July 2024 meeting minutes

Neighborhood Meeting
July 8th, 2024
Meeting Called to order: 7:00pm
Attendance: 20
Minutes:
Ted welcomed all to the meeting. He informed all at the meeting that there will be a forum at a later date with candidates for city, county and state positions. Ted mentioned that the city is going to increase sales tax to support funding for housing for the homeless. Ted recapped the struggles that the neighborhood has had with the homeless and informed all present that the sales tax increase will be a nickel on every 100 dollars and this will be voted on in November. Ted shared that the funding raised will fund the city’s homeless solutions 100%. Ted also mentioned that there is a struggle to staff the fire department. A neighbor also brought up that there are two new fire departments slated for another part of Lawrence when North Lawrence has been fighting for their own fire department. Another neighbor stated that if the bridge is closed the first responders will “take the other bridge”. The neighbor went on to say North Lawrence statistically does not show the need to have their own and the fire department is able to meet the time constraints to provide service and care. Ted stated that many neighbors are asking for a fire department. The neighbor responded that they will be present at the city commission meeting to represent the need for more funding and staffing support for the fire department. A neighbor mentioned the stress he is faced with property tax going up which he fears will pushing him out of his home and he is also concerned with his homeowner insurance going up due to an understaffed fire department. A neighbor talked about the concern of all the emergency department responses that are due to fires in the homeless camps including multiple false alarms costing the emergency department a lot of unnecessary expense.
Ted welcomed candidates to the meeting and asked them to take turns introducing themselves to the neighbors. All the candidates took turns sharing their ideas, passion and wants to make a difference in the lives of the citizens. The candidates present were Marcie Francisco, Logan Ginavan, Lisa Larson, Brittany Hall and Brad Chun.
A neighbor asked about 6th street construction and why the left lane off the bridge was not managed better. Another neighbor followed with the comment about the markings on the lanes not being clear and she cannot see them until it is too late to follow the directions.
A neighbor asked if M80’s been shot off in the county is legal? The neighbor went on to say that these fire crackers are shaking the windows of their home.
Another neighbor stood up to share that she is reaching out to her fellow neighbors to share footage or sound recorded on their security camera’s as evidence that the sound is terrible and stressing and killing her sheep. Another neighbor shared that it could be sparkler bombs as well that are causing the booms.
A neighbor shared she is working the election polls and that the turnout is going to be tremendous and there will be ballots for everything. She also called for poll workers.
The want for a quiet zone was brought up. At this time the city commission do not have any information.
Ted shared that he discovered a leak coming out of tanker car. After an investigation it was discovered that a 1000 gallons of ice melt poured out onto the North Lawrence streets. He stated that there was no clean-up and the spill hung around for weeks. It happened a second time and Ted called Lane and he came up to Lawrence within the hour and discovered another 1200 gallons spilled and it run into the storm run-off drains. Ted explained that there have been a total of 2 spills this year. He stated he is grateful that the spill was not hazardous.
Meeting Adjourned: 8:39pm