Severe blight in East Lincoln (Omaha, Columbus: best city, for sale, 2010)

[MattDen]

I was walking around the neighborhoods in Lincoln on this around 80 degree day looking at the condition of the neighborhoods.

Lincoln already had the highest violent crime rate in the state in 2005 and now it seems like by 2010 it hopes to surpass Omaha on blight. While Omaha seems to be trying to slowly but surely redevolop some its rougher areas, Lincoln on the other hand seems be going down-hill extremely fast and after my walk today I am under the impression that its complely out of control. I dont understand why anyone would want to run for mayor of Lincoln a city with a 9 million structural budget deficit.

Personally, the area I live around 23rd and Vine isnt the best, I plan on moving this summer from Lincoln. But I thought I would walk around the neighborhoods today.

First neighborhood was the area just NE of the campus around 21rd to 27th and W area I was startled by the amount of buildings with ply-wood on the windows, empty houses, apartment and home for rent signs. One street had roughly 3 blocks in a row with plywood over the windows. Many of the homes in the area also had trashed yards. Lawns were unusual, as alot of the homes just had mudded yards because of the recently melted snow.

Also N and O streets from 17th to 27th are in very bad shape with many vacant buildings and vacant storefronts. Its beginning to feel like in Downtown Lincoln very few businesses do well unless they are a bar or tavern.


East of 27th was a mixed bag, they had more intact areas but by and large that area was very rough also with some boarded-up windows not nearly as many as West of 27th.

Its a shame that the area between UNL city campus and UNL east campus is in such horrible shape. Its amazing that the severe blight just starts blocks from the main campus.

South of downtown has better architecture and the homes and apartment seemed to be in good shape however several times every block I saw for rent for sale signs. The area south of downtown seems to have the most potential in Lincoln but even that area is goingdown-hill fast. It seems like Washington Street despite being in good shape with not alot of boarded-up storefronts and buildings seems to have alot of violent crime down in that area.

It seems though Lincoln has a severe blight problem but they are so apathetic as the city only seems to care about the new devolopment around Yankee Hill road as thats where the tax base is.

I do think Lincoln's blight if this decline continues at the rate is going could match or even be a little worse then Omaha's in the next five years. Its seems like Omaha some pro-active steps to decrease blight but it seems to be going very slowly. But its slowly but surely for Omaha on going up-hill, Lincoln on the other hand is basically jumping off a cliff when it comes to blight.

[ehenningsen]

You do realize that 27th street is in central Lincoln... The city is now stretching out towards 96th street to the east and 42nd to the west...

http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp...te=Ne&zipcode=

But I do understand that 27th street in your opionion is the east side, and I respect that.. I also respect your opionion that this part of Lincoln (being one of the oldest parts of the city) is very "blightfull" to you, but to some people, they call it home and don't mind some chipped paint.. blightfull or not... and since Lincolns crime rate is near the lowest in america, I don't think too many people are complaining, but to the "blight" sensitive, your going to discover blight in every city in america.. and the Nebraska cities are no worse than any other cities... To give you an illustration as to how Lincoln is growing, last decade the city grew at a 17.2% clip while the rest of the US grew at a clip of 11.2% So the city is not stagnant, there are many new areas, and people in the city rebuild in older areas and fix up, as not everyone is "blight" sensitive.. However, if you were born in a million dollar home in the suburbs of a large city.. you will find the wages in this city to be about the same as most areas in the country and the cost of living to be very low, and the standard of living very high... But if you eat... or I mean fear paint chips then stay closer to the edges of the city, as Lincoln is overall a newer, very clean city...

[MattDen]

Lincoln in 2005 had a higher violent crime rate then Omaha, Lincoln does not have a low violent crime rate at all.

Yes, Lincoln is growing fast but its mainly the high birth rate. The sprawl is massive in Lincoln and the newer areas tend to be nice.

While Lincoln has nice newer neighborhoods, the older part of town is generally in very bad shape, run-down and un-maintained. A vast majority of people who live in the central/east Lincoln areas seem to take absolutely no pride in maintaining where they live and the city seems not to care. At least Omaha is working slowly but surely to improve the worst neighborhoods, but not Lincoln they have who cares we mainly only care about the newer areas attitude.

Despite the new modern new areas on the edges of Lincoln, much of the Eastside close to Downtown is in horrible shape and very-run down. Its more then just some chipped paint or homes needing some cosmetic work. There is a ton of blight and lots of homes and businesses with plywood over their windows.

Look at the neighborhoods around 27th from Cornhusker to Washington thats a good 5 miles right there of majority run down and blighted areas.

Lincoln has a very low cost of housing in its central neighborhoods because the demand is so low for housing because alot of it is very unappealing.

