WRITER: Sylas May

Lawrence city leaders to vote on clawing back $558K in affordable housing funding from Bert Nash

City leaders will vote next week on whether to claw back $558,000 in affordable housing funding from Bert Nash Community Mental Health Center after it stepped away from a supportive housing project. The funding was awarded to Bert Nash from the city's Affordable Housing Trust Fund in 2023 and 2024 for a permanent supportive housing project near the intersection of Sixth Street and Rockledge Road. However, the ...

Lawrence city commissioners might move general public comments to earlier in their meetings

When Lawrence gets a new city manager, it could also get a new look for its City Commission meetings – one with public comments near the beginning instead of at the end. At Tuesday’s City Commission meeting, Mayor Brad Finkeldei said he was interested in changing the order of the meeting agendas to move certain items to earlier in the evening. He said that might include the city manager’s comments and ...

Alvamar homeowners sue golf course ownership, seeking $26M in damages and restoration of defunct golf holes

When nine holes at the Jayhawk Club golf course stopped being maintained a few years ago, Scott Robinson said, it was “kind of subtle.” “It was in early 2023,” he said. “You just noticed that the greens and areas weren’t being kept up. It was very subtle.” But he couldn’t help but notice when the changes came to the greens behind his home. “Behind my house, I watched a pond be destroyed and ...

With new murals, Junior Girl Scouts and Jewish congregation hope to turn bland buildings 'into something beautiful'

Did you know river otters live in Kansas? Many people don’t, the scouts of Girl Scout Junior Troop 2856 say, and they want to remind passersby in downtown Lawrence with a new mural about endangered species. This mural, and another one planned by the Lawrence Jewish Community Congregation, were both enthusiastically received by the city’s Cultural Arts Commission on Wednesday night. The LJCC’s mural would ...

Survey respondents think Lawrence is doing well on arts and culture, not so well on economy

As the City of Lawrence prepares to start its next strategic plan, a survey is showing that residents are feeling good about arts and culture, but not so good about the economy, city leaders heard on Tuesday. At their weekly meeting, city commissioners heard the results of the National Community Survey, also known as the Community Satisfaction Survey, which was completed by polling firm Polco. The survey ...

City of Lawrence will soon start application process for a construction manager for Fire Station 6

Lawrence will soon start accepting applications for a construction manager for its new fire station, Fire Station 6, which is expected to start construction next year. On Tuesday, the commission voted 5-0 to approve a method called “construction manager at risk” to build Fire Station 6. The method differs from a traditional design-bid-build process in several ways, and Mayor Brad Finkeldei said it would be ...