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Still Waters,
the
em space, Where They Stand,
By
the Numbers,
How We Stack Up,
What's
Up With That?
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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."
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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]
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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
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Keeping
everything in perspective
By Mike
Fak
[AUG.
8, 2001] Well,
fellow Logan County residents, what do you feel like chewing on this
week? Old buildings that need the subtle touch of a bulldozer?
Perhaps a few buildings that have a color palette that even a French
impressionist painter would say is a bit much? How about another
case of a business, say a Casey’s, trying to come to town but
being told not to build where they think they have a chance to make
a go of it?
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We
can talk about being the only city in Illinois that thinks it’s a
good idea not to give second chances to handicapped citizens for
parking violations, or we can ask why a county board can’t get an
easement from a city council to enter the age of the Internet.
Geez,
that should be enough for any city’s plate. In fact it looks like
we have our own buffet of problems in this city of 13,500 in a
county of 33,000.
Yeah,
it is. But you know what? In the event we decide to talk about these
issues, in the event we decide to actually determine the majority
opinion on what should and should not be part of our present as well
as our future, we might just get through all this. We might get
through all this until the next crop of strange and special problems
grows in Logan County.
We
are not alone, however, in living in a topsy-turvy kind of
community. In fact if we decide to take the boxing gloves off just
long enough to put our glasses on, we might read that strange and
divisive issues are the norm in small communities
The
Cullman Times in Alabama tells the tale of farmers in the Joppa area
trying to prevent a petroleum pipeline from going under their
fields. Urban residents ask how anyone can argue about a pipeline
and pumping stations that will bring new jobs to a depressed
community.
The
Idaho Falls Times writes about an arsonist who is burning the
prairies and asks why the local law enforcement officials can’t
catch the guy.
[to top of second column in
this commentary]
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In
Wisconsin, the Chippewa Falls Herald reports with dismay that
"America’s dairy land" has imported a record amount of
waste from surrounding states and worries about contamination as
well as landfill capacity becoming overburdened.
We
may choose to read the story out of the Morrisville News and Citizen
in Vermont. It seems that the rural area has one sheriff to patrol
several towns. It also seems that some towns don’t feel this
one-man police force spends as much time in their town as another’s
and says they won’t throw their money into the kitty to fund this
lone ranger. In an all-or-nothing agreement between the area’s
towns, removal of financial tithes could mean no one has police
protection.
I
could write a book about other small towns facing strange but, to
them, crucial issues. I trust I have made my point.
Yes,
Lincoln and Logan County have their own special brand of problems.
But they are no more or less than other small communities, or for
that matter, larger ones as well.
We
will survive. We will endure. Just as long as we communicate with
each other and thoroughly chew on the issue rather than each other.
Remember, the day after tomorrow, we still have to live with each
other.
[Mike Fak]
Reply to
Fak
(not for publication):
mikefak@msn.com
Response
to Fak's commentary:
ldneditor@lincolndailynews.com
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The em
space is a staff writer's commentary section with observations about life experiences in Logan County and
beyond.
—
Mary Krallmann
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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.
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Where
They Stand
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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.
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By
the Numbers
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Population
estimates in Logan County
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| 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 |
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Alexis Asher
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| 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) |
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