Multimedia Reporting (Adler-Utsler)

Community needs more awareness of helping homeless people

2007-12-05T20:55:22Z

When people are passing 10th and Vermont Street, they can always see a black guy who is standing in front of the Lawrence Community Shelter, chasing cars, talking to himself, or sometimes even yelling at people passing by. His name is Florid White, a Lawrence resident who has been living in the Lawrence Community Shelter for two and half months. He doesn’t have a job, and his wife left him because of this.

“This world is ruled by those people who have higher IQs,” White said. “Nobody cares about us.” Florid White is not the only one who is suffering such a life. People who go to L.I.N.K every night to have dinner, people who go to Jubilee café every Tuesday and Friday morning to have breakfast, and people who stay in the shelter have similar experiences. White complains, but some homeless people don’t even know how to complain because a lot people who go to the preiously mentioned facilities for help have disabilities or mental illnesses. According to the Director of Lawrence Community Shelter, Loring Henderson, Lawrence has a large population of homeless, and it might have increased since more people are coming to the shelter and other charity organizations for help. But it has always been hard for them to get enough funds, and the most important reason for that is most people are not fully aware of the situation of homeless people and the society doesn’t really understand them them. Lawrence has a population of 80,000. Last year the Lawrence Community Shelter did the census for the first time, and the result is Lawrence has a homeless population of 371, which means that homeless people occupies at least 4.6 percent of the whole population. Besides that, Henderson said that the number was always incomplete. Further more, both Henderson and Greg Moore, the director of L.I.N.K, which is the Lawrence Interdenominational Nutrition Kitchen, feel like the population of homeless people is increasing because more people are coming to the service.

“Usually we serve about 150 meals everyday. But recently we served about 185 on weekends,” Moore said. According to Henderson, numbers don’t really matter. “What I’m concerned about is what we are doing,” Henderson said. “No matter if it’s increasing or not.” According to a U.S. Conference of Mayors, among the total homeless population, about 20 percent of homeless have jobs, 22 percent are mentally disabled, 11 percent are veterans, and 34 percent are drug or alcohol dependent. And in the Lawrence Community Shelter, part of their mission is to help people find jobs, quit drugs and alcohol and take care of people who have disabilities and mantle illness. “The city commission gives about 2 percent from the dollar tax to some sort of art program every year,” Henderson said. “Art is nice. And I talked to them about giving 2 percent to the shelter, and they said that people don’t want to because it’s a waste of money.” Henderson said that some people think that they made it on their own, and they want other people to make it themselves. But people need to realize that they can’t do things on their own. They are doing everything in a functional society, and the society doesn't work if there are thousands of homeless people on the streets. “Right now the social contract between the society and homeless people are broken,” Henderson said. “We used to have some hospitals for those people who have mantle illness, but now instead of hospitals, people are sent to jails.” Henderson said now that the weather is getting cold, and more people are coming to the shelter for help. They are rejecting about 15 people everyday. Besides, “All of the men and women are sleeping in the same room. We need money to build a new shelter, a better shelter,” Henderson said. The other two charity organizations L.I.N.K and Jubilee café get all their funding from donations. The L.I.N.K gets about $30,000 a year, and it needs $1,000 a week to provide four dinners a week. According to Moore, right now they desperately need new dishwashers because the old ones are broken. They don’t have money to get it, and they have to wash dishes by hand. Jubilee café needs about $300 to provide two breakfasts. But several times it faced the danger of shutting down because they couldn’t get enough donations on time. Just to rely on those certain donators is not enough, Henderson said. People don’t really have enough correct attention toward the homeless. “Before I take this job, I never knew there are so many people in town are so poor that they don’t even have money to do groceries,” director Moore said. “And I grew up in Lawrence.” Hillary Bowker, a senior from Kansas City, is the coordinator of Jubilee café. “Most people are really insensitive about what’s going on with the homeless,” Bowker said. It’s not hard to help homeless people. In Jubilee café, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, most of the people who work there are volunteers. Sometimes they get enough people to help, but for the most of the time, they get only about 15 or 16 people and they need about 30 people to serve. “If people can just try to talk to those homeless people, try to know them, and show some respect and understanding, that would be really nice,” Bowker said. “People really need to be generous and understanding,” Henderson said. “They are human beings and we are human beings. We supposed to help each other.”

Small towns lack job base for college graduates

2007-12-05T20:44:12Z

In May Joe Wimmer, Ft. Scott, Kan., senior, will be taking the plunge into the next phase of his life. Born and raised in small town Kansas his first experience with big city life was his move to Lawrence. Like many of his peers, Wimmer decisions in May begin his career paths for life. However, Ft. Scott will not be the home of his future. “The reason people leave is to go to college. None of my friends are there anymore, and the opportunities aren’t there either,” Wimmer said.

Historic Fort Scott
Photo: courtesy of government of Fort Scott

Wimmer’s decision to move to a larger city is not uncommon. After dotting the i’s and crossing the t’s on resumes many graduates venture to larger cities. However for graduates raised in rural communities, finding comparable work in small communities can be challenging. For Wimmer that decision means staying Lawrence a town of no more than 83,000 residents, but to him over 10 times as many people as the town that raised him. The problem becomes worse for students who specialize in certain areas. Jill Hummels, public relations director for the School of Engineering, has seen graduates off to the far reaches of the world. However, small town employment ranks low on the list of possibilities. Because of the engineering crunch, students graduating in the field are in high demand; offering graduates the opportunity to pick and choose which city to work in. “Small town markets focus on civil engineering. Every town needs maintenance to its road and infrastructure. But the number of civil engineers is based on population, and small towns just don’t need that many,” Hummels said. For engineers, Kansas City, Kan., is the Mecca for employment. A great deal of the graduates for the University’s program ends up working in the city. According to the United States Census Bureau only five percent of Ft. Scott’s population has a bachelor degree. That comes out to be 459 of the 8, 362 residents. Of Kansas City’s 145,000 residents over 10,000 have earned a bachelors degree. “We see a lot of Kansas City companies recruiting graduates, probably more than any other area,” Hummels said. The big city life also is also more prone to higher paychecks. Ft. Scott’s commercial viability rests within the manufacturing and service based Industries. The top employers in town include distribution plants and restoration companies. Only 10 percent of available jobs within the town are managerial positions. In Ft. Scott the average yearly income comes to $21, 500, compared to Kansas City at $35,700, or Chicago at $43,250.

For Wimmer getting out of Ft. Scott means more than a larger salary. He has grown up with peers, whose families have never left Ft. Scott boasting several generations from the same town. “Some families have always been there. Their parents didn’t go to college and their lives turned out okay. So they see no reason to go either,” Wimmer said. Wimmer’s parents have college degrees, so his choices were limited to college after high school. But the manufacturing and service-based jobs in Ft. Scott will prevent him from ever moving back. Wimmer’s roommate Will Olson shares the same view. After attending Pittsburg State University Will landed a job in sales working for a water purification company. “I like the money and being out of Ft. Scott. I have no reason to go back,” Olson said. None of Wimmer and Olson’s childhood friends still live in Ft. Scott. Many went to college in Pittsburg Kansas or else where, and the few who have graduated have yet to come back. Bryan McDow works for KU Career Services. In his experience the choices that students make are very dependant on personal choice. Although some students look for jobs within their hometowns, many explore the idea of leaving for good. “We always see the big cities, New York, LA, Chicago, but finding jobs and other factors come into play,” McDow said. According to the Kansas Alumni Association, most alumni currently live in the Kansas City area. However, pockets of California, such as San Diego, and San Francisco, along with areas in Texas also play home to a large Jayhawk alumni network. “For the most part the desirable places to live vary quite a bit, but the bigger cities are always going to be appealing,” McDow said. Kimberley Goodwin, Littleton, Colo., sophomore, has always planned to move back to Colorado. Her decision to go out of state has made her realize the benefits of the city even more. “It has all I’m looking for in a place to live. I had a great time growing up there and I’m excited to go back and have a career,” Goodwin said. Although the thought of going to the bigger cities like Los Angeles or New York sounds appealing, Goodwin could never see herself living outside of Colorado again. “It’s become who I am, and it’s where I feel the most at home. There are so many opportunities in Denver for me to succeed, “Goodwin said. For Wimmer and Olson, the choice to leave Ft. Scott is easy. “College is the ticket out, and so I’m out,” Wimmer said.

