4a
Opinion
Wednesday, October 4, 2000
or comments, contact Ben Voosen Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com
Limiting housing options unfairly punishes students
Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods: dissenting
If passed, the newly proposed City of Lawrence housing ordinance will drastically reduce students' housing options. By decreasing the number of unrelated residents in a house from four to two, this ordinance would completely reshape the Lawrence community, with University of Kansas students among the most affected. The management and layout of off-campus student housing would become chaotic.
Student renters threaten neighborhood viability
The University is in one of the best college towns in the Midwest, yet the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods points to college students as the problem. The association's proposal would deny most students the right to live in a single-family neighborhood. This violates the city's non-discrimination policy which "assures equal opportunity for all persons within this city in housing..."
The neighborhood association says students' disruptive lifestyles are counterproductive to a family community, but it already enacted a nuisance ordinance June 20. Proper enforcement will do away with the repeat offenders in good time. However, another ordinance is unnecessary.
If enacted, the new ordinance would unfairly discriminate against students, most of whom don't have a family with which to live in Lawrence. Many students would choose three and four bedroom apartments or duplexes, thereby increasing the demand, and causing a rate hike by the landlords. This would nullify the city's commitment to fair and affordable housing.
The city commission notes decreasing elementary school enrollments as a result of more students temporarily renting houses in such zones. Instead, there is a trend toward a suburban lifestyle for raising a family. Old school zones need to change with the times. The demands of student housing naturally contribute to more rentals and fewer families around campus. Therefore, the city should just make zoning adjustments.
Because at least 75 percent of the city would be zoned for single families, students would desperately be looking for apartments and duplexes on the outst town. This bustle would contribute to highly congested roadways as students commute to school by car, instead of simply walking or biking to class.
All in all, how would the city enforce such an ordinance? College students will always find a way to cram into houses and avoid paying high rents.
Lawrence is an extraordinary college town. Student enrollment is increasing. And those students need a place to lay their heads. Lawrence should maintain the diversity of its central neighborhoods.
The more students who protest the vote at City Hall Oct.25, the better. If passed, the student backlash would be tremendous. Students spent more than $156 million in Lawrence last year. Students deserve to be appreciated and respected for this work.
tion without which the Lawrence economy could not survive.
To maintain the personality and character of the Lawrence community, sign a petition this week at the voter registration booths on Wescoe Beach or at the Kansas Union.
Tim Lang for the editorial board
During the fall of 1999, 13,764 students (58.79% of the student population) lived in rooms and apartments in the City of Lawrence. During that time period, the elementary schools in the neighborhoods around the University of Kansas lost 47 students. These are trends that have been accelerating during the last decade. University students move in; families and elementary children move out. Are these two trends related? And if so, what does it
Are these two trends related? And if so, what does it mean for the City of Lawrence? The Lawrence Association of Neighbourhoods
are Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods believes that the two trends are related. Under the current city
that the two trends are related. Under the current city zoning ordinance, the city considers four unrelated persons to be the equivalent of a family. This means that they can buy or rent homes in single-family neighborhoods (RS-1 and RS-2 zoning). Since most students rent, rather than buy, this ordinance encourages landlords to purchase homes in single-family neighborhoods and rent them to students.
This is a lucrative business. Groups of students can pay far more in rent than the average single family in Lawrence can afford. As a result, as homes come up for sale, they are often bought by landlords for rental to students. Families are crowded out of single-family neighborhoods because they cannot afford to pay the prices landlords demand for these homes. In addition, when students move into a home in a single-family neighborhood, they bring a lifestyle that clashes with that of the remaining homeowners. Most students have cars, so more cars fill the streets and sometimes yards as well. Students tend to be gregarious, so friends congregate and parties happen. Students go to school during the day, so they party at night.
For families, night time is usually a quiet time. For students it is often play time. The clash of these lifestyles drives families away.
The loss of families and children from single-family neighborhoods harms the City of Lawrence. Neighborhoods near the University become student ghettos. The quality of the housing stock declines and elementary schools may close. At the same time, the cost of living in Lawrence increases. The flight to the suburbs means building new streets, new sewed a female student. The criticism the reader was complaining about wasn't in the content of the news stories, which make an attempt to remain neutral. The topic of Allen's responsibility in the matter came up often in the Free for All opinion line, columns and letters.
...out to the suburbs means building new streets, new sewers, new water treatment plants and new schools. These all
Thus, as students move into single-family districts, the quality of life for families declines, and the cost of living for families goes up.
The Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods wants to reverse this pattern.
Single-family neighborhoods should be for single families. We want to reduce the number of students living in these neighborhoods. We want students to live in environments that are better suited for them and better suited for Lawrence.
