THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
TUESDAY, MAY 6, 2008
NEWS
3A
》DOWNTOWN
Championship celebrations cost city
Despite spending $53,662, Lawrence officials pleased with limited damage to downtown
BY ANDY GREENHAW agreenhaw@kansan.com
Even though the massive crowd that invaded Massachusetts Street was wild with excitement during the NCAA basketball celebrations, the majority of people were well-behaved, causing limited damage.
However, the celebrations from the last three NCAA basketball tournament victories and the championship parade cost the city of Lawrence a total of $53,661.96. The city's 2007 operating budget was $137 million.
The city spent $14,281.84 on fire and medical, $6,400 on parks and recreation, $29,052 on police and $3,928.12 on public works.
According to a city press release, the numbers don't reflect regular city employee wages, but include overtime. The press release also stated the city would reimburse the departments by using its guest tax reserve fund for the unbudgeted expenses.
The city also received outside assistance, according to the press release.
Eve Tolefree, public information officer for the Lawrence Fire and Medical Department, said 29 extra firefighters and medical officers worked each of the four celebration nights.
Tolefree said few fans were transported to the hospital and no alcohol related injuries were reported.
Mark Hecker, parks superintendent, said his department spent $3,000 replacing shrubs, flowers and two trees that were destroyed in the chaos. The other $3,400 replaced six decorative trash cans that were destroyed.
Hecker said even though the city had to replace landscaping, the damage was minimal.
"The crowds behaved well for that number of people, especially during the parade." Hecker said.
Charles Soules, director of public works, said its chunk of the spending financed overtime for city employees to set up barricades and clean up after each of the four celebrations.
Sergeant Paul Fellers of the Lawrence Police Department said the majority of his department's expenditures went towards paying for the overtime of the extra police officers.
"Overall, I think everyone was well-behaved and represented the city and the University in a positive light," Fellers said.
Taylor Miller/KANSAN FILE PHOTO
As fans celebrate at the intersection of 10th and Massachusetts street, several people begin climbing street lamps and trees in the area. Celebrations occurring downtown during the Jayhawks climb to the NCAA National Championship cost the city of Lawrence $53,619.96.
Edited by Mandy Earles
STUDENT SENATE
Student fees increase more than $35 Most of the increase will go toward establishing a fare-free bus system
When students pay their tuition bills for next semester, the required campus fees section will have increased more than $35 from last semester. Student Senate implements the fees each semester to provide services to KU students.
BY BRENNA HAWLEY
bhawley@kansan.com
Fees were changed during the last year to take the total fees per semester from $377.75 to $414.45.
Fees were a large issue during this year's Student Senate election, and Porte said students needed to be aware of where their money was going.
Margretta de Vries, senior administrative associate for the Parking Department, said that fee increase was to maintain the current services of the bus system and that without the increase routes would have been cut.
Porte said the campus transportation fee was $16 in 2004 but next semester it would be $56.
Alex Porte, Great Falls, Va. sophomore and next year's Student Senate treasurer, said fees had diverse purposes. He said certain fees kept the price of the sports pack down and paid for student health services and the Student Recreation Fitness Center.
The only fee the student body voted for was to pay $20 to provide a fare-free bus system to students.
She said the night campus route would still have to be cut because the department did not get as much of an increase as it wanted.
Senate also increased the KU Transportation fee by $6.20 for next year.
Aaron Quisenberry, associate director of the Student Involvement and Leadership Center, said student fees subsidized services the
University of Kansas didn't provide. He said that if students felt a service was important enough they could ask for a fee to cover it.
"Students as a rule are more fiscally conservative because it's their money," he said.
The increase is to cover rising talent fees of visiting artists and celebrities.
Porte said an example was the $8 students pay for Legal Services for Students.
He said because of the fee, students could visit Legal Services for Students and get free legal help with anything from drawing up legal documents to filing taxes.
Porte said some fees were used for building improvements on campus, such as the wireless implementation fee and the Multicultural Resource Center construction fee.
