Officials look
at funding for
new garage
Some skeptical of payment plan
By Eric Rineer
Staff writer
Plans to install a second parking
garage on campus may remain uncer
tain, but ways to fund the project
without relying on money from stu
dents and faculty members are still
being explored.
James Specht, parking advisory
committee chairman, said his group
will meet next month to discuss pos
sible financial resources for the pro
posed $16 million garage, to be
installed at 17th and R streets.
Four garages are scheduled to be
installed on the City and East cam
puses as part of the university’s pro
posed 12-year master plan.
The renovations will be done in
an attempt to push traffic away from
the campus, while paving-the way for
several new buildings to be placed in
me current lots.
Each garage would be able to
hold 1,200 vehicles.
Some of the avenues being
explored, Specht said, include the
state Legislature and the University
of Nebraska Foundation.
As things stand right now, stu
dent, faculty and staff permit fees will
continue to increase over the next sev
eral years to pay for the construction.
When the parking committee
ends its September meeting, it hopes
to have a recommendation ready for
the vice chancellor for business and
finance, Specht said.
That recommendation would
include the committee’s vote on
whether to proceed with the building
of the garage at 17th and R streets,
Specht said.
If approved by the NU Board of
Regents in November, the garage
would be completed within the next
two years.
Dan Carpenter, who works in
parking services, said the goal of the
master plan was to make both cam
puses more pedestrian-friendly.
“This is going to be a big behav
ior change,” said Carpenter, referring
to the shifting of vehicles from the
interior of the campus to its perime
ters.
James Main, assistant vice chan
cellor for business and finance, said
the price for three city campus
garages would be about $48 million.
“Everyone agrees we need park
ing garages,” Main said. “The prob
Please see the results
of the Daily Nebraskan
parking survey on the
Web at:
dailyneb.com
lem is how do we pay for them,
because they’re so damn expensive.”
Besides increasing permit rates,
Carpenter said, current rates at the
stadium garage are helping to com
pensate for the projects.
The stadium garage increased its
prices this year to $4 per day. All-day
parking last year was $3.75.
Those prices were relatively
cheap, however, in comparison to
downtown parking, Carpenter said.
Daily parking at Que Place at
1111Q St., for example, costs $4.95 a
day. University Square at 101 N. 14*
St. also charges $4.95 for all-day
parking.
Andy Schuerman, president of
the Association of Students of the
University of Nebraska, said he was
optimistic about the university’s reno
vation plans.
i mm iavor oi n wim a very
stem desire that we need to increase
and expand our transit system,” said
Schuerman, who also sits on the
board of regents.
A better transit system would
help alleviate parking problems once
the construction of the first garage
begins, said Trisha Meuret, ASUN
second vice president and parking
committee member.
To install the garage, builders
would have to eliminate spaces at 17th
and R streets, Meuret said.
The loss would leave UNL stu
dents and faculty members with con
siderably fewer spots to park in until
completion of the garage in 2001, she
said.
Carpenter said: “(The plan) all
hinges on a good transit system that
we’re in the process of building.”
Tom Myers, Academic Senate
member and parking committee
member, said he was dismayed by the
university’s attempt to lay the costs of
UNL’s parking plans entirely on stu
dents, faculty and staff.
“I really think it’s extraordinary
that the chancellor should expect the
secretaries in his own office to come
up with the money over that period of
time,” Myers said.
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ALL MATERIAL COPYRIGHT 1999
THE DAILY NEBRASKAN
New state smoking
law won’t affect UNL
-iff -?W"' -'Jm*
By Dane Stickney
Staff writer
A new state law restricting strok
ing in state buildings won’t ignite
stricter sanctions at UNL, officials
say.
A provision in LB211, which
became law on Saturday, states that no
more than 40 percent of university
and state college housing can allow
smoking.
However, Doug Zatechka, direc
tor of housing at the University of
Nebraska-Lincoln, said UNL is
already far below the new law’s provi
sion.
“The bill has virtually no effect on
university housing because we’re
under the limits anyway,” he said.
“Only 16 to 17 percent of the rooms
on campus are smoking rooms.”
