Now arriving at the station: A new plan for the city to take ownership of the Santa Fe Depot in east Lawrence.
Mayor Aron Cromwell hopes to get feedback from fellow commissioners at their Tuesday evening meeting about using the depot at Seventh and New Jersey streets as a transfer station for the city’s transit system. The building already is used as a depot for the two Amtrak trains that run through the city daily.
“This is a building whose primary function is waiting,” Cromwell said. “This would allow us to use it that way at least twice.”
The city has been seeking a location for a transit hub for several years. Currently the main transfer point in the city is near Ninth and New Hampshire. The city provides small glass booths that allow people to avoid some of the weather.
“We definitely need something more than what we have right now,” said Bob Nugent, the city’s public transit administrator. “It would be nice to have some more amenities.”
But whether the 1950s-era Santa Fe Depot building will be the right solution will take more study — and discussion — Cromwell said.
“We’re going to want to hear what the neighborhood will say about this,” Cromwell said. “There will be an impact there. Some of it may be positive. Some of it may be negative.”
Nugent said his office has done a cursory review of the location, and he said he hasn’t found any glaring reasons why the location won’t work. But he said a more-detailed space analysis will need to be done, especially concerning how the site could accommodate up to seven buses at once. He said there are several times each day that the downtown transfer point must accommodate that many buses.
Nugent said it seems unlikely that the depot parking lot could handle all the buses at once, meaning an on-street solution might have to be explored.
“Those are the type of issues that we’ll have to examine,” Nugent said.
There also would be some rerouting of buses required, but Nugent said there still would be plenty of stops in downtown Lawrence itself, which would eliminate much of the need for people to walk from downtown to the depot.
Cromwell said he wants to fully examine the idea of using the depot as a transit hub before deciding whether the city should take over ownership of the building. Burlington Northern Santa Fe has offered to transfer ownership of the building to the city at no cost, but commissioners have been reluctant to take the building because it needs significant repairs.
Amtrak officials have offered to pay about $140,000 to complete required ADA upgrades at the building. But a city-hired architect has estimated that there are still about $400,000 worth of high-priority repairs — such as a new roof and heating and cooling units — that need to be made at the building. The same report also identified about $1 million worth of broader improvements that should be considered for the site in the future.
The city has applied for several grants to improve the station, but the fact the city doesn’t own the building has made it difficult to win grant funding. If the depot becomes a transit facility, it would be eligible to apply for Federal Transit Authority grants.
“I think this probably is going to be one of the best ways to get this building into the city inventory,” Cromwell said.
A citizen’s group — Depot Redux — has been lobbying hard for the city to take over the depot because it’s a good example of 1950s architecture. The group also previously has advocated that the depot play a more central role in the city’s transportation needs. That idea hasn’t gotten much traction at City Hall, but that may be changing.
Cromwell said that if the city pursues the idea of transit hub, for example, he could envision the depot also serving as a station for Greyhound and other transportation options.
“I know there are things we can do to make it easier for people to get around town,” Cromwell said.
Although city commissioners are expected to discuss the depot at their weekly meeting, Cromwell said it will take several more weeks before the city would be in a position to make a decision on moving forward with the depot project. Commissioners meet at 6:35 p.m. Tuesday at City Hall.
Comments
bearded_gnome 1 year, 6 months ago
Nugent said his office has done a cursory review of the location, and he said he hasn’t found any glaring reasons why the location won’t work. But he said a more detailed space analysis will need to be done, especially concerning how the site could accommodate up to seven buses at once. He said there are several times each day that the downtown transfer point must accommodate that many buses. Nugent said it seems unlikely that the depot parking lot could handle all the buses at once, meaning an on-street solution might have to be explored.
---does not include mention of the poor condition of: streets 7th/New York, New Jersey, Connecticut; or fix/replace sidwalks betwixt there and downtown or to the south.
I've said on here that the ADA necessary improvements will certainl cost more than the quoted amount. but if this becomes grayhound/rail/bus then maybe justifies that.
has the figgering by the mayor included the fact that that inside space is gonna need a humanoid employee staffing apparently 24-hours/seven days a week? who pays said humanoid?
beatnik 1 year, 6 months ago
better hurry up commissioners, wouldn't want to get on dougs bad side having all those buses and the people who ride them cluttering up his corner.
