To the editor:

Why do we have people from Birmingham, Ala.; Nashville, Tenn.; Washington, D.C.; Waukesha, Wis.; and Phoenix giving us a “glimpse” of what community members want in Lawrence? “Many in the meeting of about 70 people want to paint the town green.” What’s wrong with that? I completely agree!

A town hall-style meeting of 70 people in a town nearing 100,000 people. What gives? That is not representative of Lawrence.

How much is Lawrence paying for its “three-day visit” by a group that knows nothing about Lawrence?

Talk to people who live here. Talk to me, talk to the Moores (Viking Investment), talk to Doug Compton, talk to Herbie Wiedensaul, Russ Jones, Duane Schwada, Bo Newsom and various other builders who have created what Lawrence is today. Don’t forget B.A. Green and Roger Johnson, the Fritzels, Mike Stultz and Dave Reynolds. We all built Lawrence.

Lawrence was 25,000 people when I got here in 1966 to go to Kansas University. I’ve never left. Things are different. Change is change. Lawrence’s history cannot be taken away. But you have to move forward. If you don’t build it, they won’t come.

Dennis Barritt,

Lawrence