To the editor:
As a homeowner in Old West Lawrence, very near Burcham Park, I am opposed to the "Kansas River Expression of Soul Project."
My kids and I walk the river trail many times a week to enjoy nature in its "wild" state. We watch birds and animals thriving in this habitat. We see beautiful bucks and foxes, great blue herons, bald eagles, snakes, frogs, beavers, bats. These animals are making great use of the last little bit of undisturbed wilderness in town, without the help of "environmentally interactive" sculptures. If you would like to interact with the environment, why not get a little mud on your shoes and walk down this beautiful path as it is? To pave this trail would be a shame.
This beautiful part of untouched wilderness is what helped us choose this neighborhood after losing our home in New Orleans. Attracting lots of traffic would not benefit the neighborhood or the habitat in any way. I hope the folks in charge of this project will consider those who already use this beautiful space. It does not need to be developed. This will drive away so many of the animals there.
With constantly changing art pieces and a paved trail, there will hardly be any nature left. There are so many other established parks that could benefit from environmentally interactive art to invite some of the nature back in to them.
Katie Euliss,
Lawrence
Comments
LJWorld.com doesn’t necessarily condone the comments here, nor does it review every post. Read our full policy. Also, read about banned accounts and harassing comments.
Kookamooka (MJ Browne) says…
I am in agreement here. Leave our last "bits" of nature alone. Guess what? A lot of art that is produced is really not very good. I would be sad to see man-made sculptures "junking"up undisturbed nature.
blessed3x (anonymous) says…
Ooooooohhhhhh!! Awesome. Greenie liberals vs. artsy liberals. This has promise. I hope the LJW covers more of this.
Confrontation (anonymous) says…
I have to agree that most of the art in this town is overpriced crap. I hate to see the city wasting money on worthless junk.
ScottyMac (anonymous) says…
Hey Katie:
Here this whole time, I thought the place you lived was too quiet....
redneckwoman (anonymous) says…
I too think the art in Lawrence is an eyesore. Save the money for the road & sidewalk repairs needed when all this snow melts.
whiteguy (anonymous) says…
Have you seen any lions and tigers and bears?
deec (anonymous) says…
oh my
Centrist (anonymous) says…
Where The Wild Things Are
Centrist (anonymous) says…
But seriously, why do we HAVE to develop every piece of land on earth?
bluerose (anonymous) says…
at first, i thought the environmental art was a good idea, as long as it was not too sappy (er. "soulful"?) or invasive.
until i looked around at the local sculpture and realized it would probably be similar and disappointing. i am an artist and firmly believe the more art the better in an environment, but art has its place, as does nature. and any lump set in public is not necessarily art.
but PAVING?? i didn't know that was being considered.
i am totally against paving that sweet wild area. in fact, i would prefer to see it left alone.
Bodan (Sandra Willis) says…
I agree ... The 'art' put up in Lawrence is pretty bad. Too bad FT left town, we miss the get-togethers he would organize.
merrill (anonymous) says…
Leave the dirt alone along the river. Spend the money on rails to trails and leave this trail alone. Bicycles and feet do quite well on this dirt trail as it is. How about bat houses along the trail to attract mosquito predators?