Lincolnite

The police spokesman said they are ever vigilant and on the lookout for wedgies here. "You might get away with that in Lincoln or Omaha," the spokesman said. "But we’re not going to allow wedgies in North Platte."

Read all about it.

A big thanks to beerorkid for grabbing a photo of an interesting partnership -- the Zesto at 11th and South now offers up grub from Mexicali Bullfrog. The Bullfrog, you might recall, croaked late last summer. It wasn't the best Mexican(-ish) food in town, but it was good, different, and locally owned. Plus, it was conveniently located for me to grab a bite after soccer games at Abbott, Nebraska Wesleyan, or Seacrest. This partnership with Zesto doesn't sound like a situation that'll survive over the long term, but hey, I'm happy to be proven wrong. I think I may have to venture out for a burrito and a caramel shake in the near future.

I am curious what other Lincolnites think about the width of Lincoln's newest arterial streets. Take the newest section of Pioneers Boulevard between (approximately) 74th and 84th Streets. When I drive on that section of road I feel like I'm on an expressway. The road is wide, the lanes are wide, and there is that gigantic stretch of useless pavement in the middle that is ostensibly for left turns, but in reality is mostly used to store excess sand and garbage. I have studied bits and pieces of traffic engineering and transportation planning so I know the basic reasons folks in those fields will give for those features. They'll cite safety, first and foremost, but they will also talk about traffic efficiencies, vehicle widths, and so on. As Lincoln struggles to find the cash to maintain its roads and build new ones, I think this is a very relevant topic. Is Lincoln building its new roads too extravagantly, and thus wasting cash we could put to other purposes? Or are we building wisely and safely, planning for future capacity needs, preventing ourselves from having to modify or redo our major roads ten years from now?

Have you noticed all the new signs around town relating to the legality or illegality of u-turns at various intersections? It seems like they are popping up everywhere. What gives? I had noticed what seemed like a change in the city's attitude a couple years ago. Back then, I remember for the first time seeing signs that explicitly condoned u-turns. There's a spot just south of 27th and Highway 2 that comes to mind, but I know there were one or two others as well. When I was growing up, I remember hearing people talk about how lame it was that Lincoln was so strict about u-turns. "You can do a u-turn in every other city!" was a common complaint. Did something change? Indeed it did. Apparently, the City Council changed the Municipal Code (PDF) to allow u-turns back on December 19, 2005. I don't remember reading about the change in the Journal Star or hearing about it on the news. A quick search of the LJS's website doesn't turn up any relevant results. So apparently I'm not the only one who missed the change. For your information, here are some basic rules (PDF) governing u-turns in Lincoln:

• U-turns are legal at street intersections or median crossovers, unless prohibited or regulated by signage or some other indication;
• If you can't make the turn in one continuous movement, it's not a legal u-turn;
• You can't do a u-turn for the purpose of entering a parking space on the other side of the street;
• U-turns are illegal within specified "congested districts";
• Bicyclists are not affected by these restrictions so long as they first yield to vehicles with the right-of-way.

So there you have it. Feel free to turn thyself around!

I really, really wish I could go to The Parthenon for their Cinco de Mayo celebration. That's right, one of Lincoln's best known Greek restaurants is serving an "authentic Mexican menu" all day on May 5. What does a Greek restaurant know about Mexican food? That's a question I would love to know the answer to. Unfortunately, it doesn't sound like the Wilsons are going to be able to hit the town that night. If any of you go, I would love to hear how it went.

Since I know some of you are big Ernie Chambers fans, I want to point out this profile in the New York Times. Though not a long article, it's a pretty accurate portrait of Nebraska's most infamous state Senator.

That'll be the headline after LPD puts a few Segways on the streets of Lincoln. Remember Segways? They're the two-wheeled, gyroscopically balanced doodads that were supposed to change the world. Yeah, that didn't really happen. LPD's Segways are part of a push to both improve service and give the folks in blue a touch of green. If the Segways replace cars, then yeah, they might be a bit greener. But if they're replacing foot or bike patrols -- which is what a Segway would seem most useful for -- they're more wasteful, not less. Personally, I think we should give cops those shoes with the retractable wheels. That would give officers three speeds: walk, run, and roller derby. The shoes could even have little red lights and sirens. Admit it, you would love to see a bad guy running down the sidewalk with a cop skating in hot pursuit. And the body check into a parked car to end the chase? Priceless.

