Thursday, January 31, 1980
7
Developer claims mall could cause high rents
BY LYNN ANDERSON Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
An opponent of a proposed downtown shopping mall said yesterday that University of Kansas students would feel burdened of higher rents if the mall was closed.
Ron Holt, Lawrence architect and developer, said downtown mail proponents were promoting the use of public funds—funds or federal grants—to finance it.
"The use of public funds means higher taxes, and higher taxes mean higher rents," he said.
Holt said he had built at least 50 townhouses in Lawrence and still owned many of them. If landlords' taxes increased, the company would but to pass the increase along," he said.
Holt, who heads a group called Citizens for Economic Equity, said he was trying to awaken students to the backwards of a downtown mall.
"I think students ought to have a voice in this," Holt said, "because they support Lawrence with their food bills, their rent payments, their clothes money.
"I'm telling them their rent is going to go up because of the mall—I'm going to raise it, and so will everyone else."
"A downtown site would cost $20 million more because of land and parking costs," Holt said. "The contractors are saying, 'If we make me downtown, you pay the freight.'"
Holt said the developers' determination to put the mall downtown created the need for a dedicated retail and town site would be more expensive than a suburban site and that the mall contractors, Jacobs, Visconsi, Jacobs, of Cleveland, Ohio, were not willing to pay
Holt said certain Lawrence residents and outside firms wanted the mall downtown because they would directly profit.
"The public bleeds for the private
philanthropy of some city commissioners and some business people," Holt said. "They want the public to fund a mail next week, and they want the public to make their land values go up."
Holt said he was opposed not to the idea of a mall but to the use of public funds to pay for it.
"I'm an architect, I love buildings," he said. "I just don't want to pay for a mall and I don't think my renters ought to have and I don't."
"Any opposition to the mall would be premature until people see the plan and know the costs," said Warren Rodes, a group that is helping the mall.
When the public will get that information unclear, Action 80 members and the municipality will be involved for Feb. 5 on lettuce a mail proposal, but the meeting has been canceled, Rhodes
He said it was unlikely that the Action 80 plan would raise opposition from neighborhood groups, especially in East Lawrence.
We don't intend to intrude in East Lawrence residential areas, or we would intrude very minimally. I certainly hope it does not hurt the loss of one house on a block," he said.
Rhodes said he thought that financing would be the only reason for opposition to the Action 80 plan.
"It costs more to make land available to a developer downtown than in a cornfield," Rhodes said.
Representatives of ELIA could not be reached for comment. But Dick Dauhnap, ELIA president, had earlier expressed concern for a section of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Plan that allowed the city to expand its downtown expansion after full public debate.
"If the commission decides that a mall would benefit the city as a whole, they could expand, even if it hurts East Lawrence," Dunstaup said.
The Third District Congressional seat has long been a sore spot for Kansas Democrats. Particularly for Dan Watkins.
By BLAKE GUMPRECHT Staff Reporter
Staff Reporter
Carlin aide to vie for Winn's seat
Republican Larry Winn has held the seat for seven terms. He has gone virtually unchallenged for a decade, and in the 1978 election he ran uncontested.
Twice in the last three years it was Watkins' job, as executive director of the Kansas Democratic Party, to find someone to run against Winn.
Twice he failed.
But this year—rather than let Winn breeze through the election like he had so many times before—Watkins decided to run himself.
He hasn't formally announced his candidacy and probably won't for another two months, until he gets his campaign organized.
But Watkins readily admits that when he resigned from his position as Gov. John Carlin's chief aide, effective this week, he had one goal in mind.
"A representative just can't remain answerable if he has never given a good race," Watkins said yesterday. "The fact is, Larry Winn hasn't been answerable for 10 years."
"You don't defeat a seven-term incumbent every day," he said. "But I'm sure not running just to give him a tough race.
But Watkins said he was running as more than a token candidate.
Watkins, 32, has never run for public office before.
"At this point I wouldn't even say I have a 50-50 shot at getting elected. I'm a distinct underdog. We've got to educate a lot of people."
His father was a city councilman in Prairie Village, but the closest he ever came was serving as student body president at St. Mary of the Flaming College in Denver City.
In fact, Watkins set out to be a math teacher. He had no intention of entering politics, he said, until a three-year stint as a
Watkins entered the University of Kansas School of Law and after graduating in 1975 landed a job as assistant to former Kansas Attorney General Curt Schneider.
In fact, some Democrats now insist that if Watkins had not been handling the Carlin campaign, incumbent Gov. Robert F. Kennedy could have been elected to another term.
"I saw that through politics you could make changes in the community," he said.
VISTA volunteer gave him experience in dealing with government agencies.
Watkins refused to accept much credit for what has been a meteoric rise through the Democratic cranks.
In May of 1978 he was named executive director of the state Democratic party, but just six months later became manager of Carlin's campaign for governor.
"I'd like to think it's because of my hard work," he said. "But it has a lot to do with being in the right place at the right time."
Many veteran observers insist that a Democratic victory in November is extremely unlikely because of Johnson County's large Republican population.
"The people there are basically more independent than Republican, and closer to me in age and interest than to Winn," he said.
No doubt the congressional election will be his toughest test yet.
Watkins said he had worked toward the election three months ago and had been talking to party leaders and potential contributors in an attempt to drum up
Watkins disagreed.
A somewhat restrained and quiet person, Watkins seems confident.
"I think people are ready for somebody new," he said. "I feel that Larry Winn has forgotten the people he's supposed to represent.
"Larry Winn didn't make any major impact on the '68s or '70s, and I doubt if he'd have much of an impact on the 1980s. He has no notable achievements in 14 years. He
"If the issue were just on our campus I'd say debate it in a minute," McCllen said. "But there is such a diverse feeling on all the campuses."
Dan Watkins
"My number one concern is that we don't get into a KU-K-State squabble," McClellan said.
Watkins, the oldest of 14 children, is married to Phyllis Watkins, a part-time
doesn't even take a stand on most of the major issues."
ASK should go to the LA debates aiming for unity, according to McClain. She said that consideration of draft registration would pull ASK delegates further apart.
McCellan said that because KU delegates usually took a more liberal stand, KSate delegates would vote in a block against their resolutions.
campus director at KU. She said that at last semester's LA, a rivalry between Kansas State University and KU sometimes had the voting issues.
"It is not something we can lobby for or against because it is a national issue. I just don't want ASK to split on something with no impact."
ASK...
From page one
teaching librarian at a Lawrence elementary school. They have two children. They have lived in Lawrence since Watkins enrolled in law school in 1882.
In past sessions, debate heightened the issue of whether ASK should lobby for bills not directly involving students. For example, she said, delegates squared off on a discussion as decriminalization of marriages being legislation and alternative energy proposals.
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