[Rumblebelly]

Mattden, you wouldn't know run down and blighted if it hit you in the head.

Go to upstate NY, that is what I'd call run down and blighted. Hell, many of the buildings on main drags are vacant and boarded up in Troy, Schenectady, parts of Syracuse, Utica. Crime is pretty high too, even the smaller cities.

Denver has spoiled you big time. It's a fantastically nice city for it's size, even with east Colfax and the area north of the five points. Capitol Hill is even looking great. Still, Lincoln and Omaha are way safer and nicer looking than most other cities I've been to. Even Fort Collins, the best city to live in the US, has a blight on the north end of town. So I'm completely baffled on what exactly do you expect from a city.

Hope you aren't moving to Cincinatti, it's a lot like upstate NY but with more crime.

[MattDen]

Rumble,
I have been to Cincinnati, I also lived in Louisville for a month and Columbus, Ohio from 2002 to 2003. Anyway, I think Lincoln's blight is as bad as West Louisville and Hilltop and Linden in Columbus.

It seems to me that most Lincolnites never see the areas behind the UNL campuses. To the north of the main campus is many buildings with plywood covering the windows and also some vacant homes that seem to be on the verge of collapsing. To the south of UNL east campus is another very blighted area with small but very-run down homes and as you go towards O street there are some homes that have plywood over the windows also.

Its amazing how Lincolnites think that there city has no problems. While Lincoln has some nice areas a large area of the city is extremely blighted.

Here are some of the violent crime rates of the MSA's you were mentioning
Lincoln MSA 501 per 100,000
Denver MSA 444 per 100,000
Omaha MSA 430 per 100,000
Albany/Troy,NY MSA 366 per 100,000
Cincinnati, Ohio MSA 367 per 100,000
Syracuse,NY MSA 344 per 100,000
Fort Collins,CO MSA 241 per 100,000

It looks like Lincoln MSA violent crime rate is the highest of the list and the violent crime rate is 45% higher then Syracuse, NY which was also mentioned and 100% higher then Fort Collins.

I thought it would be best to compare Metropolitan Statistical areas because almost 85% of the Lincoln metro area is the city of Lincoln compared to less then 20% for Cincinnati.

[Rumblebelly]

Every city has it's problems Matt. Every city has it's boarded up run down neighborhoods. Lincoln's is nothing compare to other areas of the country. IMO, Lincoln isn't that much worse than Fort Collins.

[MattDen]

Lincoln is not the first place I lived and Lincoln's has alot of very deeply entretched problems.

Alot of Lincolnites live and work in the newer areas, without ever seeing the rough and run-down areas.

Out of sight and out of mind I guess is the way things are in Lincoln!

[Rumblebelly]

Originally Posted by MattDen

Lincoln is not the first place I lived and Lincoln's has alot of very deeply entretched problems.

Alot of Lincolnites live and work in the newer areas, without ever seeing the rough and run-down areas.

Out of sight and out of mind I guess is the way things are in Lincoln!

I've seen these blighted areas and they aren't that bad. I've seen complete downtowns in other cities that are worse than these blighted areas in Lincoln you are referring to.

Whaddya doing, trying to convince yourself that moving is the right thing to do for yourself?

[ehenningsen]

Here's the link:

http://www.morganquitno.com/met05a.pdf

Lincoln also has one of the lowest murder rates in the nation:

http://www.morganquitno.com/met05r.pdf

Not bad actually considering most of the cities that have the lowest crime rates are small metros...

And if you have an average crime rate for a metropolitan area it would fall higher than all three cities that Mattden listed..

If you look at the list the average appears to be closer to about 600 per 100,000 with some breaking over 1,000!!

Also something to think about...
Lincoln is a University town... It has UNL, Weselyn, Union College, Nebraska College of Business, and South East Community College...

[MattDen]

Here are some violent crime rates for small metro's
Saginaw, Michigan 1038 per 100,000
Fort Smith, AR 551 per 100,000

Lincoln, Nebraska 501 per 100,000

Sioux Falls, South Dakota 261 per 100,000
Cedar Rapids, IA 231 per 100,000
Madison, WI 229 per 100,000
Green Bay, WI 199 per 100,000
Wheeling, WV 177 per 100,000
Lancaster, PA 172 per 100,000
Manchester, NH 154 per 100,000
Fargo, ND 121 per 100,000
Provo, UT 111 per 100,000
State College, PA 108 per 100,000

Many small metros have violent crime rates in the 100-200 per 100,000 range in the midwest. When looking at the numbers I did see some rates much higher then Lincoln MSA's but they were mainly smaller southern metro areas.
Even Omaha MSA has a violent crime rate 14% below Lincoln MSA for 2005