TheBigW 1 year, 6 months ago
ya think.... NOOOOOO that couldn't be the case..... LOL
BruceWayne 1 year, 6 months ago
most wasteful commission in the history of our once fine town.
oneeye_wilbur 1 year, 6 months ago
you think? I have said from the beginning this will prove to be the worst city commisson to date.
p.s. Greyhound is not coming to that station, it is too difficult to get the buses there and back out to the interstate. The city thinks their buses are special!
TheBigW 1 year, 6 months ago
Didn't keep them from coming to the downtown bus station (free state) for the 30 yrs my grandpa ran that station, what's two more blocks and an easier turn then into the old station..... I doubt their going to change from the 6th street gas station to the depot, so your most likely right.
oneeye_wilbur 1 year, 6 months ago
You might have or maybe didn't know but when the buses came downtown, the routes were much different and the city was pretty much a square with Iowa on the West, 23rd south and 6th street to the north. Now then, the bus service also went south to places like Ottawa and points further south.
The Greyhound or Jefferson LInes want immediate access to the turnpike. Did you know, unless something has changed, that to get to Salina one has to go to Kansas City, at least a couple of years ago it was. Bus travel is no convenient in Lawrence, neither City buses or commercial bus lines.
I am betting that the Greyhound still will not go downtown. Talk about cluster mucking.
This whole idea of having a hub at the Amtrak station is as bad as the City Commission itself. Those five people have not a clue but are desperate to attach their names to some program. Even the idea that Mayor Cramwell wants to solicit ideas from the commissioners shows how backwards they are. Don't they already have ideas with all this discussion going for the past several years and don't forget the many, many study sessions they have each week.
Mayor Cramwell just wants to talk at the meeting and get the others to do as well so they can feel important. If the other four commissioners had brains and political good sense, when asked by Cramwell for their ideas, they each would reply "we have discussed this before". Let's move on to another topic.
This Commission is the worst yet!
merrill 1 year, 6 months ago
Beatnik got it......
merrill 1 year, 6 months ago
Buttttttttt one day Kansas will catch on which is to say making the train station a hub will accommodate commuter train passengers. This is also something key to stopping further erosion of the good ozone layer.
Taxi service and Bus service is part of the package supporting commuter train service.
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
This is one time that I don't think Doug is pulling strings behind the scenes. It makes sense, and has for a long time, to make the station our transportation hub.
The easy fix is to make New Jersey one-way from 8th all the way around to New York. Then we don't have to accommodate parked buses and two-way traffic.
pace 1 year, 6 months ago
I think the depot would make an excellent transportation hub. If possible some of the land between the depot and Kennedy Glass could be a for pay parking lot. The Johnson county and Kansas city shuttles buses could pick up some traffic there. It would increase traffic at that corner but would improve access to public transportation to the neighbor hood. Having 9th. and Mass as a central point has been way too hectic. Downtown would see some prime parking places open up.
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
There could be an advantage to having the K-10 connector go over to the station, instead of only to 19th & Haskell, in that it'd be easier for Connector riders to get to other places in the City on the T (or people in the City to get to the Connector using the T), without having to transfer multiple times. The disadvantage is that 7th & NJ doesn't have a big enough parking lot to accommodate all the park-n-ride folks who currently use the Connector. Maybe if there were a better interface between the T and the Connector, fewer people would drive to meet the Connector, but that would have to be studied.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
If the K-10 connector picks up passengers at the depot, going by the parking lot at the parking at 19th and Haskell would be on its way back out of town, anyway, so those wishing to drive to meet the bus still could.
jhawk0097 1 year, 6 months ago
Part of the long-term plan for the depot is to develop a parking lot b/ the station and Kennedy Glass.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
Why not two hubs? The depot could be the "downtown" hub, with another one at KU or further west or south.
headdoctor 1 year, 6 months ago
The bus system needs something besides downtown. The City still doesn't get that not everyone riding the bus wants to waste the extra travel time to take a scenic tour of downtown only to switch buses to go back the way they wanted to go originally. So much for them correcting and streamlining the routes. They spent over a year messing with it and came up with nothing practical. Somewhere I thought the original idea was to use smaller buses for a more direct route saving costs on bigger buses, fuel costs and just plain wear and tear driving places they didn't need to be.
lawrencian 1 year, 6 months ago
Headdoctor, the way that I get my input heard about buses is to attend the public meetings, and occasionally I have an idea that I send to Bob Nugent by email (info@lawrencetransit.org)... Shockingly, they do actually consider written feedback, and I've seen several changes made in response. You should try it!
headdoctor 1 year, 6 months ago
Actually, I have spoke to Bob Nugent before. I think he has some good ideas and he gives one the idea that he does listen. I think the biggest problem is that he is getting short stopped by some people above him who are perfectly willing to sacrifice increasing the number of riders just to make downtown the target of all efforts.
