CAMPUS/AREA UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
Wednesday, April 3, 1996
3A
Senate campaign addresses parking
Cesar Millan
Cesar Millan, Kansas City, Mo., senior, Voice coalition candidate for student body president:
"The coalition would like to see a citywide, student-run transportation system. Park-and-ride is definitely an option, but I don't think anyone is sure that students would use it. We need the University, the city and the Legislature to step it up, because the amount of money we are putting into it is killing us. Students will not tolerate a fee increase. The only way it will be approved is if students voice their concerns to the University, City Commission and Legislature."
Candidates divided on possible solutions
By Amanda Traughber
Kansan staff writer
As students express concern about increasing bus pass fees and difficulty in finding parking spaces, the park-and-ride option has gained more attention.
With a park-and-ride system, students would park farther away, such as at the Lied Center, and take a shuttle to campus. It has been discussed for about a year by the parking and transportation boards and SenEx as a solution to the University's parking problems.
"it's on the back burner, but as soon as the new members are appointed, the talks will begin on implementing park-and-ride for Fall 1997," said Ron Vanderslice, Tulaa, Okla., senior and coordinator for KU on Wheels.
Grey Montgomery, Junction City senior and Vision coalition candidate for student body president.
favors park-and-ride.
"The nice thing about park-and-ride is that you can provide people with service to campus buildings at less cost," said Montgomery, who also is a transportation board member. But to accomplish that, parking and transportation must combine for efficiency and cooperation.
The first step, Montgomery said, would be to combine the parking and transportation boards. Eventually, he would like to see the two join financially.
"Parking tends to be a revenue maker, whereas transportation tends to be a loser." he said.
Cesar Millan, Kansas City, Mo., senior and Voice coalition candidate for student body president, favors a citywide, student-run transportation system instead because he isn't sure that park-and-ride would be feasible.
"Is park-and-ride an option? Possibly. But I'm not sure how much use it's going to get," Millan said.
To make citywide transportation possible, the University, the City Commission and the Kansas Legislature need to help pay for transportation so that students are not overburdened with fees, Millan said.
Donna Hultine, assistant director of parking, said she didn't see park-and-ride happening soon because people like to be within walking distance of their cars. "Until people are forced to use park-and-ride, it's not going to be widely accepted," she said.
But Vanderslice said that cooperation between the boards had been discussed and that he thought a merger was likely in the next couple of years. "I think that right now we're in the first stages of communicating and working together," Vanderslice said. "That's a big step that hasn't been taken since I've been here."
Grey Montgomery
Grey Montgomery, Junction City senior, Vision coalition candidate for student body president:
"First of all, we'd like to see the parking board and transportation board combine. It just makes sense, because the two need to work together for efficiency. In the long-term, what we'd like to see happen is the two joining accounts. By doing that, you would have a scenario where the two would be helping each other. But you want to take gradual steps, because you're talking about a huge amount of money between parking and transportation."
KU professor named new Lawrence mayor
By Sarah Morrison Kansan staff writer
KU associate professor John Nalbandian unanimously was selected as mayor last night by the Lawrence City Commission.
Nalbandian, who has taught courses in public administration, government and political science at the University since 1976, will serve a one-year term, which began last night.
The mayor of Lawrence is chosen each spring from the members of the commission and is voted on by the commission. Traditionally, the commissioner who received the greatest number of votes in the last election is voted mayor. Nalbandian finished first in the City Commission election last April.
Nalbandian said he expected his term to be a challenging one with the commission facing issues like the future of downtown development, approving the comprehensive land-use plan Horizon 2020, and dealing with a storm-water plan.
hand in policy making makes it all worth it.
"I look forward to the challenges because of the pattern this commission has established," he said at the meeting.
Nalbandian first was elected to the commission in 1991 and served as mayor in 1993. He said the time commitment and the representational responsibilities were the most demanding aspect of being mayor. But the chance to be involved first
Nalbandian said his goals for his term were:
creating a development plan for downtown Lawrence.
- reviewing public transportation alternatives.
John Nalbandian
continuing to work to improve cooperation between the city, county and school board.
Nalbandian said that many of the issues facing the commission in the next year were controversial and that coming up with solutions would be difficult.
Before former mayor Bob Moody passed the gavel to Nalbandian, he told the commission that the true measure of their success during the past year won't be known for years.
"I truly hope my child will say in 20 or 30 years that Lawrence is the best place for them and their child and that they are proud to live here," Moody said.
The commission also unanimously elected Bonnie Augustine as vice mayor. Augustine is in her first term as a commissioner and finished second in the election last April.
Downtown planning to be developed
Kansan staff report
The Lawrence City Commission voted unanimously last night to execute an agreement with Gould Evans, P.A. for planning consulting services for the downtown area.
The eventual goals of the downtown planning process are to develop and adopt a single, unified concept of downtown, examine implementation policies, tools and strategies for downtown development and organize plan implementation.
Mayor John Nalbandian said decisions concerning downtown Lawrence were difficult because the commission had no set direction or strategy concerning the development of the area.
"We are getting initiatives from outside from developers that will effect the downtown, and we are finding we are not prepared to respond to those initiatives," Nalbandian said.
The developmental plan would deal with issues like parking, building facades and defining what area constitutes downtown.
The time is right for planning for downtown development, he said.
Steve Puppe / KANSAN
University of Kansas alumnus Vic Ullom speaks about his experiences as a volunteer worker for the Balkan Peace Team in the International Room at the Kansas Uniort. Ullom spoke a second time yesterday evening at the Stevenson Scholarship Hall.
--days for taking pictures of bombed buildings.
Alumnus describes work in Croatia
Experience in country reveals cultural racism
By Heather Kirkwood Kansan staff writer
Croatia might be just another name in a headline to most, but to Vic Ullom, University of Kansas alumnus, it has been home for the last two years.
Ullom talked about his experiences working as a volunteer for the Balkan Peace Team at the International Room in the Kansas Union and at Stevenson Scholarship Hall yesterday.
While in Croatia, Ullom got a first-hand view of the situation through experiences such as conducting research in villages after military actions and being arrested by the Serbs in Vukovar and held for three
Ullom said the experience had left him cynical.
"In the United States there is an awareness about racism," Ullom said. "It is on television and we are working it out, but there it has been unsuccessful. You get a feeling for how hatred can be expressed, how hopeless it is and how difficult it can be to stop once the ball gets rolling. It has made me much less optimistic about humanity."
But Ullom has made many friends in Croatia and intends to go back in a month to work with Croatians and Serbs who must learn to live with one another in Eastern Slavonia, the last area in Croatia to be re-integrated.
Ullom showed photos depicting the plight of the Serbs in Croatia. He said that
although the Serbs had committed atrocities, the American press had painted the Serbs as the bad guys, the Muslims as the good guys and the Croatians as somewhere in between. These classifications are over-simplified, he said.
Croatia broke away from the former Yugoslavia in 1991. The Serbian population in Croatia did not want to be a part of Croatia and formed its own state, the Republic of Serbia Krajina. The United Nations recognized Croatia as an independent country and included Serbia Krajina within its boarders.
Matt Gregory, Independence, Mo., junior, said he attended the presentation because he was interested in the history of the conflict.
"Something that has dragged on for this long has to have some deep roots," he said.