Let’s do an update on some 23rd Street projects. “Soon” is the key word on that street, just as it is the key word I keep repeating to my kids who have taken on that late-summer feral look. Soon school will start, and soon a couple of new businesses will open on 23rd Street. The “coming soon” sign is up for what appears to be a new fast-food style Mexican restaurant. Pancho’s Mexican Food is going ...
My dreams of being a farmer continue to get squashed. First, I planted actual squash in my garden when I thought I was planting cucumbers. (True story, and yes the pickles really are terrible.) And now, I get the latest data on how much farmland costs in Douglas County these days. The Journal-World recently reported on statewide data that shows how much farmland increased in value in 2018. I wondered how ...
Maybe you have driven by a Sonic restaurant and seen the same car there all day, every day. (Apologies, but it is hard to drive with an extra-large limeade, given that the cup takes up most of the front seat.) Regardless, expect to see some long-term car parking at a former Lawrence Sonic location. Plans have been filed to convert the former Sonic in North Lawrence into a used car lot and tow truck headquarters. ...
Lawrence is on a winning streak. The city has posted back-to-back months of positive sales tax growth, and that hasn’t happened since January and February. (Yes, as the HR person explained, that is probably a lame excuse to blow a vuvuzela noisemaker in the office, but when you are a Royals fan you don’t waste a winning streak.) Lawrence City Hall recently received its July sales tax check from the state, ...
While water rates are set to go up 8% next year, the city is sitting on a huge pile of cash in its utility fund. How much cash? So much that city officials aren’t entirely sure where it all came from. A review of financial documents by the Journal-World found that the city’s water/sewer fund is projected to end 2019 with nearly $42 million in reserves. To put that in perspective, for every $1 that the ...
In many progressive circles, the most hated tax in the land is a sales tax on food. Kansas is one of the few states that charges it, and opponents decry it as extremely regressive because it forces low-income people to pay tax on a product that is necessary for life. But now questions are being raised whether Lawrence city commissioners — perhaps without much thought — are placing an equally regressive ...