Lincolnite

I should really buy a new shovel before the first snow arrives. It hurts to think a think like that in September.

I don't have any experience dealing with a dilapidated house in my neighborhood. At least, nothing like this. So it's difficult for me to know just how realistic these Clinton residents are when they rant against the City's impotency or unwillingness to actually do anything about trouble houses. Are their expectations fair and reasonable? We all wish our neighbors would take good care of their property, but most of us don't want our neighbors getting too nosy about what we do with our homes. Many "newer" neighborhoods have agreements of varying strictness regulating what can and cannot be done to a property. That's a reasonable, private way of handling the matter, although it can in some cases have the unpleasant side effect of stripping character and color from an entire neighborhood. Beyond those agreements, to what degree am I responsible for the effect of my property's state on your property's value? Do I have any obligations to my neighbors, beyond reasonable health and safety measures? There are a lot of interesting questions here. How we discuss and answer these questions will say a lot about Lincoln as a community. What will you argue for and against as this conversation develops?

Dinner Date is selling off all of its equipment this Saturday and Sunday. Check out what's for sale. They've got everything from freezers to a couch to miscellaneous kitchen utensils. By the way, they are also offering up all of their recipes in a $25 cookbook. If you like their meals -- we do! -- the cookbook could be a good buy for you.

Back in May, LPD Chief Tom Casady told the story of Marion Marshall, at least to the extent he was able. That story has a new chapter as one of Mr. Marshall's great grandsons contacted Casady and filled in some details. Yet one compelling mystery remains: what happened to Mr. Marshall's son, Charles Clyde "Buddy" Marshall? Solving that question might make for an interesting search for any of you amateur genealogists out there.

Pelini says Huskers will 'rise up'

If you don't like property taxes, be glad you live in Lincoln rather than Omaha. Omaha's tax rate will jump 10% this year, while Lincoln's will remain the same. Considering Lincoln's property values have dropped a bit on average, that may mean you will end up paying less in taxes.

Lincoln's newest library, the Dan A. Williams Branch, is now open at 5000 Mike School Street (north side of new Arnold Elementary off of West Cuming).
View Lincoln City Libraries Locations in a larger map Hmm, looking at this map I have to wonder how long it will be before the new Cheney Branch Library will open. Any guesses?

Sounds like the #LNK tweetup at O Yummy (southwest corner of 48th and Highway 2) didn't go so well last night:

Getting ready for some sushi with other #LNK friends new and old. May the om noms commence!

We still have no fish. #lnk #fishup

Still no #sushi!! Starving!!! Using @programmerman's netbook to complain. #LNK #tweetup

Over half the people are gone or leaving and @jennieofcourse JUST got her rice! #lnk #tweetup

Almost 3 hrs l8r and finally leaving #lnk #sushi #tweetup. Good company. Slow restaurant. Slow service.

Had a great time at the #LNK #twishup. The company made up for slow service. Well, almost anyway! (The service was REALLY REALLY bad!)

...and so on. Yikes. I guess O Yummy won't be winning customer service awards any time soon. I guess I don't feel so bad that I wasn't able to go. Instead, I had meat loaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, corn, and fresh homemade rolls at my parents' house.

Mayor Beutler wants Lincolnites to be able to paint residential intersections around town. It sounds like a fun idea. A creative set of painted intersections could liven up neighborhoods and provide a fun mark of distinction in several locations around town. I wonder how long the paint lasts? It doesn't seem like that sort of art would age very well. I also wonder what topics will be painted. I would feel weird driving over, say, Martin Luther King Jr.'s head. If a neighborhood really wants to stir things up, they should commission a work from Julian Beever. His art could bring traffic to a halt in no time.

Gary verMaas wrote the Journal Star with a positive tale after his son's request to build a new garage was denied:

However, unlike in years past, the Building and Safety Department was proactive in stepping forward and guiding us to the Planning Department for further help and insight into finding a solution. Once there, the city Planning Department staff was extremely helpful in working with us to find a creative solution to the problem and also in guiding us through the various appeal steps needed in gaining City Council approval.

Hopefully that's the sort of thing we hear more and more of. Good work, folks.

Ronald Reagan's famous line about government not being the solution gets overused and abused for all kinds of purposes. But here's one case where it was true: good old fashioned pressure from neighbors, not government intervention, finally got the ugly yellow house on 34th and R fixed up and sold to a new owner. Whodathunk a potluck supper -- and local buzz fanned by the Journal Star -- could be so potent? Good work, folks. And good luck to the new owner getting the house fixed up again.

The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice released the results of a survey of Nebraskans yesterday that "more than eight of ten likely voters in Nebraska would send their children to private schools, charter schools, virtual schools or educate their children in a home school setting if they could". I haven't yet had the opportunity to read the full study, but I did check out the wording of the question that generated the above stat. That question read: "If it was your decision and you could select any type of school, what type of school would you select in order to obtain the best education for your child?" It's not a perfect question -- it assumes a "school" is necessary, for example, which may bias responses away from certain non-traditional alternatives -- but it's not as biased as I thought it might be given the foundation's leanings. I bring up the study for two reasons. First, I bring it up because the 80% figure seems surprisingly high to me. I thought there was more love for public schools in Nebraska than that. Sure, Nebraskans don't think our public schools are perfect, but we don't think anything is perfect. Except Tom Osborne. And second I bring it up because The Missus and I are fairly actively pondering home schooling for Robbie. He has already begun a home school preschool program with a couple friends and we plan to build from there to see how things go. I won't go into the reasons for our decision here -- that's a series of blog posts all its own -- but I will say that my experience in a teacher training program and The Missus's experience as a teacher in a public school played a significant role. Since beginning to explore the ins and outs of home schooling, I have been surprised by how many people express understanding with our reasons but still think we're nuts. I shouldn't have been surprised; it wasn't long ago that I thought home schoolers were nuts. Does anything about the study surprise you or jump out at you, Lincolnites? Hat tip: 10/11

I guess it's now officially official that Lincolnites will go to the polls in May to vote on the Haymarket arena project. It has been sorta-kinda official for a while now, but yesterday Mayor Beutler gave the official word. We still don't know exactly what the vote will entail, however, so this news is still incomplete. Are you starting to feel like this arena stuff has been going on forever? If you recall, it all began back in 2004. In those five years we've managed to do ... well, not much. Or so it seems, anyway. We have a couple project renderings and the location has pretty much been chosen. It sounds like negotiations with the railroads are going well; I think word is that we're supposed to hear more about that within the next couple months. Given what we know or pretty much know today, would you vote for or against the arena?

I know one place I won't be spending my Saturday nights: Club Red will open Friday in the former Box Awesome at 815 O Street (under the viaduct). It's a club specifically for the 14-18 set. In other words, most definitely not me. While I think this is a fine idea if it's something kids want to do, I have to wonder how it will make money. They will open be open from 8:00pm until 11:30pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and they (obviously) won't be selling booze. $3 Red Bull shots, perhaps? In any event I wish them luck. Has this kind of concept been tried before in Lincoln?