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City of Lincoln
“Nightmare on Elm Street” not over for Lincoln Aldermen
[August 05, 2026]
After the vote was taken at the
Monday, August 3rd voting session of the Lincoln City Council,
Alderman Steve Parrott commented that the discussions about stop
signs on North Elm Street at the 10th Street intersection had been a
“nightmare.” Another voice picked up on the word play and quickly
called it a “Nightmare on Elm Street.” Alderwoman Rhonda O’Donohue
said she didn’t ever want to talk about Elm Street again. She will
not get her wish however, as discussion at the next committee of the
whole meeting will turn to rescinding the new ordinance all together
and leaving Elm Street just the way it is.
When the agenda item came up for vote, the motion to approve was
made by O’Donohue with Alderman Dennis Clemmons offering the second.
The floor was open for discussion and alderman Tim Becke, who
introduced the topic at the Committee of the Whole on July 27th,
spoke first.
Becke said looking back on the entire scenario, he realized what was
really bothering him about the council decisions was aldermen had
not taken the recommendations of the resident experts, Police Chief
Joe Meister and Street Superintendent Walt Landers. He said that
even after all the discussion, those experts had maintained the
actions taken by the council were not needed.
He said the council needs to take “wise counsel” from those trusted
to make the recommendations. Becke concluded saying, “Plans fail for
lack of counsel, but with many advisors they succeed.”
Alderman Steve Parrott said he had
been thinking about all this as well. When Chief Meister did the
traffic study, he reported that over the past 10 years there were
four accidents. Meister’s report said there were very view “overages
on speeding, so there are no issues with that.”
Parrott said he had done some riding around town on his bike
observing streets, and he came upon a situation on South Elm that
runs from Fifth Street at CEFCU to Railroad Avenue. He said there is
a stretch there that is not even as wide as the target section on
North Elm, where cars are permitted and do park on both sides of the
street. That is a much more dangerous situation with no room for two
cars to meet. He went to “AI” and asked about safety on a 26-foott
wide street with parking on both sides versus a 21-foot-wide street
with no parking. It determined that the wider street with parking on
both sides is more dangerous.
Parrott concluded that he would like to go back to the original
recommendation by Meister to reduce the speed on the street and
leave it two-way traffic.
Alderwoman Robbin McClallen agreed and added that the council has
been unable to agree on matters concerning the change, including the
stop signs, and where to start and stop the one-way. She wondered if
what could be done, is work on the sidewalks along that stretch so
pedestrians are not in the road. She suggested putting up “slow
children playing” signs and the speed limit reduction and leave it
at that.
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Chief Meister
spoke saying he’d been given a task in response to resident
concerns. He said it was not a dangerous area, but he had given
an opinion on how to improve safety. He said he did not disagree
with anything that had been said. Chief Meister added caution
that placing slow children playing signs was not going to have
much of an impact. People are going to behave the way they wish.
He concluded “Chicago outlawed guns. Think about how that went.”
Parrott reiterated that there was a complaint about behavior
issues that aren’t there. He believes that because the road is
narrower vehicles appear to be traveling faster.
Meister talked about
pedestrian use on North Elm and said that when there are sidewalks
present, it is illegal to walk in a street. He said therefore those
who were doing so were the violators not the cars. He added that as
sad as it is, when a child runs out into the street between parked
cars and gets hit, the child is the one who is at fault.
Alderman Stan Anderson spoke up enforcing the position of Meister
and Landers as the experts on the matter and saying that the
guidance of the experts should be followed. He added there are many
roads in Lincoln and probably several that are much more dangerous
than the one in question. North Elm has been the way it is for
years, and the issues have been minimal. His opinion was the road
should be left alone as is.
There was then discussion on what the immediate vote was going to
entail. The motion and vote at the Monday night meeting would be
only for postponing placement of stop signs at the intersection of
North Elm and 10th Street.
The council will need to revisit the one-way designation at the next
Committee of the Whole and subsequent voting sessions. The comment
was made that the proper procedure would be to vote to recall or
rescind the original ordinance making the section of North Elm from
8th to 10th street one-way.
Before the final vote on the matter,
Parrott said he would still like to see the speed reduction on North
Elm. He asked if it would be possible for the city to establish a
fresh sidewalk on Elm at the section that currently has none.
Landers said yes, the city could put in new sidewalk.
The vote was then taken and the motion passed with a vote of 5-2
with Becke and Parrott voting “no” and Alderman Sam Downs absent for
the evening. Immediately following the vote, Becke said he had erred
and wanted to change his vote, but City Clerk Peggy Bateman said
that was not allowed.
The council will revisit the contents of the original ordinance at
the next Committee of the Whole meeting, scheduled for Tuesday,
August 11th.
[Nila Smith]
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