To the editor:

I read with increasing dismay various plans for wildly inappropriate development of the historic heart of Lawrence. New Hampshire Street is already over-run with buildings that look like Johnson County wannabes. Ever hear people saying that they want to go to Olathe for the weekend to soak up the atmosphere? That they want to hike the trails in Overland Park? That they just can’t wait to buy that house in that charming Shawnee neighborhood? I didn’t think so. Preservation, and development that honors what’s worth preserving, is just good sense: good business sense and good sense about quality of life, both of which, in case you haven’t noticed, tend to go hand in hand. Let’s call a moratorium on downtown and riverfront development, study what other places have done (Dubuque, Iowa, is a spectacular example of preservation fueling development beyond anyone’s wildest dreams), figure out guidelines for what we should do here, and, for God’s sake, stick to them.

Judy Roitman,

Lawrence