Lincolnite

Have you ever wanted to jump out of a plane? Now's as good a time as any. This weekend you can take the leap, with a portion of your fee going to support the American Cancer Society. The Lincoln Sport Parachuting Club is putting on the event. If you jump this weekend, you'll experience one minute of freefall -- roughly equivalent to "forever" or "not long enough", depending on your feelings about these things. I have never gone skydiving. It's on my list. I'm not a big fan of heights, but I am a big fan of adrenaline. Even though I dread the thought of jumping from the plane, I love the thought of frefalling for a minute. Is anybody jumping this weekend? Have you gone skydiving before?

The City Council on Monday approved a redevelopment plan that will ultimately result in an "upscale" strip mall at the I-80 airport exit. It's hard to complain too much about a $2.2 million investment in the airport vicinity, an area that could certainly use some TLC. On the other hand, there's that $300,000 in tax increment financing (TIF) that the developers will get to play with. I'll be curious to see exactly what constitutes an "upscale" strip mall, and if Speedway Properties can keep the storefronts occupied. Isn't Speedway the outfit that owns all the (nearly) empty commercial space just west of 9th and Van Dorn? If so, I can't say I'm enthusiastic about their ability to match a project with a location. On the other hand, if they can latch on to all that I-80 traffic, they're golden.

The rerouting of left turn traffic at 10th and Van Dorn is nearly complete. The new lanes are scheduled to open tomorrow. It's a very unusual setup, but then, it's not your every day intersection. It will be interesting to see how well traffic adjusts to the new setup. If you travel near that intersection regularly, let us know what you think of the new lanes, signage, light patterns, and so on.

Lincoln is fortunate to not see many large fires. On Sunday evening I spoke with a veteran firefighter, and he said the last big call he went out on was over a year ago. Unfortunately for the residents at Thomasbrook Apartments, we still see a few big fire events now and then. Residents in ten of the 23 units did not have renters insurance. Honestly, I'm surprised the ratio is so low. I'll bet that's one of the lower uninsured-to-insured ratios you'll find in Lincoln. (I'm just guessing here. Does anybody know the percentage of renters with insurance?) In any event, the folks in those ten units are in trouble. Donations are being accepted at any U.S. Bank location. On the plus side, seeing the firefighters in action hardened the resolve of one of my wife's friends to continue trying to become a firefighter. She lives nearby, but not in the burned building. She spoke very highly of the firefighters at the scene. She said they were professional, courteous, organized, and helpful. Good work, guys and gals. Speaking of firefighters, I want to thank the guys from Station 4 who helped entertain my son at Southern Heights Presbyterian on Sunday night. Robbie spent a lot of time marveling over the ambulance and fire truck, going back and forth between the two. The guys on duty did a good job playing with Robbie and keeping him out of trouble.

Chuck Hagel continues to provide stomach ulcers to members of the hard right with the recent news that he is accompanying Obama to Iraq. Yet there is even more internets rumor-mongering. From The Washington Note - a respectable foreign policy and international affairs blog I follow from time to time:

Senator Chuck Hagel is on the verge of endorsing Barack Obama for President.

Does anyone think this is possible? That would be more than a slap in the face to Chuck's friend John. It would be like an LAPD-style stomp-down. Photo above also from The Washington Note.

Here's some cool news for those of you who have a stack of old electronics sitting around your house: Schaefer's (47th and R) is hosting a Think Green Recycling Event this weekend. The hours are:

• Friday: 10-4
• Saturday: 10-4
• Sunday: 12-4

Schaefer's will recycle: televisions; consumer electronics (i.e. stereo components); game systems; cell phones; rechargeable batteries; and computers and peripherals. In addition, you will receive $100 off a Sony purchase of $999 or more. The newspaper ad says you'll receive $100 off for every TV you bring in; the web ad just mentions a single $100 coupon. So a little confusion there. This is a really good chance to do a little electronic house cleaning. I know I have several items I've been hesitant to throw in the trash, so this is great timing for me. Two tips, though: First, if you are discarding a computer, make sure you have cleaned up the hard drive. If you're only mildly paranoid, you can just format it. If you're really paranoid, I suppose you could enlist the assistance of a hammer. Second, don't forget about other options for your computers and peripherals, such as donation. A ten year-old computer probably won't do anybody any good; a three year-old computer, on the other hand, is probably still usable. Hat tip: Karin Dalziel. Thanks, Karin!

Lincoln's Zoo Bar is celebrating its 35th anniversary this weekend with a street festival tonight and tomorrow night. It should be a fun weekend for one of Lincoln's best known venues. If you like your atmosphere a little mellower, then might I suggest Soul Dawg's appearance tonight at SouthPointe at 6:30pm. That's where you'll find The Wilsons (look for us south of the stage). Oh, and if that's not enough for you, don't miss The Music Man at Pinewood Bowl this weekend and next. Then on Monday, the Cornhusker Summer Music Games returns to Memorial Stadium. The defending world champion Blue Devils will make an appearance. That should keep you busy.

