To the editor:

According to the Journal-World, the rent on the SRS buildings at 19th and Delaware is just over $300,000 a year. I would suggest that instead of the city and county paying extortion money to Republican thugs in Topeka, they track down the building owner.

We know he is well known in Lawrence as a commercial landlord whose last name starts with “S.” Since he has received tons of taxpayers’ rent money over the years, let’s ask him to “give back” to the community and either radically lower the rent (one dollar a year) or make it rent free. And I bet the landlord, whose last name starts with “S,” can squeak by like the rest of us if he just “goes without” once in a while. Problem solved and we, taxpayers, save money.