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THE UNIVERSITY DAILY
TALK TO US: Contact
Kursten Phelps or Leila
Schultes at (785) 864-4810
or editor@kansan.com
KANSAN
THE STUDENT NEWSPAPER OF THE UNIVERSITY OF KANSAS
WWW.KANSAN.COM
WEDNESDAY SEPTEMBER 5,2001
ISSUE 10 VOLUME 112
Union garage fails to reach capacity
Location's high hourly rates and semester passes keep students from using garage
By Ryan Malashock Kansan staff writer
It's rare for the Kansas Union parking garage to fill completely.
Although the garage has generated more money for the parking department this year compared to last year at this time, the lot fails to reach its space capacity on a regular basis, said Donna Hultine, parking department assistant director.
Hultine said the department did not view the situation as costly, but it might if the trend continued into the future.
"The dollars are going up," Hultine said. "But we notice that the lot's not filling up. This year we're going to pay more attention to dollars, and we'll get a good use of how usage is increasing."
Hultine said several reasons had contributed to the lack of parking at the garage. She said the students' biggest complaint about the garage was the price of $1 per hour.
"We heard a lot more complaints last year about the price," Hultine said. "But I'm sure that's why a lot of people don't park there."
Another monetary factor is the price of a semester pass. Last year, a pass for the garage could be purchased for $80. This year, the price increased to $125, which Hultine said resulted in fewer people applying for semester passes.
"Last year, we had several people who upgraded their yellow lot permits to Union permits because it was only $80." Hultine said. "That's not happening as much this year."
Hultine said the parking department planned to advertise the garage more with hopes of attracting more people to park there.
Despite the $1 hourly rate, some students find that the prime location of the garage outweighs the price.
"I park at the Union because it's easier," said Daniel Arnstein, Milwaukee, Wis., senior. "It's so close that it's worth a little more money."
Contact Malachock at 864-4810
By Luke Daley
Kansan staff writer
New bus route skips Lied Center
A bus route change may cause confusion for students wanting to get to the Lied Center.
The new route goes through Naismith Drive, Colony Woods Apartments, Iowa Street, Jefferson Commons and back. That bus will not take students to the Lied Center for Park and Ride, as it did last year.
Students would need to look for buses with the Park and Ride sticker—a diamond-shaped green sticker on the front window of the bus—to get to the Lied Center, said Mike Appleby, director of KU on Wheels.
John Bialek, operations manager for KU buses, said that confusion about the route change would subside if students checked bus schedules and destinations before boarding a bus.
Bialek said although it was possible that a student could catch the wrong bus, Park and Ride still was beneficial to students living off-campus.
"It's probably one of the best programs in the system." Bialek said.
Students who use Park and Ride leave their cars at the Lied Center and catch a bus that runs through campus.
Ahmad Elnatsha, Palestine junior, just got a Park and Ride pass.
"I used to have a yellow permit and couldn't find any parking," he said.
He said the Park and Ride pass was a better deal.
The Park and Ride pass, which provides a Lied Center parking pass and a bus pass, costs $130,
just $10 more than a regular bus pass.
Bialek said the Parking Department hoped to sell 1,000 Park and Ride passes this year. He said about 750 passes had already been sold, which was almost as many as were sold last year.
There are six pick up times every hour from the Lied Center for Park and Ride - at :03, :05, :14, :33, :35 and :44 past the hour.
Newspaper program popular
ANTHONY REYES/KANSAN
James Cunningham, Wichita sophomore, picks up his daily newspaper from the newspaper readership program box in front of Wescoe Hall yesterday afternoon. Cunningham said he used the program every day.
Senate creates committee to monitor usage
By Luke Daley Kansan staff writer
With newspapers already flying off the racks, Student Senate hopes a new committee will improve the popular newspaper readership program.
The Newspaper Readership Advisory Board will now help the USA Today distributor tally how many copies of each paper are taken and adjust the amounts as necessary, said Kyle Browning, student body vice president.
The distributor controls how many copies of each newspaper are put into the 17 bins on campus. So far, between 5,000 and 6,000 copies of the four papers have been placed on campus each day.
Officials from USA Today will attend the first Student Senate committee meetings tonight to discuss program.
"It was from The New York Times I actually learned what a stem cell is," Ahmed said. "Usually The New York Times is the first to go. Sometimes, I can't find it after noon."
