Omaha Forums

GetUrban wrote:The state would still have to set the standards for the graphics, such as intelligibility, letter size, etc. Eventually, a few businesses would probably dominate the process, so if you were lazy, you could just order whatever plate design options you want from a catalog and place the order online.

That would be a really good idea.

GetUrban wrote:New proposal:

Each person wanting to register a vehicle in Nebraska shall be responsible for designing their own license plate, or procuring services from a qualified graphic artist for a design, and submittal of the design to the state for production and issuance.

Problem solved.

Defined "qualified" in terms of graphic artists. I'm pretty awesome at MS Paint.

MadMartin8 wrote:

GetUrban wrote:New proposal:

Each person wanting to register a vehicle in Nebraska shall be responsible for designing their own license plate, or procuring services from a qualified graphic artist for a design, and submittal of the design to the state for production and issuance.

Problem solved.

Defined "qualified" in terms of graphic artists. I'm pretty awesome at MS Paint.

Ok. Drop "qualified" from the new law. Some kid's art, even the variety that you see posted on refrigerators, would probably make a damn good license plate. Let the car owners live with whatever they put on their cars.

Some random observations.

1. Seldom has state government come off as inept as when they announce the release of new license plates. It used to be done every three or four years, but the Unicameral, apparently realizing how poorly the state handles this seemingly mundane chore, changed the length of time we must keep our old plates to 5 years.

2. When we realize that Nebraska has two completely mutually exclusive methods in which license plate numbers are assigned and distributed, largely dependent on where in the state the vehicle is being licensed, the recurring debacle over license plate designs suddenly makes total sense.

3. Can anyone put forth a logical explanation for why Nebraska has not one, but 12 COUNTIES with fewer total residents than some suburban Omaha or Lincoln apartment complexes and housing subdivisions? (All of this in an era where government keeps telling us it is doing everything it can to be efficient.)

nativeomahan wrote:3. Can anyone put forth a logical explanation for why Nebraska has not one, but 12 COUNTIES with fewer total residents than some suburban Omaha or Lincoln apartment complexes and housing subdivisions? (All of this in an era where government keeps telling us it is doing everything it can to be efficient.)

I think counties were setup where you could travel to the county seat in less than a day. This in a time before the automobile. And they don't go back and eliminate counties that don't have many people.

From 2010:

Bill would consolidate Nebraska counties

JoANNE YOUNG / Lincoln Journal Star wrote:Imagine Douglas and Sarpy counties as one. Think of the so-called six-pack in western Nebraska -- Hooker, Grant, Logan, Thomas, McPherson and Arthur counties -- united as a Big Gulp. An Omaha senator isn't saying which counties should blend, but he'd like to work toward Nebraska's 93 counties becoming 30, or some such smaller number.

But of course that never happened. There are still 93 counties. Cherry (66) is a very HUGE county. It's larger than Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island together.

They lowered the amount needed for a special license design to 250. Maybe this will help UNO?

lmdramos wrote:They lowered the amount needed for a special license design to 250. Maybe this will help UNO?

hope so!

Still doesn't excuse UNO for, you know, not really putting any effort into this.

GetUrban wrote:

MadMartin8 wrote:

GetUrban wrote:New proposal:

Each person wanting to register a vehicle in Nebraska shall be responsible for designing their own license plate, or procuring services from a qualified graphic artist for a design, and submittal of the design to the state for production and issuance.

Problem solved.

Defined "qualified" in terms of graphic artists. I'm pretty awesome at MS Paint.

Ok. Drop "qualified" from the new law. Some kid's art, even the variety that you see posted on refrigerators, would probably make a darn good license plate. Let the car owners live with whatever they put on their cars.

Send everyone a blank, numbered plate and some markers and tell them to go for it.

So, UNO is still a long way from getting their plates approved. 500 was probably never going to happen with the rate they are moving, but even 250 seems like a stretch right now. I received this email...

Thank you again for your license plate application. We’ve received some great news from the Department of Motor Vehicles. A bill was signed by Governor Ricketts earlier this month lowering the number of required applications for the specialty license plates from 500 to 250. This includes our plate. This means that we have just over 100 applications to go until UNO specialty plates are a reality. If we can collect the required 250 applications in the next couple of months, the UNO plates will be produced and ready for pick up in early 2017.

Very disappointing, especially since they didn't do much all year at Baxter Arena in terms of reads or a presence in the arena to try to push enrollments.

My oh my, what a spectacularly beautiful work of art. I'm sure we will all be proud to display it on our vehicles for the next half decade.
The reaction we will get while traveling out of state will be akin to the reaction George Costanza received from the lady who caught him changing out of his swim trunks after taking that plunge into the frigid Atlantic. "Oh, I'm sorry! Really...I'm sorrrry!"

omaha79 wrote:So, UNO is still a long way from getting their plates approved. 500 was probably never going to happen with the rate they are moving, but even 250 seems like a stretch right now.

I don't know how big of a factor it is for others, but I haven't signed up for the UNO plates because they will only be available as sequentially numbered. I currently have the Husker plates with a custom message (same price as getting a numbered one). If the UNO one was offered as a message plate, I would have signed up months ago.

I really like this one!


We Don't Coast!

Nice, I might get that. I was thinking about doing a specialty plate next time around.

I'll be sad if a license plate commissioned by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce gets enough applications to start production before UNO's.

