To the editor:

In the Sept. 4 article, “City slowdown,” there’s a built-in assumption that “growth is good.” Why is it good? Why do we want Lawrence to be bigger? Wouldn’t we rather see it better? These are not the same.

I’ve been here about 20 years. Lawrence has grown a lot over this time. The changes I see are a much better selection of restaurants, a lot more traffic congestion and potholes, increased tax rates, and the conversion of some single-family neighborhoods to student rentals.

The main benefit of growth is, of course, to the businesses that make money off growth. The unquestioned acceptance that we want more, more, bigger, bigger, is unfortunately typical of this newspaper.

Adrian Melott,

Lawrence