Lincolnite

What's this I hear that Omaha wants to start up a new taxing district in their downtown area? That strikes me as a really stupid idea. It strikes the O'Keefe Elevator Company as a stupid idea, too. They've even threatened to leave Omaha if another tax is slapped on them. Mayor Seng, are you listening? That's opportunity knocking. There's also a lesson to be learned here, by the way. Hmm, I wonder what that lesson could be...

Lincoln is $1.4 million short in sales tax receipts this year. That's bad news considering the conservative projection used this year. Where has the money gone? Some will blame the smoking ban. It's an easy scapegoat, and there really isn't a good way to disprove it as the cause, especially since it will be quite a while before the tax receipts are broken down by industry. I think that's bogus, though. Outside of a few bars, anecdotal reports just don't support the notion that the smoking ban has had a widespread, large-scale negative economic effect. (Granted, anecdotes can only be taken so far, but they're all I have to go with right now.) You can't blame a declining population since Lincoln is growing. The housing market has cooled, but that was expected, wasn't it? Surely anybody making projections didn't assume the housing boom would last forever. Lincoln's residents could be getting poorer, I suppose. Is there any evidence for that? Got any other suggestions?

The crowd: Playing in the water: The stage, from behind: Daisy the hot dog:

Jazz in June kicks off tonight, featuring Nebraska Jazz Orchestra with featured guest soloist Paul Glasse. The Missus, Daisy, and I hope to get there tonight. Come say hi if you see us.

Oops, I guess we aren't headed to Boston tomorrow after all. Now we're shooting for Friday or Sunday. Every trip needs one hiccup. That counts as ours, right? The Missus and I are awfully excited right now. I know The Missus wants to go to Boston right now, paperwork and process be damned. That means I get to play the role of responsible spoil sport who annoyingly points out things like our bank account balance. Being the responsible one is just no fun at all, but one of us has to do it. And Daisy? Well, she knows something is up, but I don't think she has any idea just how big that "something" is.

Southwest Village is turning into quite the mega-development. Planned for the area around U.S. 77 and West Denton Road, the 1.3 million square feet project is even bigger than Gateway's 1 million square feet. The area is marked for development as a "community center" which, according to the Comprehensive Plan (PDF), "may vary in size from 300,000 to nearly a million square feet of commercial space. Typically, new Community Centers will range from 300,000 to 500,000 square feet." In the case of the proposed Wal-Mart on North 84th Street Mayor Colleen Seng opposed the megastore precisely because it was "too big" for the area's land use designation, even though the project as a whole met the guidelines for the area. (In that case the development was a "neighborhood center".) Will she oppose this development as a whole because it is 30% larger than the Comprehensive Plan's stated limitation for the size of a "community center", and over 150% larger than the "typical" size of a "community center"? If she doesn't, expect an outcry over her inconsistency. If she does, expect an outcry over her blocking a huge economic investment in Lincoln. Frankly, I think the criticism is fair either way. But in this case I'm hoping for a little inconsistency from the Mayor; losing this project would be a tremendous blow to Lincoln's economic development efforts.

The controversial project at 9th/10th and Van Dorn received zoning change approval from the City Council yesterday. It isn't technically a done deal just yet, but it's pretty close. Even more interesting is the city's move to explore a blight designation that would open the door for tax increment financing (TIF) for the project. That by itself isn't unusual (Lincoln loves blight designations). But it does strike me as odd that the city, not the developer, is initiating the discussion about handing over tax dollars. It is especially curious since the project doesn't seem to meet the TIF test. In short, a project is only eligible for TIF funding if the project wouldn't exist without the TIF funding. That's obviously not true in this case. Why is Lincoln so eager to hand over tax dollars? I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Would anyone care to share positive personal experiences with auto repair shops here in Lincoln? Much to the delight of people who know me and have ridden in or seen my car, it (a 13 year old Mercury) is currently suffering from a battery of problems: vapor lock, failing power locks and windows, a yet to be identified transmission issue, and a number of electrical issues that have pretty much killed most of the car’s bells and whistles. Plus it looks pretty dumpy after being through a few dings. In the past few years, I have had direct experiences with three shops in town. Two of them have been very positive. One is Fayad’s way down in the southeast portion of town (5002 Rent Worth Drive). Fayad managed to squeeze me into a tight queue in an emergency situation with little notice, and fixed the problem quickly and inexpensively so I could leave town for an important trip. Although that is my only experience with his shop, I would likely go back again. The other notable place I take my car to regularly is Kevin Gilbert’s shop - Economy and Performance Auto, - at 233 N. 19th St., a stone’s throw from UNL city campus. Someone told me that Kevin has a reputation for being honest, helpful, and for doing good work. In the 3-4 times I have taken my car there, I have always been satisfied. Since I live and work near that area, I take my car to Economy and Performance regularly. Are there other reliable auto repair shops out there worth knowing about?