Cost of Fresh Produce and Whole Grains Force Kansas School Districts to Consider Subsidization

2007-12-05T19:49:49Z

Nicole Jahnke buys food for a living. But instead of loaves of bread, she buys truckloads. Instead of bags of apples, she buys cases. As director of food and nutrition services for Topeka, Kan., public schools, it’s Jahnke’s responsibility to make sure 15,000 breakfasts and lunches are served to students each school day. Purchasing the amount of food needed to feed USD 501 requires careful planning and budgeting to satisfy student tastes as well as federal nutritional guidelines.

Buying nutrient-rich foods like fruits, vegetables and whole grains is essential to meeting federal expectations. Unfortunately, not all school budgets are equipped to handle the menu change. “Everything just costs more,” Jahnke said. Jahnke said she was spending 10 percent more on fresh produce this year despite serving close to same amount as last year. Paula Murrish, USD 497 food services director in Lawrence, said she was in a similar predicament. Her department has spent 5 percent more on fruits and vegetables and increased the percentage of the food budget spent on produce to 30 percent. Both said they expected expenses to continue rising as more and more produce and whole grain items are added to menus. The added expenses are threatening to force Jahnke, Murrish and other Kansas administrators to plan for a bottom line in the red. Unless funding is increased to meet changing costs, the only solution may be to turn to government subsidization. Jahnke and Murrish said that without budget increases their districts would almost certainly be subsidized within five years. The problem facing school administrators is the lack of additional funding to accompany revamped menus. To stay self-sufficient directors must find further resources to compensate for mounting produce and grain prices and the cost of production. Jahnke said the unpredictability of prices because of weather and crop quality increased the degree of difficulty of staying within a rigid budget. The balancing act is even more tenuous considering that prices for those items are anything but stable. “I think poor crops have been a big reason for price changes,” Jahnke said. “We’ve seen fluctuations in lettuce prices because of rain. We see orange prices skyrocket because of freezes in Florida. Apple prices are outrageous right now.” The U.S. Department of Labor’s Consumer Pricing Index statistics demonstrate just how unpredictable produce prices can be. In 2007, the range in percent change of navel orange prices was 45 percentage points. In January the index indicated prices were only 9.2 percent higher than those in the base years between 1982-1984. In September that price was almost 55 percentage points more. Price discrepancies between whole grain and enriched grain products also contribute to budget frustrations. Vicki Hoffman, director of nutrition services for USD 259 in Wichita, Kan., said she finds the gap in price difficult to justify when buying in the quantities necessary to feed tens of thousands of students. Hoffman said that wheat-based entrees, for example whole-grain pretzels, can cost 10 to12 cents more than their enriched counterparts. She said she thinks the school district’s desire to increase the use of whole grains in its menus has led to even more price increases. “Manufacturers, it seems to me, take advantage of that,” she said. “Anything that has whole grains in it, the price just went up. Whether it’s a volume thing or whether it’s just because they can I’m not real sure.” While the cost of food is especially taxing, the strain on school districts doesn’t stop at rising food prices. Nearly every aspect of transporting, preparing and serving fresh produce and whole grains is more expensive than for the preprocessed counterparts. For Midwest school districts price increases are also a result of skyrocketing fuel costs. Districts help assume the burden that the transportation of thousands of pounds of food places on shipping companies. The result for schools away from coastal shipping centers is even higher prices. Murrish said she had experienced an 11-12 percent markup on certain items because of the long transportation distances necessary. The added costs don’t end once the food arrives. Murrish said that although she would like to provide even more healthy options, she is limited not only by price but the additional labor needed to prepare thousands of servings of fruits and vegetables daily. Murrish is far from being able to hire more staff. In fact, she was forced to take the opposite approach to meet her $5 million budget. USD 497 downsized its labor force from 151 to 108 employees, restricting the amount of preparation Murrish’s staff can undertake. Without the additional help, Murrish said the process needed to prepare fresh produce and healthy entrees was nearly impossible on an overstretched budget. “It’s expensive to do stir-fry and cook your vegetables and do all the labor processing of fruits and vegetables,” Murrish said. “We would much rather clean our broccoli or make our own coleslaw, but it’s just prohibitive when it comes to the amount of time it takes.” Hoffman said the problem was even more pronounced in large districts. Hoffman and her staff serve between 34,000 and 40,000 meals per day. Even though USD 259 uses huge facilities and automated machinery, the job remains overwhelming. “Because of the number of meals we serve even the production costs more," she said. "When we have orange wedges on the elementary menu it takes three days for the kitchen to cut orange wedges.” Despite the cost of providing students with healthy alternatives to traditional cafeteria fare, budget crunches in school districts are forcing them to consider a future reliant on subsidized funds. The rise in prices of food and fuel seem unlikely to reverse. For Jahnke and Murrish, the only solution is more money. Jahnke said that if her budget rose by a minimum of 3 percent every year she might have a chance at avoiding subsidization. Murrish was less optimistic. She said she could last the rest of this year but would need significant funding increases to continue growing the program the district is committed to developing in Lawrence schools. Luckily for Murrish, USD 497 is devoted to changing the way its students eat. Although she faces the possibility of subsidization, Murrish said the program will continue expanding even if that means losing money “I do not see us backing down from wellness initiates,” Murrish said. “I do not see us stopping where we’ve been just so we could sell more. If anything it’s going to go the other way.”

The Revolution Will Be Blogged

2007-12-05T19:34:22Z

As the sun sets behind Wescoe Hall Adam Wood scribbles his politics onto concrete benches with a sliver of white chalk. Political messages compete for space with drink specials on the gray, open-air forum that is Wescoe Beach. Endorsements of Barack Obama are overwritten with criticisms from Ron Paul supporters. Two for one deals and other advertisements, in turn, overwrite those criticisms.

