It won’t quite be like taking a police ride-along in the Oread neighborhood on a Saturday night, but it appears the Nov. 4 election to build a nearly $28 million police headquarters building will get a little lively. A group is forming to run an opposition campaign against the sales tax proposal.

Last week a Facebook page for Lawencians Against The New Police Headquarters: Vote No November 4 was created. The page got some early activity and has more than 200 “likes” thus far. The group also is hosting an organizational meeting at 7 p.m on Sept. 16 at the Lawrence Public Library.

Thus far, I’m not sure who the driving force is behind the group. I’ve reached out to the group via Facebook, but haven’t yet heard back. I’ve also reached out to some people who appear to be active on the page to try to get a sense of who is organizing the effort.

The Facebook page, however, does spell out some of the reasons why the group is opposed to the project. Thus far, most of the opposition I have heard to the project relates to its price tag, its proposed location, and some people believe the city has spent too much on projects related tot he library and Rock Chalk Park to make the police facility feasible at this time. This group, however, looks like it is going to expand the debate to some new issues. The Facebook page states that Lawrence residents will “see the effects of increased police presence, including more jail cells (i.e. more imprisonment, longer detainment periods, more cost to taxpayers) and better police access to their armored vehicle and more space for future military acquisitions.”

The idea of the “militarization” of our police force seems to be a hot topic with the group already. The issue has been in the national news with the police response in Ferguson, Mo., being criticized by several groups. To be clear, the police department headquarters plan doesn’t include any money for new purchases of armored vehicles or other such tactical equipment or weapons. But as the group alludes to, the building would include storage space for such vehicles. The city already has an armored vehicle, a SWAT vehicle and other such equipment. The vehicles are stored at an off-site, unstaffed location that would delay their response times if needed for an emergency.

As for the talk of more jail cells and longer imprisonment, it is important to remember that the police headquarters project doesn’t include any improvements to the Douglas County Jail. The county is discussing such a project, but that is a separate project. But some of the people I have talked to in trying to determine who is leading this group, have said that all the issues are related.

Leslie Soden, who narrowly lost a bid for a City Commission seat in the last election and who is viewed as a likely candidate for the 2015 city elections, said she’s joined the group’s Facebook page and may become active in an opposition campaign. She said there are questions about whether the city should first invest more money in social service agencies that could prevent crime before it spends tens of millions on a headquarters building. Plus, she said she thinks people are concerned that a police headquarters project and a jail expansion may proceed on separate tracks.

“It is a tough issue because I do think police officers need to have good working conditions,” Soden said. “But the decision of the city and the county not to collaborate on these facilities, I find that incredibly frustrating.”

The group also talks about the proposed site, which is a 47-acre vacant parcel across from the Hallmark cards production plant near the West Lawrence interchange. But while most of the discussion I’ve heard has centered on the $2.25 million price for the property, this group brings up a new issue: The project is “proposing turning 50 acres of prime farmland in the bottoms into cement.”

As we previously have reported, a citizens group has formed to support the police headquarters project. That group, Friends of Lawrence Police, has formed as a political action committee, meaning it can raise money for campaign advertising and such, No word yet on whether this new group will also take that step. But already, it appears this new opposition group is taking some exception to the Friends of the Lawrence Police group. The Facebook page calls the Friends organization a group of “Lawrence elites.”

It is too early to say what type of chord this opposition group will strike in the community, but it does seem to be a safe bet that the campaign is going to be a bit more spirited.

In other news and notes from around town:

• I’ve had some questions from readers about the price tag of the proposed headquarters. You do see several numbers out there. The number I use in most articles is “nearly $28 million.” But you also see a lot of talk about a $25 million facility, and you’ll even see a $24 million number.

Here are some explanations on all of that. I use the nearly $28 million number because I believe that is the most accurate description of the project’s total cost. Some people have criticized me for using that number because you can find city documents that say the City Commission has agreed on a project budget of $25.7 million for the construction of a police facility. The key word there is construction. That $25.7 million doesn’t include the price of the land. The city has signed a letter of intent to purchase the Hallmark property for $2.25 million. You add those two together and you come up with $27.95 million, or nearly $28 million. The city hopes to sell its current police administration building in west Lawrence for $2 million or more once the police headquarters building is constructed. But that doesn’t change the fact the project is a nearly $28 million project as it stands today. It just speaks to how the city is planning to pay for the project.

Along those same lines, the $24 million dollar number may come up as people begin to analyze the sales tax question. When voters step into the polls on Nov. 4 and meticulously read every word of the ballot language, they will see that the general obligation bonds issued for the project shall not exceed $24.2 million. Again, that’s not an indication of the total cost of the project, though. The City Commission simply decided it would use some existing money in its budget to pay for a portion of the project, rather than paying for all of it with the new sales tax. The sales tax, in case you have forgotten, would be a 0.2 percent sales tax that would sunset in nine years, or perhaps earlier if the tax produces more revenue than projected.

• Fans of Amtrak’s Southwest Chief rail line are excited about another number these days: $12.5 million. I don’t have all the details yet, butmultiple media organizations in Colorado are reporting that Amtrak has received a $12.5 million federal grant to make improvements to the rail lines that Amtrak uses for the Southwest Chief.

The passenger train runs through Lawrence twice a day, and stops at the Burlington Northern Santa Fe Depot in East Lawrence. Amtrak supporters have been worried that major route changes would occur to the Southwest Chief by 2016, if money wasn’t found to make some improvements to key sections of railroad tracks. The route changes likely would have eliminated service to Hutchinson, Garden City, Dodge City and multiple communities in Colorado and New Mexico.

The Colorado news organizations are reporting that the $12.5 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant, along with some matching funds, will make the necessary repairs in Kansas and Colorado.

I’ll let you know if I hear more details about the grant.