Omaha World Herald. June 15, 2018
Impressive master plan creates Omaha’s riverfront reimagined
The much-anticipated Omaha riverfront development plan unveiled this week prompted plenty of first-blush superlatives - from “iconic” to “game changer” to “transformational.” And with good reason.
The conceptual master plan offered by the 16-member Riverfront Revitalization Planning Committee contains a treasure trove of new amenities. They include a pavilion and performance lawn, a sculpture garden, volleyball and pickleball courts, a “destination” children’s play area, an amphitheater, water features, a dog park and botanical interest gardens.
It also retains some perennial favorites, such as the twin slides near 11th and Farnam Streets and gondola rides on Conagra Lake.
Perhaps most importantly, the plan would create much-needed flow and connectivity among the riverfront area’s three major green spaces: Gene Leahy Mall, Heartland of America Park and Lewis & Clark Landing.
Not everyone has embraced the plan, particularly the idea of filling in the lagoon that meanders from Eighth to 13th Streets in the mall. But then, not everyone was sold on the idea of creating the lagoon 45 years ago.
Environmental and tax concerns were voiced in 1973 about razing a number of existing buildings and carving out a waterway 8 to 10 feet below street level as part of what was initially named the Central Park Mall.
While the resulting lagoon quickly became an iconic feature of the downtown skyline, it’s time for a fresh approach. Filling in the lagoon and raising the mall to street level will greatly expand its usable space and make the area more inviting, as well as safer.
Improved connections in the master plan include a pedestrian promenade along 11th Street between Douglas and Farnam Streets. This feature will create parking space for food trucks and will open up foot traffic between the Old Market, the Capitol District and north downtown.
Douglas Street would be extended, forming a connection with Lewis & Clark Landing. Farnam Street would be extended with a promenade connecting Gene Leahy Mall and Heartland of America Park. And a boardwalk would extend from Heartland of America north along the amenities at Lewis & Clark Landing.
A planned extension of the Bob Kerrey Pedestrian Bridge already in the works, dubbed the Baby Bob, will link Lewis & Clark Landing with north downtown.
Mayor Jean Stothert has said the city would issue $50 million in lease-purchase bonds, which she said can be managed without a tax increase.
But the bulk of the funding would come from Omaha’s generous philanthropic community, which has so far committed to providing $150 million of the $290 million project. Omaha businessmen Ken Stinson and Mogens Bay, who serve on the board of Heritage Services, are among the business leaders behind the project. They rightly envision the changes becoming a catalyst for growth.
A great deal of work lies ahead before this revitalization plan can become a reality. But it’s off to an impressive start.
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The Grand Island Independent. June 15, 2018.
No Cal, So Cal and plain Cal
The Golden State has been beset by earthquakes, mudslides, wildfires and other calamities, including a $1.3 trillion debt, mounting social problems, mandatory solar panels, sanctuary cities, cap and trade, the 405 freeway and mega infrastructure boondoggles such as the $77 billion Bullet Train and $11 billion Waterfix tunnel project.
Endangered species such as the El Segundo blue butterfly, free speech and pension obligations to the state’s retirees all face expanding peril.
Where the San Andreas Fault has failed to geographically divide California, 60-year-old Silicon Valley billionaire Tim Draper is on a mission to rip it asunder by referendum. Draper’s quest to carve the state into more manageable sections is driven by growing public distrust of government, burgeoning taxation, congested traffic, smog and vast political and geographic differences between rural and urban and coastal and inland residents.
These nettlesome problems have led to a net domestic outmigration of more than 1 million residents or 2.5 percent of the state’s total population from 2007 and 2016.
Draper’s “Cal 3” initiative has garnered the requisite 365,880 valid signatures to place the measure before voters in the November general election.
Under the proposed initiative, the state would be split into three jurisdictions: Southern California, Northern California, and just plain California, which encompasses the densely populated coastline from Los Angeles to Monterey. Each of the three states would claim approximately 13 million residents.
Draper took lessons from his failed 2016 bid to place his “six Californias” initiative on the state ballot after spending more than $5 million to gather signatures and promote it.
According to Draper, the three-state approach would give Californians a “fresh start” on issues such as education, infrastructure and taxes.
“States will be more accountable to us and can cooperate and compete for citizens,” he said.
Were voters to approve his ballot measure, the effort would need the blessing of both houses of the California Legislature - lawmakers who, in so doing, would remove themselves from office. Draper’s proposal says the initiative, acting under California’s constitutional power of voters to write their own laws, would amount to legislative consent. It is almost certain the validity of that interpretation would be determined by the courts.
A host of legal and jurisdictional entanglements would certainly arise. How would the water-rich part of Cal deal with dry Cal or rich Cal support poor Cal? Unraveling and reconstructing social programs, taxation, education, federal programs and transportation systems would be monumentally difficult.
