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NEWS
KANSAN.COM
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The Lawrence City Commission wants more University student involvement on key issues
PAIGE STINGLEY
@paigestingley
The Lawrence City Commission has been making strides to include student voices and bolster attendance at its Tuesday night meetings.
Lawrence mayor Mike Amyx speaks at a City Commission meeting on Oct. 1
One of the biggest concerns the Commission has prioritized to resolve this year is the lack of community involvement in Commission decisions. The issue is most obvious in the lack of attendance at the weekly meetings, which are open to the public every Tuesday at 5:45 p.m.
The Commission is also trying to engage students on issues that affect them. The Commission frequently discusses issues like affordable housing, sales tax and minimum wage standards, all of which can directly impact students.
That statistic has been brought up in several of the weekly meetings since then, and the Commission has considered moving the meetings to a bigger space in an effort to increase attendance
Part of engaging students is engaging Student Senate. The student governing body is working to set up more communication between the city and the University.
MISSY MINEAR/KANSAN
As part of the selection process to fill the empty Commission seat left by former mayor Jeremy Farmer, potential candidates were asked what efforts they would make to get their members more engaged in the city.
"There are 93,000 people who make up the city of Lawrence, and there are 30 people who attend these meetings every week," said a candidate who was not elected.
Diane Stoddard, assistant city manager, said there has been an initiative by the Senate to get more students involved. Senate and the Commission have worked to create a non-voting
seat on the Commission.
"Engagement from the city perspective is really a constant effort." Stoddard said in an email. "In order to reach the varied citizens in the community, we have to engage in various ways — meetings, newsletters, social media, Lawrence Listens, etc, and engage with various groups, such as the universities, K-12 aged children, neighborhoods, business groups, social clubs, etc."
City Commissioner Matthew Herbert said he believes there needs to be a larger presence of KU student participation in Commission happenings.
"The decisions we are making every Tuesday night directly impact students, but no one seems to pay attention to them," Herbert said. "It's hard to get a 19-year-old interested in local government, and I get that, but these decisions impact them, sometimes in a negative way."
Herbert said that during the election season in April he campaigned on campus to get students interested, but his efforts weren't successful.
"You have to live in the city of Lawrence for 30 days to become eligible to register to vote here," Herbert said. "I think all students should be doing their part in the community by at least voting for the people who are making these big-impact decisions."
"We were looking back through the election statistics and saw that one person whose address was for a KU dorm voted in the election primaries," Herbert said. "That one vote was my little sister."
Herbert said he believes that people should vote in the city they live in, even if they only live there for four years.
Efforts to engage students in traditional ways — like email haven't been successful, Herbert said, so the Commission has adapted by using social media.
The Commission has begun posting things like meeting agendas and important updates on its Lawrence City Commission Facebook page before meetings to get feedback from people who may not attend. Meetings are also live-streamed on TV.
"It's a little encouraging seeing some of these students trying to get involved," Herbert said.
In terms of moving meetings to larger spaces, suggestions to move meetings to the Kansas Union have not been heavily considered because the Kansas Open Meetings Act requires the meetings to be recorded. The Commission would have to relocate all of the camera equipment installed at City Hall.
Herbert says he was surprised to see how many people watch the meetings at home and leave feedback on social media.
During the recent selection process to fill the vacant Commission seat, one college student, Kolbe Murray, applied.
Murray was not selected, but Herbert said he thinks there is
a strong need to have a consistent student voice present at the meetings.
"We have seats for the city manager, assistant manager ... and I've strongly argued that we need a seat for the KU student body president," Herbert said. "There is no reason the student body president shouldn't be at every meeting. They were elected to represent the student voice, and participating in city meetings, where decisions that impact students are made, should be one of the requirements."
COMMISSION ISSUES
THAT INVOLVE
STUDENTS
Job creation
"One of the biggest things that affects you students is job creation," Herbert said. "I remember when I was in school, my job was the only way I was paying for tuition, so I get the importance it has to students."
Lawrence has tried to be more open to new business startups and small businesses because
they create more jobs for residents, said Herbert.
"If we don't have businesses, you don't have jobs," Herbert said.
Herbert argued that job creation is important, but it's not enough. The next step that would affect students is a possible raise in city wages.
Rental registration programs
Herbert pointed to this issue as one that students should especially pay attention to. While it may not seem to impact students because a majority of students are not property owners, it affects anyone who pays rent. Laws under these programs can increase property tax, which directly correlates to the amount students pay.
If students want to control how much they pay in rent, Herbert urges them to follow along with the rental registration programs and voice their concerns to the Commission.
"I want to make decisions based on the things my community is telling me and the
decisions that they want made, but I can't do that if I'm not hearing from my community," Herbert said.
