Lawrence found to lag behind Manhattan in college community ranking; City Hall and the land of meetings; butcher shop expanding

It almost should go without saying that Lawrence is the top college community in the region. Just walk through the Oread neighborhood on any Friday and Saturday night and partake in the abundant school spirit. Lawrence is at least the top college town in Kansas. Well, a new ranking says otherwise.

A new study by the financial website WalletHub ranks Lawrence the second best college community in the state. Manhattan is ranked as the top university town in Kansas, and by quite a wide margin. Lawrence was ranked the No. 44 college town in America, out of 280 communities that were ranked. Manhattan was ranked No. 12.

Now, no one likes finishing behind K-State, I’m sure. But Lawrence is No. 44 out of 280, so that is still well within the top quintile of all college communities in the nation. (If we use words like ‘quintile’ a lot, I think we’ll move up in the rankings.) But there is a catch. This study looked at any city that had a college population of at least 10,000 students. That means most of the major metropolitan areas in the country were included. So, while I’m sure that Oakland is a fine place to have, say, an accounting convention or some other exciting event, it is not a college community, yet it is included in this ranking anyway.

The study, though, does break its rankings down by community size. Lawrence falls into the category of less than 100,000 people. If a town of less than 100,000 people has more than 10,000 students, then that is indeed a college community in terms of how we think of one. In that ranking, Lawrence ranks No. 40 out of 69 communities. Now would be a good time for us to use the word ‘quintile’ in multiple sentences because No. 40 out 69 isn’t that great. In that ranking of smaller communities, Manhattan was No. 10. A pair of Big 12 communities also made the top 10: Stillwater, Okla., at No. 8 and Ames, Iowa, at No. 5. Our good friends in Columbia, Mo., were a bit too large for the small city ranking, but they ranked No. 2 in the medium size city category. Boulder, Colo., was No. 1 in that ranking.

The study looked at a variety of factors to come up with the rankings. In general, though, they fall into three broad categories. Here’s a look:

• Wallet Wellness Rank: This looks at data for things such as housing costs, adjusted cost of living, tuition fees, and even smaller stuff like the average cost of pizza and hamburgers. Lawrence ranked No. 64 out of 280. Manhattan ranked No. 27. (I have a theory on this: KU students are woefully overpaying for red plastic cups. When I was in the Oread neighborhood, numerous college kids were trying to sell me a red plastic cup for $5. I’m almost certain you can buy them for much less than that at Family Dollar.)

• Youth-Oriented Environment: This looks at items like number of students per capita, percentage of single persons; number of nightlife options per capita, number of cafes per capita, and the city’s crime rate. Lawrence was No. 75. Manhattan was No. 40.

• Opportunities: This looks at earning potential for people with a bachelor’s degree; unemployment rate; business startup rate; job growth rate; and the universities’ rankings in publications such as U.S. News & World Report. Lawrence was No. 46. Manhattan was No. No. 62.

So, take all of this for whatever you think it is worth. I’m not sure whether being a top college community — as defined by these metrics, anyway — is Lawrence’s goal. But I did find it interesting that several communities we think of as peers ranked quite a bit differently than we did.

In other news and notes from around town:

• If these rankings really worry us, we could have a meeting about it. There’s a new report out that suggests Lawrence city government has more meetings than most large communities in Kansas.

As I mentioned last week, City Commissioner Terry Riordan is interested in creating an earlier start time for City Commission meetings so that deliberations aren’t routinely happening after 10 p.m., when minds have been known to turn to mush at City Hall.

He asked staff members to research what other communities do, and a report from City Hall shows that most communities start a bit later than Lawrence’s 6:35 p.m. meeting, but don’t meet as often.

Lawrence meets every Tuesday evening, except when a month has five Tuesdays. Meetings also are frequently canceled near holidays, such as this Tuesday’s meeting being canceled because of Christmas. But most months, we get together for Tuesday evening fun four times a month. There are some months city commissioners have study sessions in addition to the four regular meetings.

A City Hall report looked at five other cities — Lenexa, Manhattan, Olathe, Overland Park and Topeka — and found that none of them hold a regular business meeting each week. Lenexa and Manhattan come the closet. Lenexa has a business meeting — where votes are taken and ordinances are passed — every first and third Tuesday of the month. Then on the second and fourth Tuesdays, the commission meets in a study session format where they talk about issues but don’t take any formal action. Manhattan does the same thing, but also has a meeting every third Thursday with the county commission.

Olathe meets twice a month and holds study sessions when needed. That’s the same system used in Overland Park. Topeka meets three times per month. It would be interesting to know how those Johnson County communities, which are large and growing, make things work without meeting every week. Based on what comes before the commission in Lawrence, City Commission meetings would go to the wee hours of the morning, if all business had to be conducted in just two sessions. It has been said that Lawrence is a process-heavy community. I’ve spent pretty much my entire career in Lawrence, so it is hard for me to compare our process with others’. But it could be interesting to compare how some of these communities process city business with how Lawrence does it.

As for start times, Topeka starts at 6 p.m., but all the other communities start at either 7 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. Lawrence city commissioners tentatively have agreed to start their Jan. 6 meeting at 5:45 p.m. as a test case. We’ll see where it goes from there.

• Maybe more beer and pastrami would help us become a better college town. I’m not certain of that, but a local meat shop that makes pastrami, sausage and other such items is expanding to become more of a restaurant, complete with alcohol sales.

Hank Charcuterie, 19th and Massachusetts streets, has won city approval to start serving beer and wine at the establishment. The alcohol sales are a part of a strategy to expand the butcher shop into a restaurant as well, said Vaughn Good, chef and owner of Hank Charcuterie.

The restaurant part of the business is already underway. The business has a menu of sandwiches, soups, sausages and other such fare that changes daily. But Good said he determined that offering alcohol with meals would help the establishment, which has been open since July. It also will help the business begin offering more specialty dinners. Good said he envisions hosting dinners where local farmers and ranchers are on hand to discuss how they raise the produce and meat served at Hank’s.

“Our philosophy is really to let people understand their food,” Good said.

The restaurant offerings, though, aren’t a sign that the business is cutting back on its butcher shop activities. Good said he’s still working to help people understand that the store is a regular butcher shop, in addition to an establishment that produces charcuterie, which is a branch of cooking that focuses on the preparation of hams, bacon, sausages, pates and other meat products. Good does all that, but he said the business also offers a traditional butcher case where people can pick up a ribeye for the grill, some hamburger, pork chops or other meats that include lamb, goat, chicken and duck.

City commissioners did hear concerns from Lawrence’s Victory Bible Church, which is within 400 feet of Hank Charcuterie. City codes prohibit drinking establishment licenses within 400 feet of a church or school, unless the city grants an exemption from the code. Such exemptions have become fairly routine, but leaders with Victory Bible Church asked that the city not grant the exemption. City commissioners, though, ultimately granted the exemption with the condition that the business make at least 55 percent of its revenues from the sale of food.