If those tests are passed, the governor would ask Congress for approval within 12 months to carve the state into three jurisdictions, after which the state legislature would be instructed to divide the state’s “assets and liabilities” three ways.
To play along with this pipe dream, the U.S. would gain two new states and four new senators - for a total of six senators representing the Californias. Two new governors and state legislatures would be established. The political intrigue would be stratospheric.
We hope Draper’s proposal takes root. Due to the great in-migration of Californians, Colorado may one day consider subdividing into two states: Calirado and Normal Colorado. The state of Nebraska should, however, remain securely intact as most Californians are not likely to cross the Great Plains or the great political divide, except by air.
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Scottsbluff Star-Herald. June 12, 2018
Is a new Homestead Act the answer?
Vermont will pay you $5,000 to $10,000 to move to the state. Port Huron, Michigan, will give you $15,000 to move there.
These communities, and others, are trying a new economic development tool. Instead of trying to attract businesses with money, they are targeting their investment toward new residents.
Vermont’s target is people who can work remotely, while Port Huron is calling their offer a “coming home” scholarship.
Both areas have seen a drop in population and are looking to repopulate their communities. They are also looking to increase their skilled workforce.
In Port Huron, you must have a college degree in science, technology, engineering, arts or math within the past decade to qualify for the scholarship.
The idea sounds radical, but it is not new - it is simply a modern version of the Homestead Act of 1862. The Homestead Act had requirements tgat allowed any American, including freed slaves, to put in a claim for up to 160 free acres of federal land.
The goal of the Homestead Act was to settle the western United States and it worked. A total of 1.6 million individual claims were approved; nearly 10 percent of all government-held property for a total of 420,000 square miles of territory was homesteaded.
In Vermont, its new form of the Homestead Act is a state law. In Port Huron, the investment is from a community foundation.
These communities, like here in western Nebraska, have seen a decline in population.
Scotts Bluff County, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau, got smaller by 1.6 percent, dropping from 36,970 in 2010 to 36,363 in 2017. Box Butte County also saw a 3.7 percent decrease from 11,308 to 10,886.
In towns like Bridgeport, the U.S. Census Bureau, estimates the population has dropped from 1,545 in 2010 to 1,497 in 2016. Alliance has gone from 8,466 down to 8,403, while Mitchell has gone from 1,707 to 1,669.
The decline in population will impact property taxes, school funding and much more.
A community could team up with their local high school to find alumni and recruit them to come home.
Many young couples may be open to moving home for a safer place to raise their kids, a slower pace and a lower cost of living. A relocation scholarship could be the down payment on a home or the money needed for someone to open a small business or pay off a student loan. It could be the enticement needed to seal the deal.
Is this new form of the Homestead Act the answer for reversing the brain drain and repopulating western Nebraska towns?
Maybe, but like any economic development tool there is risk.
Located just 45 minutes from Omaha, the small town of Marne, Iowa, has offered free land to new arrivals for more than a decade. Only one person has taken advantage of the offer and built a home.
Yet, the foundation in Port Huron needs to raise more money.
Enticing people to come to western Nebraska will take more than just money. Some things we already have in place are good schools and safe communities. It will also require quality housing, recreation and more. But the money could play a factor in our planning.
As we look to reverse the brain drain and attract new residents to western Nebraska, we should be open to consider all options including a new Homestead Act similar to Port Huron and Vermont.
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Kearney Hub. June 14,2018
Xpanxion success lifts city’s profile
Loup City native Paul Eurek is a visionary. He saw the potential of building his software development and testing company on a foundation of talented and intelligent technology graduates from the University of Nebraska at Kearney. And, when that vision bore fruit, Eurek expanded his business model to four other university settings in Colorado, Iowa, Kansas and Ohio, with headquarters in Atlanta and more software experts in India.
Today, Eurek’s company, Xpanxion, provides software solutions for major corporations around the globe. Thankfully for Kearney, the company’s founder has a heart for south-central Nebraska. This week, Xpanxion cut the ribbon on a $4 million executive briefing facility. The 20,000-square-foot two-story building in east Kearney is the perfect anchor tenant for the city of Kearney’s Tech oNE Crossing technology park.
Xpanxion is perfect because the homegrown company shows what is possible in rural settings. This week when Xpanxion cut the ribbon on its new offices, it was a vote of confidence in Tech oNE, which city leaders have dutifully built to lure other technology businesses to Kearney, a progressive, forward-looking city in rural Nebraska. In addition to the boost from Xpanxion, Tech oNE’s profile gets a considerable boost from the nearby 53-acre SoCore solar farm that’s been generating electricity for the past six months.
Congratulations to Kearney leaders, including Mayor Stan Clouse and City Manager Mike Morgan, for their vision in putting Tech oNE in a position to propel Kearney into a new era of growth, and to Paul Eurek, who remains committed to his formula of tapping the best local talent on which to build a world-class company.
To any technology firm contemplating expansion, we can assure them, Kearney’s talent well has not run dry.
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