“I am disappointed, frustrated, and angry,” City Councilman James Michael Bowers told KLIN News.
Yesterday, Governor Jim Pillen and Nebraska’s Department of Corrections Director Rob Jeffreys, held a join news conference announcing the location where Nebraska’s new $335 million state prison would be built.
The facility, replacing the current state penitentiary near S. 14th Street and Nebraska Parkway, will be built on a 305 acre plot in Northeast Lincoln near the area of 112th and Adams Street… Technically outside of Lincoln city-limits, but about a mile away from Lincoln’s “District 1” which is represented by Councilman Bowers.
The discussion of a new state prison has been ongoing for several years. The discussion returned with vigor among lawmakers this year during budgetary debates in the unicameral. Already, many unsuspecting Northeast Lincoln residents have expressed they felt blindsided by this decision. Including the area’s city council representative? Yes.
“I found out about the new prison at the same time that everyone else did,” Bowers said in frustration, “There was no communication with Northeast Lincoln residents. This was just pushed on them without any sort of conversation or community planning.”
The kinds of planning Bowers had in mind, “Is there going to be infrastructure problems with roads, with sewers, or electricity? Is it going to stop growth in East Lincoln? And how is this going to impact future plans for development?”
Bowers says he is not sure what role his office or the City Council might play in development of the new prison. He said he will reach out to Governor Pillen for more information. “I have not heard from the Governor’s office before this, and I have not heard from them after this. I do plan on reaching out to Governor Pillen’s office to invite Governor Pillen and the Director of Corrections to one of my monthly town halls.”
The state paid 17-million dollars for the land. Groundbreaking is scheduled for next fall.