Liberal Place: Lawrence, KS

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I live in Lawrence, and I wish what you said was true...it might have been 5 or 10 years ago, but Lawrence is well on its way to becoming Overland Park West. We had city commission elections a week ago, and the result is that 3 ultra-conservative candidates won. This means, among other things, continued enthusiastic embrace of big corporations and development crowding out the locally owned stores, no mass transit system, and quite probably repeal of a local ordinance protecting gays and lesbians.

Lawrence has seen fast growth west of Iowa Street, becoming basically a bedroom community for commuters from Johnson County. What little local flavor is left is rapidly being destroyed. Borders has already put out of business two of Lawrence's 3 independent bookstores, the downtown is being Gap'ed and McDonaldized...you get the picture.

There is really no realisitc chance of the trend being reversed, because the money is with these new developers and outsiders, and money is what buys elections and city policy.

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Lawrence gets good hype as a "liberal city" because it's the only livable place left in Kansas. Founded by abolitionists and burned to the ground by the 1863 version of the Texas Militia; hippie haven of the wheat belt in the 1960s; boyhood home of Langston Hughes and last repose of William Burroughs, our hometown has had its moments. These moments are few and far between. But the city seal features a Phoenix. ane we know, from the slogan on an increasing number of bumper stickers seen around town, that "The Left Will Rise Again." When it does, we'll slap those user fees on developers, fire our city manager, and blow up the South Lawrence Trafficway. As I said, we've had our moments. The faith of living in Lawrence is that there'll be more of them to come.

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Lawrence certainly does have a reputation as being liberal. But what everyone fails to mention is that Lawrence is the home of KU, the largest college in Kansas. It has traditionally been liberal because of the same reasons most small college towns are liberal:

1. The majority of the population is made up of either students, who are still too young to understand how they fit into the big picture (for example, assuming most of these students are attending college in order to obtain good careers, how will they feel in a few years when they realize that half of what they make goes straight to the government?), or instructors who do their best to reinforce this attitude.

2. Most of the rest of the town is made up of blue collar workers - who, as a group, traditionally have tended to be liberal.

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I've lived in Lawrence for ten years - came here as an undergraduate. I love the fact I live in East Lawrence, traditional home to the poorer sectors and minorities, and I can walk to downtown businesses, to campus, to grocery store and laundry. But Lawrence is rapidly losing its distinction as a unique community. As mentioned before, the downtown character is nearly shot, with Gap, Abercrombie and Fitch (whose ad for employment depicted about 15 young young adults, none of color), the much dreaded Borders. Look at the plan for the year 2020 -- lots of new housing developments in west Lawrence, yet no parks. Lots of strip malls, but no geographical community centers. Long range, I believe that Lawrence's greed for the short-term buck will erode its attraction to the very businesses and residents it's trying so darn hard to gain right now. And that's a shame.

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The biggest problem in Lawrence is the ultra-conservative newspaper, which also (illegally) owns the only local TV station, the supplier of cable. Its owner/editor/publisher is a homophobic, pro-business, anti-preservation thug. He controls the news in this town, and his paper and TV station slant the news in a very obvious way. Recently a man was killed when a dump truck turned right in front of his bicycle; yesterday we had an editorial saying that bicycles should stay off the roads. Why is Lawrence the biggest city in Lawrence without a public fixed-route transportation system? The newspaper is against such a thing: it couldn't make a profit, therefore you "have to suspect the motives" of those who propose using taxpayer money to support clean air, safer streets, etc.

And what of the South Lawrence Trafficway? The one that is supposed to cut right through sacred land on the campus of Haskell Indian Nations University? "Time to break out the peace pipe," said the newspaper when Haskell's Native Americans raised an objection. Does the publisher own property along the proposed route which he could sell at a huge profit if the road goes through? WE CAN'T FIND OUT. The County Courthouse is so scared of the newspaper, they are keeping such information sealed.

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I moved to Lawrence from Boston 17 years ago, going from Ted Kennedy to Bob Dole in one week. Kansas and the entire Midwest have many fine qualities unappreciated on the East Coast. The Lawrence climate mitigates against the tradeoffs from Midwestern provencialism and narrow-mindedness.

The University of Kansas attracts a cosmopolitan/international student body that enriches the community. But it is the permanent artistic community is our real strength. Through hard election politics, liberal activists passed the only sexual orientation anti-discrimination housing ordinance in any Kansas community.

Lawrence faces many challenges from radical Burkism, but given the context in which we live, our citizens do well with what we have. And I'm having lots more fun than I had in Massachusetts.

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Lawrence would be damned near fine were it not for a commercially-obsessed City Commission, a school board composed almost altogether of Education majors, and a Chamber of Commerce with the tenacity of a python for facilitating "development." In just a little over 10 years, the developers have taken control--and the City Commission does their dirty work day by day by day. Too bad, because once it was the loveliest of university-seats in the Midlands.

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as far as Kansas (along with most of the rest of the midwest) goes, Lawrence is an anomaly. It is not only physically different (the hills of Lawrence among the flat flat plains), but culturally, Lawrence shines above the plains. Compare it to the smug "I'm a big city important person" (HA!!!) attitudes of Kansas City (and metro area) and the smug "Small Town Kansas Pride" attitudes of the REST of Kansas. Yes, Lawrence truly is an anomaly in the midwest.

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If there is a space between the corporate, yuppie, spawl of modern, close-minded, suburban affluence, and a community-based, neighborly, small town, where both the grocery and the park are a 5 minute walk, then Lawrence, Kansas just might fill that space.

Lawrence continues to walk the line between these to opposing forces, yet it maintains its unique identity. We're liberal and moral, we have cheap prices and we make money. Its a good place to buy a Range Rover and see Sonic Youth.

Now if we could just do something about the pollen count...

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Maybe it's liberal by Kansas standards, but the University of Kansas (KU) can hardly be described as "liberal." More than one fifth of the students go Greek, and while fraternity members may have lots of sex and alcohol and are , these people are usually sexist, racist, homophobic and elitist, and politically apathetic, though their social views are best described as conservative. The students not in the Greek system are usually careerists who are concerned about "getting a degree and getting out," and care little about politics. "Apathetic" and "conservative" are the best words to describe the political climate at KU. A few years ago, the Princeton Review ranked KU in the Top 10 (I think # 9) in the category "Most Nostalgic for Reagan" regarding the political climate.

To be fair, like most large universities, there is a significant liberal activist minority, and the faculty tends to be liberal.