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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 27, 1999)
Wesely cites police force expansion as a goal met By Jake Bleed Senior staff writer One hundred days into his first term as Lincoln’s mayor, Don Wesely is satisfied with his accomplishments. “So many things have fallen together and come into focus,” Wesely said. “I couldn’t really ask for it to be much better.” At a Thursday morning press con ference, Wesely outlined his key accomplishments since taking office May 17. Some of Wesely’s goals were met after the passage of the city budget by the city council Monday. Wesely said the budget included the addition of six police officers to Lincoln’s force, money for the con struction of a professional baseball stadium in Lincoln and several bond issues approved by voters last fall. The expansion of Lincoln ’s police force, Wesely said, was one of his original priorities. Wesely said he had originally asked for funding for eight additional positions. The arrival of a professional base ball team in Lincoln has been a goal of mayors and city leaders for several years. Wesely said $12 million was approved to help build a baseball sta dium in Lincoln capable of housing a professional team. ii s great entertainment ior a family in the summer, and it’s a good thing for our image,” Wesely said. With the exception of the plan ning director position, Wesely has appointed directors to all of the city’s departments. Wesely said he hoped to fill the planning director position by Sept. 9. City Council member Jerry Shoecraft said former Mayor Mike Johanns and Wesely differed greatly in their styles of leadership. Whereas Johanns’ style of leader ship was based on building consen sus, Shoecraft said, Wesely’s was more “administrative.” Shoecraft declined to comment further on what he meant by adminis trative. Shoecraft is one of three veteran city council members to have worked with former Mayor Mike Johanns. Improved communication would aid Wesely’s relationship with the city council, Shoecraft said. “I think there’s room for more communication on both sides,” Shoecraft said. Shoecraft said the relationship between the mayor’s office and the city council was in transition and that he hoped consensus could be built in the future. “But it really is too early to tell,” Shoecraft said. HAPPY BIRTHDAY rYTXJ A XTXTT\ 7T?n O A HV n A n^T\/ r .. . The Navix* Help Desk is now open around the dock. • . . . ' 1 (Good to know next time you pull an all-nighter.) Low Usage Plan: 15 hours for $6.50 a month. MocMum Usage Plan: 40 hours for $10.00 a month. j .High Usage Plan: 250 hours for $19,50 a month. And whichever you choose, we’ll give you 5 free hours of Internet access every month. , Additional minutes are $.02. Call University Telecommunica tions at 472-5151 (students) or 472-3434 (faculty or staff). Or, stop by 211 Nebraska HaN. Visit our websites: www.navix.netwww.aiiant.com iVliant f!nmmi in - Making it aaslor te commeaicata." *u n«W be a UNL student, tacriy or Ml nwneer to usMy tor fteee (Sane Netscape sodvore ■ avaWCfc in Wtadows and Madmosti nmom. UNL parking plans attacked By Eric Rineer Staff writer Parking Advisory Committee members criticized UNL’s future parking plans during their first meeting of the academic year " Thursday. James Main, assistant vice chancellor for business and finance, gave a brief presentation to the committee on parking changes pro posed in the campus master plan. Tom Myers, representing the Academic Senate, said parking problems would only get worse if the University of Nebraska Lincoln’s master plan were enforced. The master plan calls for adding four garages to UNL’s two campus es, but one of its downsides is that it reduces UNL’s parking spaces by about 10 percent, said Myers, an anthropology and museum profes sor. Last year, former parking direc tor Tad McDowell estimated about 7,300 parking stalls could eventual ly be lost to scheduled and unsched uled construction projects on City and East campuses. “We have a major parking crisis on campus,” said Melvin Jones, vice chancellor for business and 66---— We have a major parking crisis on campus. The issues been on the campus way before a lot of us arrived Melvin Jones vice chancellor for business and finance finance. “The issue’s been on the campus way before a lot of us arrived.” The crisis Jones was referring to was the overselling of student pass es by Parking Services earlier this week. “We don’t have that many spaces available,” said Jones, refer ring to the 10,000 permits sold. “We have the largest waiting list for reserved parking that we’ve ever had in the history of the university,” he said. In order for the garages to be installed, student and faculty permit prices would continue to escalate over the hext several years, Main said. Sandy Lineberry, committee member, said the burden of paying for the parking garages should not lie entirely on students, staff and faculty members. “I think the university is taking advantage of us,” said Lineberry, who represents