Wood started a group, Students for Ron Paul, on campus in order to support Representative Ron Paul, a long serving Republican from Texas, as a presidential candidate. He organizes and recruits in the real world, but his group started on the Internet and most of the work still goes on online. Tools like Facebook and MySpace have allowed individuals with an interest to find others who share that interest. For Wood and his group, that interest is politics. “I’ve always been a political junkie,” said Wood. Once Wood had decided that Ron Paul was the candidate he liked best, he wanted to help any way he could. When Wood went to register with the university the form was online and they asked for a website. “I didn’t really have a choice,” said Wood. So with the little experience he had gained from working a few weekends for the Ralph Nader campaign in 2004, Wood created a Facebook group and sent out invitations. That same group now has 212 members at KU as of December 4. Wood is now a little cavalier about the benefits of working online. “In today’s environment it’s an advantage,” said Wood. “But the thing you have know about the Internet is: a.) it’s a series of tubes and b.) it’s only five spammers.” Wood is not unique. All the major candidates have Facebook groups. They all have MySpace pages. They all have websites and podcasts. The Internet is abuzz with attempts by candidates to make a name for themselves. “Everybody’s trying everything,” said David Perlmutter, Associate Dean of Graduate Studies at the University of Kansas and author of the forthcoming book Blogwars: The New Political Battleground. “You could make a case that Ron Paul wouldn’t be on anybody’s lips if not for Internet activism.” How to use the Internet in a political campaign remains far from an exact science. Perlmutter sees the era of strictly “message” candidate as waning since in an Internet age, there is no telling what can happen on the web. Candidate’s profiles on Facebook and MySpace can be particularly dangerous. Open commenting on these sites allows any supporter or detractor to comment on the page at their leisure. A user with a picture of a naked woman as his profile picture posted his admiration for Barack Obama one of Obama’s pages. The image appeared in the comments for all to see and the campaign could do nothing about it. Less embarrassing support comes from the Internet as well. Wood found out about each candidate and picked Ron Paul based heavily on research he did online. Supporters like Wood bring up other issues relating to a candidates message. Wood has minimal contact with the Ron Paul campaign, yet he runs Paul’s largest support group in Lawrence. Perlmutter sees Wood as an excellent example of what the future of political support could be, namely: unsolicited and unpaid. Wood commented on an ad he saw searching for supporters to work for the Obama campaign in Kansas. “They say ‘work’ like it’s a job. You should support the candidate you think is right and not get paid for it,” said Wood. Supporters like Wood have no shortage of enthusiasm, however, candidates cannot leverage the same oversight on them as they could hired professionals. Even if they are not posting their support with naked pictures, Internet supporters can cost candidates by popularizing an image that runs counter the candidate’s intentions. “Now it’s a bunch of unguided missiles,” said Perlmutter. Some candidates are taking steps to counter this unpredictability. Barack Obama’s campaign started his own version of Facebook at my.barackobama.com. Hillary Clinton has a similar system on her website. A user registers for the site much like MySpace. Registered users can then find other Obama supporters in their area and around the country. The site also enables Obama’s campaign to have a list of interested individuals in an area so that they can mobilize support more easily. The University of Kansas chapter of Students for Barack Obama recently used the site as well as traditional print advertisement to spread the word about a “meet up.” On top of allowing the campaign to help organize events, the website allows the Obama campaign full editorial control of the site’s content. The eventual effect of websites such as Facebook and my.barackobama.com is difficult to understand. Hillary Clinton has done less than other candidates with the Internet, but still holds a lead over the other Democratic challengers in Iowa, the state with the first primary, according to a Pew Research poll published December 3. “The woman who has worked the hardest, has the most connections, has the most money is still in the lead,” said Perlmutter. In the same Pew Research poll Ron Paul had 4 percent of the vote in Iowa. He polled slightly higher in New Hampshire with 9 percent. However, those numbers do not bode will for his campaign winning come November. But winning is not necessarily the point for many of his supporters. Wood sees himself as part of something larger than just a campaign for president. “We want to win and we think we have a serious chance of winning. I am not truly gonna be happy unless he wins,” said Wood. “But it’s not an election, it’s a movement.” After November Wood has no intention of stopping his activities, but instead he hopes to steer his groups energy to local elections and bring about change from the bottom up.

Good Times for Lawrence and a Sister Boomtown

2007-12-05T18:37:44Z

Good Times for Lawrence and a Sister Boomtown

But Not Everyone’s So Thrilled With Expansion Plans

This is a tale of two cities: two Kansas boomtowns situated just 40 miles apart from one another. Both communities are expanding at a terrific pace, but therein lie the questions. How much growth is healthy for a town and its residents? Is a town’s expansion necessarily a good thing? Case in point: on one side of K-10 Highway sits Overland Park in southern Johnson County. Have you seen “Opie” lately? seems to buzz with a constant flow of activity. Suburban homes are packed tightly, comprising a crazy quilt of neighborhoods. New restaurants, strip malls and shopping centers pop up these days like Kansas wheatfields line the major streets in southern Johnson County. Traffic hums along the major thoroughfares. Any way you look at it, Overland Park is on a roll. Just down the road 40 miles to the west, Lawrence is prospering is in full growth mode as well. From bars to restaurants to boutiques, local businesses crowd Massachusetts Street. Historic neighborhoods weave throughout the town with the shadow of the University of Kansas in the background. The Kansas Jayhawks’ recent ascent in the college football standings helped shine the national spotlight on a mid-America college town proud of its humble heritage. Robin Taylor has had a first-hand look at the tremendous expansion of both cities. She was raised in Lawrence and moved to OP in the mid-80s. “Overland Park and Lawrence are two totally different cities,” said Taylor. “I have grown up watching both expand and prosper in their own separate ways.”

With both cities, as in life, success isn’t always unfettered: it can bring with it controversy and difficulty. Even though expansion has been on the horizon for both Overland Park and Lawrence, not everyone is so happy about the cities’ plans to take on any new territory. In recent months, expansion has been on the horizon for both cities resulting in fierce opposition from residents on both sides of the K-10.

Lawrence Developer Eyes Farm Land

Tucked in the Kansas River valley just north of Lawrence lies Grant Township. The small, quiet community is the home of the Lawrence Municipal Airport and hundreds of acres of privately owned farmland. Resident Jerry Jost grows corn and soybeans on the fertile land. “I moved out here 17 years ago because I always wanted to live in an area where I can grow my own foods in peace and quiet,” Jost said. Where some residents like Jerry Jost might see peaceful farm land, others see a potential for growth and profit. Lawrence business developer Jes Santaularia saw that potential. He wants to expand Lawrence’s city limits and build an industrial business park on 140 acres of the farmland. The property owned by the Roger Pine family would be transformed into a business “lifestyle” park with lots for warehouse and office space and a small section for retail use. In June, the development group proposed the plan to county and city planners. An annexation of the 140-acre plot, which is near the intersection of U.S. Highways 24/40 and North Seventh Street, is crucial to development. The site would need to become part of the city of Lawrence in order to get the city services needed to sustain a large business park.

Map of proposed annexation area outside of Lawrence
Photo: Lawrenceks.org

“Right now Lawrence gets most of its money from property and commercial taxes, yet they receive very little revenue from industry taxes,”said Justin Marlowe, assistant professor for public budgeting and financial management at KU. “Approving the industrial business park would show that the city is trying fill that void.” In the proposal to the city, Santaularia estimated that the development will generate 1,600 jobs, and produce $54 million in taxes and other revenue for the community during a 20-year period.

Residents Wary of Flood Risk

While the developers and city officials claim the new business park would benefit the Lawrence area, local residents are skeptical of the development. The city is asking for public assistance to fund the infrastructure needed to support new city services. Generally, the developer pays for the infrastructure to be built. However, an exception has been made for the business park upsetting some residents. “My taxes are going to increase in order to pay for it to be built and the thing is not even guaranteed to be successful,” said current Lawrence resident, Betty Nicols said. “I’d want the city to do more research before I felt comfortable paying for it.” The new business park would be built in a flood prone area, residents like Barbara Clark are worried that so much industrial growth in such a condensed area could lead to more frequent flooding. “It’s like dropping stones in a bathtub,” Clark explained said of the flood risk. “Eventually the tub will overflow.” Clark, who lives just one mile away from the proposed annexation area, is a member of the Citizens for Responsible Planning Coalition. The coalition was established by Nancy Thellman in order to unite the voice of residents opposed to the new development. However experts say that while the issue should not be overlooked, it is not substantial enough to impact development. “It’s not hard to assume “dooms’s day” scenarios, anything could potentially happen at any time,” said Marlowe. “Tornados, floods, earthquakes. We must assume the risks every time we do a new development.” Roger Pine believes that because of the close proximity to the Lawrence city limits and the Lawrence airport, industrialization of the area is imminent. “We wanted to be proactive in how the land was used and how it was developed,” Pine said. “Rather than just selling it to someone else and having them do whatever they want with it.”

