Image provided by: University of Nebraska-Lincoln Libraries, Lincoln, NE
About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 25, 1988)
Mayor works to save redevelopment grant By Anne Mohri Senior Reporter Lincoln Mayor Bill Harris will leave for Washington today to try to secure a $12 million Urban Development Action Grant for down town redevelopment. “In order to secure UDAG grant we have to have a major project,” he said. Harris said he will get suggestions and opin ions from Washington officials on the down town redevelopment project. Also, Harris said, he wants officials to sug gest a timetable for the project. Harris said he wants to show federal officials Lincoln is interested in retaining the grant by presenting the submitted proposals. Only the federal government can reaffirm the grant, he said. “It is our job to show how important it is,” he said. Harris in Washington today to talk with officials March 9 is the deadline for the grant. Harris said a 30-day grace period goes into effect after he is notified that the deadline has passed. 'We should consider local people with smaller projects. ’ — Harris With the 30-day grace period, there will be enough time to decide on a proposal and organ ize the development. Harris said he is scheduled to meet with Rep. Doug Bereuter; Janis Golec, deputy assistant secretary of housing and urban development; Stanley Newman, director of UDAG; Sen. David Karnes; and Sen. J.J. Exon. Harris said he will attend a Nebraska Society Reception after the meetings. Harris said he appointed “very qualified people” to a selection committee that will begin reviewing the 13 proposals while he is in Washington. But Harris is responsible for the final decision. The committee is expected to finish review ing the proposals around next Wednesday, Harris said. This date needs to be flexible in case the committee has to get additional infor mation. Harris said developers were given only a few weeks to come up with their proposals and they may not have provided all the necessary infor mation. After the committee has reviewed the pro posals, a redevelopment packet will be sent to Lincoln City Council members to reaffirm the importance of downtown redevelopment, he said. “We want all of the developers to know we have that commitment to the downtown re gional growth area,” Harris said. , In order to secure UDAG grant we have to have a major project. ’ — Harris Lincoln citizens are encouraged to submit their individual projects, he said. “We should consider local people with smaller projects,” he said. Butch I reland/Daily Nebraskan Dan Wolf, chairman of the Committee for Fees Allocation, responds to a question during Wednesday night’s ASUN meeting. Fee hike approved ASUN ups Fund B student fees By Lee Rood Senior Reporter The Association of Students of the University of Nebraska ap proved a S3.26 per student per semester increase in student fees Wednesday night for Fund B por tions of the University Programs and Facilities Fees requests. Combined with the 79-cent Fund A fee increase approved by ASUN two weeks ago, student fees will increase $4.05 per student per se mester for the 1988-89 academic year. Student fees will increase from $111 this year to $115.05 per stu dent each semester next year. If the Legislature increases university employee salaries, student fees could increase to $121.83. Two of the Fund B fee users, the University Health Center and the Nebraska Unions, lowered their student fee requests. The Office of Campus Recreation received about a 50 percent budget increase. Stan Campbell, director of cam pus recreation, said the majority of the $249,503 increase grams and facilities bud„ used to finance the Cook Pavillion, improvements in the NU Coliseum’s swimming pool and lighting for recreational fields. A one dollar per student per semester increase will be used to increase wages of instructors of the recreation department’s outdoor adventures trip program, he said. Participation in that program rose 39 percent, he said. Campbell said he was pleased with the fee increase, especially since campus recreation’s facilities budget hadn’t increased in 21 years. That money will help the depart ment make improvements on cam pus, he said, but it does not make up for inflation. While the 79-cent Fund A fee increase two weeks ago took more than four hours for ASUN senators to approve, the Fund B requests were approved in about 15 minutes. Two ASUN senators voiced opposition to the Fund B increase, saying $115.05 is too much for indi vidual students to pay in student fees. Sens. Linda Heng and Steve Henning said they disapproved because federal aid to UNL students is declining and tuition will most likely increase next year. Dan Wolf, chairman of ASUN’s. Committee for Fees Allocation, said there wasn’t much room for debate on the budget because only one Fund B fee users’ budget increased. None of the Fund B users’ appealed CFA’s fee recommendations at the meeting, he said. Two of the Fund B fee users had decreased requests mainly because of reductions in operating costs, he said. Wolf said increases for the rec reation department's fees were jus tified. James Griesen, vice chancellor for student affairs, can recommend changes in ASUN’s Fund A and B recommendations. He said now that Fund B is ap proved, he will be looking at both funds in the next two weeks. Judge: Changes in society causes courtroom changes By Mary Nell Westbrook Senior Reporter Courts are hearing issues that were never heard 40 years ago when James Oakes began working as a law clerk for the U.S.2ndCircuitCourt of Appeals. Oakes, now a judge on the same court, told law students and faculty members Wednesday at the Univer sity of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Law auditorium that social changes have altered the role of courts. Oakes.appointed by former Presi dent Richard Nixon in 1971, is the first Cline Williams Distinguished Jurist-in-Residcncc at the College of Law. Changes in technology, demo graphics and individual rights have all contributed to a changing role of the courts, he said. There has been a shift to protect ing the rights of individuals and spe cial interest groups, he said. Environmental issues have brought about an entire series of complex laws that never existed be fore, he said. The American Bar Association has even added a envi ronmental law section to its entrance test Oakes, a Harvard University Law School graduate, said his circuit has heard cases on super highways that cost millions of dollars and atomic energy cases. Oakes said there also have been substantive changes in the areas of civil, criminal and constitutional law. Criminal law has undergone a shift in focus to the rights of the accused. Cases challenging constitutional ity used to be “few and far between,” Oakes said. But after Chief Justice Earl Warren’s U.S. Supreme Court era, religious cases and cases con cerning the right to assemble in pro test have flooded the courts. He said certain cases would shock judges who served 40 years ago. Oakes said his circuit court is cur rently handling cases involving phone sex. “Cases such as these have tested the tolerance of free society,” he said. Court administrators and staff members have increased in the last 40 years, he said. This bureaucracy has helped relieve case loads courts carry, he said, but has lessened courts’ control over cases. Oakes’ circuit court handled The Pentagon Papers case. That case underwent en banc hearings, which call on all judges in a circuit to hear a case on appeal. Oakes said he doesn’t think en banc hearings solve any problems. He said he has seen other courts become “polarized” by en banc hear ings and wouldn’t want tliis to hap pen to his court. Killed wage bill unattested By Victoria Ayotte Staff Reporter Two University of Ncbraska-Lin coln officials had little reaction Wednesday to the killing of a sub minimum wage bill. Daryl Swanson, Nebraska unions director, and Doug Zatcchka, Hous ing Office director, said they weren’t sure how the bill, LB 1096, would have affected UNL student-em ployee wages. The Nebraska Legislature’s Busi ness and Labor Committee voted 5-0 Monday to kill the bill. Sen. Howard Lamb of Ansclmo sponsored the bill, which would have allowed high school or college stu dents working in retail or service to be paid at 85 percent of the state mini mum wage. Swanson said he wasn’t concerned about the bill because he didn’t think the union would have to pay students a subminimum wage even if the bill had passed. Zatechka said he didn’t know whether the federal or the state government’s minimum wage would have applied to the housing department’s employees. “I don’t understand enough about the impact it would have,” Zatechka said. Swanson and Zatechka said that if the bi 11 had passed, i t would ha ve been hard to hire enough students to fill positions in housing and at the union. “We’re having trouble hiring enough students right now,” Zat echka said. Sen. Tim Hall of Omaha said the bill might be amended and advanced from committee, but he didn’t expect the Legislature to act on it this year, according to Wednesday’s Lincoln Journal.
