Still Watersthe em spaceWhere They StandBy the Numbers,

How We Stack UpWhat's Up With That?


Zoned or not

By Mike Fak

[AUG. 25, 2001]  The city council broke tradition Monday evening with an 8-2 vote overriding the planning commission’s rejection of a variance. The council, often rubber-stamping the decisions of the commission, this time went with what they feel is best for Lincoln. Well, what they feel is best for a large portion of Lincoln. The decision to approve the Casey’s location perhaps was summed up best by Steve Fuhrer when he said the council either is for new business or is not. The vote seems to say that the council this time kept their campaign promises of helping new business locate in Lincoln.

To many the issue is not as cut and dried as the council made it seem. The zone change requested by Casey’s met with three primary objections from citizens. One group, concerned with the effect of a modern convenience store across from Postville, didn’t want the structure in that neighborhood. A second group of homeowners did not want to see their neighborhood subjected to further residential deterioration by another commercial venture. Others felt that the decision by Casey’s to be on Jefferson Street was a thinly veiled attempt to take over the established business of the Citgo Convenience Mart and the Bruns service station.

To those who are upset with the decision based on historic aspects or neighborhood concerns, I am sorry but I have no words to console you with. To those who feel the Casey’s will hurt established businesses, I say, "Only if you let it."

Often during the night, the statement "free enterprise" came up in the debate. Free enterprise is a two-way street. In America we should allow businesses to start and grow and prosper or fail according to their own efforts. Free enterprise also means that we have a choice to use any business we want for whatever reasons we so desire. Just because a Casey’s moves to the area doesn’t mean we need to send farewell flowers to either the convenience store or the Bruns service station.

 

We at Lincoln Daily News and Channel 15 visit with hundreds of merchants in the area. They are our friends and our neighbors, but we always make a concerted effort to patronize those who help keep us online and on the air. This subtle but primary decision by us is because we appreciate those who allow us to give you folks the news and programs you want. Sure we move our monies throughout the community, but we always make sure that our sponsors get a significant share of our business. Grandpa said, "Always remember who buttered your bread." It seems that Jim and Jan at Lincoln Daily News, and Jim and Tim at Channel 15 and everyone else associated with these businesses must have had the same grandpa.

 

[to top of second column in this commentary]

The question of Casey’s as a major chain offering cheaper prices on some items, more so than perhaps any business throughout the city, is valid. In a day and age when costs for everything escalate every day, it is important to stretch a dollar as far as possible. It is just as important to remember which businesses are important to a consumer and those that are important to the way of life in this community.

Now I will never be so forward as to tell any of you where you should trade. I will ask you, as I always have, to remember who the businesses are who buy your chances or take out an ad in a school or organizations brochure. Remember who donates items for auctions or free food to community fund-raisers. Remember which businesses gladly put the jars on their counters to help still another worthwhile cause.

Dollars are important to all of us. We must be judicious in how and where we spend our ever-dwindling finances. In context I have to ask, "Are a few pennies as relevant?" I recall grandpa also telling me never to forget who brung me to the dance.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak's commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 



National chains are great
income generators, but...

[AUG. 20, 2001]  I just hate it when this happens. The "to be or not to be" situation with Casey’s trying to pop up a store next to the Postville Courthouse should be a real lip smacker for a curmudgeon like myself who likes to chew on such tasty issues. It should be, but the issue involved is so large and carries so many twists and turns that I just can’t get a good bite on the whole question of whether it is "nobler in the minds of men" to say "Build it and they will come" or to say "Not in my back yard."

On its face, it seems ludicrous to turn down a national chain that will bring potential property and sales tax to a city that does nothing but line out businesses that have said goodbye to the tax rolls of Lincoln. For years the Postville Courthouse shared a venue with a less-than-attractive home on the site in question. When the home was torn down, the vacant lot, replete with a berm of soil and native weeds, sat silently next to Postville No. 2 and then Postville No. 3 for several years. I don’t recall any concern regarding historical import at that time. I guess, "Times they are a-changing."

Now it seems some Lincolnites, including Mayor Beth Davis, are concerned that a modern-looking store next to the Postville site will be a visual detriment to the hoped for surge in tourists who they believe will soon be coming to visit the site if not the building per se.

 

I don’t see the problem or issue here. According to state and federal guidelines it will not be possible to make the area a historic district. It won’t be possible because the homes and businesses surrounding Postville, although lovely and functional, are by no means historic. Both agencies it seems are sticklers for following this guideline. Maybe that is why they call such things historic districts. My picture of tourists following signs to a historic district and then seeing such non-storied structures as Dick Logan’s, O’Donoghue’s Radiator, the 5th Street Food Mart, and both the Bruns station and the modern business mall across from it will only cause people to ask what the heck we’re talking about.

 

I also don’t understand the thinking that says we will tell a business where it would be best to locate in our town. National companies have their own research teams to determine locations. To continue to assume we can keep a posture of asking businesses to become part of our community when and where we think the majority of the town will approve means we aren’t really interested in becoming part of an economic expansion.

 

[to top of second column in this article]

Saying all this, I still have an extremely large "but" in my efforts to form an opinion. I have to ask why Casey’s wants to build just down the block from the convenience store and the Bruns station. I wonder if Casey’s believes that the neighborhood is capable of maintaining additional, similar business. Or have they noticed active businesses with plenty of customers that they believe they will be able to attract away from these established merchants. The question is rhetorical. I don’t imagine my calling the Casey’s main office will produce an answer to my conundrum. Especially since a Casey’s spokesperson said they have studied the Lincoln market for three years but were unaware of a Casey’s having been on Limit Street. I can’t buy that one.

