To the editor:

Ugly condos and commercial development everywhere, and more on the way, so the signs say! Traffic so bad that you have to plan a trip across town. The university questions repairing the historic whistle and won’t replant ancient trees. KDOT forces a highway down our throats that destroys wetlands. No money for education. The quality of life in Lawrence, Kansas is zip — going down the tubes.

The one public place to go that one can get away from the fray, be alone, enjoy the wildlife, feel the wind, is that 1,515-acre tract at Clinton Lake, and in five years it will be surrounded. And now the Sesquicentennial Committee wants to spend a million dollars (come on, you know it will be a million, and probably two) building “a large plaza telling the city’s history.”

Perhaps the committee needs to hear from other residents, how they feel about losing this invaluable open space. How about donating that $2 million to the schools that are closing, with plaques that read: “In 2004, to celebrate the 150th birthday of Lawrence, Kansas, its citizens reaffirmed their commitment to education and pride in history, by restoring the city’s historic schools.”

Mary J. Matthews,

Lawrence