Lincolnite

Consider the following two facts about Lincoln's proposed arena:

1. The entire arena could be paid for with a .5% increase in the local sales tax.
2. The entire arena could be paid for with approximately $1,000 from every single Lincolnite.

Discuss.

The Hy-Vee deal near 48th and O Street might be in the tank after the City Council nixed additional funding for extending 50th Street. The street extension was seen as critical to the deal. No word yet from Hy-Vee on their next move. If Hy-Vee does bail out, anybody got any great ideas for what should take its place?

Kids really do grow up fast. Robert has two teeth now, both on the bottom. He hasn't really figured out what they're to be used for, but in the absence of upper teeth that's not a big surprise. It's going to be weird seeing him with teeth after so many months of toothless grins. And no more letting him gnaw on my fingers. I'm not raising a cannibal. Robert is also really figuring out how to utilize his mobility. First it was "Ooh, look! The dog's food and water!" The dog was not amused. Now, fortunately, he gets around to a number of different destinations. He even (sort of) comes when you call him. I plan to enjoy that as much as possible in this short window when he actually thinks that "go to dad when called" is a fun game. I figure that'll wear off any day now. Robert is sleeping all night pretty much routinely these days. The ol' Ferber method -- rather, our interpretation of it -- seemed to work pretty well. Too bad we didn't start it earlier. I don't think I mentioned yet that we have our finalization court date. February 13th is the big day, exactly 8 months after we first met him (and he pooped all over me) in Boston. Mom and dad are very excited. Robert has, of course, been "ours" since day 1, but it will be nice to make it official. I can't imagine what it must be like for people who spend this much time (or more) with a child, only to have the adoption fail for some reason. Makes me shudder. Here are some relatively recent Robbie photos:

The Missus and I tried to meet some friends at Doughboyz on Saturday night, but a sign on the door says it is closed indefinitely. Anybody out there have the details on this one? I noticed a job posting for a new Fireworks location in southeast Lincoln. (The Wal-Mart area, perhaps?) Now Fireworks and The Oven will both have locations outside the Haymarket. Hmm... Ate with my parents at Paul's BBQ (48th and Pioneers) recently. I really enjoy that place. Famous Dave's it ain't, and I like it that way. It has an almost small town charm to it. It's simple, it's clean, and the food is tasty. It's a success story for a local entrepreneur, and the restaurant is a great addition to the College View neighborhood.

I had every intention of letting Snowgate drop, but yesterday the Journal Star printed a letter from Roger Figard, the embattled and embarrassed man formerly in charge of the city's snow-removal duties. It took a lot of guts for Mr. Figard to write the letter, and not just because it is always tough to say "I screwed up". The letter also fills in "the rest of the story". In short, Mr. Figard was distracted by his daughter's health issues and he had to be out of town. Fair enough. I'm certainly not going to criticize Mr. Figard for putting family first. However one does wonder how many other major city functions could fall prey to the same case of bad timing. What happens if the head of payroll, or StarTran, or sewage services finds himself or herself in a similar position? The public needs to be able to have confidence that all major services will continue uninterrupted and at full quality even in the absence of the person in charge. Snowgate puts a dent in that confidence. Likewise, heads of those major services need to be able to vanish from the workplace at a moment's notice in order to take care of pressing family concerns, and they need to know that the services will continue at 100% even in their absence. Managers around the city should take a look at their situation and ask: what would happen if I disappeared for a week? Are you confident the people and services you manage would continue to receive a passing grade? Edited to add: And now that I think about it, doesn't this put more of the blame for Snowgate on Karl Fredrickson? Isn't it his responsibility to ensure that a backup plan exists for when one of his managers is absent?

For today's Friday Five, here are five topics (among many) I would like to ask Lincoln's mayoral candidates about:

1. What is Lincoln's greatest asset, and how will you take advantage of that asset if you are elected?
2. What is your favorite local business? Why? What lessons can other local businesses learn from that business?
3. Which Lincolnite do you admire most, and why?
4. Tell me about the Antelope Valley Project: what has been completed, what is currently being worked on, and what comes next. What will you do to manage the Project if you are elected?
5. You are mayor and Lincoln faces some sort of catastrophe. Who do you turn to for advice, and why?

