I write on behalf of the Lincoln Independent Business Association (LIBA) to express our concern over the recommendations reported by the Solid Waste Plan 2040 Advisory Committee. Specifically, the committee report resembles a holiday wish list with all wants listed and little consideration given to the resources necessarily raised or shifted to obtain them.
The final “systems definition” approved by the Advisory Committee recommends the City develop two new programs, support or expand two programs, ban yard waste from the landfill year-round, undertake a pilot program for composting food waste, acquire or build a new household hazardous waste facility, perform a transfer station feasibility study for south Lincoln, regulate commercial recycling, regulate residential recycling, develop expensive waste conversion technologies, build and run an “Eco-Park” and expand both city landfills. These recommendations evidence the fact that committee members were asked what they wanted with little consideration of the resources necessary.
The Advisory Committee recommendations comprise an unattainable wish-list of wants that cannot serve to sensibly guide the governance of any community with limited resources.
The Advisory Committee not only recommended extensive new programs it also set specific waste reduction goals. The report set goals of reducing waste generated by 210 pounds per capita in the next four years and 610 pounds per capita by 2040. However, these goals are not data driven or based on any expert recommendation. The Advisory Committee desired to see recycling increased dramatically and chose arbitrary numbers to express this. These goals were not selected according to any form of cost-benefit analysis revealing an optimal level of waste diversion compared to the demand for recycled materials or capacity to recycle the materials.
This report will now be forwarded to the Mayor’s office and to city staff for further refinement. LIBA implores you to diligently perform the critical task of prioritization. Every dollar spent on new programs is a dollar shifted from another program and one that cannot be dedicated to necessary infrastructure and public safety projects. Every new regulation imposes a cost on the individuals and businesses regulated; these costs raise the cost of doing business in Lincoln and can aggregate to impede a business’s ability to compete.
LIBA believes that recycling and diverting waste from the landfill are meritorious goals; however, LIBA recommends focusing on education not regulation. The city should work with individuals and businesses in the community to educate them about recycling, local recycling resources and other ways to improve waste diversion.
The Next Conversation LLC
Thank you Strictly Business for featuring my new business, The Next Conversation LLC. This company started out of a passion for helping people talk about end-of- life issues. Talking about death and dying is an important conversation and sometimes we just need a little help to get this conversation started. I get to do this through speaking engagements, consultations and writing.
In June of 2012 I publish a handbook titled, “Conversations: Living Through the Process of Dying.” This is a practical guide for decision making and symptom management at the end of life. Families and healthcare providers are using this handbook as a tool when caring for the terminal ill.
You can follow The Next Conversation through www.jackiejbates.com, my weekly blog entry, buy the handbook, or sign up for my free monthly electronic newsletter. Please don’t hesitate too long to speak your thoughts about death and dying.
Southlake Village
Southlake Village Rehabilitation and Care Center opened their doors in 2011 with a mission to provide the citizens of Lincoln and the surrounding communities with a state-of-the-art facility where they can rehabilitate or live while receiving world class care and service. Southlake Village achieves this through a multidisciplinary approach using nursing, life enrichment, dining, social services and spiritual care to care for the whole person: body, mind and spirit.
As a licensed skilled nursing facility, Southlake Village serves individuals in need of short-term rehabilitation for reasons such as joint replacements, cardiac surgeries, stroke as well as other medical needs. Southlake Village also serves those needing long-term care and memory support care.
Southlake Village is one of the 31 facilities owned or managed by the Vetter Health Services (VHS) group of Elkhorn, Nebraska. Operating decisions are made locally to ensure that Southlake Village remains responsive to the needs of its residents and community.
Juice Plus+
Lynn Bartak is a Nutrition Consultant and local Juice Plus+ representative. Juice Plus+ fruit and vegetable supplements provide “whole food” concentrated nutrition from 25 different fruits, vegetables, berries, and grains that help bridge the gap between what you should eat and what you do eat every day. Not a multivitamin or medicine, Juice Plus+ is all-natural and made from quality ingredients carefully monitored from farm to capsule, or chewable form for children, so you can enjoy improved nutrition and wellness. Juice Plus+ customers with children (age 4 and older) also have the opportunity to participate in the Children’s Health Study, which includes FREE product for one child for up to 3 years. Juice Plus+ combines the latest dietary guidelines and clinical research findings to create convenient whole food based nutrition, while consistently emphasizing that people need to eat more fruits and vegetables to improve their chances of living long and healthy lives.
Nebraska Change Works Coaching
Nebraska Change Works Coaching offers Life Coaching; a designed alliance between coach and client where the coaching relationship continually gives power back to you, the client. Owner Devan Martin believes that you know the answers to every question or challenge you may have in your life, even if those answers are obscured, concealed or hidden inside. Life Coaching can help you build your career and work your way up in your job. Martin’s skills are about knowing the right questions to ask and having the right tools to empower you to find those answers within yourself. Her purpose as a coach is to create an alliance with her clients that will empower them to reconnect to their own inner wisdom and to have powerful moments of choice from which positive, lasting change is created. Nebraska Change Works offers a complimentary coaching consultation, 60-90 minute phone call or in-person session per week, occasional brief check-in calls, and email support.
Coby Mach, President and CEO
Lincoln Independent Business Association
402-466-3419
LIBA studies and promotes these types of issues that are important to businesses and our community. If you have an interest in joining LIBA, please call me at 466-3419. LIBA membership is not restricted to just businesses. We also have “individual” memberships for those who want to help influence our local government decisions.