Holy flippity heck. Mayor Beutler's budget just took a pounding from an unexpected source: LES wants to jack up rates by an astounding 12% beginning in September. That's an average of $9 per month for the average residential customer. Beutler's budget only asked Lincolnites to chip in an extra fifteen bucks per year. This means war. No really. Beutler is steamed that LES sprung this on him without so much as a breath of warning. It's an appalling move by LES, and it's so boneheaded I can hardly believe they had the chutzpah to try it. Whatever goodwill LES had built up in Lincoln with their customers/owners and with local government may have just gone out the window. I'm curious what could possibly justify LES requesting a 12% rate increase. Is that really the best they could do? Details will emerge in the coming days, I'm sure. Hopefully local media will have some answers for us soon. UPDATE: Thanks to foxspit for providing a link to the Mayor's statement. It includes this surprising line:

Therefore, in light of this notification from LES, I will urge the City Council to work with me in developing a plan to withdraw the proposed one-penny property tax revenue increase and instead, utilize one-time funds to save those programs.

I admit it, I'm a smoothie fanatic. I could drink the darn things all day, every day. That's why I don't let myself have them very often. But when I do ... mmmm. Who has the best smoothies in town? My current favorite is Juice Stop, and NuVibe comes in second. But honestly, I haven't shopped around very much. I'm sure I am missing some good options out there. The places I'm most likely to miss are those that don't explicitly specialize in smoothies, but I've probably missed some smoothie-centric joints as well. Where are your favorite places to get a smoothie in Lincoln? What chains do you wish would come to town?

Lincoln sure is growing up, isn't it? In all likelihood, we have already reached the magical quarter million mark. Too bad we don't have a nifty real-time population counting billboard or something. We could have celebrated the moment. I think George's quarter tacos would have made a nice celebratory food, don't you? I don't know if 250,000 is supposed to sound like a lot or not. I still frequently run into family, friends, and acquaintances all over town. On the other hand, Lincoln has grown by, what, more than a third since I was a young 'un? And I'm not even very old. Our next milestone is 300,000. Odds are, we'll hit that mark sometime before 2020. I wonder what we'll look like?

While trying to figure out where The Missus and I should eat on our weekly Wednesday date night, I asked Mr. T for suggestions. He threw La Paloma into the mix. I didn't really feel like taking a drive tonight -- La Paloma is at 13940 East O Street -- so at first I passed. Then Mr. T pointed me to a menu. Almost instantly my eye was drawn to the description of the Rio Rancho Burrito:

Combination burrito stuffed with our famous New Mexico Chile. ...

Woah. New Mexico Chile? I love that stuff, but the only place I've been able to find anything like what you can get in Albuquerque is Cristina's in Crete. Could it be that La Paloma will help fill my green chile fix? I don't know if The Missus and I will end up at La Paloma tonight, but we will go there, and soon. I'm already salivating. Have you been to La Paloma? How do you like it?

The Nebraska Schools Activities Association will consider several proposals this fall that could shake up high school sports a bit. The biggest proposals involve swimming and soccer. One proposal in each sport suggest moving the season to the fall, from winter (swimming) and spring (soccer). Other proposals would allow athletes to engage in non-NSAA-sanctioned events during the NSAA season. The proposal to change soccer seasons comes up all the time. Most states play high school soccer in the fall. Nebraska's spring season puts our club soccer participants at a competitive disadvantage in organizations like the Midwest Regional League, and at events such as the U.S. Youth Soccer National Tournament. On the flip side, many of Nebraska's schools simply don't have the facilities or personnel resources to support soccer in the fall. And our already thin supply of referees would be pushed to the brink if the high school and college seasons were to overlap. The proposals to allow athletes to engage in non-NSAA events would be a foot in the door. It would (probably) begin with swimming and (maybe) soccer, but surely athletes in other sports would be quick to demand equal treatment. And why not? Personally, I would like to see some serious discussion about replacing high school sports with club alternatives. The foundation is already there in many sports. Consider baseball, for example, with its strong summer American Legion leagues. I'm convinced there are ways to dissociate schools from (some? many? all?) sports, while still maintaining the important virtues that high school sports provide. It is still possible to link academic performance and athletic participation, and there is no reason open participation could not continue. A governing body -- NSAA version 2.0, if you will -- would help ensure such things. But I digress. It will be interesting to see how the NSAA treats these proposals. We will know more this fall.

The Scott brothers, through WRK LLC, have been making a lot of noise lately, so it's not at all surprising that they are taking some hits. In this case Councilman Jon Camp took some swings with regard to WRK's Haymarket hotel/office/retail project. Camp charges, in part, that the Scotts are biting off more than they can chew. We all should proceed with a little caution with regard to WRK lest we get so wrapped up in the excitement the company is generating that we don't notice or ignore signs that the wheels are about to fall off. To the extent that's what he is doing, Mr. Camp is in the right. On the other hand, Mr. Camp needs to be careful not to turn care and caution into cynicism and contempt. The attitude ought to be "Can we make this work, and how?", not "How many things are wrong with these ideas?" To me, it feels like Camp is unnecessarily negative about the hotel project. Considering his pro-business background, I would think Camp would normally be expected to support this sort of idea. And maybe he does; perhaps he's just using a little tough love to get the project up to snuff. That's not what it sounds like, though. What do you think? Is the hotel project a winner? Are the Scotts up to the challenges they've set before themselves? Is Jon Camp appropriately cautious or excessively critical?