Arly Allen for the Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods
Editorial page provides open forum for students
W when most of you pick up the paper, you're probably looking for something that catches your interest, or maybe you head straight for the crossword puzzle. You probably don't think about the layout of the paper too much, but there is a rhyme and reason to it.
The fourth page of the Kansan is reserved for opinion. Not just our opinions, but yours as well.
Too often, readers confuse what they're reading on page 4A with the news and features on the other pages. The opinions are kept on a page by themselves for a reason — so that readers don't get confused, but that doesn't always happen.
For instance, one reader thought the Kansan was being too hard on Terry Allen's choice of punishment for the two football players who allegedly sexually assault
Erin R.
Barcomb
readers'
representative
readeruserkansan.com
Other students have told me that they were angered by Andrew Marino's column speaking out against affirmative action. His
views on affirmative action are just that — his views, not ours. If columns and editorials on the opinion page are getting people angry, in a wav, they're doing their job.
The idea is to have an open forum for readers to express different opinions. Getting people riled up is a great way to open a dialogue.
Just look at how many letters came in response to a column about masculinity. It took a highly-opinionated column that many readers disagreed with to get people talking about the issue of gender equality and masculinity in a way the front-page news story about masculinity speaker Jackson Katz didn't. It's hard to argue with a straight, unopinionated news story.
We hope the issues brought up in the news are provocative enough to get readers thinking, but I don't think they move us in the same way as do opinions that often times we disagree with. That's why we love watching Dr. Laura, whether we agree or disagree with her, but we don't really have a strong opinion of Dan Rather.
The opinion page is a forum for everyone, not just the Kansan. That's why we welcome guest columns and letters from students. The editorial board, which speaks for the Kansan, includes students who aren't part of the news staff, many of whom aren't even journalism students.
Take the opportunity to stir up a conversation of your own — the page is yours.
Barcomb is a a Wichita senior in journalism.
free all for 864-0500 864-0500
Free for All callers have 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. The Kansan reserves the right to edit submissions, and not all of them will be published. Slanderous statements will not be printed. To read more, go to www.kansan.com.
Violent clashes are occurring in the Middle East at record levels. Yet, all we read in the Kansan are women menstruating. You guys take the news out of newspaper.
Why do we need more gun laws,
when we can barely enforce the
ones we already have?
the median, causing head-on collisions?
I would like to thank the guy on the bus who thought that his backpack was more deserving of the seat next to him than the fifteen girls standing, holding on to their dear lives.
--the median, causing head-on collisions?
How many people have to die on K-10 before something is done to prevent cars from crossing
T
I hope the UDK will be more objective in their publication. All the other newspapers published a story on the 12-year-old Palestinian boy who was killed by Israeli soldiers, except for the UDK. However, the UDK is never hesitant to publish a story on the Holocaust, which occurred 50 years ago.
--about $500 to get it and it has to be a supervised doctor visit..
God bless the Sexiest Bachelor in America pageant.
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What is with the KU directory cover? It is the dumbest looking thing ever.
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In the Paul Pierce article, if someone surrenders, they don't plead not guilty, and if they surrender, they are no longer alleged.
No one will ever stop being prejudiced against stupidity.
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RU-486 is not the devil. It's not necessarily going to increase the number of abortions because it's still going to cost
about $500 to get it and it has to be a supervised doctor visit..
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If you really want to be in the paper,you should masturbate in front of a sorority,not call the Free for All.
If all those conservatives calling in don't seem to like the liberal opinions expressed in the paper, they shouldn't go to KU, because Lawrence is about the most liberal place in the Midwest.
--typed with fewer than 700 words. The writer must be willing to be photographed for the column to run.
I think it's disgusting that we've reached a point in our existence where children are treated as disease, something to be prevented and, moreover, something we remedy with a pill.
题
Many of the comments on RU-486 miss the point. Abortion is never an easy, moral decision for a woman to make. The point is, it's her moral decision to make and no one else's, not the state's.
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For the people who believe abortion should be illegal, it should be mandatory for them to adopt the children that come out of unwanted pregnancies.
Letters: Should be double-spaced typed and fewer than 200 words. Letters must include the author's signature, name, address and telephone number plus class and hometown if a University student. Faculty or staff must identify their positions.
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Guest columns: Should be double-spaced
All letters and guest columns should be emailed to opinion@kansan.com or submitted to the Kansan newsroom, 111 Stauffer-Flint Hall. The Kansan reserves the right to edit, cut
to length or reject all submissions. For any questions, call Ben Embry or Emily Hughey at 864-4924.
If you have general questions or comments, e-mail the page staff (opinion@kansan.com) or call 864-4924.
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