Note: The Lawrence Times runs opinion columns and letters to the Times written by community members with varying perspectives on local issues. These pieces do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the Times staff.
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Living beyond one’s means seems a common philosophy these days. It’s a path made easier with loans and creditors, as growth and development goals take precedence over economic and environmental risk. The economic collapse of 2008, the pandemic and continuing climate crises are examples of successful adjustments that accommodate a justification of spending beyond one’s means.
The local governmental commissions and boards whose reliance on property tax increases to support the tax incentives that allow companies and developers who seemingly can’t afford their dreams without these incentives are definitely creating stress on those property owners living on fixed or limited incomes who previously were living within their means.
— Tom Guba (he/him), Lawrence
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More Community Voices:
Letter to the Times: City should create oversight committee to guide pool renovation project, rebuild trust
”Our petition’s 1,764 signatures, our supporters’ 75 letters, and our research into the extensive flaws in the (pool renovation) community engagement process all indicate that the previously proposed plan did not reflect public opinion,” Holly Krebs writes in this letter to the Times.
Shawn Alexander: Say his name – Fred Harvey Smith (Column)
”Racial violence has been omnipresent in American history, and in far too many of the incidents, the perpetrators of the crime are acquitted or not even brought up on charges. When I think of such cases I am often haunted by the heinous murder of Fred Harvey Smith here in the land of John Brown in May 1936,” Shawn Alexander writes in this column.
Letter to the Times: Are veterans’ sacrifices for democracy worthless?
”My father (Navy), mother (Army), and many other family members served our country in World War II. … They gave of themselves, in countless ways, to stop the spread of authoritarianism, suppression of freedoms and tyranny of the many by the few,” Sandy Sanders writes in this letter to the Times.