OP “Moo”ves To Expand

As in Lawrence, City Council members in Overland Park saw see an opportunity for growth as well. The city is proposing to annex 15 square miles, which would extend the city’s boundaries along Lackman Road on the west and U.S. Highway 69 on the east. Included in that area is the slow-paced farm town of Bucyrus. From raising cattle to growing corn, lifestyles of Bucyrus residents are much different from their neighbors to the north. “When I used to live in Overland Park I could’ve hopped from my neighbor’s deck to my own,” said Norman Pishney, Co-Chairman of the “NO” coalition against the annexation. “I had great neighbors but I didn’t really want them in my shower.” Now Pishney lives on 40 acres in proposed expansion area. “I run every morning. I can fish, garden and play tennis, all on my own property,” Pishney said. Pishney is one of 1,600 residents who would be affected by the annexation. If it passes, homeowners would see several changes. Services that were once provided by the county would be provided by the city, a sewage system would be put in place. In addition, a $10,000-an-acre excise tax would be placed on developable land, which is designed to help pay for new streets and other public infrastructure. By expanding into the Bucyrus area, Overland Park aims to grow by 23 percent and extend its borders nearly to Miami County. This would be the largest annexation in the city’s 47-year history. City leaders estimate that they can handle inevitable growth in the area better than the county could. Projections indicate that population south of Overland Park’s current boundaries will grow 376 percent between 2000 and 2020 and 610 percent through 2030.

Stretched Too Thin?

In both farm towns, the annexation proposals face strong opposition from local residents. The “NO” coalition in Bucyrus was started by Lynne Matile: their argument is that they do not need the city services offered by Overland Park. Currently residents receive full public services from the county with the exception of a sewer system. “We are very satisfied with our current services,” said Matile. “We don’t need the help of a city that is already stretched too thin.” Matile and other members of the coalition argue that agricultural land needs specialized services. Such as sheriffs who know how to herd lost livestock, something they do not believe Overland Park can provide. For Norman Pishney, the problem with the annexation goes deeper than just sewage lines and increased taxes. “If you want to annex an area, you should sit down with key players in the community and we could get a lot done,” Pishney said. “But they way they have been going about it is really distasteful. They just came in and told us what is good for us and what we need to do.” According to the city of Overland Park Web site, city council members are following full procedure in the involuntary annexation.

The Cost/ and Benefit Balance

The cost of both annexations may seem steep to tax payers. The Airport Business Park is estimated to cost Lawrence taxpayers approximately $8 million develop the infrastructure for the necessary city services. If the annexation proposal passes, all Lawrence residents will be included in the tax. Newly annexed Overland Park taxpayers will have to pay a yearly ad valorem tax mill levy. One mill represents one dollar of every $1,000 of assessed valuation of property. Former Mayor and CEO of the Unified Government of Wyandotte County/ Kansas City, Kansas., Carol Marinovich , can’t blame Lawrence residents for being upset about annexation plans. She knows a thing or two about annexations. As mayor, Marinovich led the annexation of hundreds of Wyandotte County homes to make way for the Kansas Speedway, home to NASCAR and Indy Racing league events. She stresses to residents that, on balance, annexations are usually in the betterment of the usually end up improving a community. “Sometimes the best interests of a city in a community may not be in the best interest for the property owner,” explains Marinovich. “The city looks at the bigger picture.”

Decisions Loom in 2008

For both cities, decisions on the annexations will come after the start of the year. For Overland Park, the open comment period was extended to February 15 so that more questions could be answered about the planning of the project. Lawrence’s City Commission met on December 4. The Commission discussed the protest petitions that had been received by the city. The Commission will meet again after the holiday season. There is no date set as to when the final decision will be made. Until then, the public in both cities is urged to continue voicing their opinions to city commissioners. Normally, the state statue allows 14 days after the initial commission meeting for the public to write letters expressing their opinions but the deadline in both cities has been extended until the first of the year. “It is vital for the city commissioners to know how the public feels about the topic before they vote because if the opposition is strong they might consider taking more time additional analysis,” said Sheila Stogsdill, assistant director of planning for the city of Lawrence. In the state of Kansas, city commissioners have the final vote whether or not an annexation will pass.

KU's Cosmic Ray Research

2007-12-05T18:22:42Z

Astronomy in pop culture has usually focused on the biggest and the brightest the universe has to offer. Supernovae, black holes, massive asteroids hurtling toward earth - these are the subjects people find most exciting. And in an attempt to better understand this big universe we live in, three KU professors in the Department of Physics and Astronomy have turned their attention to something small but mighty: cosmic rays. Professors Adrian Melott, Mikhail Medvedev and David Besson study subatomic cosmic particles, or cosmic rays. For Melott and Medvedev’s research, the important cosmic rays are high-energy particles produced by shock waves. For Besson, they are rare, ultra high-energy neutrinos that can travel through space and smash into Earth with the force of a large hailstone. Melott and Medvedev conduct their research from Lawrence. Besson conducts his from a research station at the South Pole. Though their methods of research are different, both cosmic ray studies have shed new light on some of science’s interesting mysteries. Melott and Medvedev’s work with cosmic rays began a couple of years ago. They advanced a theory that offered cosmic radiation as an explanation for Earth’s previously unexplained cycle of plant and animal mass extinctions.

The theory is based on two separate scientific findings. The first occurred in 2005 when University of California, Berkeley researchers discovered that the amount of biodiversity on Earth fluctuated significantly according to a 62-million-year cycle. The other important finding for Melott and Medvedev’s theory is the fact that the sun not only revolves around the Milky Way Galaxy, but bobs up and down through the plane of the galaxy, dragging the Earth and everything else in our solar system along with it. The motion is much like a roller coaster riding along the valleys and peaks of its track. The time it takes for the sun to travel from a valley to a peak, it just so happens, is about 62 million years.

Melott and Medvedev’s theory synthesized the 62-million-year biodiversity cycle and the motion of the sun through the galaxy. They proposed that, because of a cosmic-ray-producing shock wave generated by the motion of the Milky Way through space, the earth is bombarded with a higher-than-normal number of cosmic rays when it is at a peak. “That means more radiation is hitting the ground,” Melott said. “It could lead to increased mutations, cancer, or possibly extinctions.” The theory is the most plausible explanation for the Earth’s cycle of mass extinctions, Medvedev said. It also provides a harrowing glimpse into the potential future of the planet’s biodiversity when Earth reaches a peak again in 12 million years. The increase in cosmic radiation could deplete the ozone layer and allow more ultra-violet radiation to reach the ground. It could increase cloud formation which could cool the global climate. It could also weaken the Earth’s organisms just enough to make an asteroid collision or volcanic eruption far more destructive than they otherwise would be. “Suppose you have the flu and then you get shot,” Melott said. “If something big happens while organisms are already under stress, it could hurt a lot more.” “Some species could get wiped out completely like dinosaurs did,” Medvedev said. “Species that have been on earth less than 45 million years are very vulnerable to cosmic ray fluctuations. Humans are only a million and a half years old. We may be wiped out in 10 million years. We don’t know.”

