To the editor:

I read there will soon be extra money available in city coffers and the city commissioners are wondering how to spend the dough.

May I suggest fixing the pothole-riddled roads in Lawrence?

I drive to midtown Kansas City, Mo., every day. That route includes driving the infamous Southwest Boulevard in parts of Kansas City, Kan., and Kansas City, Mo. I’m quite certain that there are streets in Baghdad with better pavement than Southwest Boulevard.

Lawrence has main thoroughfares that equal the rough ride of Southwest Boulevard. I avoid Kasold at all costs between 15th Street and Clinton Parkway.

And since I take K-10 Highway to K.C., its hard avoiding the pride of Baghdad — uh, I mean Lawrence — good ol’ 23rd Street.

Did Neil Armstrong really have a smoother ride in the lunar rover in 1969 than we do today on 23rd Street?

Year after year, driving on 23rd Street anywhere east of Louisiana is a game of swerve and pray. Both directions. Entering town, or leaving town is risking your car’s alignment and tire life.

Twenty-third Street is a perfect illustration of how the city of Lawrence is too busy building and paving new roads in new subdivisions to fix and repair established roads in town.

Got some extra money in the city kitty? What should be a no-brainer in this town, as history has too often proven, is anything but.

Fix the roads, please, ladies and gentlemen.

Paul Stewart,

Lawrence