Moving to Lincoln for Law School, good idea??? (Omaha, Gretna: apartment complexes, to rent)

[sunmart]

Don't rent from Richdale.They are the biggest crooks in town. Rented from them once in Omaha. Go to www.apartmentratings.com There other name is Slossburg.

[MattDen]

Ah well, the fact of the matter is Lincoln has alot of blighted areas. In fact the blight is so widespread that it has caused property tax rates to increase to amazing levels.

I guess living near UNL is blighted, I made a bad choice of neighborhood before I moved here. Most cities like Columbus (Short North), Pittsburgh (Oakland), Denver (Auraria), Colorado Springs (Old North End) all have beautiful neighborhoods next to there cities large college campuses. On the other hand next to UNL in Lincoln its mainly ugly little shacks with people who have baby after baby after baby. In Lincoln people are so backwards, primative and uncultured they think that there sole duty in life is to pro-crate one baby after another.

Besides who would want to live in a nice area of Lincoln where those people are soaked in high property taxes. And what exactly does Lincoln have for those high property taxes? Terrible roads, high violent crime rate, parks which are not as well maintained as most cities, abandoned buildings and a crappy library. Lincoln has 240,000 people and cities just a little bit bigger such as Pittsburgh and Cincinnati have library systems that make Lincoln's main library look like a dirty branch library.

Lincoln is in such bad shape that the streets are in horrible shape with foot in diameter holes in them and the sidewalks in many areas have nearly collapsed from not being fixed all because Lincolnites have so many babies that education takes up about 2/3rds of the Lincoln property tax rates.

Lincoln Public schools is 33,000 students for 239,000 population.
Minneapolis has just over 36,000 students for around 370,000 people
Pittsburgh, PA also has less students in there public schools and they are a city of around 315,000.

This just goes to show what happens when a place is based on nothing more but college students and people who have baby after baby after baby because this town lacks religious and political diversity and entertainment.

The people of Lincoln are so primative in there beliefs that they feel the main purpose of life is to have just one baby after enough.

In fact in Grand Island and Lexington they even have more babies. I believe when I was looking it up around 25% of Lexington, NE goes to primary schools many cities like Pittsburgh and Minneapolis are about 10% and some Seattle and San Francisco have even less students in there public school systems draining infrastructure.

[Katarina Witt]

Pittsburgh, PA also has less students in there public schools and they are a city of around 315,000.

Pittsburgh has a serious deficit of young people and a huge number of retirees. It has its good points, but that isn't one of them.

[mattpoulsen]

Mattden,

You're just unbelievably pompous! I'd use other words, but I don't want this post deleted.

Lincoln does NOT have a number of blighted areas!! Yes, it is in and around city campus, but why does that define Lincoln as a run down city???? Your definitions are as fluid as water.

Lincoln roads are not in horrible shape!! We live in the midwest. There are always potholes after winter!! I was just in downtown Denver and saw plenty of potholes. Can you come up with anything more ludicrous to conclude Lincoln is a horrible city??

What does Lincoln get for its taxes?? How about a top notch education! Nebraska and Lincoln in general annihilates Colorado in ACT score!!

I was just thinking a nice Italian hoagie on freshly baked bread in Pittsburgh for 3 dollars or scoop of stew that has the apperance of vomit like I have had before for 7 dollars in Nebraska.

Yep! That's logical. One bad cup of stew and clearly the entire city is worthless. What a joke!

In Lincoln once you pass 19th street its mainly just people raising babies in shacks and trailers (to the north) who never learned that there is more to do in life then just have one baby after another. People who must have half-a dozen babies living in 100 year old small shacks.


Are you serious! You're just a bitter pompous jerk. Not to mention a liar. I can't really understand to where you are referring exactly, but maybe just north of campus. Farther north goes into the highlands and north Lincoln and those areas are not shacks at all and is very run of the mill suburbia. How about some honesty??


I'm sick of you babies and trailer park referenes. You're insulting 250,000 people you pompous jerk! How would you like it if people were bashing your way of life??

Look at the stats! Lincoln does NOT have a significantly larger family size than Omaha or any other place in the midwest! And if it did why does that make it a bad city? And your constant trailer park reference is just an ABSOLUTE LIE!!! I would be willing to guess that less than 0.1% of the homes in Lincoln are trailer homes...if that.

[MattDen]

Im sure if Denver had 1,400 extra per 100,000 home value property taxes like Lincoln has (a little less then 600 per 100,000 property tax versus 1,990 in Lincoln) they could have all those holes in the roads fixed with no problem.

Yep, they have normal suburbia in the far northern areas of Lincoln. I should have said in the areas north and east of the college campus but the blight goes on for miles. But its just not normal to have family-housing right next to a flagship college campus. Most cities have high-density strcutures near adjacent to the college areas, not shacks with large families.