Alex Krejci, Olathe junior, is working with Melott to measure the amount of energy cosmic rays deposit in Earth’s atmosphere. Krejci, a physics and geophysics double-major, started his research in the spring. Brian Thomas of Washburn University will use his results to indicate the potential damage that increased cosmic radiation could inflict on the ozone layer. “There’s not anything humans can do to stop it,” Krejci said. “That’s what’s so interesting.” The particles Melott and Medvedev study bombard the planet at a constant rate. But while they have found no shortage of cosmic rays to study, Besson has spent 10 years searching for just one ultra-rare, ultra-high-energy particle called a neutrino. The type of neutrino Besson is looking for is a subatomic particle whose energy is 100 million times greater than what researchers have ever been able to recreate in a lab. The particles are so high-energy they can pass unfazed through practically any solid medium, including planets. Besson’s search for a neutrino is based at Antarctica’s Radio Ice Cherenkov Experiment, or RICE, where the almost-2-mile-thick ice cap is dense enough to give researchers the best chance of detecting a passing particle. RICE sensors monitor a 1.25 mile radius of the ice cap in search of the waves that would be given off by a neutrino’s collision with the ice. So far, they haven’t found detected much. Besson said that, with the current size of the RICE experiment, a neutrino particle should be observed once every ten years. On Dec. 8, he will take his tenth research trip to Antarctica. In other words, for Besson, RICE is due. Scientists think that super-high-energy particles such as neutrinos come from supermassive black holes at the center of some galaxies. These galaxies are called “active galactic nuclei”, or AGNs. “The gravitational and magnetic field of the black holes causes particles to knock around,” Besson said. “There’s a huge energy transfer and an AGN pumps out a really high-energy particle every once in a while.” Because of its ultra-high energy, a neutrino particle detected by RICE would travel virtually unimpeded from its AGN source to the RICE sensors. Besson said that would allow astronomers to follow a direct line from where the neutrino hits earth all the way back to the black hole it came from. It would be like looking through a new kind of telescope. “We would be able to learn about black holes and measure how dense the universe is,” Besson said. “We would be able to view the universe in a new and different way.” The scientific community will continue to test Melott and Medvedev's theory. Results from a telescope observing background radiation around the plane of the Milky Way will either strengthen their case or deal it a blow. Besson will spend two weeks in Antarctica this month continuing the search for an ever-elusive neutrino.

City responds to gun problems

2007-12-05T17:49:14Z

November 4, 2007: A man is shot in the leg outside of a nightclub in north Lawrence. The man was shot following an altercation outside of the club “AllStars,” and was later treated for gunshot wounds. The situation may sound like a one-time occurrence, but there have been multiple instances in recent years involving individuals carrying weapons near nightclubs.

See what KU is doing to inform students in response to
the Virginia Tech massacre.

According to data provided by the City of Lawrence Police Department, the number of weapon law violations in Lawrence has grown every year from 2002 to 2006. In 2002 there were 11 weapon law violations reported in Lawrence. This number rose to 28 by 2005, and there were a grand total of 36 violations reported in 2006. Through June of 2007 there were 18 weapon law violations. Data is only collected bi-annually, so information for the second half of 2007 is not yet available. The rise in incidents involving guns in public places like bars and nightclubs have caused City of Lawrence officials as well as police to enact many new policies as to how to handle situations involving citizens with guns. Lawrence Police Sgt. Paul Fellers says the rise in guns around clubs has been something that’s been building for many years. “In the late ‘90s we say a steady rise in the amount of young people carrying guns willing to act out,” Fellers said. “We knew something needed to be done to help this problem.” Fellers said the police department attempts to limit gun problems using a program called Gun Stoppers. The program is designed to get illegal guns off the street, by offering rewards for tips from citizens that may know of people carrying illegal weapons. Illegal weapons are not only limited to concealed weapons in illegal areas, but also guns such as sawed-off shotguns and fully automatic rifles. Citizens whose tips lead to the seizure of a weapon receive a $100 reward. Jerry Little, Lawrence City Prosectuer, says that the gun problem at clubs in Lawrence can mostly be traced to a single club. The club is Last Call, located at 729 N.H. In 2006 shots were fired outside of Last Call, and according to Little, guns had frequently found outside of the club.

“For whatever reason, the clientele that Last Call brings in is primarily from Topeka and Kansas City," Little said. "And for whatever reason those people have had a tendency to bring guns.” Last Call owner Dennis Steffes didn’t return my calls. The primary step Lawrence officials have taken to curb weapon problems at clubs to date has been a city ordinance. In 2006, the Lawrence city commission passed ordinance 14-408, which made carrying a concealed weapon in or within 200 feet of any bar or nightclub illegal. The ordinance covers weapons on people as well as in vehicles. According to data from the Lawrence Municipal Court, there have been 22 instances in which people have been charged with carrying weapons in or near a bar since the ordinance was passed, with five leading to convictions. 11 of the cases are still pending, and the other six cases have either been dismissed or diverted. Lawrence Police have said the ordinance has helped keep Lawrence safe. “In any situation where you’ve got that many people in a small area, having guns around is going to be dangerous,” Fellers said. “The city’s ordinance on carrying guns in or around bars has been of great help in keeping people safe. It has helped up a great deal.” The next step the city took was to lobbying the state Alcoholic Beverage Control to have Last Call’s liquor license revoked. Each year, the city of Lawrence examines each establishment and makes a recommendation to the state ABC on whether or not to renew a club or bar’s liquor license for the next year. For the most part, licenses are always renewed. However the city decided Last Call hadn't done enough to keep the club safe. “99 percent of the time the place is renewed,” Vice-mayor Michael Dever said. “But we felt like Last Call wasn’t doing all it could to be a safe place, so we made the recommendation that they have their license revoked.” The decision to recommend Last Call's license not be renewed wasn't finished though. The ABC conducted its own investigation to decide whether of not Last Call would remain open. The ABC agreed, and after the investigation announced that the state would not renew Last Call’s liquor license on November 31. The ABC cited drug use inside the club as the reason for its license revocation, not weapons problems, claiming that the club couldn’t be held responsible for weapons found outside of a club. While the ordinance regarding weapons near clubs is the only piece of legislation currently passed by the city, the city commission has considered a second step in attempt to keep weapons out of bars and clubs. In August, City Manager Dave Corliss suggested that the city adopt a system in which bars and clubs apply for a special use permit. In the case of Corliss’ idea, all bars and nightclubs in Lawrence would be required to apply for a special use permit in order to serve alcohol, operate late and have a certain amount of people in the establishment. The city would grant the special use permit if it saw fit, but would be able to revoke the permit if the city thought the club wasn’t doing all that was necessary to promote safety. If an establishment lost their special use permit, it would be forced to close immediately. Despite some support of the plan to license clubs with special use permits, the city commission decided unanimously to table the idea.

“I’m not a big fan of more government rules when we have a system now that should take care of it,” Dever said. “The concern is that the extra layer of rules won’t actually lead to any more compliance. It may just lead to more red tape.” Dever did say that the idea of using special use permits would be revisited if problems persisted. Under the special use permit system a club’s license could be revoked for as little as one violation. Dever also said that the existing laws allowing the carry of guns would also hinder any more legislation the Lawrence could pass regarding the carrying of weapons. “Carrying a concealed weapon with a permit is legal, so there’s very little we can do about that,” Dever said. “This limits us in other legislation we can pass.”

Advertisers aim at video games to reach target market

2007-12-05T17:13:31Z

When he is not working and he is not at school Bob Sheretts, Omaha, Neb., senior, is most likely sitting on his coach holding one of two things in his hand: a Playstation 3 controller or an Xbox 360 controller. He is the proud owner of both Sony and Microsoft’s next generation video game systems. He spent $1000 to own them both. Sheretts says he began playing video games a long time ago, and he plans on continuing to play as long as game developers continue to produce fun games. “I’ve been playing video games since I was a kid and I am proud to be part of a generation that will be able to dominates their kids in video games,” Sheretts said. He considers himself a committed game player, but not an obsessive one. “I definitely play video games more than I watch TV. I play about 2-3 hours per day, but if I have something more important or fun to do than I don’t let video games get in the way,” Sheretts said.

