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Opinion: Advisory board member backs rec center

For those of you who would like to read the documentation to back up these assertions, please go to http://www.lawrenceks.org/agendas/2012 and pull up the agenda from Nov. 13, 2012. The chronological summary contains many valuable, informative links.

January 8, 2013 at 8:15 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Opinion: Advisory board member backs rec center

If we were asking for new taxes, I would be all for a public vote, as was the case for both public transit and the library project. However, in this case, we are using existing tax dollars that are generated from a sales tax that was passed by voters for specific purposes, one of which being recreation projects. For the recreation project, I believe we rely on our representative form of government in which our elected officials weigh the costs and benefits of the project and allocate dollars accordingly. That's why we elect them...to manage our budgets within specified guidelines. Those guidelines are being followed in this case. I might also mention that our City finances are quite good in comparison to other municipalities and that we have a favorable bond rating, both indicators of sound financial management.

January 8, 2013 at 4:04 p.m. ( | suggest removal )

Opinion: Advisory board member backs rec center

I was skeptical, too, when I joined the advisory board. That's why we scheduled time and met with the principals of all of the elementary schools...to be sure we're using our existing resources before building new ones. The principals were all very cooperative and willing to work with LPRD. However, with Boys & Girls Club, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, school music programs and PTO events, the schools are being used to their potential. It was only after we made sure we didn't have any untapped resources that we began planning for an additional building. As for the tournaments, I used to coach a youth travel basketball team and the kids always wanted to come to Lawrence because of the basketball tradition here. I have a study from Texas A&M - College Station (similar size to Lawrence) - where they did an actual direct spending survey of basketball tourney participants (not a projection, but rather an actual survey of how much they spent). Results showed more than $400,000 in direct spending in one weekend. This is very typical for tournaments like this. Please remember, though, that the tournaments are secondary. The primary purpose of this facility is for local recreation programming and LPRD...not the developer and not KU... will be scheduling the rec center component.

January 8, 2013 at 11:16 a.m. ( | suggest removal )

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