We still haven't answered Question #1 -- Should we build it? -- but if we do build a new arena in the Haymarket, the Scott brothers will lead the charge. Poor ol' John Q Hammons got left in the dust again. Don't get too worked up over any details, though. Very little is set in stone at this point. A couple LJS commenters refer to the arena pictured in the mockup as a "barn", but that is most certainly not what the final arena will look like. For one thing, the rendering shows the arena and hotel as being separated, whereas the textual description in the article says some of the hotel rooms will actually look into the arena. Interestingly, the article doesn't say a word about the size of the arena in the Scotts' proposal. That's an odd omission considering how contentious that topic has been. Also interesting, for a much different reason, is the City's selection of the relatively-untested Robert and Will Scott. The team they bring to the table has a lot of experience with this sort of project, but the brothers themselves are still fairly green. The Mayor's rationale -- well, a portion of it, anyway -- is pretty transparent. He wants the local connection. Two Lincolnites can sell the project to their neighbors much easier than an outside group can sell it. Any thoughts on the choice of developer? Anybody else with me in wishing we could vote on this thing this year, rather than waiting until next year?

As he promised, Neal Obermeyer turned one of last week's conversations into a cartoon in Sunday's Journal Star.

Attorney General Jon Bruning is stubbornly refusing to cooperate with the Nebraska Equal Opportunity Commission on housing discrimination cases involving illegal immigrants. Bruning says that undocumented individuals are not entitled to the state's support. The NEOC says that the individuals aren't receiving support, rather federal law is being enforced. Almost everybody around the country sides with the NEOC. The immigration issue isn't the only problem here. The Attorney General's office has been a thorn in the NEOC's side for quite a while. The NEOC says the AG won't investigate cases like he is obligated to do; the AG says the cases are poorly investigated by the NEOC. Regardless of who is right or wrong by law, this seems to be the sort of situation that illustrates just how wishy-washy we are on immigration issues in this country. If being here illegally is, well, illegal, why aren't landlords within their responsibilities to deny housing to illegal aliens? Isn't it their civic duty to prevent people engaged in illegal activities from living on their property, just as it is their civic responsibility to boot out, say, folks operating a meth lab? The one thing Bruning has going for him on this issue is the consistency of his assertion that illegal means illegal. Protection from housing discrimination is not an inherent right -- such as protection from bodily harm -- to which illegal immigrants are entitled. Is this a case of everybody's right and everybody's wrong? Any guesses on what the outcome will be?

The folks just up the road are having a heck of a time dealing with a soccer player getting shot at a middle school, along with gun-related incidents at an elementary school and at Westside High School. I'm sure LPS officials are awfully nervous right now, lest the trouble make its way down the interstate.

It looks like the days of playing sand volleyball Downtown are over. Oh well, sand volleyball courts aren't exactly the most efficient use of space, and if their removal means Downtown gets some fresh retail and office space, so be it.

Looks like 9 South Chargrill can finally sell alcohol. I'll see if I can find out when they will actually begin offering alcohol with meals.

Whew, I'm tired. Last night marked my 27th match of the high school soccer season, which began back on March 13. I have three more matches this week, bringing my regular season total up to an even 30, followed by six district matches next week. Thirty-six high school games is a lot to squeeze into seven weeks, especially when you consider that number doesn't include the college spring games, indoor games, and Latino league games I did during that same stretch. I don't know what sort of assignments I'll get at the state tournament -- or if I'll get any at all -- but by the end of the high school season it's likely I will surpass the 50 game mark in just two months. On the plus side, my conditioning is as good as it has been in a while. I have lost ten pounds since the start of the season, and I generally feel pretty good running around on the field. I even survived Sunday's slate of three 90-minute games in pretty good shape. (It helped that I got to top it all off with a trip to Cristina's in Crete for one of their awesome empanadas smothered in spicy green chile.) There's a downside, too. My energy level is dropping, and that nagging twinge in my hamstring from the second week of the season isn't getting any better with all the abuse I've heaped on it. But I'll be fine. I have enough fuel in the tank to get me through districts, and then I'll have a week off before state. And I have emotional health on my side. On Friday I teamed up with an awesome company to do software development and support, along with a little website development. That makes two partnerships with very strong, respected companies to go along with the other contract jobs I pick up here and there. As a freelancer, having two stable sources of income is a huge weight off my shoulders. Plus, it means I can focus more on the fun side of contract gigs, rather than having to see each job as "that one covers next week's groceries, that one will take care of the car insurance...". It doesn't hurt that it's spring. I can't wait to have some time to work in the yard and garden, and to just spend time outside doing as little as possible. That sounds like fun, doesn't it?

Yeah, why doesn't the City have a true ethics code? Why has it been tabled for six years?