 

I wonder if a Casey’s would move the market to a greater competitive stance in gasoline or simply end up being a new player while Lincoln loses one or two others to the power of a national chain’s pricing strategy. One new business up, one or two old ones down, is a habit we seem to have turned into an economic science in Lincoln.

Will we ever know how many businesses Wal-Mart caused to close in this town? Will we ever see competition for them that will cause them to price their products at the same low levels Wal-Mart stores in Bloomington and Springfield are forced to meet? National chains are great income generators for small communities, but their cutthroat business approach carries a dark side to their establishments as well.

Like I said, so many questions, and for the life of me I can’t determine the answer. The city council will give us their decision tonight. I have to be honest. Whatever they decide, I have no idea if it is correct or not. Maybe I’m just getting old.

[Mike Fak]

Reply to Fak (not for publication):

mikefak@msn.com

Response to Fak's commentary:

ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com 



The em space is a staff writer's commentary section with observations about life experiences in Logan County and beyond.

— Mary Krallmann


Back-to-school colors

When it’s back-to-school time, some get new crayons and some get colored-coded parking lots.

When I passed new local signs that said Red Lot, Blue Lot and Brown Lot, I took it as an invitation to imagine the possibilities. I looked around some more and discovered a Green Lot and a Purple Lot.

Each lot name matched the color of its sign but not the surface of the parking area. I didn’t see red or blue or anything special underfoot except standard yellow markings. All the asphalt and concrete looked about the same shade as before.

It would be a major painting job, but I suppose judicious color selection could make a difference in how fast snow and ice would melt on a given lot. In the middle of winter, though, I guess I’d be more interested in how close my parking space is than what color it is under the latest snowfall.

I never did find lots labeled for some colors, but one obvious arrangement would be to have all the red cars park in the Red Lot and so forth. It would make an interesting artistic study, and if you didn’t like your lot assignment, you could repaint your car.

Of course, without knowing in advance the number of vehicles in each color group, there would be a definite problem with matching the categories to the space available. In addition, someone would have to draw the lines between the greenish blues and bluish greens. Someone would have to decide whether a well-rusted model passes as brown or as whatever it was originally.

I’m sure that students who have reached a level where they need parking space for their vehicles could easily identify areas labeled in other ways, such as Lot 1, Lot 2, Lot 3 or Lot A, Lot B and Lot C.

The more elementary color plan adds interest and a bit of character to each location. Whether or not there’s symbolism in the parking lot names, colors in general do carry psychological messages. If I liked a certain color or not, I think I’d remember it more easily than an assignment to Lot C-11, for example.

I thought about which parking lot colors would be most appealing to me and most appropriate for my car but concluded that a shady tree and a convenient location are more important.

One recent study of consumer color preferences indicated that blue is the most popular. As a favorite color, it got 35 percent of the vote. Second was green with 16 percent. After that came purple, which helps explain why it’s the new ketchup choice you’ll be able to try this fall.

To make sure we don’t get bored with our tastes in color, the design professionals regularly identify emerging trends and suggest new shades, textures and descriptive color names for the products we use every day.

If parking lot signs followed ideas selected from prospective color palettes, students next year could park in the Rosa Roja Lot or the Blue Bayou Lot instead of places named for just plain red or blue. The labels themselves could suggest a curriculum, including the Mesa Verde Lot, Sycamore Lot, Gingko Lot, Moon Shadow Lot and Oxygen Lot. From Lemoncello to Chocolate Raisin, there are enough color names for every taste and every parking area.

[Mary Krallmann

For a variety of connections to color information, both educational and entertaining, see http://www.colormatters.com/link.html.

 

Where They Stand

Where They Stand is a commentary section that poses a question about a specific issue in the community. Informed individuals present their position with facts, opinions or insights on the issue. The following commentaries have been printed, unedited, in their entirety, as they were received. If you have further comment on the issue, please send an e-mail message, complete with your name, address and telephone number to ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com.


 

By the Numbers

Population estimates in Logan County
30,798 Total population, 1990
15,380 Rural population - 49.9%, 1990
15,418 Urban population - 50.1%, 1990
2,875 Projected births, 1990-1998
2,736 Projected deaths, 1990-1998
3,143 Persons below poverty level - 11.8 %
258 Average marriages per year
135 Average deaths per year

Alexis Asher


Logan County high schools: 1960-2000
1962 Middletown High School consolidated with New Holland
1972 Atlanta High School became part of Olympia School District
1975 Elkhart High School consolidated with Mount Pulaski
1979 Latham High School became Warrensburg-Latham
1988 New Holland-Middletown High School consolidated with Lincoln Community High School
1989 San Jose High School consolidated with Illini Central (Mason City)

Alexis Asher


Lincoln High School history

1859

Lincoln School District

5

School buildings in 1859

1

"Grammar school" in 1859

1

High school teacher, Mr. January, in 1859

1870-71

Central School opened

1898

High school building started

1900

High school dedicated, Jan. 5

$20,000

Cost of new high school

1920

Election authorized community high school District #404

1958

Dedication of new Lincoln Community High School, 1000 Primm Road, in auditorium, on Nov. 9

Alexis Asher


How We Stack Up


This feature of the Lincoln Daily News compares Lincoln and Logan County to similar cities and counties on a variety of issues in a succinct manner, using charts and graphs for illustration.

Racial makeup of selected Illinois counties

 



What's Up With That?

 

Back to top


 

News | Sports | Business | Rural Review | Teaching & Learning | Home and Family | Tourism | Obituaries

Community | Perspectives | Law & Courts | Leisure Time | Spiritual Life | Health & Fitness | Letters to the Editor