Here's the article on it: http://m.ketv.com/news/petition-circula ... s/39535790

So...how do I sign the petition? I bought a "We don't coast" t-shirt a while back and would love to support this.

jessep28 wrote:I'll be sad if a license plate commissioned by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce gets enough applications to start production before UNO's.

From what I have heard from UNO people, UNO Alumni, and UNO season ticket holders, UNO had done nothing to promote the UNO plate...

Why not offer a plate with the Lake Linoma Lighthouse, just to confuse people visiting from the East coast.



Or Carhenge!

Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

mrsticka wrote:Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

Uhhh...

http://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license- ... nse-plates

mrsticka wrote:Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

Cranky old grouch much? Virginia, my current residence, has over 200 specialty plates; the proceeds of which help fund college scholarships, historic preservation, and other worthy causes.

ricko wrote:

mrsticka wrote:Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

Cranky old grouch much? Virginia, my current residence, has over 200 specialty plates; the proceeds of which help fund college scholarships, historic preservation, and other worthy causes.

No, I'm not a grouch. Oscar is.

I was asking a valid, legitimate question. I just don't see the need for so many specialty plates. It seems like a waste of money to me. As for Texas and Virginia, I didn't know that.

If I came off as grouchy, I apologize.

iamjacobm wrote:

mrsticka wrote:Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

Uhhh...

http://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license- ... nse-plates

It cracks me up that both KSU and Kansas have Texas specialty plates.

So do the Huskers

jessep28 wrote:

iamjacobm wrote:

mrsticka wrote:Why do we have so dang many specialty plates? How many more do we need? No other state has as many specialty plates as we do.

Uhhh...

http://www.txdmv.gov/motorists/license- ... nse-plates

It cracks me up that both KSU and Kansas have Texas specialty plates.

Thats awesome. If I could have plastered ISU on a nebraska plate I definitely would have!

cdub wrote: Thats awesome. If I could have plastered ISU on a Nebraska plate I definitely would have!

As much ISU gear as I see around town, I am sure you and 250 of your fellow alumni could his that get a plate done here in no time.

Brad wrote:

cdub wrote: Thats awesome. If I could have plastered ISU on a Nebraska plate I definitely would have!

As much ISU gear as I see around town, I am sure you and 250 of your fellow alumni could his that get a plate done here in no time.

I should have had a petition at last nights cyclone tailgate tour stop!
Damn!


edit: 500 preorder minimum might be tough

cdub wrote:edit: 500 preorder minimum might be tough

They lowered it to 250 because UNO was having a hard time hitting 500.

Brad wrote:

jessep28 wrote:I'll be sad if a license plate commissioned by the Omaha Chamber of Commerce gets enough applications to start production before UNO's.

From what I have heard from UNO people, UNO Alumni, and UNO season ticket holders, UNO had done nothing to promote the UNO plate...

I mentioned this to the UNO Alumni Board Chairperson today and she said that the Chancellor has started to talk about this. I mentioned it to her a few weeks back and it was like she didn't know anything about it...

UNO is getting closer on their specialty license plates. In April, I received an email stating that they still needed "just over 100" more applications. I received an email yesterday stating that they are now 51 away. The progress is still slow, and I'm now convinced there is no way they would have reached the 500 threshold with as little marketing as they've put into this effort. Getting to 250 seems doable though. They've cut the number needed in half over the last 3 months. Hopefully, there are a few people sitting on the fence that will jump in now that the number is getting closer.

Was there another simple black and white design that another organization was trying to get approved? I really like the UNO design but am a Husker. My #1 choice would be the 2009 design that won but was rejected because of College Humor.

Well I guess Steve Jordon at the OWH answered my question. The Greater Omaha Changer of Commerce is putting out a plate. They have 148 preorders of 250 minimum they need.



I would have liked this the grey one below but it was rejected because it did not have black letters.



http://www.omaha.com/money/chamber-coas ... e5be1.html

I wonder who will get there first: the Omaha Chamber or UNO?

It took me less than 15 minutes to make these licence plates off of Nebraska's new state branding and I think it looks a million times better.

That does look a lot better than the chosen design. Having that much blue on one side is kind of misleading though, since we're not on the coast and we don't have any proportionally large bodies of water. Maybe more of the blue should be under ground to signify the Ogalalla Aquifer.

Edit: I'm probably looking at the graphic too literally though. It is pleasing to look at and abstractly represents our geography.

You know what I wish the state would do? Change plates every 10 years instead of every 3 (now 6). Issue new plates on New Year's Day or years that end with 0.

For example:
January 1, 1980-December 31, 1989–Sunset graphic plates with red letters and numbers
January 1, 1990-December 31, 1999–Windmill graphic plates with black letters and numbers
January 1, 2000-December 31, 2009–Chimney Rock/Lincoln and Omaha skyline with sunset graphic plates with black letters and numbers (Embossed letters and numbers from January 1, 2000 to December 31, 2004 and flat letters and numbers from January 1, 2005 to December 31, 2009)
January 1, 2010-December 31, 2019-Meadowlark plates with dark green letters and numbers

Had the state done that for the last 36 years, they might've saved lots of money.

UNO is claiming that they are within 30 applications of getting their plate approved.

jessep28 wrote:UNO is claiming that they are within 30 applications of getting their plate approved.

The Chambers' We Don't Coast is almost there too. I saw on Instagram that they were only a few away and then I ordered one as well as someone mentioned in the comments that they got two. So they could have possibly made it now.