To the editor:

Anyone with an ounce of common sense understands that there is no traffic study that can justify an intersection handling traffic to and from Wal-Mart, 1,400 students to and from Free State High School, a new strip mall, a booming commercial area to the south, and the housing developments to the northwest.

However, the city had the wherewithal to make this a moot point.

When the school board was making the decision to build Free State High School on its present location, the city intimated that they would rezone the northwest corner of that intersection so that no large “box” could be built there. They also intimated that the land east of Free State High School would be zoned in such a way that only single-family housing could be built there.

Obviously neither of those promises were kept, and now we are looking at the inevitable prospect of one of our high schools being surrounded by Wal-Mart, apartments and a strip mall.

It also is of interest that the curb cut south of Free State was closed but now is being reopened to accommodate the strip mall.

School officials have too often been left out of the planning process of Lawrence, and this is just one example of the need for more cooperative dialogue on the part of all our government agencies – especially when our young people and their safety are involved.

John Tacha,

Lawrence