8A
NEWS
LAWRENCE
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 2009
Leaders agree on plan to create lighted campus path
BY BRANDON SAYERS
bsayers@kansan.com
Leaders of a project that would create a lighted pathway connecting the University campus and Downtown Lawrence settled on details of the project Wednesday, including deciding on a proposed location and types of lighting.
The red area on the map is where the first phase of the path will be built. If enough funds exist, construction will start on the blue portion.
Elise Higgins, Topeka senior and community affairs director for Student Senate was one of the leaders who met Wednesday at the Kansas Union. She said the group would like to see construction begin next summer.
"We've come to a consensus on a number of key issues to this project," Higgins said. "We're well on our way."
After walking the proposed paths yesterday, the leaders came to an agreement on the location. Under the proposal, the path would run directly down 12th Street from Vermont to Louisiana streets. If funding is available, project leaders said they would also like to add lighting to sections of 14th and Ohio streets.
Higgins said the proposed path would be constructed over the existing sidewalk on the north side of 12th Street. Pedestrian control crosswalks would be constructed
near Kentucky and Tennessee streets.
Higgins said leaders of the project would also like a similar path to run down 14th Street between Louisiana and Ohio streets, and down Ohio Street to meet up with the other pathway. Depending on funding, this portion of the project could happen later than the first phase of the path construction.
"If we get all the money we've asked for we could get this done at the same time," Higgins said.
Higgins said leaders agreed on the lighting system of the path, which would consist of motion-sensor LED lighting structures standing between 3 and 4 feet tall. The lights would remain on during the evening hours at a dimmer setting and would brighten as people walked by. They would remain off during daylight hours.
"I think this will help very much with the light pollution and energy efficiency concerns." Higgins said.
The lack of lighting in the area had been a safety issue for many years, Higgins said, but recent attention to violent crimes in the neighborhood had students and community members asking about a safe walkway. A number of campus and community organizations came together in August and began discussing options for such a path.
Leaders of the project will now begin asking for the community's opinion on the project, especially property owners in the area of the proposed path. Leaders are also working on requesting funds for the project from the City of Lawrence, the University and federal and state grant programs.
Mark Thiel, assistant director of the city's public works department, said the city's preliminary estimates suggested the path could cost as much as $350,000.
"Final cost estimates will be developed once the specifics about the project are worked out." Thiel said.
The city's public works department has identified the lighted pathway as one of three projects it plans to submit for consideration of a Community Development Block Grant.
In a memo to the city manager, Thiel said the staff was requesting $150,000 in CDBG money for the pathway project.
"A lighted corridor from campus to downtown will improve public safety and encourage economic growth," Thiel said in the memo.
Margene Swarts, assistant director for the city's planning and development services, said the city was accepting applications for CDBG grants through Dec. 1 and
expected to have about $800,000 in available funds. CDBG funding is provided annually by the federal government.
Swarts said the Community Development Advisory Committee would review the applications and make recommendations on grant allocation in May. City Commissioners will make the final decision on grant allotment.
University, the City of Lawrence and a state Transportation Enhancement Grant, Thiel said.
He said the city had not yet determined the amount in TE grants or city funding they would be requesting.
Stakeholders who have, at some level, been involved in the project so far include Student Senate, the Campus Safety Advisory Board, the All Scholarship Hall Council, representatives from GSP-Corbin, the Panhellenic Association, Interfraternity Council, the Oread Neighborhood Association, GaD-uGi Safecenter and the KU Public Safety Office, among others.
Edited by Tim Burgess
Pew Center study:10 states face economic disaster
BY JUDY LIN
Associated Press
SACRAMENTO, Calif. — In Arizona, the budget has grown so gloomy that lawmakers are considering mortgaging Capitol buildings. In Michigan, state officials dealing with the nation's highest unemployment rate are slashing spending on schools and health care.
in services.
A study released Wednesday warned that at least nine other big states are also barring toward economic disaster, raising the likelihood of higher taxes, more government layoffs and deep cuts
Drastic financial remedies are no longer limited to California, where a historic budget crisis earlier this year grew so bad that state agencies issued IOUs to pay bills.
The report by the Pew Center on the States found that Arizona, Florida, Illinois, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island and Wisconsin are also at grave risk.
Double-digit budget gaps, rising unemployment, high foreclosure rates and built-in budget constraints are the key reasons.
"While California often takes the spotlight, other states are facing hardships just as daunting," said Susan Urahn, managing director of the Washington, D.C.-based center. "Decisions these states make as they try to navigate the recession will play a role in how quickly the entire nation recovers."
The
Chemistry
Institute
Beyond
The
Museum
By
The
University
For
The
Department
urged lawmakers and governors in those states to take quick action to head off a wider fiscal catastrophe.