At 21, Sheretts represents precisely the target market at which advertisers aim. And now with a generation that plays video games as much as it watches TV, ad agencies are working with game developers in order to help their clients break into the video game market. The video game industry set a record by generating $12.6 billion in sales in 2006. This number included the sale of hardware, software and accessories. Software sales alone equaled $6.46 billion up 6% from 2005, according to the market research group NPD Group. Since 1996 the video game software industry grew from a $1.8 billion dollar business into a $6.4 billion business. As total sales soared to new heights the price of software remained the same. Nintendo released its Nintendo 64 game console in 1996. The games cost $60. In 2006, Sony introduced the Playstation 3 console, and its games costs $60. This proves people are buying a significantly greater number of video games now than 10 years ago. These staggering numbers grabbed the advertiser’s attention. According to the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) 75% of the game console playing market is under the age of 35. High demand for video games combined with the fact that young males buy the majority of the games makes in-game advertising incredibly attractive. So attractive that Microsoft purchased the New York based Massive Inc. in May of 2006 for $200 million. Massive created a world-leading network for video game advertising. The company provides a method for companies to put their ads into the video games worlds in a lifelike manner. “Our goal is to put our clients’ brand names inside the video game world in a way that will seem realistic to whomever is playing the game,” Ken Simon, Massive sales manger for the central region, said.

For example, in Electronic Arts Sports’ 2006 FIFA World Cup the sidelines of the soccer stadiums are lined with brand names ranging from T-Mobile to Hyundai. The game uses the real sponsors of the World Cup “We have found that most gamers like the ads because they feel it makes games seem real,” Simon said. In Project Gotham Racing 3 on Xbox 360 gamers can see McDonalds as they drive cars around Las Vegas and New York City. The game also features billboards with brands names such as Samsung and Bridgestone. This method of advertising does not seem invasive to the gamer, but it does not go with out notice. “FIFA World Cup is my favorite game and I know the ads in the game are there for a reason. I appreciate how they make the game seem more realistic. Sponsorship is a huge part of soccer, so it should be a huge part of soccer video games,” Sheretts said. Game developers pay special attention to detail to ensure the ads enhance the realism of the games, and do not make gamers feel as if they are looking through the yellow pages. Games are so detailed that in NCAA March Madness 2007, also made by EA Sports, the schools sponsored by Adidas have an Adidas insignias on the players’ uniforms, while the schools sponsored by Nike are marked with Nike swooshes. According to studies conducted by Massive this scheme works. The company boasts a 64% increase in brand familiarity for its clients and 41% increase in purchase consideration. The study was based on two groups playing the same game. One group saw the ads in the game and the other group did not. Making games more realistic and complex comes at a price. Next generation games (games made for Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Nintendo Wii) cost as much as $20 million to produce. That is nearly triple the amount it cost to make games for the last generation of video game consoles (Playstation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo Gamecube). Higher production cost mean game developers need to find a new source of income to continue making a profit. Selling ad space is one of the best ways to accomplish that goal, which explains the explosion of ad dollars being put into video games. In 2006 in-game advertising made $77.7 million globally, and that number is expected to double by the end of 2007, according to a study conducted by the Yankee Group. At Electronic Arts, the console software industry leader, the future depends on making ad sales. “We will not be able to survive if we do not continue to sell ads in our games. Making games fresh and exciting for consumers is driving up production costs and advertising is the best way to respond,” Scott Gamel, public relations manager at Electronic Arts’ Redwood Shores studio, said. In fact, EA joined Microsoft in August of 2006 when it signed on with Massive Inc. The contract was signed for two years and gives Massive the responsibility for all in-game advertising for EA titles. With EA on board two of the industry’s largest software companies bought in to the business of in-game advertising. Research suggests it is the wave of the future. The Yankee group predicts that by 2011 developers will sell $971 million of ad space.

Engineering a new program

2007-12-05T07:43:08Z

Twelve people are pioneering a new effort at the University of Kansas. This semester, they began classes in the School of Engineering's newest doctorate program: Bio-Engineering.

The School of Engineering has sponsored research in Bio-Engineering for decades, but until this semester, they have not offered a degree in it. As of Fall 2007, the school offers both a Master and Doctorate degree in Bio-Engineering. Carl Luchies, director of graduate studies in the school, said that the new program satisfies a need. "Bio-Engineering has become very popular in recent decades," Luchies said. "We've lost students who have been looking for a Bio-Engineering degree." The University of Kansas is not the first to offer such a degree. Many colleges, including Kansas State University, offer Bio-Engineering programs. "Bio-Engineering is not new. There are about 100 insitutions that have Bio-Engineering programs," Luchies said. The School of Engineering has met several challenges in developing this program. One challenge was making sure applicants were qualified to enter the program. "These are some of the best students we will get in the School of Engineering," Luchies said. "They need to know Engineering plus." Another problem was organization. Unlike other programs, Bio-Engineering requires a wide range of specializations. "The largest unique hurdle is the fact that Bio-Engineering at KU is an interdisciplinary program involving many departments and areas," said Nickie Lee, coordinator of graduate student recruitment for the School of Engineering, "including the KU Medical Center, orthopedic research, the School of Pharmacy, physical therapy, the School of Engineering, biology, chemistry, dentistry, and many others."

Photo: Samuel Lamb

Despite these problems, the program is now underway. Currently, there are only 12 students to 40 faculty, but Luchies plans to have 80 students and 60 faculty involved in the program within five years. "Demand for this type of program continues to increase," Luchies said. Luchies and Lee both noted that Bio-Engineering is very inter-disciplinary. Overall, Luchies said there was a common element to the studies. "Bio-Engineering is about improving the human condition," he said. "They want to spend their lives helping people."

Christmas tree industry finds niches to survive

2007-12-05T07:18:36Z

Todd Koffard loves the time of year when he gets to go outside in less-than-30-degree weather. He loves it so much that he’s been doing it for more than 10 years. What began as an interested venture into nature became a holiday tradition with his wife and son, including hot chocolate, a friendly staff and a hayride. Koffard, Lawrence resident, took his family Christmas tree shopping last weekend at Green Forest Tree Farm in Lecompton. He said that for his family, visiting the farm and picking out a tree is part of their Christmas spirit. “We get the tree that fits us. The trees pick us out,” Koffard said. Koffard is among the millions of Americans who buy Christmas trees during the holidays. Purchases of both real and artificial tree earned more than $1.8 billion in 2006, and sales have increased by almost 10 percent since 2001. The tree farm industry is growing and changing in the wake of agricultural difficulties, land buyouts and the artificial tree influx. Finding a niche has been the key to success for many farmers around the state.