Alceste 1 year, 6 months ago
"The building already is used as a depot for the two Amtrak trains that run through the city daily....."
Run those times by me again, please, when trains "....run through the city daily....." and how many time a day does this act occur???????
The USA needs a rapid transist train system which runs coast to coast.....East to West and back.....North to South and back.......but the USA people are simply too stupid to understand this reality.
Beginning in Lawrence, KS. with the purchase of a "station" is mighty fine.....PROVIDED.......NO INCREASE IN TAXES. It'll never happen......the no increase in taxes......
gl0ck0wn3r 1 year, 6 months ago
"The USA needs a rapid transist train system which runs coast to coast.....East to West and back.....North to South and back.......but the USA people are simply too stupid to understand this reality."
I enjoy the smell of faux-progressive arrogance in the evening.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
I detest the smell of mindless mocking instead of reasoned argument.
gl0ck0wn3r 1 year, 6 months ago
So you suffer from quite a bit of self-hatred gauging by the content of your posts? Sad.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
I see you are still prefer (baseless) personal attack to reasoned argument.
Juvenile.
Alceste 1 year, 6 months ago
Any fool who owns a Glock can't understand the reality of the times: Rail IS the future....the longer WE wait.....the more costly IT becomes.....
hurlingchunks 1 year, 6 months ago
Trains currently run past that station every 15min, the commuter train stops for passages around midnight to one o’clock there is sometimes another train dropping passangers aound noon. This is just what I remember standing on the porch watching from across the street.
cowboy 1 year, 6 months ago
Now I'm no transit expert , but I did stay at a holiday inn one night , Should the transfer hub be centrally located ? Just a minor detail
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
7th & NJ is pretty centrally located without eating up prime downtown retail space. People want an enclosed transfer point, and here is a ready-built building that would work. Maybe some shops (coffee shop, restaurant, newsstand) would move in nearby to take care of waiting passengers.
fredthemechanic1213 1 year, 6 months ago
Downtown Lawrence is not centrally located. And the old 50s train depot is hardly "ready-built" being that it needs huge amounts of money just to meet code requirements. Let alone the lack of easy access for our huge buses. Plus, shops nearby? really? Have you seen the surrounding area?
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
The depot is only about 850' from the edge of downtown. As for the surrounding area, on one side is a body shop and on the other is Kennedy Glass. Either one or both could be encouraged to move, if need be. As I mentioned earlier, make New Jersey a one-way street northbound all the way around to New York and the buses can park in front of the station without impeding through traffic.
waitjustaminute 1 year, 6 months ago
Hold on their pardners, I thought that part of the $18mil boon doggle of a new lie-bary was to be a transit hub. Wasn't it sold to the voters that way? Was I sleeping? And now, now, there's another chance to make Lawrence even a better first class city with this? Give me a break, give me a break, give me a break of that flim-flam-bar!
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
"Wasn't it sold to the voters that way?"
No.
"Was I sleeping?"
There was some discussion of how the bus system would interact with the library/parking garage, but the project was never sold as a "hub" for the bus system. So I'd say, yes, you were sleeping.
hear_me 1 year, 6 months ago
I remember that too. I even sent an email suggesting that the T should be combined with trains, taxis, etc., but not at the library.
Jayhawk1958 1 year, 6 months ago
I think this is a fantastic idea and should be explored and we're not talking about a whole lot of money here compared to the library and proposed rec. center. The 9th and Mass transfer point holds up traffic and is too small to accomadate.
fredthemechanic1213 1 year, 6 months ago
Not talking about a whole lot of money? With the money required for this project we could build a brand new hub (getting a lot more grant money I'm sure) that is actually centrally located in lawrence.
texburgh 1 year, 6 months ago
There are many good ideas about how to make this work. It's an excellent idea - creating a central hub for transportation. There would be no need to have a person employed there 24/7. There needs to be someone for Amtrak when the Southwest Chief goes through (and there is now). The T does not need a person on staff there - they don't at 9th and Mass now, why would it be different here? The K-10 connecter idea posted earlier is another excellent idea. And finally, it would be great to get Greyhound to move from the gas station on 6th to this hub. And as a bonus, we could preserve a nice example of period architecture.
