Lincolnite

I don't know about you, but this news completely devastated me. Wait, did I say I'm devastated? Scratch that. I'm extremely pleased. So is Chief Casady. Some of the city's younger crowd will bemoan the club's closing as yet another sign that there's nothing to do in this town. If Opulence -- and the accompanying crime associated with it -- is the sort of "good time" they are looking for, I doubt they'll find many sympathetic folks in the community.

Deena Winter reports that Talent Plus has resorted to guilt trips in their effort to sway Councilmembers into supporting the company's expansion plans. In addition to a tiny sliver of Holmes Lake Park, their comments indicate they would also like the City to award them a medal and to kiss their feet. Wipe that heroic smirk off your face, TP. It's annoying that Talent Plus chose to go the "we could have gone elsewhere but we stayed here so you should worship us" route. They have a pretty solid case without having to resort to such a petty tactic. We all know you the company could have gone elsewhere. Some things are more persuasive when they are left unsaid.

Oooh, the Board of Education has gone and done it. The public demanded the Board look for ways to make Lincoln Public Schools more efficient, and the Board had the nerve to suggest close two schools, Hawthorne Elementary and Dawes Middle School. Naturally, parents are up in arms. Assuming the Board can adequately demonstrate that the schools will not be needed in the foreseeable future, and that the replacement schools can handle the additional student load for the foreseeable future, I'm all in favor of the idea. I am sympathetic to the plight of families who chose their home based on its proximity to one of the threatened schools -- we chose our home in part because it sits mere blocks from both an elementary and middle school -- but emotional appeals just aren't that persuasive if substantial efficiency improvements can be demonstrated. The debate is still in its early stages and there is plenty of information yet to be gathered. What are your thoughts at this point?

All you tax watchers out there will want to note that Lancaster County looks to hold the line on taxes this year. But there's that new jail to pay for in the near future...

It's a tough call: hold on to a relatively worthless chunk of weedy parkland on principle; or send a message to developers that, for enough cash, parkland is up for the taking. That's the issue facing the city right now with Talent Plus. I would make the argument that this particular sale of land is a good deal, and that it doesn't create an imminent slippery slope. The land being sold is unused and not very valuable to the city. The sale, although not required for Talent Plus's expansion, will help facilitate the expansion and will help keep the building shorter, and thus (hopefully) less annoying to neighbors. I admit those aren't my strongest arguments, but time is tight and I want to get a couple other posts up. What are your arguments for or against the sale?

I made a few business-related purchases at Best Buy over the weekend. First, I needed to pick up a webcam so I could do videoconferencing with some folks I'll be working with beginning in the next couple weeks. I haven't researched webcams in years, and boy have they changed. I ended up with a Logitech QuickCam Orbit. It seems to work very nicely, and it wasn't nearly as expensive as I was afraid it would be (less than half the cost of this vendor for example). I also picked up a headset that will work both for videoconferencing and for making phone calls through Skype. My big purchase was a new 22" widescreen monitor. Best Buy was selling them for $70 cheaper than anybody else, so I went ahead and made the purchase. It isn't the highest quality monitor out there -- though it really isn't bad -- but I don't need the highest quality at this point. I just want cheap surface area, and that's what I got. Now when I pair that monitor with my laptop I have 3,600 pixels of spacious widescreen real estate. Very nice. Now I just need to get a comfy office chair and my workspace will be pretty much complete. Maybe Robbie can get that for his dad for Christmas.

Price of a Non-Stop Fun Pass at the Nebraska State Fair through August 10: $65 Price of a Fun Pass after August 10: $75 Supposed value of a Fun Pass: $272 Price of a regular admission to Worlds of Fun in Kansas City: $37.95 Watching the State Fair try to hoodwink people into thinking that the Fun Pass is anything but a gigantic ripoff: Priceless.

An amusement park between Lincoln and Omaha? Maybe. A man by the name of Steve Minard says that, with a little help from the State, he's ready to pump $200 million into the area for a year-round theme park called Wild Escape. It sounds great that somebody is even talking about spending $200 million here, but there's reason to be wary: Minard first hinted that the project could begin in late 2005 and, well, it didn't. And now he is asking for handouts. On the other hand, he is supposedly already in the process of building a smaller park in Wheeling, Virginia. I say "supposedly" because although land has been cleared, no building has actually taken place. Regardless of this project's likelihood of seeing the light of day, it's clear that the land along I-80 between Lincoln and Omaha is going to see lots of proposals like this. Indeed, it already has. Some people want to flood the area and create a gigantic lake (taking the town of Ashland off the map). Some people want to build a new regional airport. And at least one guy wants to build an amusement park. It's possible that some of the big dreams may come true, and if so, fantastic. But I, for one, don't plan to get too excited about any of the ideas too early in the process. There are just too many hurdles to be overcome. It sure would be cool to take Robbie on a roller coaster just 30 miles from home, though.

Roundus is pretty slick. Their mission:

ROUNDUS has a dream...All public information available to EVERYONE in the local community at ALL times FOR FREE, FOREVER. Through the combination of programming elements, custom-made software, and high-resolution virtual reality photography we can now bring this DREAM to YOU. We not only take you all around the city but provide a unique view inside many of Lincoln's coolest places. We have only just begun.

Some of that verbiage confuses me, but whatever. Go check 'em out!. Hat tip: Beerorkid

Yesterday I said the drag strip proposed for north of Lincoln was all but dead. Today, it is.

