After reading the city needs to find nearly $9 million in spending reductions or revenue to balance its budget next year, a constituent called Councilman Jon Camp with a novel idea for making money: Sell naming rights to city streets.

Camp kind of likes the idea. Rather than have developers choose street names in new areas, he said, the city could make money by selling naming rights.

(Hey, if people are willing to pay to name a star, this just might work.)

Do any other cities do this?

“I don’t care if they do or they don’t,” Camp said. “Let’s be innovative, because we’ve got budget deficits. … I want to spark people’s imagination.”

He compared the idea to vanity license plates, college buildings, arena-naming rights and advertisements on police cars and bus benches.

City-county Planning Director Marvin Krout said Camp’s idea was “very creative,” although generally the city discourages naming streets after businesses. Because when Kmart closes up shop, Kmart Drive off North 27th Street no longer seems like such a good street name.

“I don’t know how far that would go in reducing your $9 million deficit, but we’ll certainly take a look at it,” Krout said.

Camp brought up the idea during a public hearing Monday on renaming a portion of West Capitol Parkway after Rosa Parks. He’s dubious about that proposal because he thinks the city needs to establish a consistent policy about renaming streets.

Even though the council doesn’t vote until Jan. 8, it was pretty clear several members support the new name — they wore buttons expressing support for Rosa Parks Way during the hearing Monday.

Good luck, and good-bye

Monday was mayoral aide Rick Hoppe’s last City Council day, since there are no more meetings before his last day of work at the end of the month.

As Hoppe was leaving his last informal council meeting, Councilman Ken Svoboda put his arm around Hoppe and warmly said, “Good luck, but not too much.”

Hoppe will be working on the mayoral campaign of Chris Beutler, who’s running against Svoboda.

Douglas 3 has surprise ending

After the Douglas 3 theater was demolished and the site was being cleared, workers discovered an underground surprise.

The city bought the old theater building with plans to build a civic plaza bordered by stores and restaurants.

Urban Development Director Marc Wullschleger said a storage area was discovered under the sidewalk on the west side of the demolition site.

“We were surprised when we found the vaults,” he said. “We did not know they were there.”

Such storage areas were common downtown in the early 1900s, Wullschleger said. The city had to extend its contract to deal with the storage area, he said.

The east side was not without complication, either. Concrete panels were installed to shore up the basement of the adjacent building.

The city plans to use the resulting open space as a temporary asphalt parking lot and staging area when construction begins on the parking garage and high-rise planned for what is now the StarShip 9 discount theater, Wasabi! Japanese restaurant and Taste of China restaurant on the north side of the block.

Taste of China has reached a deal to sell its building to an undisclosed third party, although the agreement has some contingencies.

“We’re actively negotiating on a few properties,” said real estate broker Steve Guittar, who is representing Taste of China co-owner Chan Hua. The restaurant will close 30 days after the sale goes through, Guittar said.

Then construction of the parking garage and high-rise will begin, likely in the spring. So look for a city “request for proposals” to come out soon, seeking developers with ideas for the proposed high-rise.

Santa Camp

Councilman Camp showed up for Monday’s council meeting wearing a Santa hat and fire-engine red blazer and black turtleneck.

He’s dressed similarly festively every year about this time since being elected in 1999.

But this year, his Santa hat looked like a cross between a Santa hat and a dunce cap: It was unusually pointy.

“This year I took Viagra so my hat stood up,” he explained.

He told the council he was the “new and improved Santa.”

He may have been dressed like Santa’s skinny brother, but he wasn’t feeling generous enough to let a $48,000 consulting fee go without comment.

The Railroad Transportation Safety District — a local board charged with keeping railroad crossings safe — spent that to hire a consultant to study creating a quiet zone along the Cornhusker Highway railroad corridor.

The board will spend more to expand the study to a southwest Lincoln corridor.

“It kind of struck me strange,” Camp said of the consulting fee.

The RTSD is comprised of three City Council members and three county board members and is funded by a county property tax levy that generates about $4 million annually.

One more candidate for Cook’s district

Looks like more than one Republican is eyeing the southwest Lincoln council seat up for grabs in the spring.

John Erickson, a policy adviser to Gov. Dave Heineman, is considering running for the seat now held by Democrat Jonathan Cook.

Asked whether he was a Republican, he said he typically votes Republican.

“I’m conservative, that’s for sure,” he said.

Republican Shawn Traudt is also considering running for Cook’s seat. Cook has said his name will likely be on the ballot in the spring, either for re-election to his seat on the council or for mayor.

Quote of the week

“I’m sorry, Mr. Svoboda.” — Councilman Camp, to his Republican colleague Ken Svoboda on his opposition to a proposed 2.5 percent increase in the mayor’s salary for each of the next four years. Svoboda, who is running for mayor, voted for the raise.

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