Toto12 1 year, 6 months ago
My understanding is that the bus service already has three employees that they would just relocate to the Station.
LarryNative 1 year, 6 months ago
Turn it into a mexican restaurant.
Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year, 6 months ago
The problem is the bus system. Why in the world would anyone want to keep throwing good money after bad. All these problems would go away if they got rid of the money pit called the Lawrence transit.
Folks, vote your pocketbooks not your heart. If any of you had to fund this money pit from your own pockets, you would get rid of it faster than can be imagined.
We don't need public transportation, we need to make people go to work and earn their way through life.
just_another_bozo_on_this_bus 1 year, 6 months ago
"We don't need public transportation,"
Is that the "royal we?"
hear_me 1 year, 6 months ago
"We don't need public transportation, we need to make people go to work and earn their way through life."
I did work and earn my way through life. Now, I need public transportation. You should not assume that everyone can drive.
chootspa 1 year, 6 months ago
Some people use public transportation to go to work and earn their way though life.
Cant_have_it_both_ways 1 year, 6 months ago
All the freeloaders are out in force today.
hear_me 1 year, 6 months ago
Define "freeloader".
lawrencian 1 year, 6 months ago
I work hard for my money, and pay my fare. In fact, quite a few of the people I talk to on the bus on a daily basis are GOING TO WORK. So yes, we're going to work, and earning our way.
But I use my bike and a bus instead of paying for a car, because the new routes and schedules work for me, the new buses on route 11 have bike racks (like the rest of the city buses, instead of KU buses on the route). When I need a car, I borrow from one of the various family members who own two, but I'm not wasting gas unless it is absolutely necessary.
jhawk0097 1 year, 6 months ago
If you ain't drivin' a vehicle, you ain't 'merican.
average 1 year, 6 months ago
It's not even slightly centrally located. When literally less-than-1% of the city's population lives in the quadrant north-and-east of said location, it's not 'central'. Our downtown is not, and hasn't been since 1960. Let alone northeast of downtown. Besides the Santa Fe location being too small for all the buses to arrive at one location at the same time (the 'pulse' system used by every transit system in the nation serving a community under a half-million except in Lawrence America).
West campus, somewhere between Lied and the park-and-ride, integrated with the KU system. Only thing that makes sense.
fredthemechanic1213 1 year, 6 months ago
I agree, the Park-and-Ride location on West Campus would be a great place with plenty of space and access to accomodate the buses and integrate the KU system. With the money required to update the depot station and surrounding area you could easily build a new station.
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
So you think you're going to relocate the BNSF tracks and the Amtrak station to somewhere on West Campus? Which neighborhoods are you going to bulldoze to pull that off? Or were you thinking of using a TBM to make a path to West Campus under the city?
This isn't just about the T, it's also about intermodal transportation. That means that everything we intend to include in intermodal needs to come together at one point, one way or the other. The rails are the most difficult and expensive part to move.
average 1 year, 6 months ago
Even with a bus system designed around Lawrence as it actually is, there would still be bus service to the Amtrak station. It would be at one end of one route, in as much as it on the very corner of the town (as it actually is). Why are we designing a system to provide miserably inefficient intracity travel for most parts of the city, for the benefit of a rail service that optimistically will have 2-3 trains a day in my lifetime (and I'd love that), and has zero trains at hours the bus service runs in the present day?
snitty 1 year, 6 months ago
Cromwell's idea has merit and is worth discussing. The station would benefit from more use, though there are also natural limits as to how big or busy it should get. It shouldn't be a central bus station, but it should be a bus stop. Maybe a pedicab and gypsy hack station. Restoration and re-purposing of underused and decaying city assets is imaginative governance, as is providing infrastructure for public conveyance.
Boston_Corbett 1 year, 6 months ago
Sounds like some interesting ideas to me.
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 6 months ago
What the heck, it's only money. Lawrence is rolling in dough. Spend away and then put in gold toilets. (from a source)
Alceste 1 year, 6 months ago
The U.S.A. shall be compelled to enter the world of public rail transport as is existent, pretty much, everywhere else in the world. Given the ever increasing costs of air travel, high speed rail is a "no-brainer".