There were 21,904 farms growing pine trees in 2002, according to the United States Department of Agriculture National Agricultural Statistics. The average price of real trees in 2006 was $40.50 and fake trees sold for $68. Real trees earned these thousands of tree farms $1.2 billion and fake trees earned $631 million. Many of the farmers join the National Christmas Tree Association as a way to network to other growers. Rick Dungey, public relations manager, said real farms are surviving by becoming more competitive and offering consumers new options. “We are seeing new species produced and additional services offered like recycling,” Dungey said. “I think this is an ever-expanding market.” He said some farmers are even offering special trees like skinny pines for narrow homes and table-top trees for smaller homes. Ted Ryan, owner of Green Forest Tree Farm, has experienced the difficulties of owning a tree farm and has constantly worked to overcome then. He purchased the farm 13 years ago for a weekend hobby with a profit, but has since learned how challenging it is to grow a pine tree in Kansas. Many trees can’t tolerate the heat of the Kansas summer. Ryan said that if he plants 1,000 trees and 500 survive to the next year, he is happy. To meet demands and help his business, Ryan tried something new. “We have a demand for other pine trees we can’t grow here,” Ryan said. “We get them shipped in because they have a longer growing season than we do.” In addition to shipping in trees, Ryan lowers his prices to retain customers. Each year he checks the market for the average price of trees and adjusts his price accordingly. “We have a lot of return buyers and we like to keep the price down for them,” Ryan said. Ryan sold his trees this year for $6.50 per foot, which for the average 6-foot-6-inch tree is $42.25 tree. In a good year, that was $25,350 extra revenue, not including netting fees, cutting costs and the occasional cup of hot chocolate. When the meticulous practice of growing trees becomes too difficult and time-consuming for Ryan, he said he would find another buyer.

“This is a family enterprise, but I don’t think we could steer our kids out here to take over,” Ryan said. Older age and children unwilling to take over the family business have added to the problems of keeping a tree farm open, as Buzz Warren discovered. When Warren, Overland Park resident, reached the age of 63 in 2004, he decided it was time to quit running Warren Tree Farm. “We moved into the country because we wanted our kids to learn something about enterprise and entrepreneurship,” Warren said. “Then they grew up, moved away and I lost all my free help.” Warren’s farm consistently grew up to 70,000 trees, although he sold 4,000 a year, less than six percent of all the trees. Christmas trees take eight years to mature, which was a longer wait as he got older. He also encountered the horticultural difficulties. “You couldn’t pick a more difficult area to grow Christmas trees rather than a desert,” Warren said. He said Kansas was the only state without a native pine tree, probably because of the weather. Kansas was too windy, hot and dry, but if a tree could live for two years then it could survive a drought. Warren’s original plan with the farm was to use it as a fun pastime and an escape from his printing job. When he decided to retire, he sold the land to a developer. Despite the daunting difficulties faced by tree farmers, some people still brave the wind and start farms. Ralph Millard of Junction City thought it would be a good way to make use of land he already owned, and by the time the farm opened the nearest farmer would be close to retiring. “With the arrival of the first infantry division to Fort Riley, there’s a niche. Christmas is a special time of year for them,” Millard said. Millard isn’t going blindly into the new business. He has visited other farms, attended seminars, taken an entrepreneurship class and even acquired a mentor from an existing farm. Despite inexperience in the farming industry, Millard isn’t worried about success. “We have the same ingredients that farmers generations before have had,” Millard said. “We have the land and the energy and we learn every day.” Artificial tree suppliers are learning from the growing market as well by offering trees that farmers can’t grow. Bill Quinn founded Christmas Trees For Me three years ago as a break from his software job, but now he offers a whole category of unique trees for people who don’t want a normal tree. He sells lime green trees, black trees, red trees and even upside-down trees. These trees, while less hassle than real trees, are not always comparable to real trees in price. The 12-foot pre-lit red Christmas tree tops the unique tree category at $1,499. One outdoor realistic tree costs $2,999. Quinn said he is trying to deal a special kind of tree to gain an edge in the market. “We try to offer trees that really look real. We want them to be very high quality,” Quinn said. Like any other business, the key to keeping and gaining new customers for Christmas tree farms has been finding new ways to attract customers. Farmers search for a niche, whether it is a lower price, a specific target group of consumers or special services. The farmers who do this survive when others fail. The artificial tree industry has started to respond in the same way, and the innovation has allowed the industry to continue to grow. “People like a lot of choices and there is no one perfect tree for everyone,” said Dungey. “You can go out and get a different kind every year.”

Grass on Campanile Hill Gets Greener

2007-12-05T06:26:32Z

The grass is greener on the other side.
That's the case for the new football facility
Learn why the new green roof must
be watered.

Piles of dirt stand 30 feet high. Dust kicked up by tractors lingers in the air. A lone KU flag hangs from a 200-foot crane. Signs outside the construction site promise that the hill will soon but the scene makes it hard to imagine Campanile Hill green again. But come July, when construction of the new football facility is finished, the hill will be even greener than it was before. Next July, when the new Kivisto Football facility is complete, it will be the first building on campus to ever receive a green roof. With aesthetic, energy and earth saving benefits, green roofs have become a national trend. The addition of the new green roof on campus, may put Lawrence in line to feel the effects of the trend. Black waterproofing material, extra large support beams and 6 inches of concrete await the 500,000 pounds of soil and grass that will be added to the roof in April.

Construction the facility continues.
Waterproofing materials await the soil
and grass that will be added in April.
Photo: Ava Dinges

The green roof over the facility’s gymnasium is almost complete, but adding a green roof to the facility wasn’t in the original construction plans. Warren Corman, the University Architect says the University decided on the green roof when they worried about the affects the new facility would have on the look of Campanile hill. Making the least impact possible on the hill became the University’s primary concern. “Whatever we did on the hill, with all its history of tradition and commencement, we didn’t want to hurt the aesthetics of it. We didn’t want to hurt the beauty of that hill,” Corman says. “In fact, the Chancellor says that if you ruin the beauty of the hill, I’m going to kill you and bury you on the hill...I think he was joking.” Jeffrey Bruce, the Kansas City landscape architect on the project, proposed a solution. Rather than building the facility’s 16,000 square foot gymnasium on top of the hill, Bruce suggested building the gym under it. KU’s first green roof was born. “We saw an opportunity to advocate a green roof as a viable solution,” Bruce says. Bruce’s company has long been an advocate for green roofing, having completed about 60 green roof projects across the country. Building KU’s new green roof set the University back an extra $230,000 out of the $33 million spent on the entire football facility.

Rendering of what the new football facility
will look like once the green roof on
top of the gymnasium is complete.
photo: courtesy of KU Design and
Construction Management

