Vision 2015 group hopes 'pillar' will keep best and brightest at home.

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BY MATT OLBERDING / Lincoln Journal Star

One of the Vision 2015 group’s goals is to keep Lincoln’s best and brightest at home.

The best way to do that, according to people who attended community forums in January and February: Build a research and development corridor along 19th Street from O Street to State Fair Park and on Vine Street.

That was the “pillar” that received the most support in informal surveys the group gave to the nearly 1,000 people who attended the forums.

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On the Web

See www.2015vision.org for a listing of current members, to sign up as a member or request progress reports.

Eighty-six percent of all respondents gave the research park a ranking of 1 or 2 on a 5-point scale, with 1 signifying “must complete” and 5 signifying “don’t complete.”

Other pillars that got high marks included the Antelope Valley project, a convention center and hotel,   and a new arena in the West Haymarket area.

The lowest-scoring pillar was a proposed arts and humanities center in the Haymarket, but even it got 1s and 2s from 43 percent of the people.

Moving the State Fair to the grounds of the Lancaster Event Center, the most controversial of the group’s aims, was supported by 48 percent of respondents.

“We walked away with the conclusion that there’s a pretty high level of support for all the projects,” said Marc LeBaron, chairman and CEO of Lincoln Plating and a member of the group.

Lincoln attorney Kent Seacrest said he was pleased and surprised that nearly 1,000 people came to hear about the group’s plans.

Still, he said he feels like there are plenty of people out there who haven’t been reached.

To that end, the group plans to reach out to high school students, college students, 20- to 40-year-olds, senior citizens, church groups and ethnic groups, Seacrest said.

The group also will continue to work on making its 10 pillars come to fruition.

Seacrest said “action teams” will move the focus from the big picture to individual projects. Those groups will get started this month, he said.

Each team will consist of a handful of Vision 2015 members who will work on issues related to specific projects.

For instance, Seacrest said, the arena action team will tackle such issues as acquiring land, working with a private developer for the convention center, and potential environmental considerations.

He said the hope is that implementation of some of the pillars will be under way by the end of the year.

The group is constantly accepting new members — Seacrest said more than 150 had joined the last time he checked — and has set up an informational Web site where people can sign up or request updates on its progress.

Many 2015 members are leaders and/or owners of businesses that could benefit from projects the group is touting, and some people have questioned their motives since the group became public in October.

Jim Abel, chairman of Nebco, a construction and development company, stands to gain a lot, but he said personal gain is not the reason he and other members joined.

“The motivation is we all have a passion about our town,” he said. “It’s strictly a passion for Lincoln, and we want to do things right.”

Reach Matt Olberding at 473-2647 or molberding@journalstar.com.