4A
Tuesday, September 3, 1996
OPINION
UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
”
VIEWPOINT
Downtown plan ignores pedestrians, cyclists
A casual stroll in downtown Lawrence offers individuals an opportunity to relax and escape from the congestion that afflicts other areas of the city. Unfortunately, downtown traffic is becoming snarled too, and frustrated patrons vie for scarce parking spaces.
To improve the situation, the city should consider the creation of bike lanes and improvements to sidewalks in the downtown area. However, rather than encouraging city residents to access the area on foot or with a bicycle, the City Commission insists on using parking revenue to build additional parking lots. Expanding existing parking lots or improving streets will alleviate congestion only temporarily.
The revenue the city has for such improvements is limited, said David Corliss, director of legal services for the city and for the office of the city manager. Corliss added that pedestrian and bicycle traffic is important but should not be the city's top priority, given that a majority of residents use a vehicle to travel to the downtown area.
The blatant disregard of pedestrians and cyclists by city officials is reprehensible. Logically, residents will drive downtown if that is the more convenient option. What the city fails to realize is that a dedicated effort by both city residents and officials to include the creation of bike lanes, areas to lock bikes and expansion of pedestrian sidewalks in a downtown transportation plan would encourage many drivers to walk or bike instead. Consequently, the number of vehicles in the downtown area would be reduced, eliminating the necessity to pave more land with unattractive parking facilities. Until city officials awaken to this idea, cyclists and pedestrians will continue to be forced from congested streets in the name of the automobile.
JEREMY LIND FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
Kansas tobacco lawsuit advances industry attack
Kansas' decision to file a lawsuit against several major U.S. tobacco companies should be applauded. In addition to recent attempts in federal court to make the companies accountable for their products, action against the tobacco industry must continue. Although the industry claims that it is being targeted unfairly, documents and witnesses have surfaced to add substance to reports that tobacco companies altered nicotine levels and added other toxic substances to cigarettes.
Many of the lawsuits seek reparations for personal addiction, and several states are asking for compensation for the treatment of various illnesses stemming from tobacco use. These lawsuits are justified. Not only has the tobacco industry misled the general public, but also it has taken the role of the victim in actions taken against it. In addition, the claims on behalf of nicotine addicts are lent credence by the discovery of a collection of memorandums and other documents kept by a former Philip Morris executive that detail manipulation of nicotine levels in cigarettes.
The tobacco industry's complaints about mistreatment have little merit. Despite public announcements of new policies aimed at curbing underage smoking, tobacco companies do little to enforce their own regulations. Armies of lobbyists protect tobacco interests in Washington, and legislation to regulate the tobacco industry seldom - if ever - makes it out of committee without significant changes. The industry is more protected than any other in the United States.
In light of the new announcement by the Food and Drug Administration to treat nicotine as a drug, the tobacco companies must be punished by a public that they have mistreated and misled. Perhaps now that individuals and states are taking the initiative, the retribution that the tobacco industry has avoided for so long can be leveled successfully.
GERRY DOYLE FOR THE EDITORIAL BOARD
KANSAN STAFF
AMANDA TRAUGHBER
Editor
CRAIG LANG
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MATT HOOD
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KIMBERLY CRABTREE
CHARITY JEFFRIES
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KAREN GERSCH
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HEALY SMART
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EOM EBLEN
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JAY STEINER
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JUSTIN KNUPP
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Ball Petillau
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Shawn Trimble / KANSAN
Leak your feelings; don't be afraid of deep waters
I was trying to clear space on my computer's hard drive for the newest version of Netscape the other day when I found what had to be a dozen unfinished letters to friends. Ashamed at how far behind I was in my correspondence, I immediately began rewriting those letters to send. I wrote three paragraphs, then writer's block hit me square in the forehead.
I realized how long it had been since I had written a real letter. Email and other modern conveniences have taken the place of hand-written words, and I had forgotten what it was like to convey feeling and meaning in a letter. We don't do it often anymore. In fact, it's rare when anyone places so much trust in another person that they aren't afraid to tell them what's really on their mind. We used to call that friendship. Some were daring enough to call it love.
In her book The Human Condition, political philosopher Hannah Arendt paints a horrific picture of a wordless society. In such a society, nothing is shared and no meaning is transferred. People are unable to convey their motivations or their thoughts. The picture grows more distinct every day. Prejudice and political correctness isolate individuals from each other. We're afraid of conversations longer than 15 seconds.
As a result, we retreat into shallow conversation. We stay within the bounds of what is safe to talk about: classes, sports, gossip. Comedy Central and Friends teach us how to turn a deep subject like love or faith into a joke to avoid discussing it. Our culture anchors us to the shore, and we never reach
the deeper waters.
