To the editor:

Now that the school board has raised the mill levy (taxes) and made life very difficult for seniors, I want to be sure I have this right. The city is trying to protect downtown. Several groups are trying to protect the homeless, and the school board is protecting the students and parents.

Who is protecting the seniors?

When the school board and City Commission started making noises about raising taxes, I e-mailed both the commission and school board. In addition, I wrote a letter to each city commissioner. Of the 12 people (seven school board and five commissioners), only four took the time to respond to me, three from the school board and the mayor did call me. I did appreciate that.

For the ones who did not respond to my effort to contact them, it comes across as “don’t bother me, I have already made up my mind.” Because of that attitude, we need to change the way these people are elected. For the school board, divide the city into seven districts and elect one board member from each district. Same example would apply to the City Commission. Who better knows what the problems are in North Lawrence than someone who lives there?

There are a lot of good people in Lawrence who will never be elected to anything because a lot of money is spent getting elected. We need the best people in office, not the people who have or can raise the most money.

Scott Henderson,

Lawrence