Increases in service have caused two fees to go up and one new fee to be implemented for next semester.
Student Senate voted during the last full Senate meeting on April 2 to raise the Student Union Activities Fee by 50 cents for next year.
$5, paid for the wireless expansion taking place throughout campus.
The expansion is upgrading services in buildings all over campus, most recently the Art and Design Building, Blake Hall, Lindley Hall and Robinson Center.
Porte said the Multicultural Resource Center construction fee, which was $3.50, paid the entire cost of the new Sabatini Multicultural Resource Center next to the Kansas Union and also for longterm maintenance.
In four years, student required campus fees have increased 44 percent, going from $287 in Spring 2004 to $414.45 next semester.
He said the wireless fee, which is
Fees are paid by semester.
Edited by Patrick De Oliveira
"There's no way to get around inflation, but we want to curb it by being financially responsible," Porte said.
Porte said Student Senate raised fees in two cases: inflation and a significant increase in services.
Campus weather station wins award National Weather Service honors University for its data collection
K e n Harding, a meteorologist in charge of weather forecasting in Topeka, said the years of data collection at the weather station were
The University's weather station is among the 11,000 NWS stations in the U.S., 300 of which are in Kansas.
BY MARY SORRICK msorrick@kansan.com
On Monday, representatives from the Topeka office of the National Weather Service presented the Cooperative Observer Award for the University's longevity in gathering temperature and rainfall data at the weather
station near Lindlev Hall.
Fifty years of detailed weather measurements earned the KU Atmospheric Sciences Program recognition from the National Weather Service.
KEN HARDING National Weather Service
Donna Tucker, associate professor of geography, said the data would serve a number of practical purposes. She said information about the first and last days of the frost was useful for farmers and construction workers. Readings from the weather station could also be used in court to substantiate a witness' testimony, she said.
"Long, unbroken data sets really get scientists excited."
"Long, unbroken data sets really get scientists excited," he said.
valuable to the region's climate averages.
Johannes Feddema, professor of geography, said long-term data from a variety of locations would help scientists chart climate trends. Data can be interpreted in many different ways, but he said current figures indicate a temperature increase of half a degree per decade during the last 30 years.
The station has two components. One is the 4-foot tall pole with a thermometer attached at the top that sits on the front lawn of Lindley Hall.
The weather station is one of the oldest of Kansas' stations, Feddema said. It joined the NWS network in 1957, but has been taking measurements at the
Bill Newman, data manager for the NWS, said one award recipient was a 103-year old man from Clifton, Kan., who recorded data at 7 a.m. every morning for decades.
Private citizens can often receive awards for their contributions to weather data collection.
The other is a rain gauge on the roof of Lindley Hall.
In addition to the station at the University, a weather station at Kansas State University also received an award from the NWS for 50 years of service.
University for at least 80 years.
METEOROLOGY
- Edited by Sasha Roe
student fee breakdown in dollars
Student Senate Activity Fee 17.50
Student Union Fee Building Fee 41.00
Renovation Fee 12.00
Student Health Fee Operations 110.00
Facilities 1.50
Child Care Facility Construction Fee 4.00
Women's & Non-Revenue
Intercollegiate Sports Fee 40.00
Student Recreation Fee
Recreational Services 41.20
Recreational Facilities 29.30
Sports Clubs 3.00
Facilities & Maintenance 1.00
Student Media Fee 5.00
Campus Safety Fee 1.50
Educational Opportunity Fee 6.00
Campus Transportation Fee 56.00
Campus Environmental Improvement 4.00
Legal Services for Students 10.20
Newspaper Readership Program Fee 4.00
Multicultural Resources Center
Construction Fee 3.50
Services, Operations & Programs 1.50
Multicultural Education Fund 1.50
Long-term Maintenance Fund 0.25
Student Union Activity Fee 5.50
SafeRide Fee 10.00
Wireless Implementation Fee 5.00
Total $414.45 per semes
Source: Student Senate Treasury
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