Opinion
/M/vNebraskan
Since 1901
Editor Sarah Baker
Opinion Page Editor Samuel McKewon
Managing Editor Bradley Davis
Big business
Future megaplex poses big
change for downtown
If Douglas Theaters and some executives
from various development agencies from
Lincoln have their way, downtown Lincoln may
be sporting a new look in upcoming years.
A gigantic megaplex, which could feature 14
16 movie theaters and 75,000 square feet of retail
shops, could dominate downtown, possibly
putting small businesses out of business.
It’s likely the megaplex would consist of many
corporate chain stores, which would put the
squeeze on Lincoln-owned downtown busi
nesses.
Small coffee houses may have to close their
doors for good because they couldn’t compete
with a brand-new Starbucks. A Novel Idea could
be gone forSver because a Walden Bookstore
stole its business. Avant Card could give way to a
Hallmark. The list is endless.
While some downtown businesses such as
Homer’s have a strong enough following to con
mmmmmmmmmmm tinue to stay open even if a new
Before Tower Records opens in the
Douglas megaplex, many others may not
jumps ship, The result could drastically
it needs to change the face of downtown,
already taking it from a quaint collection
have other of off-beat stores to a corporate
businesses collection of businesses that sac
ready to rifice quality for quantity and
take over. lower prices.
Otherwise, The creation of the megaplex
the could pose another problem:
megaplex Empty buildings.
would be What will happen to the
all for not- buildings the old Douglas
downtown Theaters leave behind when they
would look move into the megaplex? Will
no better. they just be dingy concrete
shells?
That sort of development
would make downtown Lincoln
look silly. One side of the block would feature a
shiny, window-laden megaplex, while the other
would display broken bricks, piles of trash and
dirt
Before Douglas jumps ship, it needs to
already have other businesses ready to take over.
Otherwise, the megaplex would be all for not -
downtown would look no better.
There are certainly good things about a
megaplex. It has the potential to make down
town Lincoln a viable place to shop, eat or just
hangout
That would be especially good for college stu
dents who want to go out at night but don’t want
to drink. They wouldn’t have to drive all the way
to SouthPointe or Gateway malls.
And, if downtown begins to thrive, we might
actually get a grocery store near campus, so we
could shop without die commute.
But lasting popularity may be a problem.
Sure, initially, people will flock downtown to see
the new stores and better movie theaters, but
will they continue to come on a regular basis to
keep the megaplex open?
If the past is used as a precedent, then the
answer is no. The Centrum, which was located
at 11th and O streets, was the late-1970s version
of a megaplex. The shopping center lasted for
about five years, but businesses began to leave
the location, making the project an overall fail
ure.
Perhaps downtown Lincoln has progressed
since then and is able to provide the basis to
support such a project
But until the city is positively sure and can
answer all the questions, there is still reason to
be skeptical of such a project
Editorial Board
Sarah Baker, Bradley Davis, Josh Funk, Matthew Hansen,
Samuel McKewon, Dane Stickney, Kimberly Sweet
Letters Policy
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Editorial Policy
Unsigned editorials are the opinions of the Fall 2000 Daily Nebraskan. They do not necessarily
reflect the views of the University of Nebraska-Lincotn, its employees, its student body or the
Urwarslty of Nebraska Board of Regents. A column is solely the opinion of its author a cartoon is
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Letters to the editor
Community relations
I am writing in response to the Daily
Nebraskan editorial of Nov. 29 which referred to
the forthcoming visit of President Bill Clinton to
Nebraska.
It has long been my contention that
Nebraskans benefit significantly more from work
ing together and acting as citizens with common
interests than from the pursuit of divisive and
parochial interests. As a small-population state,
the key to our success is maximizing our potential
by working cooperatively toward goals that will
benefit the entire state.
And, what is true of the state of Nebraska is
likewise true of the state’s public university, the
University of Nebraska, and our four campuses.
Our success in maintaining the support of the peo
ple of Nebraska and its state government depends
in great measure on our acting as one academic
community.
I am proud that the President of the United
States is visiting Nebraska and has chosen one of
our University of Nebraska campuses for a major
policy address. All of us should congratulate the
University of Nebraska at Kearney and the Kearney
community for being chosen to represent our uni
versity and our state in making a positive impres
sion through the national news media coverage of
this visit
L. Dennis Smith
UNL President
No Nebraska big cities
In quoting Erin Brockovich, “Do they teach edi
tors to apologize? Because you suck at it”
The Dec. 5 editorial, “See Cities Too” only rein
forced the DN editors' naive view of western
Nebraska. It appears to me that you, the editors,
think that because you are from Lincoln and
Omaha, you are not “small town hicks.”
