Deena Winter: Come on down to downtown

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Help is on the way for young entrepreneurs who want to open up shop in downtown Lincoln but need a financial boost.

The Downtown Lincoln Association is putting together a retail incentive program — which should be ready next year — to help bring businesses downtown.

And although the Lincoln City Council recently declined to budget $100,000 for the program, the council may eventually allocate money toward the effort.

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The DLA already has about a half-million in private commitments — primarily from members of 2015 Vision, a group of business leaders — and hopes to eventually raise up to $1 million to get the fund going.

Urban Development Director David Landis said the fund will be used to provide incentives to entice retailers who otherwise wouldn’t be able to afford downtown rents. The program will primarily target P and Q streets. The city’s Downtown Master Plan envisions P Street becoming the city’s primary retail corridor.

But young entrepreneurs often can better afford a strip mall on the edge of the city rather than downtown rents, Landis said.

DLA President Terry Uland said the goal is to recruit small entrepreneurs who want to start businesses such as Stella’s and the Black Market, independent clothing stores downtown.

“For anybody starting out, it’s tough,” Uland said.

Although the program is being fine-tuned, he said the fund could be used for gap financing, subsidies or working capital.

The incentive program sprang out of a 2007 retail study commissioned by the city, Chamber of Commerce and DLA.

Swimming season ends with a bark

After years of talking about it, the parks department finally dove in and allowed dogs into one of the city pools after the swimming season ended Sunday night.

As Omaha and other communities do, Lincoln allowed dogs to take the final dip of the season in Star City Shores Sunday night.

After the pool closed at 6 p.m., the doors were reopened to dogs a half-hour later, with the admission fees going to the Greater Lincoln Obedience Club and Lincoln Parks Foundation.

Parks Director Lynn Johnson arrived at 6:35 p.m., figuring the “Dog Splash” would be a success if it attracted 50 dogs.

“The parking lot was absolutely packed,” he said. “It turned out that we had over 270 dogs in the pool between 6:30 and 8:30. It was amazing. It was everything from Great Danes down to miniature daschunds.”

At first, it was a bit of bedlam, Johnson said, but once the dogs settled down, everybody had a doggone good time.

“We didn’t have any problems — no dogfights, no altercations,” Johnson said.

The pool’s filtration system was shut down to prevent clogging from dog fur, and there was some cleanup to do after the event.

“At this point, I’m guessing this is go be an annual event,” Johnson said.

Time to go green on third floor?

Some council members want to go green when employees move into the now-vacant third floor of the County-City Building.

While discussing plans to move the city attorney’s office from the Hall of Justice, Councilman Dan Marvin suggested perhaps sensor lights — which turn on if there is activity in a room —could be tried in the new space.

Councilman Ken Svoboda suggested finishing the floor might be a good opportunity to make the space “as green as possible.”

He said it

“And that’s if you can’t bring Marvin around with a Dutch rub and a noogie and get a yes out of him.” — Urban Development Director David Landis, on how developers can still build “beautiful buildings” that violate the city’s proposed design standards for Antelope Valley if they can convince Planning Director Marvin Krout to waive the standards.

Reach Deena Winter at 473-2642 or dwinter@journalstar.com.