To the editor:

The homeless in Lawrence certainly deserve a home of some sort, with protection from the elements and sanitary living conditions — at least not underneath the bridge.

The community shelter board is a dedicated collection of good people trying to solve an insolvable problem. Don’s Steakhouse was not the answer. You do not put a homeless shelter on the busiest entry into our city. What message does that send? Welcome to Lawrence!

The community shelter board now proposes a vacant building next to the Douglas County Jail. What message does that send? In the middle of a cornfield.

Where are these people going to eat? There are facilities downtown to feed them. How are they going to get there? There is no bus system to that area. You need to walk or ride a bide on K-10 highway to 23rd and Harper. Somebody is going to get killed. No grocery store, only a convenience store and liquor store one mile away. Do the math. They are going to be on the highway.

In a previous letter to the editor, I mentioned the property at Ninth and Delaware. As I’ve suggested before, redevelop that long-abandoned property. It’s on the bus route, near downtown, with services and employment agencies and churches, etc.

If the homeless are going to turn their lives around, they can’t do it in a cornfield on the way to Eudora. They need services unavailable out there. Our town, Lawrence, Kansas, hopefully is not redefining the term, “Home on the Range.”