Lawrence is presently relegated to 2 trains at un-Godly hours. It's long past time that the U.S.A. abondon the automobile and enter the real world: Hell....it exists on the East Coast where a LOT of people don't own a car because they know they have trains and mass transit to get them from point A to point B. Heck....even I remember taking the Chicago Northwestern from Kenilworth to the janitor job in Chicago proper (and that's when smoking was allowed on and in each and every car....). I think there was a lame "documentary" entitled "What's the Matter With Kansas".???? All these dumb hicks wanting to keep their pimped out Toyota Camrys.....give me a clean and civilized mass transit system any day. (I suspect the lot who throw dung at the "T" and any other manner of public transport or just dumb hillbilly like jackasses who've never been out of the state?? ) shrug
Once again, Kansans.....and Lawrencians....are incredibly ignorant and short sighted as to what the future holds: The dimwits cling onto a concept of stupidity that's pretty much off the scale.....as "The Loyal Oppostion" (moderate) has pointed out.....they just don't have any "....skin in the game....". shrug shrug
none2 1 year, 6 months ago
Please try to use common sense -- instead of emotions and bigotry,.
High speed rail makes little sense. Kansas is ranked 40th in population density -- most of Kansas averages less than 1 person per square mile:
Kansas population map.png
High speed rail is for fast travel between densely populated areas. Kansas would be one of the states that would be skipped. Wichita and the Kansas City metro area are the only two areas that possibly might have a stop. For the KC metro area, you still might have to go to the Missouri side to catch such a train. Note: Both Oklahoma City and Tulsa are larger in population than Wichita, so there is no guarantee that Wichita would get a stop.
Your lame attempt to insult rural people shows your own ignorance. I have no idea where you come up with a term like hillbilly for Kansas. Only the last 1/4 square mile of Kansas (SE corner) is even in the Ozarks. Culture in the Flint Hills or the Smokey Hills does not mirror life in the Ozarks or Appalachia where the term originates. To visualize a rural crowd desiring Toyota Camrys is absurd. If you live in a rural area, you most likely need to haul things. A pickup would make a lot more sense -- not a Toyota Camry.
Assuming that all of the government lost their ability to reason and China decided out of the goodness of their heart to give us a blank check for debt -- such that there was a rail stop in many Kansas towns. Then what? You get off the train. Ok... Then how do you get to the town that wasn't on the stop. Is there a bus now that runs every few hours to all those other towns, or where you counting on bicycles and rickshaws to transport people for the last 20 to 100 plus miles to their final destination? Then when you get to that destination, how do you get to the town that has a grocery store, a hospital, or a shop that has exactly what you need to buy? Are the Amish there to run a buggy taxi service?
Oh let me guess, you've already thought this out? Perhaps you want the government to forcibly relocate people from the countryside to your relocation centers in places like Lawrence?
It is also pathetic to complain about the hours of Amtrak. If you have a train going from LA to Chicago on a regular speed train, some place is going to have to be served during the night. Perhaps you think Chicago & LA would voluntarily be fine with their stops being during unGodly hours so that others can see the rolling plains of the Midwest?
As I said before, if you really want high speed, don't expect it to stop much in Kansas. Part of high speed is that you don't have to slam on the breaks every few miles to drop off or pick up more passengers.
Perhaps your problem is that you need to travel more and realize that there is no "one size fits all solution" for every place. Perhaps if you had lived overseas for a few years, then you would be able to grasp that concept.
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
Real passenger rail is tiered, with local, regional, interstate, and high-speed service. Of course Lawrence wouldn't be served by a high-speed train, although one or two might pass through on the way to somewhere else. You'd hop a regional train to KC, then have the option of multiple train types to get to wherever you wanted to go, depending on your time constraints, destination, and budget.
If you're trying to get to Great Bend from Winchester, you'd take the local train down through Oskaloosa and Billtown to Lawrence, then take the regional train over to KC or directly to Salina. If you opted to go to KC first you could take a faster interstate train that stopped in Salina or Hays and maybe get there before a direct regional train, depending on how the schedules worked out. Once out there, then you'd hop a local to Great Bend. An alternative might be to take a high-speed train from KC to Wichita, then take a local from Wichita to Great Bend.
We used to have passenger service all over this country. We could do it again. We'll most likely have to, eventually.
none2 1 year, 6 months ago
If we had a real booming economy with money to burn, then bring it on. Hooking up major centers would be expensive -- let alone do smaller communities. Factor in the initial costs and all maintenance costs.