the University of Nebraska Office Personnel Association. — Some members suggested look ing to other funding sources, such as the University of Nebraska Foundation. “I agree with you,” Main said in response to members’ criticism. “But my job is to build garages.” The goal of building garages on campus, Main said, was to create a more pedestrian-friendly campus and to move vehicles away from the core of the two campuses. “You have to have allowances for utilities, campus visitors, deliv eries and other things,” Main said. “But heavy traffic should be eliminated,” he said. City crime rates down in 1999 Overall, Lincoln’s numbers have declined since ’91 CRIME from page 1 The Lincoln City Council approved funding for an additional six officers on Monday. Lincoln ranks 35th nationally among cities with populations between 160.000 and 260,000 for the highest number of police per capita. Statistics provided by Casady give Lincoln 1.4 officers per 1,000 people. Overall crime rates for the city of Lincoln have declined since hitting a high point in 1991. Property crime rates in 1991 were at 71.4 reported crimes per 100,000 people. Crimes against property are projected to be at 55.4 per 100,000 peo ple in 1999, down from 60.4 per 100.000 people in 1998. Violent crimes also have declined, down from 6.3 per 100,000 population in 1992 and 1995 to 1999’s projected total of 5.3 per 100,000. Burglaries decreased 2.4 percent, from 877 to 856. Projected statistics for 1999 may not prove accurate by year’s end. Casady said crime rates are historically higher in the second half of each year than in the first. Casady credited several local orga nizations for helping to lower crime in Lincoln. Recognized at Thursday’s confer ence were Mad Dads, Youth Violence Alternative Project; the Family Violence Council and the YMCA. James Jones represented the Youth Violence Alternative Project, part of the Lincoln Action Program. The project puts juvenile offenders through a one year program to give the offenders a perspective on how crime affects a community. “Our juvenile offenders must see the consequences of crime,” Jones said. The Family Violence Council works to stop domestic violence and provide support for victims of domestic violence in Lincoln, Family Violence Council representative Bob Moyer said. “We’re hoping our combined efforts are helping make Lincoln safer for victims,” Meyer said. Casady said domestic violence was one of the most frequent violent crimes in Lincoln. Casady credited community polic ing techniques put into action by Lincoln police in recent years for low ering the city’s crime statistics. Community policing techniques involve identifying problem areas and allocating increased police resources to tackle those specific problems, Casady said. ^ A project undertaken this summer around Cooper Park in Lincoln involv ing cooperation with local residents and undercover officers yielded, Casady said, a significant decrease in vandalism in the area. Other police details have tried to combat such problems as traffic on O Street, speeding in school zones and large, uncontrollable parties. Casady said the source of most details were citizen complaints. Others came from the analysis of crime infor mation. “This isn’t entirely brand new. It’s just that we’re getting better at it,” Casady said. “We’re going to do well over 600 problem-oriented policing projects this year.” Capitol observatory deck closes CAPITOL from page 1 * “The workers could only work so long,” he said. “When you get outside and close to the building, it doesn’t take long for you to start baking.” Despite the closing of the observa tory deck, visitors will still be able to enjoy the Memorial Chamber on the 14th floor. “(Visitors) can do virtually every thing they had been doing except go outside to look at the city of Lmcoln,” Rindonesaid. Rindone said the problem of peo ple throwing objects off the deck will continue to be addressed in later con struction phases. Dave Gates, director of security of the Capitol, said it is a difficult prob lem to manage because it is hard to catch people throwing things. “We’ve seen evidence of things being thrown,” he said. “It’s not a big problem, but anything falling through the air that can hurt somebody is a safety concern.” Gates said the punishment for throwing objects off the observation deck could vary according to the cir cumstance. Rindone said he was disappointed that the decks had to be closed early. “It’s unfortunate that someone had to get their jollies by throwing things off of (the CapitolX” he said. “Would you want objects falling on you from hundreds of feet? I wish people would think about that” Your brain sends billions of messa; to your body every second American Heart tfrA Association*!^^ Fighting Heart Disease ^ .V.': f . and Stroke I Here are a few you should I ALWAYS PAY ATTENTION TO. These ■ are signs of stroke, or brain attack. I Get help immediately. Get the I message? For more information call I AHA’s Stroke Connection at ■ 1-800-553-6321 C1998. American Heart Assooition