Lawrence city commissioners were right to set aside time to take a comprehensive look at the proposed East Ninth Street arts corridor.

Hopefully, after looking at all the pros and cons during a work session today, commissioners will find a way to move this project forward.

City Manager Tom Markus has not included funding for the project in his budget proposal for next year, but the city already has made a significant financial investment in this project, and community members have contributed many hours to completing the first phase of the planning and design. Even if the project is scaled back or staged over a longer period of time, it should go forward.

The preliminary cost estimate for the project was $3.1 million. Of that, $1.9 million was allocated for general street repair, including parking, bike lanes and sidewalks on both sides of the street. At least some repairs to Ninth Street will be necessary whether or not the arts corridor goes forward. Why not work toward the vision fashioned by many hours of community input and discussion?

That vision includes gathering spaces and integrated art funded by the $500,000 ArtPlace America grant that was the genesis of the Ninth Street project. The goal is an attractive, pedestrian- and bicycle-friendly corridor linking downtown to developments in the former industrial area at Ninth and Delaware.

The East Ninth Street project has drawn some critics but it also has drawn considerable support from the local arts community and East Lawrence residents.

The second phase of the project, which includes technical design drawings and development of construction bid documents, is estimated to cost between $275,000 and $375,000, depending on the scope of the project. That’s the decision facing commissioners. They certainly could decide to cancel the project, toss out all the work that’s been done and return the remaining grant money to ArtAmerica, but that would be too bad. Lawrence is a creative community that too often doesn’t think big enough. Lawrence has an opportunity to create a space that would be attractive to both residents and visitors and provide added incentive to save and develop historical properties along the way. We shouldn’t let that opportunity pass us by.