Lincoln has horiffic urban planning and even some of the people I mentioned it with agree that the city planning department is far behind others around here.

They do have a very large area of modular home though about 2 miles north of the university and it goes on for several miles with few breaks.

Anyway, I think its good people who read the posts get a diversity of opinions on Lincoln.

[mattpoulsen]

Mattden,

I don't have a problem with you criticizing Lincoln infrastructure. I have a problem when it is directed at the entire Lincoln population and when it gets mean spirited.

I totally agree that Lincoln needs to advance its development. I totally agree. I also agree that Omaha is a more progressive and better designed city. But there are reasons for that besides birth rates, family size and trailer houses. For one, Omaha's area has about 3 to 4 times the population. Omaha is just ahead of the curve a bit. But its a matter of degree...its not black and white. Also, there is no difference between the people who live in Omaha and Lincoln. The cities are obviously different, but the people are not.

There are many other cities, particularly in the midwest, who have run down areas near the campus. Although near the downtown area, Creighton's campus is immersed in one of the higher crime areas in the state. The reason UNL's surrounding area is rundown is simply because its one of the oldest parts of town. Also, because of the railroad and the State Fair, there have been serious issues with updating that region. However, it has nothing to do with all of the people in Lincoln possessing a disdain for employers bringing in new jobs. I would also add that business leaders and city leaders are currently trying desperately to change the areas in and around campus and it appears they will be getting their way. That and Lincoln has just announced 2 high complexes on the south side of campus. Finally, there is a major push to develop the north Haymarket/Post Office area...including an Event Center and Convention Center. These 3 projects will significantly enhance the area surrounding UNL.

I totally agree that Lincoln has areas to improve upon. But to portray all Lincolnites as poor people raising 6 kids and living in a trailer house is just not correct. I'm also pretty sure you agree with me on that.

[cafe du monde]

What happened to this thread? LOL

Anyway, thanks for your advice and opinions, MattDen, I appreciate your input, but I think I would rather focus on the positives of Lincoln, since I will be going there, for sure.
So, if you have nothing nice to say about the place I'm going to be calling home for the next 3 years at the very least, then it's better not to say anything at all.

After all, if I see something different, I wanna think, "oh, that's cool", instead of "oh, that's 'blighted' ".

Why is richdale shady? What do they do?

Thank you,

[Katarina Witt]

I don't want to derail this thread, but I need to clarify something.

MattDen:

Pittsburgh has a deficit of young people?, Pittsburgh had lots of people in their 20s crowding the streets of Oakland when I was there. The bus from going from Downtown to Monroeville had lots of college students and as the bus was passing by thats all I saw was college students walking around Oakland. Not only that the neighborhoods adjacent to U. Pitt have tons of ethnic retaurant, I had an Italian hoagie for 3
dollars and it was delicious while looking at the amazing architecture and the cathedral of learning in the background.

Yes, Pittsburgh has a deficit of young people. There is a thread on the Pittsburgh forum right now about their latest population figures. Of course you saw college students walking around Oakland. There are two major universities there! But they generally don't stay. Pgh has more deaths than births, because there are more elderly folks there than young people. I went to the U of Pitts. I loved it.

I have only been to Lincoln very briefly. From what you and others on this forum have said, it sounds like a typical college town. And cafe du monde is going to law school there.

[calira]

I am also moving to Lincoln in August for graduate school. I have been looking at Lionsgate and Black Sands apartments which are close to East campus where most of my classes will be. I am moving from wisconsin so I won't have as much of an adjustment to make but I did visit Lincoln for a week in March and I thought it was a pretty nice place.

[Danni11]

Most everybody at the lawcoll hangs out at Randy's for drinking. It's where people gravitate after finals and memos are due. You can even see faculty there on occasion. Food's good and Randy himself treats everyone real nice.

Another bar right near campus is Brother's. I don't go there, but others from the lawcoll do.

Matt P. is right about hanging out downtown more. I personally believe the Omaha nightlife is a little nicer, but that's probably more about me being a commuter and so less familiar with Lincoln's night-time scene. He's also right about Tanglewood and Lionsgate. Both are nice places, and I've got friends living in both.

As far as religion goes, there's groups active in the lawcoll, but I never joined any of them, and never had an issue with anyone thinking less of me for that. In fact, I sometimes go to the meetings when there's a speaker I am interested in regardless of whether I'm a member of the group. That's a goal of all the groups, so no worries there. The purpose of all the groups there is to help and support those who are interested, not to judge those who aren't.

I know it'll be a huge step moving from a pretty liberal place like Cali is known for, to someplace the media tells everyone is super conservative. However, what I think you'll find is that Lincoln is a very 'live and let live' place, the lawcoll even more so. There's WAY too much to worry about during 1L to waste time worrying about whether some other dude's got a different belief system.