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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 23, 1997)
Plan would restructure City Campus PLAN from page 1 Now, 16th and 17th streets carry a lot of traffic that is not campus-bound and “truncates the campus,” Todd said. The streets blur the boundaries between the campus and its surround ing communities and endanger cam pus pedestrians, she said. “The university must have a phys ical campus,” Todd said. “It should be clear when you enter the campus. It should be clear when you leave the campus.” In the draft, the streets would allow two-way traffic with 25 mph speed limits, she said. Later, the uni versity may make the streets cul-de sacs or make other changes to limit their traffic to university traffic. Traffic now flowing through the campus on 16th and 17th streets would move to a major boulevard, which would begin at the 19th Street and Capitol Parkway intersection and continue past Comhusker Highway to Superior Street. The boulevard will curve around the campus’s east side and will fea ture four to six lanes of two-way traf fic, split by a landscaped barrier, she said. It will run between the Beadle Center and the Malone Center on Vine Street, giving the neighborhood and the university a clear boundary. At the 17th and Holdrege streets intersection, the boulevard will cross high above the Burlington Northern Railroad tracks, Todd said. Pedestrian and bicycle traffic will also cross either over or beneath the tracks. Each day, about 40 trains cross the tracks near the intersection of 17th and Holdrege streets on City Campus’ northern-most edge. The trains block 17th Street for about four hours daily. “Why we haven’t had a student killed on those tracks - or a staff member or a faculty member -1 don’t know,” Todd said. There, the boulevard will mark an important step in improving campus safety, she said. But the boulevard also will limit the campus’ possibilities for expan sion to the east, Todd said. Under the plan, the university will give a few blocks of land between 19th and 21st streets and S and Q streets to the city. “This is a compromise we think we could live with,” she said, adding that all area neighborhoods have made concessions to arrive at a wide ly accepted plan. Because of the draft’s stormwater management plans, the university’s need for expansion into those blocks could diminish, she said. The univer sity could begin to build on green spaces that lie in flood plains once the likelihood for flooding is diminished, Todd said. Green space in the flood plain includes two-thirds of UNL recre ation fields, she said. Because of the area’s flood designation, it is difficult to obtain permits to develop new structures, she said. About 20 percent of City Campus’ 250 acres lie in the 100-year flood plain, she said. Buildings, including the Bob Devaney Sports Center and Nebraska Hall, would fill with water if a flood of 100-year mag nitude occurred. A 100-year flood is so large, it’s only probable once every century. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reports a 100-year flood would cost Lincoln more than $20 million to repair damages annually for years after the flood occurred. When the Beadle Center was built in the flood plain, the first floor had to begin 7 feet above the ground. And if a 100-year flood occurred, water would reach within 1 foot of the building’s floor, Todd said. UNL’s neighbors The Malone neighborhood also has a good deal of property in the flood plain, said Mike Morosin, pres ident of the Malone Neighborhood Association. Property values is his neighbor hood should rise and development could flourish without the 100-year flood plain designation, Morosin said. Those Malone residents who now own property in the flood plain should be able to keep their land and profit from the change, he said. At one time, the university threat ened to displace some Malone resi dents by asking that the boulevard begin at 21st Street, not 19th Street, he said. “It’s finally nice to hear the uni versity come forward and to hear some response,” Morosin said. “They’ve been very quiet.” “We’ve got to draw the line in the sand, so we can re-establish the Malone neighborhood and move for ward,” he said. Under the draft, that line will be the boulevard and an open creek, which will channel water from Antelope Creek to Salt Creek in north Lincoln and contain possible flood ing. The creek and its landscaping are one-half block thick in places - too thick for Morosin’s taste - but the draft is a good starting place, he said. -..., j,.; ' - ;____~\ James Foote, a UNL graduate stu dent and vice president of the Clinton Neighborhood Association, said his neighborhood also is generally pleased with the draft. But because of a botched north east corridor planned 20 years ago, some residents remain wary of any plan for a new roadway in their neigh borhood, he said. That plan would have split the Clinton neighborhood. The draft “is better for us,” Foote said. “The city has taken a better approach toward proposing this pro ject with the support of the neighbor hoods.” Rick Wallace, president of the Lincoln branch of the NAACP and a central figure in the Antelope Valley Study, said the draft was a “win-win” plan for both Clinton and Malone neighborhoods. Both neighborhoods seek an identity separate from City Campus and seek to reduce the number of stu dents renting housing in the area, he said. The plan will provide this identi ty, and improved traffic patterns and services to the community will increase property values in the long run, Wallace said. Although about 15 years of con struction to carry out plans could inconvenience neighborhood resi dents, in the long run, “that’s going to make this real valuable property,” he said. “It’s going to boomerang for the neighborhoods.” 66 The univeristy must have a physical campus.” Km Todd assistant to the chancellor for community affairs and campus planning Licenses of minors easier to identify ■ The word ‘minor9 will be printed on the IDs to help sales clerks. OMAHA (AP) — It’s gotten tougher for underage drinkers in Nebraska to fool a liquor store clerk. Driver’s licenses now being issued to those under 21 have the word “minor” printed on the top and highlighted in blue stripe. The change is designed to help alcohol retailers and law enforce ment officials easily identify nunqp. The State Department of Motor Vehicles is making the change with all state identification. “With the word minor right in front of them, clerks don’t have to stop and think; they know it right away,” said Betty Johnson, spokesman for the Motor Vehicles Department. The new single-word designation stripe appears in blue above the per son’s picture in all driver’s licenses, permits and state identification cards issued after Sept. 1. Before, the person’s picture was taken with a color-coded back ground. Blue was for minors, and red was for people over 21. “If the clerk wasn’t familiar with the color coding, they wouldn’t know what it meant,” Ms. Johnson said. “It added to the confusion.” The blue background will still, b^ used in conjunction with the new minor stripe. Nebraska joins 40 other ftti^tes that use driver licenses and state identification cards to prominently identify minors. For example, Iowa minors have licenses that say in red ink: “Under21 until...”