Lawrence Journal-World 08-05-2015

Page 1

Cooling off with cucumbers. In Crave GOP candidate field set for Fox News debate. 1B

L A W R E NC E

Journal-World

®

$1.00

LJWorld.com

WEDNESDAY • AUGUST 5 • 2015 t

EAST NINTH PROJECT

Meet the Artists

Nick Carswell performs in the indie-rock group Carswell & Hope and also manages Silly Goose Records music collective.

By Joanna Hlavacek

By Peter Hancock

Twitter: @hlavacekjoanna

Rachael Perry is perhaps best known for her Lawrence Inside Out photography project.

t

Twitter: @LJWpqhancock

Jarrett Mellenbruch, a beekeeper, attracted media attention with his Haven project. t

t

T

he City of Lawrence on Tuesday announced the names of the East Ninth Project’s eight commissioned artists, and although details of the artists’ plans for the project aren’t available, we do know that all artists involved have ties to the Lawrence or Kansas City region. “This was an extensive and methodical process to select artists best suited to fulfill the vision of this project,” said Porter Arneill, the city’s director of arts and culture, in a news release. “I want to thank the panelists for their time and expertise in helping to select the artists for this unique project. All five of the artists chosen for the project’s “East Ninth Artists” opportunity live and work in Lawrence. The three artists selected for “Integrated Artists,” the second ongoing commissioned opportunity of the project, either live in Kansas City or, in the case of one individual, relocated recently from Kansas City to New York. Here’s an introduction to all eight commissioned artists of the East Ninth Project:

Meredith Moore is owner and director of downtown’s Wonder Fair gallery.

RACHAEL PERRY

Rachael Perry is a visual artist, writer and photographer based in

City adds last-minute housing funds to ’16 budget Lawrence city commissioners gave preliminary approval to a $207 million city budget for 2016 after adding another $100,000 in funding for a housing program that will be aimed at reducing the homeless population now being served at the Lawrence Community Shelter. That last-minute change, which was pushed by Commissioner Stuart Boley, came just three weeks after the city and the Douglas County Commission agreed to provide $100,000 in emergency funding for the shelter to prevent it from having to make immediate Boley program and staffing cuts. It also came immediately after interim city manager Diane Stoddard had already cautioned commissioners that the 2016 budget overall will deplete some of the city’s cash reserves, a trade-off commissioners made to avoid a property tax increase. “There does remain in the budget, as it sits, an $894,000 structural deficit,” Stoddard said. “And we think it’s important to point this out because at some point in the near future, we will not be able to bridge that sort of a gap.” Normally, city commissions are prohibited from adding new spending to a budget after the draft budget has been published in the official city newspaper. But Lawrence

Please see ARTISTS, page 8A

Please see BUDGET, page 2A

Do we have a legitimate gripe? A comparison of tax rates in various cities Town Talk

Chad Lawhorn clawhorn@ljworld.com

C

A LOOK AT LAWRENCE: Property tax rate: 129.796 mills. Median home value: $178,500. Average earnings: $45,359. Total property tax: $2,664. Percent of earnings: 5.8 percent. See how other cities stack up, page 2A.

omplaining about local taxes is easy. Figuring out whether we have a good gripe is hard because it requires lots of numbers, an abacus and stretching exercises. (I can’t count on my toes without the exercises anymore.) But as local governments get ready to approve their new tax rates, As a reminder, we’re in the I’m limber and full of figures. midst of budget seasons for the So, let’s take a look. Lawrence City Commission,

INSIDE

Humid, stormy Business Classified Comics Crave

High: 81

Low: 65

Today’s forecast, page 8A

the Douglas County Commission and the Lawrence school board. City commissioners

2A 1D-6D 4A 1CR-2CR

Deaths Events listings Horoscope Opinion

2A 5A, 2C 6A 7A

Puzzles Sports Television USA Today

6A 1C-4C 6A, 8A, 2C 1B-6B

gave preliminary approval Tuesday to a budget that holds the property tax rate steady. Douglas County commissioners have reached a consensus on a budget that holds the county’s property tax rate steady as well. The Lawrence school board is considering a budget that would increase the property tax Please see TAX, page 2A

Camera question

Vol.157/No.217 32 pages

Kansas legislators are reopening their debate over requiring body cameras for police. Page 3A

Join us at Facebook.com/LJWorld and Twitter.com/LJWorld

Visit our website for more details

mainstreetcu.org Federally Insured by NCUA

* Receive up to $150 when you open a new Mainstreet Credit Union checking account. A $100 deposit is required at opening. Existing checking accounts do not qualify for this offer, and members are limited to one new checking account per membership. Cash back up to $150 will be deposited into the member’s share savings account as an extraordinary dividend after 90 days. To receive the full cash back amount, the member must have a monthly ACH deposit of at least $200 posted to the account, enroll and use online/mobile banking, pay a bill through electronic bill pay, participate in e-statements, and complete 10 debit card transactions within the first 90 days of account opening. Debit transactions exclude credits/refunds and ATM transactions. Offer valid on new checking accounts opened through September 30, 2015. For the purpose of this promotion, a “month” is defined as 30 days and a “new checking account” is one that is opened under a membership number that has had no prior Mainstreet checking relationship. Student Checking accounts are not eligible for this promotion.


Turn static files into dynamic content formats.

Create a flipbook
Issuu converts static files into: digital portfolios, online yearbooks, online catalogs, digital photo albums and more. Sign up and create your flipbook.