Zatechka said the cuts in smoking
restrictions are not new to the univer
sity.
l here have been non-smoking
areas for the 23 years that I have been
here,” he said: “What housing decides
is based on historical trends and
changing social standards, and right
now, smoking is not widely
embraced.
“We did nothing out of anticipa
tion for this legislation. We just fol
lowed what the students have request
ed.”
University housing expects the
number of smoking rooms, which
was down 3 to 5 percent from last
year, to continue to decrease,
. Zatechka said.
“I can’t imagine any variable that
will cause the number to increase,” he
. M Mil-1-x-1
Woman’s death attributed
to natural causes by police
A woman whose body was found in
an apartment on South 12th Street died
of natural causes, Lancaster County
Attorney Gary Lacey said.
An autopsy performed Monday
confirmed Delores Stone died of liver
disease. Her naked body was found
around 10 a.m. Saturday by neighbors.
Janitor assaulted after
encountering burglars
A janitor was assaulted after he
walked in on two mert Sunday night try
ing to cut their way into a restaurant’s
safe with an acetylene torch, Police
Capt. David Beggs said.
Police said the janitor arrived at the
Amigos restaurant at 28th Street and
Highway 2 around 5 a.m. to clean the
building before opening. Beggs said the
janitor was first knocked down and then
beaten by the burglars.
Alter having his lire threatened,
Beggs said, the janitor retreated to the
restaurant’s bathroom where he
remained for several hours. Police said
he left the bathroom after employees
arrived for work Monday morning.
Burglars were unable to crack the
safe, but took the janitor’s $13 watch
and the bottom of the restaurant’s
phone. Damage is estimated at $250.
Fraternity house burglarized
University police investigated a
burglary in the Phi Gamma Delta
Fraternity house Saturday afternoon.
University Police Sgt. Mylo
Bushing said a resident of the house had
closed his door but did not lock it.
Taken were a watch and billfold. Total
loss was estimated at $ 130.
Compiled by senior staff writer
Jake Bleed
The minority of students are smokers, so
there is d possibility that a couple of the
halls will become entirely smoke-free.
But as of now; there is no smoke-free
hall to my knowledge.”
Doug Zatechka
UNL director of housing
said. ‘‘The number of smoking areas
will probably slowly decrease accord
ing to annual reviews (of the students’
smoking preferences).”
Zatechka said the 16 to 17 percent
of smoking rooms are widely dis
persed throughout the residence halls
because the university seeks to honor
as many housing requests as possible.
Because of membership in activi
ties such as learning communities and
the University Honors program, Stu
dents are encouraged to live in speci
fied halls. Because some of these stu
dents smoke, Zatechka said, smoking
rooms in many halls must be provid
ed.
“The minority of students are
smokers, so there is a possibility that a
couple of the halls will become
entirely smoke-free,” he said. “But as
of now, there is no smoke-free hall to
my knowledge.”
Johnna Hargens, a senior psychol
ogy major, said the university’s stance
on smoking could be viewed as harsh.
“I’d say the majority of smokers
think that the university looks down
on them,” Hargens said while smok
ing a cigarette on the front steps of the
Nebraska Union.
“I think it all started when the uni
versity stopped selling cigarettes on
campus,” she said in reference to the
Nebraska Union Board’s decision to
stop selling tobacco products in the
union in the spring of 1998.
Hargens has lived on campus in a
smoking room, but she said people
still looked down on her for smoking.
“People were bitter because they
were on a smoking floor,” she said. “If
they don’t like to smell smoke, then
they should have given a preference
for a non-smoking floor.”
Hargens said she understands the
university’s stance because of health
reasons, but she also feels sympathy
for the students who will be left out in
the cold.
“It’s a pain in the ass to go outside
and smoke, especially in the winter,”
she said. “We’re all adults here, and
we should be able to make our own
decisions. I just wish people weren’t
punished for smoking.”
Free-wheeling
Liz Meacham/DN
TOM WINTER, ASSOCIATE classics professor, skates his way to the
5:40 p.m. bus on what he called “the world's smallest skateboard.”
Winter, who has been teaching at UNL for 30 years, said: “It sure
beats walking.”
j