Lincoln shows curiosity about Vision 2015

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By HILARY KINDSCHUH/Lincoln Journal Star

You can bet that more than a few people had the same question as Ann Nickerson, who went to a community forum Monday night to learn about what the 2015 Vision group hopes to bring to Lincoln in the future.

“I’m curious how they’d pay for them,” Nickerson said of the group’s proposed projects.� 

The group hopes to accomplish its goals through public-private partnerships, much like the one among the city, UNL and Nebco that produced the Haymarket Park baseball stadium and softball complex.

Members say the group’s visiion grew out of informal talk among local business executives, is proposing an ambitious list of projects it says are necessary to keep the city’s economy growing and to keep its best and brightest young people from moving away.

The projects include building a new arena, convention center and hotel in the Haymarket; establishing a research and development corridor stretching from downtown to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus; and moving the State Fair to the grounds of the Lancaster Event Center to give UNL room to grow.

The group hopes to accomplish its goals through public-private partnerships, much like the one among the city, UNL and Nebco that produced the Haymarket Park baseball stadium and softball complex.

More than 200 people came to Lincoln High School Monday night for the first of four community conversations to give the group an opportunity to share information about the projects with the public and discuss what they mean to Lincoln’s future.

Overall, the vision seems like “a great civic thing,” Nickerson said.

“I appreciate the fact they’re giving citizens a chance to be informed,” Nickerson said.

The group is partnering with Leadership Lincoln and several community leaders for the meetings, which include an overview of the projects, followed by small group discussions and a one-hour question-and-answer session.

Terry Bundy, administrator and chief executive of the Lincoln Electric System, came to the forum because he wanted to see Lincoln “maintain a vibrant and growing community that can provide for current citizens and provide a good community for our kids to grow up and work in, too,” he said. “And I think this approach is one way to do it.”

Some participants were particularly concerned about certain proposals, such as moving the State Fair.

“I have a real sentimental feeling about the State Fairgrounds, and you hate to see them go,” said Peg Pelter. “But then again . . . . who could be against development?”

Fred Hoppe, president of Lincoln Home Builders, said he wanted to make sure new housing was an important part of the plans.

“Housing’s a big part of economic development and vice versa,” Hoppe said.

Later people broke up into small groups to talk about the proposals.

When facilitators asked how the 2015 Vision would affect Lincoln as a community, Dee Weyeneth started talking about her family.

Weyeneth, who at one point moved from Lincoln and later came back to the city to raise her family, has a son who went to college out of state, she said.

“What is here for him to come (back) for?” she asked.

The 2015 Vision should help Lincoln grow and convince university students to stay here, Weyeneth said.

“To me, you can’t find a better place to raise a family than Lincoln,” she said.

Sometimes, people expressed differing opinions on the same topics �” the proposal to build a new arena, for example.

Jim Gutmann questioned the idea of building a new arena “when you have Pershing and Devaney .... and a brand new Qwest Center (in Omaha) less than an hour away....Someone’s really got to look at the numbers on that.”

In a different small group, Keri Bunstock said Lincoln seemed to be missing something in terms of entertainment venues.

The city has large venues, such as the Pershing Center, and smaller ones, such as the Zoo Bar, but “nothing in between that’s affordable,” Bunstock said. “It’s either huge or tiny, and I think a lot of things in Lincoln are like that.”

The Rev. Andrew McDonald said his group was raising excellent questions.

“Communities really can have crucial juncture points,” McDonald said.

Not only should people worry about how 2015 Vision would affect Lincoln, they should worry about “how will not doing 2015, or something like it, affect Lincoln?” McDonald said. “If we get left behind, what happens?”

Reach Hilary Kindschuh at 473-7120 or hkindschuh@journalstar.com.