To the editor:

I was very pleased and surprised when the city replaced an asphalt strip on Seventh Street with brick to match the existing street. Perhaps the intersections will get the same treatment eventually?

As I drive around the older parts of Lawrence these days, I see patches of brick showing where the blacktop has deteriorated. Would it not make sense for the city to pull up the blacktop to expose the existing brick? The brick doesn’t get potholes, allows water to sink in rather than all run off, can be disassembled for excavations and reassembled, needs less repair, doesn’t contain petroleum that I am aware of, and is an integral part of historical Lawrence.

The streets in Old West Lawrence particularly were a delight to see until the later ’60s when they were paved over against the residents’ wishes.

Gay Doudoroff,
Lawrence