PUBLIC NOTICE PAGE ll HASKE W..: is it that makes a neighborhood a good place in which to live? Many. “factors could be included. If one were to make a list, it would probably include quality housing, good neighbors, safe streets, good recreational areas for play. ~ For people with children, good schools wouldbe included in this list. New York grade school, located on the 900 block of New York Street in East Lawrence, for example, is of central importance to the health and well-being of that neighborhood, If any neighborhood is to survive over the long run, it must continually attract young people who are willing to buy and live in the neighbor- hood. People intending to establish a home and family want their children to have good elementary schools in close proximity; a safe walking distance from home. Unfortunately, the demise of the school, and perhaps the neighborhood, due to construction of the proposed Haskell Loop, is on the horizon. Increased traffic loads on 9th and lith Streets, as well as continuing traffic on Conneticut Street, will soon serve to isolate the school in an area to be bounded on the east by the Loop itself, The Loop will have access points at these streets, causing the increased traffic flow. Sucha potential safety hazard can only serve to hurt the school. Yet the prime effect of the Loop will be felt in the area of housing. The road will initially destroy 27 houses lying in its path. Twenty-six other houses will be isolated in an industrial zone, north of 7th Street and east of Pennsylvania Street. To replace the de- molished ball park at llth and Delaware, and the iso- lated playlot and community center, the City has pro~ posed a expansion eastward of the New York School yard across New Jersey Street, to abut with the Loop. This will take out 9 more homes, Add to this total (over sixty homes) 10-15 others which will be left in the unenviable position of facing the roadway on the west, or residential side On top of all this wanton destruction, the Loop will di- rectly threaten ’the future residential viability of the | entire area north of 9th Street and east of New Hamp- " shire (more commonly known as the "east bottoms"). The area has recently been zoned residential, a move supposedly designed to help get the neighborhood back onits feet. Yet, ironically , the Loop will only serve to make a mockery of this act, by making the area economically more attractive to business and industry. The back-zoning (from commercial and in- dustrial to residential) will only serve to drive down the value of property, which had been fairly high until recently, due to the industrial zoning, which emerged from the 1964 Comprehensive Plan for the City. The area is in pretty bad shape right now, and is not at- tractive as a good residential section. The Loop will be a major arterial roadway which will empty into the heart of the east bottoms, at 7th and Conneticut. Once built, it will offer access to tractor-trailer traffic to Re cenuiy City Hall has announced that it will initiate a housing rehabilitation program for East and North Lawrence, as well as other areas in need. The program has been creeping along for some time, in- volving only a few homes to date. Now the City will attempt to get funds from the Community Development Act, a federal law passed last year which distributes money to localities for their own use. It is something like the revenue sharing program, only with more strings attached. The City is expected to get around $1,700,000 in Com~ munity Development money over the next three years. Half of this sum is already slated for the building of the proposed Haskell Loop, a major arterial which will run from llth and Haskell to 7th and Conneticut. Most or all of the funding for housing rehabilitation in Lawrence over the next three years will have to come from what is left of these funds. Unfortunately, the City is chasing its own tail in this case. One gets the feeling that no real gut-level com- mitment to housing preservation is being made. If the City was particularly concerned about saving our older houses, especially in East Lawrence, then such projects as the Haskell Loop would have received a closer examination as to its effects upon low-income older housing. The roadway will eliminate 27 homes ditectly in its path, as well a isolate another 26 houses tothe north andeast. The City suggests the destruct- ion of nine more homes on the 900 block of New Jersey for an expanded New York School playground area, to replace the bull-dozed ball park at llth and Delaware. 3 st s co CENTRAL Sug i MISS. ST, IND. la ST onto Ss TENN. S 3 xy. vt MASS. S st Jae ant st ees), | = i ae J ecm “ | the area--and not just the type of traffic there now. It would create even more in the long run, because it would finally make the east bottoms an attractive and accessible development. Surely, once the road is in, the idea of stimulating residential interest in the area will fall dead. Few would be willing to make the major investment necessary to really fix up the old homes. Most living there now could not, if they wanted to. As old houses continued to deteriorate, and fall, the way could easily open up for mother rezoning--this time back to industrial+-by a future City Commission. The pattern is clear. The Loop can and will, directly or indirectly, be responsible for the loss of a great number of homes in East Lawrence. What we are get- ting into is a sort of a Catch-22. The grade school can‘t survive without a certain number of children to support it. Yet, without sufficient housing in the area, attractive to young families, there will not be enough places for children to live. Low attendance will force the school to close, making the whole neighbothood even less attractive to those seeking to establish a new home. Already attendance is beginning to drop off, The school is even now kept open on a "seven year" plan, which is nearing