Translation: Ben promises to bring home the bacon. I wonder how he plans to reconcile that with another of his promises, to "identify and reduce needless spending"?

Imagine you own a house, and some new guy plans to move in. You don't really care if the new guy moves in or not. But for the pleasure of having this new guy as a neighbor, you'll have to fork out a hundred grand or more to help pay for his driveway, ostensibly because the driveway could benefit you somehow. You'd be ticked, wouldn't you? I sure would be.

Kudos to Deena Winter for her lengthy piece in yesterday's Journal Star on the firetruck controversy. It was exactly the sort of article I had hoped the LJS would run: a straightforward, chronological analysis of how a simple firetruck purchase could go so badly. Thanks, Deena. Ms. Winter's article is perfect for evaluating Mayor Seng's statement that Lincolnites should thank her for her actions related to the controversy:

I think I should be thanked quite a bit because I fired the fire chief.

I'm curious how many of you agree with her self-assessment.

In light of today's article about city-owned pools, I wonder: do municipal pools make sense any more? Granted, they have a strong emotional draw. But are they worthwhile from a more rational perspective? I'm really not sure. I do know one thing: pools open to the general public serve a legitimate and desirable purpose. I haven't been an avid public pool user for years, but it seems clear that a pool-less summer in Lincoln would be, for many Lincolnites, a disaster. Closing Lincoln's pools without a solid backup plan (i.e. a private company or two coming in and guaranteeing a certain level of service at certain prices) would cause more problems than it would solve. I don't think Lincoln should spend too much energy trying to build new pools in Lincoln's newest neighborhoods. We need to ensure that Lincoln's older (and often poorer) neighborhoods have ample recreational opportunities. Let's take care of the most-used pools in the city's core first. I also think investing in Star City Shores might make sense. It has proven very popular and there is space available for expansion. As a bonus, SCS is accessible via three bus routes (6, 16, and 27S) and two bike paths, meaning kids from all over can get there relatively easily without needing a ride. I also wouldn't mind building a second SCS-like park somewhere on the north side of town, preferably a spot that is likewise accessible. North 27th Street is an obvious candidate, but man, do we really need to put everything on North 27th Street? My biggest concern is cost. When I hear questions like "How are we going to pay for new facilities?" I think, "Shouldn't they pay for themselves?" It sure seems like they should. But then you think about the short season, subsidies for low-income families, and so on, and the financing difficulties become a little clearer. What do you think? Do municipal pools still make sense today? Where should we focus our efforts? Should we pursue private options to replace or supplement the public options?

Sorry for the lack of posts this morning. I was on daddy duty to take Robbie to a mid-morning doctor's appointment. He did very well, four shots and all. He is officially bigger than a bowling ball, having crossed the 16 pound barrier by two ounces. He is also getting taller, now stretching 27 inches. But one important note to all you new parents out there: don't be stupid and schedule an appointment right in the middle of your child's usual naptime. I sure hope he doesn't give his babysitter too much grief today.

Just now The Missus and I were sitting across from one another at the kitchen table. She was giving Robbie a bottle and reading the newspaper; I was tap tapping away on my laptop. It all felt so familiar... "B-5," I said as I looked up at her over the top of the laptop. The Missus looked up at me and gave me that "What the hell are you talking about" look that she gives me so often. Then it hit her. "You're weird." Yeah, I know.