To the editor:

During the March 18 City Commission discussion about household occupancy limits, a lot of public commenters expressed frustration about living near students and dissatisfaction with KU’s impact on our town. Some talked about making Lawrence an attractive destination for area professionals seeking single-family home ownership.

Is that what we want to be, a bedroom community, a suburb that grudgingly hosts the state’s flagship university? Or do we want to be a vibrant college town, an economic and cultural hub for northeastern Kansas, anchored by KU? To me, the answer is clear: Let’s be vibrant.

It’s an imperfect measure, but looking at gross domestic product shows that we have some serious work to do. Compare our per-capita GDP (2023) with that of four other Midwestern college towns, and you’ll see we’re dead last by a substantial margin.

Madison, Wisconsin: $196,676

Iowa City: $144,513

Bloomington, Indiana: $106,810

Lincoln, Nebraska: $77,277

Lawrence: $56,524

For additional perspective, Topeka’s per-capita GDP lands just slightly behind Lawrence at $52,726.

We need to treat the University of Kansas and its students like the asset they are. Let’s stop fighting to keep them out of our neighborhoods and start fighting to harness their energy and innovation and turn Lawrence into the dynamic and productive college town that it could be.

Percy Wegmann,

Lawrence