OPINION
7A
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
FRIDAY, APRIL 18, 2008
EDITORIAL BOARD
FROM THE DRAWING BOARD
IN A MISGUIDED ATTEMPT TO COMPETE WITH OBAMA'S YOUTH APPEAL, SENATOR McCAIN ADDS A NEW MEMBER TO HIS ADVISING STAFF.
Max Rinkel
Chris Sharron/Daily Kent Stater/UWIRE
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Would this policy help clean up Lawrence?
Jon Schilt, sales and marketing adviser
864-7666 or jschilt@kansan.com
details
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Members of the Kansas Editorial Board are Alex Doherty, Bryan Dykman, Matt Erickson, Kessey Hayes, Lea Knuth, Darla Slipke, Dianne Smith and Ian Stanford.
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That's because the city's environmental code allows first-time offenders a full month to clean the mess. After disgruntled neighbors or a wandering city official reports the problem, a courtesy letter is mailed asking the residents to take care of the situation. If nothing has been done in 15 days, another notice is sent telling residents that they will be fined if the problem is not dealt with in another 15 days.
Candice Davis of the Oread Neighborhood Association explained that the city's current policy is "totally inadequate" because by the time 30 days is up, wind has usually blown trash out of the offender's yard. She said she no longer bothered reporting problems because of this.
Landlords need to check on their properties more often to ensure that their tenants are keeping things tidy. Greg Perry, author of "Managing Rental Properties for Maximum Profit," said that in addition to personally checking on their properties, landlords should have neighboring homeowners contact them if they see any problems because individual landlords can deal with the trash more quickly than the city can.
The city's clean-up policy is extremely lax, which sends the message that littering is not a big deal for students who already have no incentives to clean up their rented property. Students are busy, but no one needs 30 days to pick up the cups from Tuesday night's quadruple kegger.
—lan Stanford for the editorial board
But because renters make up about 85 percent of the student ghetto, the city needs to fill that watchdog function. Lawrence also should follow the Oread Neighborhood Association's suggestion to amend the environmental code by eliminating the initial courtesy letter sent to first-time offenders. That way the first letter will alert offenders that if the problem is not fixed in 15 days, they will be hit with a hefty fine. Both Overland Park and Topeka have a similar policy.
A walkthrough of the Oread Neighborhood (the student ghetto) revealed that the majority of renters keep their yards relatively clean,
Lawrence officials will discuss a possible change to the environmental code during the city commission meeting, which takes place at 6:35 p.m. on April 29 in City Hall. Students and homeowners alike — especially those living in the Oread Neighborhood — should be there to voice support for a cleaner city.
Trash lines the yards of multiple houses northeast of campus. The city's environmental code allows residents who receive a complaint about trash on their property 30 days to clean the mess. Lawrence city commissioners will discuss the existing environmental code on April 29.
Kevin Grunwald/KANSAN
editorials around the nation
Gen. David Petraeus spent Tuesday and Wednesday in Senate and House hearings touting again how the president's troop surge has helped to make Iraq a less-violent place. But when pressed, he conceded that the end is not in sight.
Iraq withdraw will be left to next president
ASSOCIATED PRESS
As a result, Petraeus said he is recommending that there be a pause in troop withdrawals once the force reaches about 140,000 this summer. That's down from a peak of 160,000, which was reached months after President Bush announced in
early 2007 that a "surge" of additional forces would be sent to Iraq in an attempt to quell the violence there.
Particularly troubling was testimony from the U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Ryan Crocker. He said he did not think that a long-term security agreement currently being discussed with Iraq needed to come back to the Senate for approval.
Petraeus' testimony makes clear that a rational plan for ending the U.S. combat role in Iraq won't be coming from this president. That task will be left to one of three people, Sens. John McCain, Hillary Clinton or Barack Obama.
Fortland (Maine) Press Herald April 10
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Goodbye, Brandon and Shady.
I feel bad for the old owners of the Crossing. They could've made bank on championship night.
GDIs
--and leave.
Everyone has the AIDS cold.
To the guy who drives the 23rd and Louisiana bus and has dropped me off at Oliver the past two days, I think you're really cute.
It usually isn't that big of a deal, all the rustling and such. It's just the coughing extreme today.
My roommate sweats so much that I'm fearful of drowning. Help me, Free For All.
--and leave.
--and leave.
I love the Band Video on You Tube!
To all the people coughing through HA 151: step outside. You won't get in trouble- it's college. Have some respect for the other 200 people in the room
I pay $17,000 a year to go
to KU. God forbid I park
at the Rec without having
to pay the Parking Dept.
another $20
You're fucked up if you waited until college to have sex, much less marriage.
--here.
To the girl who helped me up after I fell down the steps in front of Strong, thanks for not laughing. That was nice of you.
Free for all, I've been at KU Med for four days with a collapsed lung, and they don't get The Kansan. I'm going through withdrawal
Why don't they replace Student Senate with an online voting application for any and all referenda? People wouldn't be so put off by petty Student Senators and we might actually see some change around
I gotta say I prefer the K-State method of no buses on campus - walk your fat and/or lazy butt for those 10 minutes - might do ya some good.
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