To the editor:

This is in response to the May 16 letter regarding neighborhood input.

Neighborhoods should have substantial input in all city/county decisions because the neighborhoods are loaded with voting taxpayers. Elected officials are working for these voter/taxpayers, not the other way around.

Older neighborhoods have been paying taxes for 50 years and more, yet their streets and sidewalks are ignored as new streets and walks get built. What happened to this maintenance fund that should be accommodating the older neighborhoods? It is not the neighborhoods that have chosen to allow existing infrastructure to be ignored.

It is not the neighborhoods who chose not to use economic impact studies to determine what growth is working and what is not. Economic impact studies determine what projects will generate new economic growth instead of economic displacement. Economic impact studies could determine what is necessary to legitimately bring property taxes in line to a more acceptable annual increase of 4 percent.

Many times it is the neighborhoods that remind government officials about zoning regulation violations or that growth plans are possibly being violated.

If the city cannot afford the T, how in the world can Lawrence justify spending substantially more tax dollars supporting thousands of empT cars running around town wearing down the infrastructure. Public transportation is part of the solution to traffic congestion, clean air and creating less demand for more roads. Public transportation, bike trails, and excellent sidewalks throughout Lawrence are a team effort.

Richard Heckler,
Lawrence