WRITER: Bremen Keasey

Nonprofits grateful for Lawrence community's support on expanding sales tax for affordable housing and homelessness efforts

Now that Lawrence voters have approved expanding a sales tax that funds housing and homelessness services in the city, nonprofits say they're feeling grateful for the community's support. On Tuesday, 53.32% of Lawrence voters voted “yes” on a ballot question to raise the city's affordable housing sales tax from 0.05% to 0.10%, according to the unofficial results from the Douglas County elections office. The ...

Lawrence City Commission set to vote on sweeping Land Development Code next week

Lawrence city commissioners at their meeting Tuesday will consider adopting a new Land Development Code for the city, which would govern how developments in the city are built, from lot sizes to parking requirements. The project to update the city’s code, which has not been updated since 2006, started in 2022 and aims to establish a simpler and more consistent set of development procedures and help the city ...

With help from Home Depot and Mass St. Collective, KU athletes build new shed for play equipment at the Ballard Center

A partnership between Home Depot and the Mass St. Collective — the group that represents many Kansas Jayhawk student-athletes in name, image and likeness ventures — gave back to the Lawrence community on Friday by constructing a shed to house play equipment for the Ballard Center. KU baseball players, local Home Depot employees and Josh Baker, the facilities director at the Ballard Center, a local nonprofit ...

Lawrence voters reject proposal that would have altered structure of city government and added a direct mayoral race

Lawrence voters on Tuesday narrowly rejected a referendum that would have altered the city's structure of government, voting down a proposal that would have included a direct mayoral election and additional commissioners in the city, with some voted on by districts and others serving at large. A total of 18,815 Lawrence voters, or 50.86%, chose “no” on the referendum, according to the unofficial vote ...

Lawrence voters approve expanding affordable housing sales tax, providing more funding for homelessness services in city

Lawrence voters on Tuesday approved a referendum that will double the city's affordable housing sales tax to help provide more funding for services to help people experiencing homelessness. A total of 20,923 voters, or 53.32%, voted “yes” on the ballot initiative to raise the affordable housing sales tax from 0.05% to 0.10%, according to the unofficial results from the Douglas County elections office; ...

After being closed for months, 11th Street in East Lawrence should reopen this week

A road work project in East Lawrence that fully closed a key intersection since the summer should reopen Friday after a design issue delayed the project. In August, city workers closed 11th Street to through traffic between Connecticut Street and Delaware Street and shut down 11th Street at New York Street to complete storm sewer work in the area. At the time, city staff predicted the road would reopen on Sept. ...