News and notes from around town:

• As promised, I checked in with a city official about concerns raised by a local caterer that the city was unfairly competing with private business by renting out the former Carnegie Library for events. In Wednesday’s Town Talk Steve Maceli, owner of Maceli’s, said the $525 rental rate for the building was well below market rates and would take business away from private event halls that are trying to make a living and pay taxes to the city.

I asked Mayor Mike Amyx about it, and he had a little bit different take on the issue. He said the city is not trying to be in the event business as much as it is trying to make public spaces open to the public. It charges people a fee to cover staff time and cleaning and other such expenses for when the space is open.

He said he thinks it is appropriate that the public be able to use the space when it is available, because public funds were used to renovate the facility — a combination of local tax dollars and federal grants. To tell the public it can’t use a building it helped renovate would be odd, he said.

“I’m sorry there may be a difference of opinion on this issue, but the taxpayers of Lawrence helped pay for that, and it does help bring people into downtown,” Amyx said. “It is one of the old signature buildings of downtown. Instead of allowing it to demolish itself through neglect, we wanted to bring some life to it.”

I also checked in with two other event halls to find out if they were concerned. Neither a representative at Pachamama’s or at The Castle Tea Room said they viewed the Carnegie as a major threat, because the city wasn’t offering full event services, like catering, as part of the rental.

But Andre Bollaert, executive director of The Castle Tea Room, said he was a little disappointed that the city didn’t find a use for the building that would have created more activity on a daily basis.

“I think the only slight thing I would add is I would love to see a historic building like that being used in the most productive way possible,” Bollaert said. “As far as events, I would say the more the merrier. I’ve been glad to see new venues. I know you can’t please everybody at every price point, but I think Lawrence can really grow to be a destination place for events.”

Maceli, who admits he took a beating on Town Talk’s comments page yesterday, e-mailed me today and said he still contends the city doesn’t have a shortage of event space. He put together a list of about 30 places where wedding receptions or other events could be held in town. What the heck, here’s the list. Add to it if you want:

1. Howard Johnsons
2. Holiday Inn
3. Hampton Inn
4. Eagles
5. Knights of Columbus
6. Circle S Ranch
7. The Eldridge
8. The Eldridge Extended
9. The Oread
10. Kansas Union
11. The Kansas University Alumni Association
12. Stony Point Hall
13. Liberty Hall
14. Victorian Veranda
15. Steve’s Place
16. American Legion
17. Lawrence Country Club
18. Alvamar Country Club
19. The Castle Tea Room
20. Pachamama’s
21. Maceli’s
22. Holiday Inn Express
23. SpringHill Suites by Marriott
24. Abe & Jakes Landing
25. North Lawrence Depot
26. The Dance Academy
27. Lawrence Arts Center
28. Various churches (What? A wedding reception at an actual church?)
29. The Carnegie

He did not include it on his list, but I know I’ve been to at least one wedding reception at The World Famous Tee-Pee Junction. There are probably others that I don’t remember.

• Town Talk is a bit late arriving on your computer screen today. I was at a court hearing this morning regarding the Lawrence Community Shelter’s plans to relocate to a vacant warehouse building out near the Douglas County Jail. The board of trustees for the business park has ruled a shelter doesn’t meet the long standing covenants that govern the park. The shelter is fighting that issue in court. No ruling today, but it was indicated one will happen soon — perhaps in the next few days. Look for more information later today on LJWorld.com.

• It is not another ticket scandal at KU. But a Town Talk reader did call with a complaint about how KU Athletics is advertising its football season ticket packages for sale. Ads that have run in the Journal-World and elsewhere have offered season ticket packages for Tier 1 seats — some of the better seats in Memorial Stadium — for $300 if you order soon. But as Dave Bach, owner of East Lawrence’s Das Autohaus found out, there is a catch. You also have to be a member of the Williams Fund to be guaranteed to get one of those tickets. That’s another $100 donation. Nowhere does the ad mention that. Bach said that seemed like false advertising to him.

Jim Marchiony, associate athletic director, maybe wouldn’t go that far, but he said Bach does have a point.

“His point is that the ad doesn’t say that, and he’s right,” Marchiony said. “From now on it will say it. We put that type of information in our ticket brochure, but we understand not everyone gets a ticket brochure.”

Marchiony said the department would work to get the marketing materials changed as soon as possible.

• Lawrence city commissioners recently got an odd letter. Ron Schneider, an attorney for a group of neighbors who has opposed an industrial rezoning near the Lecompton interchange on the Kansas Turnpike, sent a letter essentially telling the commission if it changed its vote on the matter that his clients wouldn’t sue the city.

The rezoning is for about 51 acres along the Farmers’ Turnpike right where it intersects with Queens Road extended. In other words just a bit east of the Lecompton interchange and right along Interstate 70. Schneider’s clients have said the property should not be rezoned to anything more intense than light industrial. The development group, led by Lawrence businessmen Steve and Duane Schwada, is seeking a zoning category that would allow a much larger range of heavy industrial uses.

Schneider’s group already has sued the city and the county over a similar issue on 155 acres also near the Lecompton interchange. They’ve lost those suits in Douglas County District Court, but appeal options remain.

The letter essentially said if the city would approve the lighter zoning category it could save itself some time and money in a lawsuit. City commissioners weren’t interested in making such a deal. Commissioners received the letter Tuesday and gave final approval to the zoning on a 4-1 vote. Commissioner Aron Cromwell voted against it because he does favor the lighter zoning. But that had been his position prior to the letter as well.

I’m not passing judgment on the letter, other than to say I haven’t seen many like it during my time at City Hall. If commissioners had accepted the deal, it could have created an interesting precedent for how to fight an issue at City Hall.

On a related note, somebody asked me recently how much the city and county had spent defending the lawsuits the neighbors brought in the 155-acre case. I don’t have those numbers at my fingertips, but I will inquire. That may make the letter even more interesting.