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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
KU $ \textcircled{1} $nfo
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 2015
PAGE 3
KU offers passport services for students, faculty, staff and community members. You can apply for a passport and have visa photos taken in Strong Hall. Room 300.
Liberty Hall to host Lawrence TED talk in March
KATHERINE HARTLEY
@kat_hart9
TEDxlLawrence, an independently organized version of TED talks, will be held on March 23 at Liberty Hall. The theme will be innovative, collaborative and dynamic ideas.
"We chose that because that's sort of how we feel about Lawrence and about the energy and the ideas that exist in Lawrence now," said Beth Pine, the official spokesperson and member of the steering committee for
TEDxLawrence. "So we're wanting to celebrate that. I'm just really tickled to hear what people are going to have to say and share."
Because of limited tickets, those wanting to attend must submit an online application explaining why they should attend. Tickets will cost $25. People can also apply to be speakers at TEDxlawrence; the application will be available online until Feb. 16 at www.ted.com/tedx/events.
"You just have to have a good idea that is worth sharing," Pine said. "It's really
exciting to be able to see all these ideas that are generating from Lawrencians."
Pine applied for Lawrence to host TEDx back in 2013, and received the acceptance in April 2014. She said she believes individual organizers who value good ideas, like herself, are "stepping up" and spreading ideas by organizing events like TEDx.
TEDxLawrence relies on partners and ticket costs to fund the event, Pine said.
Currently, the TEDxLawrence steering committee is looking for sponsoring organizations and individuals. As a community-organized event,
"It's really exciting to be able to see all these ideas that are generating from Lawrencians."
BETH PINE
TEDxLawrence
Current partners include Revolutions Systems, The Brewhaus, New York Life
Insurance Company and RE/ MAX Excel.
Members organizing TEDxLawrence are volunteering their time, and Pine said she has gotten an enthusiastic response.
"A lot of people are very excited about this and we have had a lot of requests for volunteers," she said. "It's really awesome."
One of the volunteers is Mary Joyce, a freshman from Leawood. As an outreach coordinator for TEDxLawrence, she said she will contact potential speakers
and be in charge of social media near the time of the event.
Joyce got involved after a fellow engineering student told her about the event. Joyce wanted to help after hearing about the success TEDx had in Kansas City this past August.
"I am excited to see how the event comes together," she said. "We have seen the hype and excitement for the program, and it's awesome."
City Commission candidates talk priorities
— Edited by Yu Kyung Lee
SKYLAR ROLSTAD
@KansanNews
With the Lawrence City Commission elections approaching, candidates are preparing to win votes. The elections will be decided in March, the culmination of several debates and discussions from the candidates.
In 2015, there are an unprecedented number of candidates, 14, running for three city commissioner positions.
"I am very excited to have 14 people competing for the commissioner's positions this year, which is the highest number in several years," Lawrence Mayor Mike Amyx said. "It shows that there is a lot of interest and excitement around the elections this year."
For Amyx, the biggest issues for the commission were the potential building
of a new police facility, tax changes and incentives and economic development.
The University will be affected by these changes, but according to Amyx, not more so than the community it fits in to.
"Those in the University are obviously part of the community and these decisions affect the commerce of the community."
MIKE AMYX
Lawrence mayor
"The University is definitely a large part of the city commission's discussions," Amyx said. "First of all, the University's faculty, students and staff account for a large part of the population in Lawrence. Those in the University are obviously part
of the community and these decisions affect the commerce of the community."
Local government spending, economic development and local entrepreneurship are talking points among candidates. For David Crawford, a candidate planning to introduce a downtown grocery store to Lawrence, community involvement is the most important change to make to the city commission.
"At planning meetings, you would be lucky to see even one person from the community," Crawford said. "There is a genuine interest in those planning sessions. The problem is that there hasn't been enough thought given to other ways to involve the community so there will be adequate involvement when the community is concerned."
For Matthew Herbert,
taxes on investments from
businesses are another big issue relating to this election.
Most candidates have business or administrative backgrounds, like Kristie Adair, a candidate who is the co-owner of Wicked Broadband, or incumbent commissioner Bob Schumm, a landlord.
"I think everybody's voice is
"The single most important issue in this campaign for me is changing the city's attitude towards property tax abatements. Currently, the city hands these out to virtually any business that asks," Herbert said. "If it's not a public infrastructure project, the public should not be footing the bill."
As for the community representation concerns that Crawford has expressed, Amyx and current Commissioner Michael Dever, whose term expires in 2015, do not share the same concern.
heard," Amyx said. "Anyone from the community is welcome in our meetings, whether it is from the University or elsewhere in the community."
Dever agreed with Amyx's view.
"Most things that occur at the Commission level impact the community as a whole, not just those who are closest to an issue," Dever said.
Edited by Lane Cofas
"I don't know if there's been a problem with [representation]," Dever said. "Clearly, commissioners are elected at large in the community so you are charged with listening to people from all over the community, and so you may have people in one part of town that think one way and people in another part of town think in another.
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