The Missus and I will be traveling to Boston on Wednesday Friday or Sunday. Many of you may know why.

Five things to do while you wait for your sub at Planet Sub:

1. Start a double-elimination paper-rock-scissors tournament
2. Get the other patrons to join you in singing Row Row Row Your Boat in a round
3. Create a life-size astronaut on a mission to Planet Sub using the foil from other customers' sandwiches
4. Nap
5. Every time a number is called out, yell "That's me!" and run up to the counter. Look dejected when you realize it wasn't your number

While I was reading an article about the latest LPS teacher salary contract, I noticed this very common quote from a teacher:

"None of us went into teaching for the money."

Maybe that's part of the reason teacher salaries are so low. (Or perhaps I should say "low", since I know the notion that teachers are underpaid is far from universally accepted.) Perhaps if teachers entered the profession with higher expectations, salaries would respond in kind. Or maybe I shouldn't stir up this topic since I know it will just lead to rants about how teachers are overpaid, or about the dozens of ways teachers are hosed by the system, or any of scores of related rants that come up whenever teacher pay is discussed. Oh well, it's a Friday. I suppose a little ranting is called for. Have at it.

I'll cut right to the chase: don't go to Planet Sub. Not yet. They have a few (dozen) kinks to work out right now. The Missus and I ate there today. Dave K was there (4th comment) too:

I went there for lunch, and it was a complete disaster. ...after 45 minutes I called it quits and got my money back. Mr. Wilson, I saw you in line...and thought about telling you how long you were going to wait, but I really wanted to read your take here. How did things go?

Gee, thanks, Dave! Actually even had you warned me I still would have stayed. I get a certain masochistic kick out of visiting restaurants in their early days. Sometimes it works out great, and sometimes, well, it doesn't. Besides, it was fairly obvious that there were some problems. Several people asked for their money back after having waited for a while, and I noticed that restaurant staff brought out the same orders twice on a couple occasions, demonstrating some significant backstage disorganization. The long and short of it is that the time between when The Missus and I ordered and when we received our food was about 50 minutes. That wasn't a typical wait time, though (typical was probably in the 15-25 minute range). I'm pretty sure our food went to the wrong people. (Damn that couple in the corner booth!) Plus, we didn't make a fuss very early because we were talking about some important things so we hardly noticed. Still, 50 minutes for a sub? The list of problems I noted at Planet Sub is too long to list here. And frankly, I don't feel like kicking them while they're down. I'm telling you flat out not to go to this restaurant for at least a couple weeks. That alone should tell you all you need to know. Give them some time to work things out. If they still suck in mid- to late-June, then I'll pounce. I should mention that The Missus and I ended up getting our money back for our meal. The manager (?) did a reasonable job of taking care of us once she discovered our plight. She probably should have comped our next meals too, though. That way she either gets us back in the door to give them another chance, or we hand off the coupons to somebody else so they can give the restaurant a chance.

The Department of Roads is short on cash, so it wants to push back some projects a few years. One of the projects that may be delayed? Lincoln's South Beltway. Ouch. The DOR is working with a smaller budget but facing higher costs -- an unfortunate combination. But I can't say I feel too sorry for a department that thinks that the entirety of Highway 2 from Van Dorn to just past 56th Street must be resurfaced this year. There's a project parts of which could very easily be delayed. I don't doubt there are plenty of others around the state.

I have heard a fair bit of murmurring about this topic lately, with several people arguing that it will (or should) cost Mayor Seng her job in the next election. I wonder what you folks think, so here's your topic: Resolved: Fire Chief Mike Spadt should be fired. Discuss.

Robin Eschliman has, at the (semi) request of Mayor Seng, listed budget items she would cut:

• Merit pay increases for city employees
  Why is it that people always talk about axing merit pay increases? Shouldn't we support rewarding people for a job well done, as opposed to just giving people more money for showing up for another year of work?
• Swimming pools, unless attendance goes up
  I wouldn't mind seeing Lincoln explore closing some pools or shifting them to private ownership.
• Bus routes
  There isn't much fat to trim as far as bus routes go. It would be disappointing to tear up Star Tran just as it is starting to gain some ridership interest.
• Expenditures involving water runoff, flood plain issues, etc.
  No comment, since I'm not clear what she is referring to.
• Libraries, unless usage is increasing
  I'm not inherently opposed to the idea, but I would have to see specifics.
• Capital improvements to parks
  This is probably doable. Lincoln's parks -- or at least the ones I'm most familiar with -- seem to be doing OK right now. City partnerships with neighborhood associations and other community groups could probably help defray some maintenance costs, too.
• Funding for the Women's Commission; she suggests moving it under the umbrella of another department.
  I'm not familiar enough with the Women's Commission or its funding to comment.

Oh, and just so you know, the list above wasn't really supposed to be made public. So don't tell anybody about it, okey dokey?