To the editor:

Over the years, Lawrence has changed a great deal: from a medium-sized college town to a larger university town/small city: from a place where a fire engine’s siren might be heard once or twice weekly to a crime-ridden small city where robberies, shootings, rapes and serious auto accidents are daily occurrences. Our commissioners and city planners have turned our downtown away from retail stores and services that support our local business community and provide for the needs of all Lawrence residents to a tourist attraction which has little of interest to those who live here. What happened to our once-lovely, peaceful town?

I believe that our town has lost much of its humanity in the press to grow and “develop.” There is an urgent need to bring Lawrence development efforts back to the center, serving the needs of the people who live here. Many smaller Kansas towns are vibrant communities where tourists are drawn by features that make/made the town what it is. Maybe it’s just an old windmill, a historic school, an old church, a museum.

Let’s focus on keeping what we already have, filling empty downtown stores with useful businesses like our old Duckwalls where we could by school supplies, Band-Aids or household items. A good town takes care of its residents; a good city commission listens to them and heeds their voices.

Bravo to the City Commission for withholding approval of the 800 Vermont proposal. Keep up the good wok. You are the collective conscience of this valuable town.