Senate initiated the program this semester to provide national and local newspapers to KU students. Student fees were raised $6.50 per semester to pay for the program, which delivers The New York Times, The Lawrence Journal-World, The Kansas City Star and USA Today to campus.
Students said The New York Times disappears faster from the bins.
Kiran Ahmed, Pakistan graduate student, said she thought the newspapers were a valuable news source and hoped more copies of The New York Times would be distributed.
According to an informal Kansan survey, after 5 p.m. Tuesday, there were 26 total copies remaining of The New York Times, compared to 296 copies of The Lawrence Jour-
nat World, 532 copies of The Kansas City Star, and 626 copies of USA Today.
Megan Crockett, St. Joseph, Mo. junior, said she thought students should appreciate having the newspapers as a resource. For those who wanted to read the papers, she said they were nice to have available.
The Kansan survey found the residence halls were the areas where the readership program was most successful. Oliver Hall, Jayhawker Towers, Ellsworth Hall and Lewis Hall had the fewest total remaining newspapers yesterday, with only three copies of The New York Times remaining.
Contact Daley at 864-4810
Elaf Saifan, Overland Park sophomore, said she took advantage of the readership program.
program
"I just heard about it last week,"she said.
Contact Daley at 864-4810
SHIRTS FOR SCHOLARSHIPS
Students line up outside Stauffer-Flint Hall to get free T-shirts to become eligible for one of 25 $1,000 scholarships. Students who have the T-shirt get in free to the KU vs. UCLA game Saturday, and 25 fans with the T-shirts will win the scholarship. T-shirts will be handed out all week.
ANTHONY REYES/KANSAN
Bikers balk at lack of parking downtown
Commission decides more bike racks needed for cyclists in downtown Lawrence
By Courtney Craigmile Kansan staff writer
The City Commission agreed at last night's meeting that downtown Lawrence needed more places for bicycle parking.
"Clearly the landscaping and the trees are suffering," said Mike Wildgen, city manager. "It's kind of an after-the-fact design problem."
People have been chaining their bikes to trees, parking meters and planters, which damaged the trees and obstructed foot travel.
The city has 22 bike racks on Vermont, Massachusetts and New Hampshire streets, ranging from Sixth to 11th streets. The bike racks tend to be concentrated and may be a far walk to certain businesses.
Bike owners addressed the Commission and explained the need for bike racks not only on the end of a block, but in the middle as well.
Scott Wadley, Topeka junior, rides a Cannondale F900, a mountain bike. Because the bike cost $1,500, Wadley said he wanted to be able to see his bike while he was shopping in a local business.
But that's not always possible, as bike racks are not located on every block and warnings from the city are issued to bikes chained to parking meters, trees or planters.
"If you can't park on a meter and you shouldn't park on a tree, where
"If you can't park on a meter and you shouldn't park on a tree, where the hell can you park?"
Scott Wadley Topeka junior
the hell can you park?" Wadley asked.
the hell can you park? Wadley asked
Commissioners requested input
from local bike riders before deciding
what action to take.
Pat Weaver, chairwoman of the Bicycle Advisory Committee, said the committee would meet, review the situation and present solutions to the Commission at a later date.
to review the archaic language of the ordinance and the warnings issued to those inadequately parked. He said the city didn't require bicycles to be licensed, as current language implies.
Wilgen said the city also needed
Commissioners Marty Kennedy, Sue Hack and David Dunfield agreed that chaining bikes to parking meters may be a sensible means to alleviate the parking shortage.
They acknowledged that there was a problem and something needed to be done.
Dawn Stender, Lawrence resident, spoke before the Commission on behalf of Lawrence bike riders.
"I'm glad it's been brought to people's attention and discussion had been raised," she said.
INSIDETODAY
Contact Craigmile at 864-4810
COMING IN TOMORROW'S KANSAN
WORLD NEWS ... 7A
NATION NEWS ... 6A
WEATHER ... 6B
CROSSWORD ... 6B
NEWS: Lawrence Mayor Mike Rundle meets with students.
SPORTS: Find out the results of today's volleyball match.
The University Daily Kansan is the student newspaper of the University of Kansas. The first copy is paid through the student activity fee. Additional copies of the Kansan are 25 cents. Subscriptions can be purchased at 119 Stauffer-Flint Hall.
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