However, if you were to talk to any person from
a legitimate big city, they would call you a hick for
being from Nebraska, whether you are from
Lincoln, Omaha or Kearney.
Omaha and Lincoln are not the thriving
metropolises that we would all like to think. In fact,
they are merely a suburb of a Chicago, a neighbor
hood of Los Angeles or a city block of New York
City.
I do not feel sorry for the “large number of
Nebraska’s population misrepresented by that per
ception that we’re all small-town farmers.” God
forbid people think you are a farmer, someone
with no college education who works all day in the
dirt and doesn’t speak proper English.
In fact, if the editors of the DN would travel
west of Lincoln, they would be proud to be thought
of the hard-working, college educated, well-bred
farmer who feeds the world.
Editors of the DN, I do not care where President
Clinton visits, as I do not respect him as a man or a
president. What I do care about is that the DN and
people who read it know western Nebraska is
nothing to be ashamed of, but the superior views
as those living in Lincoln and Omaha is.
Courtney Bieck
senior
communication studies
petaluma watson revealed
It’s safe, I think, to say
you’ve completely, totally, suf
ficiently screwed things up
beyond normal human recog
nition. Oh wait, check that...
are you human? Just barely, I’d
guess. Just barely. The dildo
part of you is human. I am
mad now, so I’m going to say it
and mean it
Consider, please, what
petaluma
watson
you ve put me tnrougn during
the course of one semester. And don’t try to persuade
me of a message. Oh God, my sweet asinine creator,
there is no message to be spread here.
I’d know what you’d like them - whatever audi
ence had not been repulsed by the end - to think. Oh,
that it had a purpose by having none. That its descent
into randomness, punctuated by a scene where you...
RAPE ME... for no good reason is the reason itself, to
rebuke any conventional ending and simply toss
aside any coherence, and therein lies the coherence,
the lack thereof, some sort of message that says “Hey!
I’ll take you right down this road and simply plunge
into crap.”
Don’t even try and pretend you didn’t fly by the
seat of your pants on this one! Consider the others
who knew... Oh, you told them you’d this, you’d do
that, that this twist was gonna happen, that twist was
gonna, or whatever, and then it never did, and what?
So you were lying? Or maybe telling the truth at the
time and, oh, conveniently forgetting when you didn't
have the material.
There’s a row of my columns down there, in the
bowels of your practical home, where some people -
three girls, probably - wrote all over it smashing your
ego to bits. One of them said: Get Therapy. Mmm...
yes, get it. You need it And when you get it stay as far
away from me as possible.
Understand that I don't like you, I never have,
though it’s not like it matters, me as your slave and all,
like I have SIGNIFICANT CHOICES in the situation.
You tell me I have pimples, bloop, I got them, I got an
eating disorder, bloop, I got one, I got two names, then
really one again, bloop, that, too.
And then, please, for clarity's sake: who is
petaluma watson? Could you, would you please
explain to the person who’s supposed to know- me? I
mean, I speak to her in some weirdo format you
dream up and then it ends with “Give it to the ugly
girls” (oh, so profound there) as if, what, you’ve
thrown down the gauntlet on the sexual politics. It
takes from here to here to understand what kind of
artsy-fartsy crap you’ve created here, a real doozy for
the kids to swish around in their brain and cuddle up
to. You are quite impressed with your snap-snap
phrases, I know.
I suppose this is mercy, you giving me this time, in
front of them to expose you. And see, there it is again,
what is this you’re doing, pulling the curtain? Is this
some statement? Is this the end? What is this about,
you and me, and you’ve hijacked this space to hash
out your own subconscious differences?
I know what you heard from another columnist
the other day, and it's kept with you since the first time
your father said it You can’t count on other people for
compliments.
Yeah, but stories, too? This a one person, three
mind show and while everybody was allowed to
watch, what makes you think, or ever made you think,
they wanted to? Was this a big screw you to the every
day set, who want human interest features and soft,
cuddly humor columns that make ’em feel good? A
puffing of your chest, an exercise in self-indulgence.
No, of course it wasn’t because I know your stock
answer; it was writing, it was art It was astory. Nothing
more. Strung a tree with a few dangling leaves to it for
plot threads. The first lines of it that said you knew no
greater purpose, that this all about reading me, read
ing you, a semester long game, a joke, an attempt
Anyway I’m tired, though, my God, I know you’re
not done with me. The name - petaluma watson - if
it’s mine, that is, well, it’s pretty good. Original, all the
rest Cutesy and weird, you heard one person say in a
class. Yeah, that about comers it
And, well, I guess you want them to go back, read
everything in one sitting, get the full brunt of it, and
then (you claim) a lot more becomes clear about all of
this.