At some point you still have to have something that gets you to your final destination. Roads are essential. Roads have been around much longer than any rail beds, and they will continue to be needed. The question is can you really go back to relying on horses, or do you continue with mechanical vehicles?
Taking your example of Great Bend to Winchester. Lets say you get to Winchester, and your grandma needs you to buy her groceries and also buy some lumber to fix some of the rafters in her garage. Let's say that she is three miles from the train station.
Your bicycle is not going to suffice to haul all that stuff to her house, nor is a wheel barrel. You are going to either need a vehicle, or some horses with a wagon. I suppose you could say that all these stores will deliver, but the point is someone is going to have to have transportation to get it to where it is needed. In the same train of thought, how does the farmer get his produce from the field to the grain elevator or market? How does the fire department, the ambulance, or law enforcement get to where they need to be? They need vehicles.
Think of all the rails-to-trails that are bombing. We are moving further away from rail than towards it. While it is great to think about nostalgia, it is unrealistic. I remember as s child in the late 1960's when Rock Island got out an old passenger car and let our town have a one time ride to the county seat 14 miles away. Sure it was fun, but even as kids we knew that it was a one time joy ride.
I have nothing against rail. I'm no fan of Amtrak because of their poor treatment of customers. However, I enjoyed riding the train through the Chunnel. The trains in Italy were ok, but realize that they are prone to strikes whenever the mood strikes them. The train service we have could be a lot better if Amtrak would strive to be as pleasant as European train personnel or even the airlines. Amtrak also needs to get a better deal with the rail companies so that there aren't so many delays. It is too bad they are not required to haul the mail. Of course the USPS isn't doing that great either. Also, people around her who claim they like trains need to stop complaining about the times of day it comes through Kansas. Kansas City and Chicago are during the day, and they will always take priority for daytime service. Be thankful you have any trains at all that come through Kansas. Not all states are so lucky.
If train supporters really want the Northern Flyer then they should accept the cheaper alternative to simply upgrade the lines between OKC and Newton. Hook it up with the Southwest Chief. If it really becomes that popular, then at that point consider a dedicated train all the way to KC.
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
Chances are that Grandma's vehicle can't haul lumber, anyway, so you're either going to have to have it delivered or rent a truck. That doesn't mean that you need to drive a truck all the way to Grandma's, just in case she needs you to haul something. And being three miles from the station means that she doesn't live in town, anyway, so she would have already figured out how to get to town to go shopping.
We need to get away from the idea of taking personal vehicles on multi-hundred or multi-thousand mile trips as a matter of course. It's expensive, wasteful, and dangerous. There may be times when it's the most practical thing to do, but for the most part we do it because we have no choice.
Alceste 1 year, 6 months ago
none2:
The truth about your own place stings, eh? Kansas IS a hillbilly dominated, ignorance laden state. shrug
What gccs14r writes below is a simple fact, whether you want to own it or not.
Here's some more observations about this silly little state:
"But what sort of people squatted in (insert the name of any town in Kansas here) anyway? They all sold each other wheat and bacon and corn and beef and farm machinery and squeaky shoes they all talked in the same Goddamned flat, nasal voice about the same Goddamned trivial things day-in-day-out year-after-year---eating, sleeping and growing more rustic and pompous and proverbial (as if the secrets of life with a capital L were to be found in the saws and mouthed over a corner rail or a gutter: You kin ketch more flies with molasses than you kin with vinegar. Where there's that much smoke, there must be some far. First ketch your rabbit. Time is money.) They began their kin, hating each other because of the no-privacy of the place, stunned because of the sulness of the virtues they felt obliged to wear, beckoned at and tempted by the rich vices that each kept from enjoying except in deep, painful secret..." -Joseph Stanley Pennell, 1944, in THE HISTORY OF ROME HANKS AND KINDRED MATTERS
Pennell is a Kansan who wasn't afraid to call it like it is, eh?
Rail and busses be coming back to the good ole USA (that includes Kansas). Watch.
none2 1 year, 6 months ago
Here we go another pompous posting with the attitude that if somehow if I can insult my neighbors, then I'm better than they are..
