Lincolnite

I was wondering if local leaders would ever speak up about Lancaster Manor. This morning we hear from State Senators Ken Haar, Amanda McGill, Bill Avery, Colby Coash and Norm Wallman:

At the very least, the County Board should wait for completion of the audit being conducted by state Auditor Mike Foley before making a decision. And it is worrisome that, "The County Board said it would like to sign a purchase agreement by Nov. 4, the date by which state Auditor Mike Foley said he would have his audit report of the manor completed. Even if the audit is not done by then, the County Board intends to proceed with the sale, according to Commissioner Bob Workman" (LJS, Aug. 27).

I personally still haven't decided if the sale of Lancaster Manor is a good thing or not, or at what price it becomes a good thing. My problem -- and the problem so many other people have -- is with the County Board's seeming obliviousness to some very reasonable concerns (such as waiting until after the audit) from the public. At the very least there's a perception problem going on and the Board isn't taking that problem seriously. I doubt a letter from a handful of State Senators will change that.

Could the City Council finally be getting ready to do something about the mega-generous 2-to-1 retirement match for City employees? After their discussionless disapproval of the M Class Employees' contract it sure appears that way. That's great news, but it's a bit of a dirty move to spring the news on a single union so late in the contract negotiations game. Honesty and forthrightness anyone? No?

A young driver, traveling with teenage passengers, drives recklessly through a residential area, loses control, and gets into a scary wreck. Gosh that sounds familiar. At least this time nobody died.

Just last night I noticed that Wing Street, Pizza Hut's attempt at a buffalo wing store, has spread throughout Lincoln. I'm a big wing fan so I'm intrigued by the possibilities here. Have any of you tried their wings yet? I'm not personally looking for gourmet; just something to satisfy the craving when the wing mood strikes.

In Deena Winter's column today she notes that 2015 Vision has run a survey gathering public opinion on the proposed arena. The survey's purpose was "to determine how much progress arena promoters have made, and ensure the public understands what's being proposed". Here's where I wonder if we should read between the lines. The survey results are private. However, more often than not when it comes to surveys like this, good news gets leaked and bad news doesn't. 2015 Vision isn't releasing any information at this time. It is difficult for me not to wonder if that suggests that arena backers have their work cut out for them. If the survey shows good news, I would expect the group to say something like "The survey results are private, but we are pleased with where things stand". Instead we only got the first half of that sentence. Furthermore, Dan Marvin is on the record saying: "I think the vote's gonna be a challenge. Let's face it, we're in a recession right now." That doesn't sound good. In my experience, sentiment seems to run fairly positively toward the arena. Most Lincolnite commenters and nearly all of those who have responded to my questions on Twitter have supported the arena project. But that's a very biased sample of Lincolnites. It's a self-selected group that tends to be relatively active in Lincoln and educated in Lincoln-related issues. It's possible the rest of Lincoln doesn't view the arena as positively. What do you think? Should we read into this at all?

Most Lincolnites are at least vaguely familiar with the Food Bank of Lincoln thanks to the stellar work they do. Now there's a new kind of food bank in town, this one for pets, thanks to Lincoln Animal Ambassadors. Charlene Kjelland writes:

We accept donations of just about any type of pet food so that we can provide pet food assistance to those in need. The Pet Food Bank application can be filled out and mailed, emailed, or an applicant can call (402) 540-7017 and can be found on our website: http://lincolnanimalambassadors.org/PetFoodBankApplication.pdf. ... The Lincoln Animal Ambassadors is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization that formed in June 2008. Our mission statement is: The Lincoln Animal Ambassadors promotes enriching our community through progressive thinking, education, awareness and public support. We are committed to improving the lives of animals and alleviating cruelty in Lincoln and the surrounding area.

It makes my stomach churn to see a perfectly good $45 million project shuttered by the City. The project -- involving a hotel, apartments, and a parking garage -- has been tabled by the City Council because (get this) it doesn't feature enough empty space. More specifically, the proposed building comes too close to a currently non-existent linear "park" along M Street. Look, I understand a Master Plan needs to look forward and there will no doubt be hiccups in the road between plan visualization and realization. But this just sucks. Somebody wants to spend $45 million in our city and we're going to tell them no? And after all the recent failures Downtown? Ugh. I sure hope City officials are doing cartwheels and handsprings trying to get this thing to happen.

Jack Mitchell wants to find out who this is: Do you know him? He's the spittin' image of Herbie, that's for sure.

I feel like the fact that Iran is testing its missiles in Lincoln is probably something Mayor Beutler should speak up about. Where's the leadership? For that matter, where's the nearest bomb shelter?

I remember several weeks ago when somebody called @lincolnyakpolo followed me on Twitter. I thought to myself, "Yak polo? I've got to see what this is all about." It turns out

Lincoln Kayak Polo is a club, offering a new sport to Lincoln. Kayak polo is something we like to call ‘the sport for everyone’. ... If you are at least 9 years old, you can play. We provide all of the gear (including kayaks) and instruction needed to have a blast. Sign up, and let us take care of the rest. Beyond kayak polo, we also offer paddling education and rentals. We also can accommodate your next group function!

Sweet! Today the club got some press from the Journal Star. Good work, folks. Have any of you done yak -- I mean kayak -- polo yet?

If you haven't already been doing so, be sure to follow the Lincoln Crimestoppers blog. At worst you will get an idea of the sorts of crimes going on around Lincoln; at best, you may be able to help solve a crime or two. And while you're doing it, you get to laugh at guys like this:

Which is the best non-emergency health clinic in Lincoln? For that matter, how many are there in Lincoln? I'm aware of two. The only clinic I've been to is Linc Care [WARNING: obnoxious music]. For the most part they've gotten the job done for me. Wait times have ranged from a few minutes to probably 30 minutes or so. I went to Linc Care twice for heat-related issues. The first time they got me fixed up; the second time I was close enough to heat stroke that the doctor sent me to the emergency room instead. (That was a rough night.) I fortunately haven't been back to Linc Care in a couple years. The Missus has been utilizing Urgent Care Clinic of Lincoln [WARNING: obnoxious music and obnoxious narration] for the past couple years. UCC seems to be a higher-tech operation than Linc Care, and The Missus has nothing but praise for it so far. I haven't personally been there; The Missus went there a couple days ago for a quick ear / sinus infection diagnosis. Which is your favorite non-emergency clinic in Lincoln? Are there others I've missed that Lincolnites should know about?

No, LPS still hasn't figured out for sure what to do with Hawthorne Elementary, but LPS administrators have made their recommendations: move Bryan Community and throw in some district offices for good measure. I'm particularly amused that Hawthorne's neighbors are ok with moving Bryan, but they don't want district offices because "the public schools are already kind of administration heavy". Keeping district offices out of Hawthorne won't slow the red tape machine, but I give the neighbors a virtual slap on the back for the effort. The only thing that concerns me about moving Bryan is that LPS plans to keep Hawthorne in a condition that would allow it to easily transform back into an elementary school should the need arise. That's great, but then what happens to Bryan? Let's not turn Bryan into a homeless wanderer that gets uprooted every few years. That's not good for students, it's not good for teachers, and it's not good for public perception of the program. If we're going to move Bryan, it ought to be with the goal of finding it a permanent home.

The talk of the town this week is Husker football's 300th consecutive sellout at Memorial Stadium. I'll be there. Will you? I'm trying to guess how many of the 300 sellouts I've attended. I'm going to put it at about 55-60. Many of those came during college thanks to cheap student tickets and then four years of marching band. How many games have you been to?