Within the next 20 years in downtown Lawrence, residents might not shop at a row of retail stores — instead, they might go "play with gadgets, meet with personal stylists" and visit a variety of "experience-based businesses" that offer unique services that you can't buy online. That's the vision outlined in a newly released draft of the first sections of Lawrence's new Downtown Master Plan, and some city ...
Updated at 4:50 p.m. Thursday Lawrence developer Thomas Fritzel pleaded guilty Thursday in a federal fraud case. Fritzel pleaded guilty to one count of criminal conspiracy, according to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office in Kansas. Fritzel admitted that he and others submitted false monthly sales tax returns to the state of Kansas related to the development of The Oread hotel, 1200 Oread Ave. in ...
Designs will soon be created to turn the bare concrete of the Edgewood skate park into a community mural. The do-it-yourself skate park was itself a community project, and some of those involved are also helping to lead the mural project. Community artists Nicholas Ward and Billy Beeson are both involved with the project, and Ward said the mural would cover all the concrete surfaces, treating the skate park's ...
City of Lawrence leaders will soon consider providing some of the city’s surplus sales tax proceeds to the local homeless shelter. Lawrence received about $400,000 more in sales and use tax collections in 2019 than it had budgeted for. During the City Commission’s meeting Tuesday, Commissioner Lisa Larsen asked whether the commission should consider using some of the surplus sales tax to provide additional ...
City leaders will consider adding five issues to their list of legislative priorities, including support for a measure that would effectively freeze property tax rates for low-income seniors and a measure that would provide rebates for sales tax charged on groceries to low-income residents. As part of its meeting Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will consider approving its Lawrence Legislative Priority ...
If the market for recycled materials remains low, the city's costs for processing recyclables could go up — and so could residents' utility bills. The City of Lawrence contracts with the Hamm recycling facility to process recyclable materials, but changes in global markets have led to a significant decline in the value of those materials over the past couple of years. The city already has been feeling the ...