Deena Winter: Council dumps extra night meetings

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The Lincoln City Council has decided to scrap the extra night meetings it has been holding this year.

Council meetings are at 1:30 p.m. Monday, except the last Monday of the  month, when they begin at 5:30 p.m.

Councilman Jonathan Cook has advocated more night meetings, to accommodate citizens with day jobs. He convinced the council to add five additional night meetings to its schedule this year.

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But Cook was gone last Monday during an informal meeting when the council was crafting its 2009 meeting schedule. Councilman Ken Svoboda said he didn’t think the night meetings were attracting more people.

Councilwoman Robin Eschliman said fewer people spoke during the “open microphone” sessions (on the second and last Monday of each month) in 2008 than in 2007, which she took as evidence that night meetings weren’t bringing in more people. (Although only four of the extra night meetings were “open mike” meetings.) 

Eschliman said staffers who work the meetings prefer day meetings — although as a business owner, she prefers night meetings so she can do her job on Mondays.

Cook was disappointed to hear the council dispensed with the extra night meetings, which he said also accommodate working people who wanted to serve on the council.

Roundabout safety: On Nov. 17, the council delayed action for two weeks on an agreement with the state to engineer and build a roundabout at the intersection of North 14th Street and Cornhusker Highway to improve safety.

The state considers it a highly dangerous area, but council members had their doubts about the ability of a roundabout to shuttle heavy traffic to Husker games.

Building Commission ‘out of control’?

During the recent debate over the purchase of $400,000 worth of furniture for a new city-county building west of the County-City Building, the woman questioning the purchase, Nancy Kraft, said she thought the Public Building Commission was “out of control” and lacked oversight.

Out of control? That might be a bit strong. But the commission could use more oversight from both the press and public.

It can be a challenge to keep up with the commission, which is important because it buys, manages and maintains buildings for the city and county.

Until recent months, the Journal Star had to repeatedly request that the commission send its meeting agendas to the newsroom. Finally, it complied.

 The meetings (aside from budget meetings) are not televised on the government access TV channel, Channel 5 — unlike more prominent local government meetings.

I was unable to find any reference to the Building Commission on the city-county Web site, which normally offers a wealth of information about everything and anything.

I also couldn’t find the agenda online, unlike most other local government meetings.

More transparency could help decrease such suspicion that the commission is “out of control.”

Eyes on speeders?: The Police Department is interested in using video to catch speeders and red light violators on camera.

Lincoln has some video cameras installed on traffic signals now, but they’re used to control traffic, mayoral aide Denise Pearce said.

Treacherous tracks: Jennifer Paine, who lives in central Lincoln and works downtown, is among many bicyclists who have had a bumpy ride on the way downtown on Eighth Street.

Both she and her roommate have crashed while traversing old railroad tracks embedded into Eighth Street, just south of the new Harris Overpass. Paine ended up with two black eyes; her roommate sliced her knee open, requiring 13 stitches.

She said she knows about 20 other people who have also crashed there, and if the city doesn’t fix the street, she’s considering a petition to force action.

“If the city doesn’t fill them … I’m gonna go down there with a bag of cement,” she said. “I’ve tried calling the city, and they’re just giving me the run-around.”

The treacherous tracks came up during a recent debate over a nearby redevelopment project — apparently if there’s enough tax increment financing generated by the redevelopment, some of the money could be used to remove the tracks.

Another committee!: The mayor has appointed nine people to a private-sector committee to create a sort of one-stop development shop he calls a Development Services Center.

Mayor Chris Beutler has been pushing for this new one-stop shop to consolidate the process for reviews, permitting and inspection of development projects. The advisory committee will identify issues and problems and advise the city on how to meet the needs of the development industry.

“I envision a day when homebuilders plan a single afternoon to deal with the city instead of days or weeks,” Beutler said. “I envision a day when going to city hall to get permits is synonymous with progress and good feelings, rather than delay and dread. Together, I know we can get there.”

His nine appointees are Bob Caldwell, president of Hampton Enterprises; Kevin Clark of Sinclair Hille; Tim Gergen of Olsson Associates; Randy Harre of Schwisow Construction; Fred Hoppe of Hoppe Homes; Dave Johnson of Studio 951; Steve Peregrine of the Nebraska Investment Finance Authority; Darrick Rademacher of Civil Design Group, and John Rallis of Rallis Construction.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.