HERE LLC apartments
HERE LLC apartments "Students should really be paying attention to and be a strong voice for the Kansas LLC apartment building that is going up across the stadium. There have lots of questions concerning parking, and it's become a legitimate concern," Herbert said. "We can't keep building up and not building a place for people to park."
The new apartment blueprints do not include enough preplanned parking to accommodate for students living there or make up for the parking it built over, Herbert said.
"At any given time there are probably 20,000 students on campus, and we need to find a place to put them," Herbert said. "KU students should be an incredibly loud voice for parking on campus."
CANCER FROM PAGE
men; however, about 99 percent of cases — 231,840 cases this year — affect women.
In Kansas, there will be approximately 2,130 new cases this year, according to ACS data. Out of the new cases, an estimated 350 will die in 2015. The ACS reported that death rates from breast cancer have been declining since around 1989. The larger decreases were in women younger than 50.
The American Cancer Society issued new guidelines for breast cancer screenings on Tuesday that pushed the recommended age to begin screenings up from 40 to 45. However, Marc Inciardi, a head of the Breast Imaging Department of Radiology at the University of Kansas Medical Center, said that, despite the new guidelines, he maintains that women should get mammograms starting at age 40.
He said women should see a doctor if breast cancer runs in the family in women below the age of menopause, or about 50. He said that's because those women are at higher risk. He said they may want to start doing mammography screenings earlier, starting at age 30. That might also include MRI screening and genetic testing, he said.
Inciardi said the University was the first facility in the nation to offer both 3D and automated breast ultrasound since March 2013. He added that 3D mammograms pick up cancers earlier when they're smaller. Additionally, doctors see a 10 to 30 percent improvement in detection rate, he said.
"When patients come to be for the first time, I'll often do a MRI of the breast because it can help better illustrate sometimes how much of the breast might be involved with the cancer," said Jamie Wagner, a surgeon specializing in breast surgery at the University's medical center. "It is fantastic because it catches everything, and it's horrible because it catches everything."
Coverage of mammograms is mandated by the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare. The 3D mammograms are covered through Medicare but not often covered through regular insurance.
fice) said, 'You want to do a 3D?' I said, 'Yeah, I do. I don't care if I have to pay a little bit extra," she said. "I've been doing mammograms since I was 24 since I am so fibrous. So the 3D mammogram was able to show [the hidden tumors]."
Even though her insurance didn't cover the it, Suzanne repeatedly said that paying for the 3D mammogram was the best choice she made.
Inciardi said fibrous tissue means dense tissue, which raises the risk for breast cancer. The reason it's important, he said, is that the denser the tissue appears in the X-ray — or more white it is — can obscure or can make cancer harder to detect. The 3D mammography is better at detecting cancer in dense breast versus the traditional mammogram, he said.
"The gal (in the doctor's of
Suzanne said she's been able to stay positive partly because of her family and doctor's support.
“[My students] really kind of rallied. They're really supportive," Suzanne said. "They ask me often, 'How are you doing?' When are you gonna have your surgery?' It's helped being open that way."
Wagner said she believes it's crucial for medical professionals to engage with their patients.
"I think it's important for patients to feel confident with their surgeon and for them to be able to ask their questions," Wagner said. "I schedule my patients on their first visit for an hour with me, and a lot of people don't understand that or feel like they can commit that time, and that's their own personal preference, and as physicians we have to figure out what is right. For me, it's to spend a lot of time with my patients."
Since each woman she sees has different concerns, Wagner said she tries to tailor each
appointment to meet the needs of her patients, which includes providing emotional support.
"There's a significant psychosocial impact that goes with having breast cancer far beyond a lot of other cancers," she said. "It impacts children, it impacts spouses, so the entire family unit is impacted by this cancer."
Suzanne said it's a waiting game at this point. The first steps are to schedule appointments with a plastic surgeon as well as with a surgeon.
"To be honest, I just want it out," she said. "It's tough. I will say, it's my faith, and the prayer warriors that are constantly lifting me up. If it were not for that, I would be absolutely crazy with worry."
Edited by Rebecca Dowd
City of Lawrence PUBLIC WORKS
ELECTRONIC Recycling Event
The City of Lawrence invites residents & small businesses to recycle unused or obsolete electronic equipment.
— Rain or Shine —
A $20 recycling fee applies per CRT television 27 inches or under, and a $40 fee per CRT television over 27 inches/all big screen televisions/all console televisions. Cash or check only. No charge for other electronics.
Items Accepted: Computers, Printers, Copiers, Scanners Fax Machines, Hand Held Devices, Televisions & Small Appliances (Microwaves).
SATURDAY
OCTOBER 24TH, 2015
9:00AM TO 1:00PM
KU Park & Ride, East Parking Lot
Clinton Pkwy & Crestline Drive
For further information call 832-3030 or visit www.LawrenceRecycles.org
843 Massachusetts St. Downtown Lawrence
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