To the editor:

The city of Lawrence is at a difficult juncture. There are citizens who want to maintain a “small town” atmosphere. There are those who want competition to hedge the unchecked cost of local retail goods.

Should Lawrence encourage growth? The city needs revenue, and halting development could be financial suicide. The cost of maintaining the city’s infrastructure increases yearly. Increasing taxes looks to be the only means available to feed the city’s voracious appetite for maintenance and improvement spending.

Opposition declares that encouraging growth and development is not the desired option. Therefore, increasing taxes must be the best solution. Possibly selective growth is the answer, but who gets to decide which businesses are allowed to develop in Lawrence? Is the decision to be made by the wealthy, the less fortunate or a group of folks holding city offices who have “everyone’s” best interest in mind?

We can rule out city officials making responsible fiscal decisions. How about those “roundabouts”? They cost a great deal more to construct and maintain than a stop sign. Street repair should take priority over “roundabouts.” What about utilizing city resources to survey every linear foot of sidewalk so they can figure out how to charge citizens for the repairs. Let’s not forget about installing cameras at intersections to take pictures of cars running red lights when there are no license plates on the front of vehicles.

Change and growth are inevitable. Who decides?

Steve Turner,

Lawrence