an end. There is no promise of its being kept open after this date. The situation is appalling indeed. The Haskell Loop is being funded entirely with federal funds, channeled through a number of complex and confusing programs. Housing will be bought up and destroyed with the use of Community Development money. These funds were intended to go to projects which would develop the nations communities. In Lawrence, which has re- ceived a tentative $1,690,000 over a three-year per- We've formed.a strong attachment : for instant housing 7th tikes iS + aN Map courtesy of Oblinger-Smith ZZ te Planning Consultants i q i Je 8th— - adie = 3 = || | | m ‘ bd S 5 Bo is 5 >» oS gs oO z e E> ‘ a Z jes 9th=- fete oe £O a | | aT oO) | il H \| AV) $' 1 Sis | o | | a ieee beat Hee i | Jaen. ee SSS SS Where will it all stop? This town is desperately short of any kind of housing, especially low-income housing. Talk of rehabilitation is heartening. Obviously, peo- ple at City Hall recognize these problems. However, their ability to apply resources effectively is another problem entirely. Contractors and developers are much more interested in new housing starts in the sub- L_LO iod, beginning in fiscal 1974 (starting July lst), it has been decided by the City to spend fully half of this sum on various costs for the Loop. What it really amounts to is a "welfare-for-the- rich" scheme. The funds slated for the Loop will in effect be used to prime a “money pump" which will flow for years into the cof- fers of the rich and the near-rich of the business and industrial community of Lawrence. Large profits lie in the wings for those able to exploit the development potential of land near the roadway. Itsa travesty of justice. Money which should go to re- habilitate a low and moderate income neighborhood is instead being used to threaten and possibly destroy the area, and in turn, its present and future residents. It is the duty of our city government to protect the in- terests of all our citizens, and not simply those priv- iledged by power, wealth or influence. Of course, the rhetoric of city officials always alludes to their good intentions, and there concern for good housing and good schools. But the people on the east side can- not always rely on those good intentions. They have little or no realpower to assert their interests. They are literally at the mercy of governmental process at .City Hall. The road, for instance, has been planned and designed by the Oblinger-Smith consulting firm of Wichita, all contracted out by the City. Any member of the general public seeking to question the process as established by these professional government people are immediately inundated with a barage of profession- al jargon, including all sorts of confusing terms, initials, and program descriptions. If you are not familiar with their language, then you are lost. Thus the meaning, purpose and impact of the Haskell Loop is lost to the public, the residents of East Lawrence, and even City Commissioners and City officials. In the end, words don't often carry much weight--but rather it be who speaks the words and where--that makes the big difference. To City Planners who would rather think about building multi-million dollar bridges and street-widening projects, fixing up East Lawrence (or any older neighborhood) is not a very exciting idea. For one thing, there just isn’t alot of money to be made by anyone in particular by doing so. There is no catylist, economic or otherwise, to rebuild the neighborhood. People with means take care of themselves, and everyone else just gets by as well as possible. The preservation of East Lawrence as a good residen-= tial neighborhood for low and moderate income groups is a project which must develop and grow in the heart, more than in the mind. Unfortunately, the last couple of decades of growth in our town have stripped much of the heart out of our city government, What is left of that heart must surely reside in the people of the greater community. We who advocate a serious and comprehensive plan for the preservation of East Lawrence, for many years to come, make an appeal to these people--to hear our cries, and to try to under-~ stand what kind of problems the people of East Law- rence are having to face. Please hear us out, and re- flect upon what you hear. ; o n urbs, where the use of prefabricated parts and poor- grade materials afford a greater return on investment. There just isn't any economic motivation to repair old or small houses, The profits are not there. This leaves those in need of low-income housing towing the line for the failure of elected City officials to care- fully protect existing houses in town. It's a good thing for the City to begin with this pro- gram now, before neighborhoods deteriorate further. Many houses are presently boarder-line cases. They must be saved now. Every house in this town that burns, falls down or is torn down needlessly, tends to drive up tHe pst of Rent for the thousands who live in rental houses in Lawrence. New housing starts are of no use to people without the means to pay for con- struction. And those costs are high. Many people who are living on middle-class income ($12,000-15,000 per year), with a family of four, have already been priced out of the new housing market. This leaves many to battle it out for housing and rent, on a limit- ed income, ina strictly "sellers" market. It's not free enterprise. It’s more like the "big squeeze"' placed upon those least able to pay high rent. The City must help to protect our houses in Law- rence, by actively putting their hearts into the process of rehabilitation. It also must protect the interest of persons seeking housing, by keeping in tune with housing problems througtout the city, and providing long-term solutions to problems which will not create even greater problems later-on. After all, somebody is bound to be around here after we are gone.