WRITER: Sylas May

Lawrence City Commission interested in moving public comments to the start of its meetings once a month

Once a month, the Lawrence City Commission is hoping to put public comments first – literally, as the first thing on its meeting agenda. At its meeting on Tuesday, the commission asked staff to bring back a new meeting structure that would move the general public comment period, currently at the very end, to a 45-minute block at the very start on the second Tuesday of every month. It would be a bit of a ...

When Lawrence's public works campus opens, employees say the difference will be 'night and day'

It's 5:45 a.m. at Lawrence's Solid Waste facility, and the noise would wake anyone up. “You haven’t seen all the people yet,” says Mike Lawless, deputy director of Lawrence’s Municipal Services and Operations, as dozens and dozens of workers in yellow gear chatter and get ready for their shifts. “Give it another 2 to 3 minutes and another half of them will come in.” The break room they’re in was ...

Developer Krsnich asks for an apology, resignation of Affordable Housing Advisory Board chair over comments at City Commission meeting

Days after a narrow City Commission vote on whether to claw back his affordable housing project's funding, developer Tony Krsnich is asking for an apology and for the chair of the city's Affordable Housing Advisory Board to resign. That's according to a formal complaint sent by Krsnich's attorneys on Thursday to the city attorney. The complaint, which the Journal-World obtained a copy of, alleges that the AHAB ...

Proposal would let some speakers comment near the start of Lawrence City Commission meetings — but only if they registered in advance

The Lawrence City Commission could soon hear public comments near the start of its meeting agenda — but only from a limited number of speakers who have registered in advance. This period for “scheduled public comment,” as well as a “pledge of civility” that would be read before the public comment period, are among the changes to the meeting order that the commission will be considering at its meeting ...

Director wants to horrify and hypnotize audiences in Theatre Lawrence's 'Dial M for Murder'

Alfred Hitchcock, the Master of Suspense, had cuts, close-ups and all the other tools of cinema to build the tension in his “Dial M for Murder.” But how do you translate that kind of tension to the stage at Theatre Lawrence? For director Sean Kenealy, the answer is this: Just make the audience "keep leaning in closer and closer and closer.” “This isn’t a whodunit,” Kenealy says of the classic ...

Leaders ask how Lawrence's historic 'environs' rules are working – and what would happen without them

Two years after Lawrence streamlined its rules for building projects near historic properties, city leaders want to know how the changes are working – and what would happen if the rules went away. At their meeting on Tuesday, Lawrence city commissioners had a discussion with Brenna Buchanan and Joy Coleman, chair and vice chair of the Historic Resources Commission or HRC, and much of it centered on a concept ...