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Wednesday, March 27, 1974
University Daily Kansan
City Orders 23rd Street Widened
By BOB MARCOTTE
Kansas Staff Reporter
The Lawrence City Commission yesterday passed a resolution ordering the city staff to proceed with steps to widen 238 feet of highway at 64 feet between Iowa and Louisiana streets.
Buford Watson, city manager, said the extra width would allow for another lane on the south side of the street, freeing a center lane in way 12 to accommodate turnstions down and ruler keeled up.
The total cost of the project, he said, will be about $32,000, of which $50,000 will be provided by the state. The remainder, he said with city general obligation bonds.
WATSON LATER SAID the project could be begun by August and perhaps completed sometime this fall, if no objections to the plan were raised.
The commission passed a related resolution setting 7:30 April 9 as the time for a public hearing on putting sidewalks along and expanding Street as part of the game development.
The resolution included an amendment by Commissioner Barkley that park department funds be used to provide trees between the edge of the street and the proposed sidewalk to screen off parking areas on the south side of the street.
Lawrence Police Chief Richard Stanwix brought members of the city commission up to date on the organization and operations of his department and urged the city to keep police benefits and salaries competitive with those of other occupations.
Stanwick later said this should include maintaining incentives such as sick pay and vacation time and keeping salary increases comparable to increases in the cost of living. Such measures would keep officers on the force, he said.
However, he said he had no specific proposals or requests to make to the city and he told commissioners that he had "no quarrel as far as benefits are concerned."
Patrolmen are now hired at $587 to $750 a month and their benefits, according to a fact sheet, in the city's personnel office, include 12 days' vacation a year, 12 days sick leave and training. They are also by the city and membership in Kansas Police and Firemen's retirement system.
STANWIX SAID THERE WAS A need for better understanding on the part of Lawrence residents as to just what the police can and cannot do.
"We are not making the laws and ordinances," he said. "We are only enforcing them."
People think that "we can just go out make an arrest" every time they have a complaint, Stanwix said. To arrest someone for a misdemeanor, he said, the officer has
to witness the crime. Only in the case of a suspected felony where there are witnesses or there seems to be a strong likelihood that the felony actually took place can an officer make an arrest without having seen it occur, he said.
Stanwick also said that some members of the force were wearing coveralls rather than regulation uniforms. These are new members of the force, he said, who serve a probationary period during which they accompany a senior member of the force.
USING COVERALLS SAVES considerably on the cost of a complete set of new equipment and regulation uniform in cases where decisions not to continue with police work.
Equipment, uniforms, and training for new officers can cost as much as $2,500
He noted that there had been 2,291 Part I offenses, including manslaughter, rape, burglary, robbery, and larceny reported to Lawrence police last year. That represents a 9.2 per cent decrease from the figures for the year before, which were 3,085. The months of this year are down 1.9 per cent from the offenses reported during the first two months of 1973, he said.
STANWIX GAVE THE following breakdown of reported crimes for Lawrence in 1973: manslaughter, three incidents, up 50 per cent over a year ago; rape, up 10.8
THE COMMISSION ALSO authorized the city staff to prepare an ordinance that would raise the speed limit for trains and require that the city limits from 40 to 30 miles an hour.
per cent, robbery, 35, down 18.6 per cent;
merglarity, 63, down 10.9 per cent;
petty theft, 63, down 11.9
That action followed comments by two representatives of Union Pacific Railroad who stated that the higher limit would allow motorists to spend less time at crossings waiting for trains to pass and would conserve diesel fuel for the railroad company.
J. H. Graves, industrial engineer with the railroad, said it took five and a half minutes for a 100-car train traveling at 25 m.p.h. to get through a crossing. It takes 11 minutes adding that the railroad intends to use the 200-car train more and more in the future.
"Time is paramount," he said, because of the delays of fire equipment and regular traffic which often occur when a train moves through a crossing.
At 40 m.p.h. on, on the car hand, it takes
only 6.8 min. to get a 200 car train to get
from Bristol to London.
GRAVES SAID THAT every time a 100-car train had to slow down for a 25 m.p.h. limit and then speed up again outside the city limits, it used an extra 20 gallons of diesel fuel. Over a year's time, he estimated, the railroad could save about
40,000 gallons of fuel with the 40 m.p.h. limit.
Bob Crick, a district supervisor for the railroad, had earlier told commissioners that his company run about 50 trains a day and that he would probably go up to 85 a day within five years. The speed increase is needed, he said, to avoid a bottleneck as a result of the
To handle the increased speed, Orchid said, grade, curb and track curvature are measured.
UNDER QUESTIONING FROM Commissioner Barkley Clark about the safety of increasing speed limits for trains within a city, he said that one crossing within the city that wasn't protected with train-activated signals—a crossing on 9th Street in the eastern part of town.
The signals at the other crossings, he said, would be adjusted to give earlier warning to account for the increased speed of the vehicle and to notify of the increased speed limit.
"We feel that the visibility is quite adequate for safety." Graves said.
The commission, however, included in the resolution that the city and the railroad should request a study of the crossings to ensure that they are additional safeguards might be necessary.
ATTENTION: Chairman Positions Available for School Year 1974-75
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SUMMER SERIES 1974
Applications & Information at SUA Office Deadline: 12 Noon Monday, April 1, 1974
Place a Kansan want ad. Call 864-4358
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Your Future...
The Aerospace Team
A. USAF Officer Selection Team will be on campus the 27th & 28th of March. The "Team" will be located in the Union lobby.
Sergeant "Mac" McDonald, the Air Force Representative for Lawrence, indicated interested individuals may stop by and inquire about all available Air Force programs.
Air Force programs which may interest students are: pilot, navigator, helicopter pilot, women officer positions, nurse, medical specialist, guaranteed jobs for both men and women and many more.
For first hand information about the Air Force and the opportunities, see this team.
UNITED STATES AIR FORCE
We challenge you.
Our Officer Selection Officers are looking for a few good college men—maybe 3 out of 100—who will make good Marine officers. If you're one of them, we'll give you a chance to prove it during summer training at Quantico, Virginia.
**WVG.**
Our program is Platoon Leaders Class, PLC. With ground, air and law options. You might even qualify for up to $2,700 to help you through college. But if money is all you're looking for, don't waste your time.
The challenge is leadership. If you want it, work it for it. If you've got it,
show us, it's one hell of a challenge. But we're looking for one hell of a man.
The Marines
Box 38901
Los Angeles. California 90038
Please send me information on Marine Corps Platoon Leaders Class. (Print Please)
Name ___
State ___ Zip ___
Phone
If you are a senior, check here for information on Officer Candidates Class. □.
If you are a senior, check here for information on Officer Candidates Class.