City summer concert series starts tonight

The Lawrence City Band will open its summer season of concerts in South Park tonight. The concert in the gazebo’s William Kelly Bandstand will start at 8 p.m.

The concerts are scheduled for 8 p.m. each Wednesday in June and July. The concerts are sponsored by the Lawrence Parks and Recreation Department with assistance from the Rice Foundation. The concerts also can be heard on KLWN 1320 AM radio. The concerts are free.

The band is directed by Robert E. Foster. Among the musical pieces to be played tonight will be Wolfgang Mozart’s “The Marriage of Figaro” overture, George Gershwin’s “Strike Up the Band” and Jimmy Webb’s “MacArthur Park.”

Movies

Feature film seeks Lawrence extras

Lawrence residents who want to appear in a movie may have a chance to do Friday in Lenexa.

A special “Lawrence Day” is planned by makers of the independent film “Lenexa 1 Mile” to recruit extras for scenes to be shot in downtown Lenexa.

Lawrence residents will be given priority, said Heather Laird, casting director. Laird grew up in Lawrence and is a 1975 Lawrence High School graduate.

“I have always had a soft spot for Lawrence,” she said. “All those films that were shot in and around Lawrence about 10 years ago I worked on, and Lawrence just hasn’t had anything since and Lenexa was the closest I could get.”

The film, starring William Baldwin, is set in 1988, as five childhood friends experience their last summer together before college.

Friday’s filming will be of an outdoor, summer event. Extras are urged to bring picnics, beverages and lawn chairs, and dress casually in shorts and flip-flops. Families are welcome.

Specific times and locations can be found today at www.wrightlairdcasting.com.

Schools to receive crossing guards

The intersections at 27th Street and Mayfair Drive and 28th Street and Kensington Road will have crossing guards when school starts back up in August.

City commissioners Tuesday night approved a request to add a crossing guard in the Mayfair Drive area as children travel to school in the mornings at nearby Prairie Park Elementary. The area already had a crossing guard for the afternoon hours. In the Kensington Road area a crossing guard will be added in the afternoon hours. The area already has a crossing guard in the mornings.

The additional crossing guards will add $5,500 to the city budget. Commissioners approved the requests on a 4-0 vote. Mayor Boog Highberger was not at the meeting. He is part of a delegation that is visiting Lawrence’s sister city of Hiratsuka, Japan.

Neighborhood building moratorium approved

City commissioners approved a six-month building permit moratorium on specific areas in the Pinckney, Old West Lawrence and Hillcrest neighborhoods.

The moratorium is designed to give planners more time to discuss zoning and land use changes that were recommended as part of an area plan for the neighborhoods.

For specific locations on where the moratorium applies, contact the Lawrence-Douglas County Planning Department at 832-3150.

Public invited to hear plans for U.S. 59

Ottawa – The Kansas Department of Transportation will have a public information session Thursday in Ottawa about planned improvements to U.S. Highway 59.

The “open house” session will be from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. in the Franklin County Annex, 1418 S. Main St. Information will be displayed showing details of the new proposed highway alignment from Ottawa north to the Douglas County line.

KDOT plans to widen U.S. 59 to a four-lane freeway with controlled access between Ottawa and Lawrence. The new alignment will run to the east of the existing highway and includes an interchange with I-35 northeast of Ottawa. Contract letting is scheduled for spring 2007, and construction is expected to be complete by late 2009.

KDOT representatives will be available to answer questions during the information session.