I love Ernie Chambers for the role he plays in the Unicameral, but I don't often agree with his legislative priorities. This session, though, two of his bills sound like winners to me. The first would provide the public with more information about disciplinary action against public employees. The second would, in certain situations, restrict information available to the public about a person's arrest record. The devil is in the details and when Senator Chambers is involved anything can happen, but I like the general ideas in Chambers' bills. I'll be keeping an eye on these two.

I completely understand why the members of No Kidding would want a social group comprised of people who don't have kids. Before I was a parent, I noticed that parents' conversations always tend to drift toward the topic of their children. Now that I'm a parent, I've noticed that, yep, my conversations do just that. I probably annoy the beans out of many of my non-parent friends with my yammering about "Robbie did this" or "Robbie did that". It must be difficult at times being intentionally childless in a community that generally doesn't "get" why somebody would do such a thing. I'm sure intentionally childless couples have to come up with some of the same sorts of lines to respond to annoying "Why don't you want kids?" questions that The Missus and I have come up with in regard to Robbie's adoption. Are any of you in an intentionally childless relationship? Do you find that folks around here don't "get" your decision?

I'm on daddy duty with a sick kid today. Doesn't look like anything serious, but we'll probably try to get in to the doctor this afternoon. It's easy for me to tell when Robert doesn't feel well. It's all in his eyes. And right now his eyes say "Oy, I feel like poo." At this point I can't tell if it's going to be an easy day with a slightly tired Robbie, or a tough day with lots of whining and coughing. So far the latter. Poor kid.

Thanks, Neal!

The three candidates for mayor -- Democrat Chris Beutler, Republican Ken Svoboda, and Independent Roger Yant -- stood before the Lincoln Independent Business Association for a question and answer session yesterday. One thing is becoming increasingly clear: the candidates are veritable carbon copies of one another on many of the issues. That demonstrates just how dissatisfied Lincolnites are with Lincoln's current direction, and how united they are in searching for somebody who can offer things like "bold vision" and "strong leadership". It also demonstrates that if you like Lincoln's current direction, or if you support an alternate proposal for the community's future, you're out of luck. According to Deena Winter, Ken Svoboda came out on top as the strongest speaker; Chris Beutler knows the issues but is long-winded; and Roger Yant came across as the least polished. The other major differences among the candidates were ... uhh, well, that's pretty much it. Looks like Lincolnites may end up voting based primarily on the candidates' peepees -- party and personality -- unless real policy differences emerge between now and voting day. As it stands right now, here is my simplified scorecard: Pros:

1. Beutler: Outsider with experience; has put proposals on the table; decent speaker.
2. Svoboda: Republican taking on an unpopular Democrat; good presence; experienced in City issues.
3. Yant: Outsider; long history of trying to improve city.

Cons:

1. Beutler: Long-winded (eek, John Kerry?); limited experience at City level.
2. Svoboda: Member of City Council that's often seen as part of the problem.
3. Yant: Inexperienced; unpolished.

It probably doesn't come as a surprise to most of you that the Lincoln Airport's passenger numbers are down over the past year by 6 percent. Meanwhile, Eppley's numbers continue to rise. There's a very simple reason for Lincoln Airport's decline: flights tend to be cheaper out of Omaha than out of Lincoln, and many people in the region are all too happy to drive to Omaha to save a few bucks. Is that a problem? Should Lincoln be worried? Maybe. I don't think it is panic time, but neither is it a good time for us to sit back and let the numbers slip away year after year. As Lincoln has learned well, "sit back and watch" is not a good economic development strategy.

The Journal Star is running this image alongside articles related to the 2007 Unicameral session. Any chance somebody at the LJS chose the image as a metaphor for the 2007 session? Well, OK, probably not. Nonetheless, it's fun to think about all of the ways this image could be interpreted.

Sure, the city's snow crews did a good job with the latest batch of snow. But why is anybody bothering to compare 3 inches of practically moistureless snow with New Year's weekend's 7 inches of wet, dense snow? Apples and oranges and all that. The street maintenance crews may or may not do a better job under Wayne Teten, but let's not draw too many conclusions based on this little snow.

Robert had a big breakthrough this weekend -- literally. After months of saying "He must be teething; I'm sure we'll see a tooth soon", a tooth has finally popped up. It's actually not as dramatic as that, since you can only feel the very top of the tooth. But hey, parents get excited over the little things. In other Robert news, he has learned that playing in the dog's water dish can be a blast. Guess we're going to have to find a new place to put Daisy's food...