Athletic outrage

To the editor:

I am writing to express my outrage at USD 497’s plan to build competitive athletic facilities at Lawrence High School. The area around LHS will simply not support any more usage than it already has. There is not enough parking for LHS and Kansas University students during the day. There is not enough parking for KU basketball at night.

And there certainly will not be enough parking for LHS football games. Why should the neighborhood become a parking lot for LHS fans and families who don’t live in the neighborhood?

The money from the 2005 bond issue was slated to be used for educational purposes, not practice fields or competitive sports venues. Unfortunately, some people want something for nothing. They want a first-class football field for the kids to play on but are unwilling to float the bonds to pay for it.

They are happy to cram a football stadium and baseball field with 90-foot lights down someone else’s throat. They don’t seem to care that money marked specifically for education is being used to pay for an outgoing bureaucrat’s monument to himself. No one seems to care that laws are being broken in order to do an end run around a proper public discussion and referendum. This is not just one neighborhood’s problem; it is a citywide problem. Where is the outrage?

Roger Ricondo,
Lawrence