Since this is your opinion section, though, and
you’re the editor of it, you could and did plug this
through the semester, and I guess I’m gratefiil for the
publicity. You’re softening me on purpose, I know,
because you want this to end on a good note, some
thing positive, something like you’re a genius.
Well, you’re not But neither am I, and maybe in a
weird fictional partnership, we can dance together in
semi-decency. Maybe, one day, pretty damn good.
Just remember I’m beautiful. I have no use for ugli
ness. You made me lilce that
opinions
wanted
AnvfifyyourwwE.Getyowwoidsn
ifyou^gotstrongpofitkalopinions^
We wantyou on the DN Opinion page
Apply at20NebiasiQU(m(thebasement)tDda^
Bush's brains
don't match
up for leader
At first I
thought it was
the deluge of caf
feine in my sys
tem, or the
orgasmic joy of
catching up on
two months of
readings in
Russian history,
but I finally have
Seth
Felton
an explanation for my feverish palpita
tions: A1 Gore will soon, very soon, shut
up.
As the Christmas season descends
upon us, a big pot of glad tidings is
being poured by our beneficent courts.
A1 Gore is losing, the election is ending,
and Bush will be president. All praises
to God!
Of course, there are sacrifices to be
made. The most obvious is that we now
must resign ourselves to the reality of a
president with an IQ comparable to the
atomic weight of hydrogen.
Already, George W. Bush has kept us
entertained with hilarious gaffes, enig
matic fragments and various mala
propisms like these gems:
■ “I know how hard it is to put food
on your family.”
■ “The most important job is not to
be governor, or first lady in my case.”
■ "I know the human being and fish
can coexist peacefully.”
■ “If the terriers and bariffs are tom
down, this economy will grow.”
Bush may have inherited this trait
from his father, who as president made
such perplexing comments as “we’re
enjoying sluggish [economic] times,
and not enjoying them very much.”
To be sure, Gore isn't the smartest
tack in the bin either, but it doesn't
matter. He’s not going to be president
But I wonder if Bush Jr., who will be
president, will have even a semblance
of legitimacy in the eyes of the people.
He will have won the presidency with
out a majority, and many take him to be
a complete buffoon as well.
What is most troubling is that
George W. Bush blatantly, though
unwittingly, challenges ideologies and
myths intrinsic to the American char
acter.
Americans still love the old Horatio
Alger myth that in America, anyone
can be rich as long as he or she works
hard. It’s a nice coupling of capitalism
and the Protestant work ethic, which
basically says “If I work harder, bad shit
won't happen.”
Andrew Carnegie was the perfect
example: A poor immigrant who pulled
himself up by his own bootstraps and
amassed a fortune through shrewd
business tactics, then gave a fortune in
philanthropy to build libraries and the
aters all over the country.
Of course, what’s ignored is that
Carnegie, in order to get rich, shafted
his workers every chance he got, but
nevertheless, he is still upheld as an
example of the American dream
because he worked hard and got rich.
In contrast, Bush hasn't worked a
day in his life. Every opportunity he
received was not earned through hard
work, but through name recognition,
through Daddy’s CIA buddies, through
connections. And most of those oppor
tunities he squandered or screwed up
until he got lucky in baseball.
Until that deal, in which he made
his millions, he used to say “I’m all
name and no money.”
I know the Horatio Alger myths are
just that - myth. Aside from an isolated
Carnegie, most Americans remain
within their social classes. If they’re
bom poor, they die poor. If they’re bom
rich, they usually figure out how to stay
that way.
I understand this, but it doesn’t
keep me from resenting Bush, whom I
perceive as undeserving of his fortune^
For me and many others, Bush will
be an illegitimate president because, in
our eyes, he will not have earned his
position by merit of intelligence or
ability, or even through the will of the
people.
Strangely, I am beginning to see
where the CUnton-haters are coming
from.
There are certain traits that people
believe a leader should have in order to
maintain his or her legitimacy as a
leader.
For Ciinton-haters, individual
morality is most important. Since
Clinton is a gross affront to that, the
Ciinton-haters see him as having lost
his right to rule, so to speak.
Similarly, for me, intelligence, wis
dom, knowledge and temperance are
most important in a leader. Second
comes hard work. Since Bush is an
affront to all those things, he has in my
eyes no right to lead.
But I can’t hate him. I may mock
him, ridicule his every move, but 1
refuse to hate him. After all, as George
W. Bush would wisely say, “Welcome,
Barbara Bush, and my fellow astro
nauts.”