Well sorry, I don't buy into your grumpy bitterness. You can keep it. Obviously, you still cannot comprehend the meaning of hillbilly, so continue to incorrectly use it. It just goes to show how little you know about English. The fact that you have to dredge up some bitter Kansan who died in 1962 and left Kansas for Oregon way back in 1946, is pretty desperate. He may have gone to Oxford, but obviously he was not a linguist. If you want an accurate map of the English accents in the US, here it is:
http://aschmann.net/AmEng/
If I were you I wouldn't hold my breath waiting to catch a train or a bus. You might turn black and blue.
Alceste 1 year, 6 months ago
Pardon me: You're fixated on an academic's view and understanding as to how words work and function in every day life amongst common, everyday people. Your inability to understand that Kansas is a hillbilly, red neck state is laugable.
As a 5th generation Kansas Hillbilly.....I well know the "breeding stock" of this lost speck of dust.....and.....yes.....gasp I've the opportunity AND benefit of living "abroad"....not to mention actual civilization here in the USA. I've been lucky that I've had the luxury to see what's what elsewhere. Trust me on this one....it ain't happening in Kansas.....and in particular, Lawrence. Oh, once upon a time Lawrence COULD have something to be "proud" about.....civilization wise.....but that was long ago. We're talking about today....."modern times".....real life.......and everything WEST of 59 is a different COUNTRY (so Granddaddy used to pontificate about). There isn't any (culture/civilization) in Kansas. Look as long and as hard you so desire.....you're Don Quioxte......those ARE windmills out there.....they're not dragons.
Kansas has been lost for a long, long, long time.....and partly due to the folly of utes such as yourself. What a hoot!
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 6 months ago
Al, have you been taking punctuation lessons from tuschie?
kansasplains1 1 year, 6 months ago
It seems to me that this could be a very good idea, especially if walkways/paths were built to down town Lawrence, for when the weather is good, as well as along the river.
As far as air conditioning goes, the careful use of fans could take care of hot summer days. There is no need for air conditioning.
I think the remodeling could cost far less than is anticipated here.
I also am very excited about the Mexican restaurant. I'm sure that was in jest, but it really is a good idea. How about a walk from downtown to the train station, with restaurants and shops along the way? This could become an exciting part of Lawrence, linked up with the former Borders location. Why not have a grocery store there, among other things?
And as for the person to be located there 24 hours a day, I think that is a good idea. Why not include flyers and books on the history of Lawrence and Kansas to create a real center for people. This might include pictures from the past which are constantly changed each week.
I think there should be a number of bus spots, linked up with small branch libraries right nearby, as well as small parks. There was an article in the San Francisco Examiner recently about "parklets", where people have made small parklets where they can rest, read, and congregate.
http://www.sfexaminer.com/local/2011/10/san-francisco-parklets-swap-parking-spots-community-space
Is anyone on the city commission listening?
Gaius_Baltar 1 year, 6 months ago
I'm all for mass transit, and I don't mind subsidizing it, either. BUT...the location is a head scratcher. I think it'd work if they maybe developed another "hub" out on 31st or something.
As to the idea of "the USA needs high speed trains", I've been saying that for years. However, the costs are currently prohibitive, and unfortunately the US cast its lot with the automobile during the post-WW2 boom. Do people realize that many of the old west Lawrence and east Lawrence streets have tracks under them? I know 8th does between Tennessee and Kentucky, and a good hunk of New Jersey as well.
Anyway, it's going to take a major cultural or social shift in perception to provide the needed impetus to move to high speed rail. I think someday we'll have it again, but not in my lifetime.
merrill 1 year, 6 months ago
Lawrence,Kansas is rolling in the dough with plenty of money invested and in reserve funding.
Lawrence,Kansas is broke only when a project or idea does not meet the fancy of local elected officials and some in city hall. But let developer's show up to build more of what is not in need and the dollars flood the city commission room in spite of the fact that these decisions expand the bills for taxpayers aka back door/hidden tax increases.
Look at it this way. The $200-$300 million cost for the obsolete trafficway plan would easily get commuter train service rolling. This would serve the populations of many taxpaying communities within the proximity of Topeka,Lawrence and KCMO/JOCO metro. The number of long term employment opportunities would put a bunch of tax dollars back in the hands of taxpayers and local business.
snap_pop_no_crackle 1 year, 6 months ago
Look at how California's high speed rail project is getting along. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/is-californias-high-speed-rail-a-boondoggle-contd/2011/11/03/gIQAXqCNjM_blog.html Sounds like a disaster in the making. Hmmmmm. (from a source)
gccs14r 1 year, 6 months ago
Sounds like a good reason to not use private contractors.
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