The 10 states account for more than one-third of the nation's population and economic output, according to the report.
Historically, states have their worst tax revenue year soon after a national recession ends. At the same time, higher joblessness and underemployment mean more people need government-sponsored health care and social safety-net programs, further taxing state services.
California leads the most vulnerable states identified by the report, which describes it as having poor money-management practices.
Since February, California has
made nearly $60 billion in budget adjustments in the form of cuts to education and social service programs, temporary tax hikes, one-time gimmicks and stimulus spending, according to the Legislative Analyst's Office.
Many of those fixes are not
expected to last. The state's temporary tax increases will begin to expire at the end of 2010, while federal stimulus spending will begin to run out a year after that.
Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger
governor warned that the toughest cuts are ahead.
"I think that we are not out of the woods yet," Schwarzenegger said this week.
estimates California will run a deficit of $12.4 billion to $14.4 billion when he releases his next spending plan in January. The
At the same time, the Legislature is hamstring by requirements that budget bills and tax increases be
"I think that we are not out of the woods yet."
ARNOLD
SCHWARZENEGGER
Governor of California
passed with a two-thirds majority, a mandate that the report labeled "a recipe for gridlock."
unemployment, foreclosures and budget requirements. It also gave them grades.
scored worst with D-pluses, then New Jersey and Illinois with C-minuses.
In reviewing why some states are suffering more than others, Pew found that the 10 states tend to rely heavily on one type of industry, have a history of persistent budget shortfalls or face legal constraints making it extra difficult to implement major changes, such as tax increases.
California and Rhode Island
Many require a supermajority vote for passing tax increases or budget bills.
Several state legislatures were unable to enact long-term fixes. Instead, they asked voters or governors to make the call, or used accounting gimmicks to put off the hard choices until later.
Dr. Kevin Lenahan Your optometrist.
785. 838.3200 9th & Iowa
www.lenahanevedoc.com
Anne Pressly, KATV Television anchor of Little Rock, Ark., died after being beaten.
LEGAL
Jury convicts man for anchor's death
BY CHUCK BARTELS
Associated Press
LITTLE ROCK, Ark — A man was convicted of capital murder Wednesday for beating an Arkansas TV anchorwoman so brutally that her face was shattered and she never regained consciousness before dying five days later.
Curtis Lavelle Vance could face the death penalty for the assault on Anne Pressly at her Little
Rock bungalow. The same jury that convicted him reconvened to hear testimony about whether he should be put to death or imprisoned without the possibility of parole.
After the verdict, Pressly's mother, Patti Cannady, raised a hand and said, "Praise God. Praise God." She burst into sobs.
Vance, 29, of Marianna, was also convicted of residential burglary along with rape and theft of property in the Oct. 20 attack.
GET INVOLVED
Alternative Breaks will be holding an informational meeting tonight about our Spring Breaks program. Food will be provided.
Alternative Breaks Informational Meeting
Any questions? Please contact us! www.ku.edu/~albreaks abpr@ku.edu
7:00pM, International Room
GIS Day @ KU
Wed., Nov 18th Alderson Auditorium, Kansas Union Nationally recognized speakers information fair.
Door prizes: iPod, personal GPS unit
Free registration - www.gis.ku.edu
University Christian Fellowship
Thursdays - 7:00pm
Bible Study / Worship
Danforth Chapel
www.kansasucf.com
Once jurors delivered the guilty verdict, Vance gestured toward the empty jury box, pointed to his eyes and ears and shook his head.
After entering her home through a Dutch door she left open for her dogs, authorities said. Vance
In various confessions made to police, Vance said he went to Pressly's neighborhood looking to steal laptop computers.
The weekend before she was attacked, Pressly, a 26-year-old local celebrity, had been celebrating her bit part in the President Bush biopic "W." Due on KATV's "Daybreak" program at 5 a.m. that Monday morning, she never answered more than 40 wake-up calls made by her parents.
found the computer he sought - and Pressly.
"Anne, Momma's here. Momma's here," Cannady called to her daughter, according to her testimony. Pressly reached weakly with her right arm, moaning.
After calling for an ambulance, Cannady closed her eyes, lifted her head and prayed. When she opened her eyes, she saw blood on the ceiling.
Cannady, who was in town, told jurors that she drove to Pressly's house and found her battered and lying in a fetal position on her bed.
"That's how horrific ... her attack was. She was beyond recognition," Cannady told jurors.
An emergency room doctor at St. Vincent Infirmary believed Pressly, a blonde, had red hair because there was so much blood. Dr. Therese McBride testified that the front of Pressly's skull and jaw were beaten so severely that she did not appear human.
Pressly slipped into a coma after the attack and died five days later without regaining consciousness.
Vance's legal team argued that their client was innocent.