STAFF COLUMNIST
Not that it's wrong to laugh at the things that frighten us. But when we become so irreverent toward worthwhile things, we soon forget how to understand them. And by following our television prophets to the Promised
priorities and immaturity, take a short quiz with me. What is the name of the president's cat? Easy answer: Socks. Who is the chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee? The House National Security Committee? The Senate Finance Committee?
Land of blissful ignorance, we place a dangerous measure of power in their hands. That's how Pinocchio made a donkey of himself — he left the real world behind to play in a giant amusement park.
Tough questions, aren't they? But which one makes the least difference in real life? The president's cat. Yet few KU students would know that Strom Thurmond heads the Senate Armed Services Committee. Fewer still would be able to identify Floyd D. Spence as the chairman of the House National Security Committee. And I'd be hard pressed to find a dozen who would know that the chairman of the Senate Finance Committee is William V. Roth Jr. Where are our priorities? What's on television tonight?
Day after day, we claim that our government was created "for the people." But we leave the part out about "by the people." That means we have to take an active part. If we want to trust our elected officials so much that we don't even keep up with what they're doing, what separates us from fascist 1930s Italy? Democracy only works when we care.
Out of complacency comes bondage, the old adage says. Can it be that we've become so complacent, so inert, so inhuman that we risk falling into another Dark Age? Or worse, could we already be there? Quick, turn on Seinfeld; I'm feeling guilty.
Few people today are bold enough to stand up and say with a straight face, "I have a dream;" "We hold these truths to be self-evident;" or "Liberty, equality, fraternity." Few even have the courage and maturity to listen and allow themselves to care about what is being said. The passion is gone from our public lives. Hearts and minds are no longer stirred by great words or ideas. Instead, we're stirred by "Must See TV."
It's important to remember how to discuss issues that mean something. Thus far, no world-changing events have occurred through email. All of the real, revolutionary ideas have come about through letters, books and speeches, by men and women who weren't afraid to discuss the things we giggle about today. Sound bites don't change the world.
As an example of our misshapen
Andy Rohrback is an Andover sophomore in Journalism.
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HOW TO SUBMIT LETTERS
Borders store detrimental to downtown
American popular culture is driven by the unimpressed satiation of desire. Marketers tell us that we are busy and that the measure of success is based on the possession of material objects. The culmination of these messages leads to the instant purchase syndrome: the need to go shopping often, expecting immediate gratification. It is this infatuation with consumption that the developers of Wint Winter Inc. are counting on in their endeavor to place a Borders Book Shop in downtown Louisville.
STAFF COLUMNIST
The move to put Borders in Lawrence is being challenged by more than a few residents. The Wint Winter Inc. project is targeting construction on the 700 block of New Hampshire Street, site of the 125-year-old Lawrence Buick Co. building. Opponents are hoping the
Lawrence City Commission will vote to save the building, and still some others are hoping — in the best interest of the local economy — that a vote in favor of the historic building will keep Borders out at altogether. The Wint Winter line of defense is: "This commission's legal job is not to save neat buildings." In other words, Lawrence residents should totally disregard the romantic tenets of history, community and balanced prosperity.
Arguments for or against the preservation of the "neat building" aside, the simple truth is that Lawrence does not need a Borders, or any other corporate chain bookstore. Borders supporters vaguely argue that the mega-store would be "good for the economy," yet no one seems to be able to illustrate why. With two Borders shops in Johnson County, and Barnes and Noble in both Kansas City and Topeka, the only money needing to be tapped is that of Lawrence residents. And there are plenty of locally owned bookstores here for us to shop, namely Terra Nova, The Raven, The Dusty Books shelf, J. Hood, Mt. Oread Book Shop and Vagabond Books.
The advantage of a Borders is limited to one perk: the easy accessibility to hundreds of book titles. But if Borders can stock them, then chances are, a locally owned store can order it for you. By buying from a locally owned store, you help stimulate the economy beyond giving a fraction of each dollar to the near-minimum wage clerks earn, and sending the rest of the money to some distant pocket.
HUBIE
As wendell Berry has observed in his book of essays Sex, Economy, Freedom and Community, "Almost the whole landscape of this country... is in the power of an absentee economy. Between the prosperity of this vast centralizing economy and the prosperity of any local economy, there is now a radical disconnection." This disconnection can eventually choke the individuality and sense of community in a town, disintegrating the landscape into stores with a packaged strip-mall feel and quality. Growth may come more slowly if we resist the blitzkrieg of big business, but we would allow ourselves to retain a say in what goes on in Lawrence.
Nevertheless, we live in a capitalist society, and Borders Book Shop has every right to open a store here. Our responsibility rests in being conscious of where we place our money and realizing the benefits that shopping locally owned stores has for us. Realize that your voice is in your spending.
Lawrence should remain true to its protective attitude toward locally owned businesses.
Leslie Boyer is a Lawrence senior in art history and English.
By Greg Hardin