Letter: Public access

To the editor:

We are told the new Rock Chalk Park rec center can be a place for tournaments, like a state high school basketball tournament. The Journal-World stated Kansas University refused to host a high school championship game in Allen Fieldhouse because of a chance the KU team may need the court for practice. Is this the only court at KU?

It would be a dream for high school players to play there. Aren’t the schools training grounds for future KU players? KU Endowment pushed for the new park and encouraged the no-bid contract with the result of a loss of trust in city government.

Hasn’t the school district been trying to get public basketball teams out of the schools? I have heard the schools would also like to get polling places out of their buildings. Is it true that any school undergoing remodeling may not want to have a polling place in the future? I think hosting a place to vote would be a basic civic duty for a public buildings as well as fostering good will to the community

Was the park rushed through because of the need for facilities that public institutions no longer wish to share? If so, wouldn’t it be better to be open and honest? After all, aren’t KU and the schools paid for and owned by the taxpayers? Are the bureaucrats deciding they don’t want to share the services of “their” buildings public employees? I would think with the present state government cutting funding to public education that the school would be looking for ways to increase public access to schools rather than limit it.