University of Nebraska-Lincoln economics professor Greg Hayden thinks it's time to scrap the state aid to schools formula and start over. Why? For starters, the formula runs 138 pages, according to Prof. Hayden. Ouch. Professor Hayden says that such complexity keeps the public from understanding the formula, and thus they can't intelligently debate its merits. He is right. State Senator Ron Raikes, on the other hand, gets a little whiny in his defense of the current formula. He asks, “If it’s cumbersome now, what is something that is better?” How 'bout something simpler and comprehensible, Senator? He adds, "there is no effort to make a positive contribution. I would hope to see something useful policywise, but I don’t see it. It seems sort of cynical to me." Professor Hayden isn't a policy wonk, he's an economist. And of course Prof. Hayden's work comes across as cynical. How can one not be cynical about a beast of a formula that nobody understands? Ultimately Senator Raikes decides a strawman is his best chance to shut down discussion of the issue: “If short is good, I suppose we could simply divide the money by the number of schools.” Zing! You win, Sen. Raikes. If Senator Raikes -- or anyone -- can accurately distill the current formula into a couple paragraphs that policymakers and the public can digest and discuss, great. That means the formula isn't actually as complex as Prof. Hayden's algebra implies. But if the formula really is so complex it takes at least 138 pages to express it, then how can we be assured that our policymakers know what the heck they're talking about? And how can Jane Public be expected to generate a sensible opinion on the implications of the formula? We can't, and she can't. Senator Raikes, why do you want to shut down debate before it has even begun? What's in the formula that you don't want us to talk about?

You are the Nebraska Athletic Director. Would you take a risk and dump the Devaney Center to move into a fancy new arena Downtown? Or would you play it safe and work with the facility you already own free and clear?

The Missus and I finally made it to 9 South Chargrill, 9th and South Streets, last night. We will be back. Here's a quick rundown: 9 South is a very pleasant little restaurant. It consists of two small dining areas containing mostly tables, with two 4-seater booths in the back. We sat at one of the booths. Decor is minimal; there isn't a whole lot of spare room for clutter. The parking lot is small as well. Be prepared to park on a neighborhood street. We were greeted warmly and seated promptly by a woman who turned out to be our waitress. The restaurant was about half-full when we arrived, and it hit about two-thirds full at its busiest. Interestingly, even though at one point there were three large groups (of 10, 8, and 7 people) in the restaurant, it didn't get very loud. I'm sure it helped that The Missus and I were in a booth, but I still think it's notable. The menu feels very Nebraskan. Think salads, sandwiches, steaks, and chicken. Dinner entrees are priced from about $7-$8 (sandwiches with two sides) up to around $20 (steaks). The Missus ordered a side salad and a loaded baked potato. The salad was fresh and included spring greens. The baked potato was large and was topped with sour cream, chicken, and a chipotle sauce. There was also a ton of butter. Good for flavor, bad for arteries. I hadn't ordered fried chicken at a restaurant in ages, so that's what I went with. I received a large piece of white meat, very tasty homemade mashed potatoes (with butter!), and a vegetable medley (snow peas, sweet peppers, yellow squash, and broccoli). The chicken had a very nice flavor, but it was fried a little longer than I would have liked. Add one Diet Coke for The Missus, and our bill came out to a very reasonable $23. Our waitress was excellent. She was friendly, attentive, and helpful. She was also very informative. She told us that pretty much everything (including the barbecue sauce) is homemade. Our waitress had to handle several tables at once, and from what I could tell she was excellent at each and every one. I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say she was one of the better waitresses I've seen in Lincoln in quite a while. I just wish I could remember her name! I'll have to get it the next time we go in. Although 9 South's cozy size gives it a very warm and friendly feel, the downside is that walking lanes are tight. If you are a very large person or if you are very picky about people walking near you while you eat, request your seating accordingly. I identified two chairs in particular that I would have been annoyed to sit in. Your preferences will vary, but be aware of the situation going in. Overall our experience at 9 South Chargrill was extremely positive. I am eager to go back.

The Missus and I had a great time at the Cornhusker Summer Music Games last night. The crowd was smaller than I would have hoped, but given the messiness of last year's rainout fiasco, I'm not terribly surprised. The corps were, of course, very impressive. Three corps stood out to me. My favorite story came from The Academy from Tempe, with their show titled "The Chase". The Santa Clara Vanguard win the nod for my favorite marching, with crisp charts and very nice transitions. And finally, The Cadets win the award for Lamest Story That Was So Awful I Couldn't Fairly Judge Their Marching and Music Because I Was So Distracted. Their show included voice-overs rambling on about happy happy joy joy baloney that not even an After School Special would have gone for. I'm pretty sure Stuart Smalley directed their show. Overall it was a successful evening at Memorial Stadium. Congratulations to the organizers, and a huge bravo to the student-athlete-musicians/dancers of the six corps.

I can't believe I forgot to post this yesterday: The 2015 Vision group announced that they have raised $25 million to put toward their 10 pillars for transforming Lincoln. That news makes me extremely happy, because although I can quibble with some of the things the group is doing, I admire and respect their larger goals. That they have raised $25 million proves many others agree. No piece of good news is complete without a "but", so here's mine: But, $25 million is but a tiny fraction of the total investment that will be required from public and private sources. The total investment over the next, say, twenty years for the group's projects, along with related projects, will top $1 billion. Don't despair; $25 million isn't even all that has been committed to date. The University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for example, is already committed to building millions of dollars worth of critical infrastructure in the Research Corridor. A lot of very hard work remains ahead of this community to be sure. It's hard not to like the momentum generated so far.