But Corman says the extra money spent was well worth it. He says the University is always worried about the $8 or $9 million it spends each year on the utilities of its 200 buildings. With the energy-saving benefits green roofs are known, the roof should pay for itself. “We probably spend another $200,000 putting that greening roof on there, but I figured we’d save that in about 5 years just roughly,” Corman says. “And if the cost of energy keeps going up like it has been, we might even save it sooner than that.” Corman estimates that the green roof will save energy by 20 percent because of added insulation and cooling from water stored in the soil. Having the building underground will save 20 percent more energy. “Much like a cave that has a very stable interior climate, buildings that are buried under a thick layer of soil end up having a much more stable climate,” says Johannes Feddema, a KU geography professor. “What that means is that you have to expend much less energy to both heat and cool the system.” After a depth of about 5 or 6 feet, the earth maintains a constant temperature. The dirt surrounding the walls of the gymnasium will always be roughly 55 degrees, Corman says. The facility will only need to be heated 10 degrees in the winter. Corman says maintenance of the roof will be fairly simple because a lawn mower will be able to run right over the grass but with only 6 inches of soil to support grass, the roof will require an irrigation system to stay alive. Initally, the thought of irrigating a roof concerned Corman. “Any time you put irrigation water and dirt and grass on top of a roof, you’re always worried about it leaking,” Corman says. “Even with regular roofs, we have leaks. But if this thing leaks, you’d have a heck of a time finding it.” Two layers of waterproofing materials and drainage boards are already in place in the roof to prevent it from leaking. “We feel real good about it. We feel it’s not going to leak,” Corman says. Fear of leaking has always been a concern for green roofs, but improvements in green roofing technologies have helped to calm those fears, Bruce says. “We’ve seen many more projects come up. People are less reluctant to consider them,” Bruce says. Bruce says he has seen a major increase in the number of green roof requests. Currently, his company is dealing with at least 15 new green roof projects. Green roofs already exist on the Kansas City Public Library, the Nelson Art Gallery, the Boulevard Brewery, and the Nelson Atkins Museum of Art. According to a 2006 study by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, Kansas City ranks 5th in the nation for its 180,000 square feet of green roofing. Phaedra Svec, architect at BNIM Archtects in Kansas City, attributes the rise of Kansas City’s green roof industry to the city’s water management problems. With more miles of highway per capita, Kansas City is a good example of your typical urban sprawl, Svec says. The old water infrastructure downtown struggles to support the rapidly spreading city. “The city is kind of a mess right now. The water infrastructure is so much in need of repair that there’s a lot of incentive to improve storm water quality, which green roofs do,” Svec says. Soil on green roofs helps to store excess water for later use as compared to a regular roof that lets most rain water run away. “We have a lot of incentive to keep our water on sight,” Svec says. “We’re actually heading toward water supply problems ourselves because we’re sending all our water away.” The city of Chicago is turning to green roofs to control a different aspect of its environment. Chicago, the number one green roof city in the nation, mandated the use of green roofs on all city buildings in order to minimize deadly heat waves caused by excess heating of non-vegetated surfaces and rising carbon dioxide levels, Feddema says. No matter the reason, aesthetic or environmental, green roofs are on the rise all across the nation. More than 3 million square feet of green roofing was installed in United States last year, according to a 2006 survey done by Green Roofs for Healthy Cities, resulting in a 25 percent growth in area from 2005. Results from the 2005 survey indicate the square footage the growth of the green roof square footage across the United States was 80 percent.

It's the first of its kind on the KU
campus, but just one of many springing
up on across the nation. Double Click the
the picture above to watch this KUJH
TV Package.

With the addition of KU’s new green roof, Lawrence may be next to feel the effects of the trend. While no well-known green roofs exist in the city yet, plans and proposals are in place. Designs for the controversial Oread Hotel planned near the north edge of campus show an array of trees on top of the roof of the seven story building. Proposals for a new $48 million library near the River Front Plaza include a green roof-garden. If successful, the new football facility’s green roof may spark other green movements. “KU has had many other energy efficient house and architectural design without much recognition,” Feddema says. “I think now that it’s tied to a sports facility, it will have a bigger impact on public opinion.”

An Organic Dilemma

2007-12-05T06:09:44Z

From recycling to green roofs, to organic food and even recycled clothing, it seems as if everyone has gotten the “green” bug. Emphasis on making things environmentally healthy has become a cool trend instead of a daily burden. However, many students still eating products made with pesticides, herbicides, and steroids.This is partly because many people are uneducated about the many benefits of organic food, while others just don’t want to spend the money when the other grocery store down the street sells their apples for 50 cents less than an organic market. We live in a city where the market for organic and locally grown foods is exceptionally high, and it seems a waste that the organic/local food community and college students can’t be more beneficial for one and other. Dani Erker, an Olathe senior, says that all the word “organic” means to her, is “more expensive.” In a stressful school environment, Erker doesn’t really think twice about what she eats as long as it gets her through the day. “Look, I know that organic foods are better for you because they don‘t have chemicals, but I’ve been eating regular food my whole life, so I really don’t see what changing my diet now is going to do,” Erker said. Erker is just one of the the many college students who can’t seem to justify spending extra money on organic and local products. However, their are a number of students who have begun to “lean green.” With a variety of health places to eat springing up all over downtown, such as: ingredient, Global Cafe and the golden oldie of organic eateries, Local burger, students are beginning to feel the need to eat healthier. “I’ve always been a healthy eater, its just how I was raised,” said Riley Parker, an Overland Park senior. “It’s been so nice to be able and go out to eat at a place I know is serving healthy good food.”

Parker prides herself on being a health conscious individual. She exercise everyday and prefers fruits and veggies over meats and carbs. Parker shops mostly at the Community Mercantile, but has found that other grocery stores such as Hy-vee and Target offer healthy organic food as well for reasonable prices. “I’m definitely willing to spend more for the food I eat, I know that many people aren’t but I’m just used to eating this way, and to turn away from it now would seem wrong or something,” Parker said. John and Karen Pendleton, local Lawrence farmers, rely on an older client base for much of their revenue. “We don’t rely on students for most of our business,” said John Pendleton, a Lawrence farmer, “it’s mostly all families and health conscious adults who come out to our farm to buy our products.” The Pendleton’s own a unique farm four miles east of Lawrence, and have been growing and selling asparagus, soybeans, wheat, and corn to the Lawrence community for 25 years. One of their most well-known events is the time of the year when people can come out to the farm and pick their own asparagus right out of the ground to take home. “We get a really diverse group of people that come out to pick their own asparagus, people just love to know they are eating just what they picked out of the ground, truly homegrown produce,” Pendleton said, with a proud smile.

The Pendletons aren’t the only people trying to spread a healthy word to the wise, Casey Millstein, co-owner of the organic grocery store on Massachusetts Street named the Casbah, has been working tirelessly over the past year to get her store open to the public. Millstein’s emphasis for her store is trying to make good organic and local foods more accessible to the public, while educating people of the benefits of eating both. “Pesticides, harmful chemicals and steroids are bad for the body. They make it harder for the body to process food,at least when it’s local you know exactly where the food came from and how it was grown,” Millstein said. Millstein said that in the few weeks before the store opening she and her colleagues have discussed how to make the store more gravitating for students. “There are the obvious advantages of us being on Mass. street, there is a lot of foot traffic and people will be curious and want to stop in. Also, we have made efforts to attract people in the store for other reasons bedsides grocery shopping,” Millstein said. Millstein plans on having an art gallery in the basement, filled with pieces done by local artists called the “Wonder Fair,” along with a Jamaican themed vegan restaurant in the back. Millstein hopes adding these other aspects to the store will bring more people in. Also putting some less expensive food up in the front of the store so people won’t be thinking about prices right as they walk through the door. “I am going to try and make the store the least expensive I can.” Millstein said. “For me this first year is not really about making a profit, it’s more about gaining a reputation with the community and building a strong client base.” The Casbah is a family owned business. Millstein co-owns the business with her brother,and her father is their landlord. The family has been running a business off Massachusetts street for many years. Their main goal for the store is to use as many local products as possible and one day eventually have their own farm that most of the products will come from. “One of my biggest hopes is that this store will help get the word out, and educate people about the benefit of growing things organically with less harming chemicals, not only will it help a human body but the land it’s grown on as well,” Millstein said. Not everyone on college campuses is completely unaware of the benefits of organic products however, small schools such as St. Olaf are using completely sustainable food in their cafeterias, where everything is either organic or locally grown. Now, even KU has gotten on the organic food bandwagon. Rita York, manager at the Community Mercantile, said that they had representatives from KU dining contact them and ask to meet for advice on how to make the KU dining areas more diverse by offering organic products. “We are willing to help anyone who has an interest in sustainable food. We pointed KU dining services in the right direction, and gave them information on where we get our own products,” York said. The Community Mercantile has been an organic/local food market for the last 8 years and in brought in $8.5 million in sales of organic and local products last year alone. David Smith, head of marketing for the Community Mercantile, said that they estimate about 15-20 percent of their customer base is students. Smith said The Merc has been marketing more towards a vegetarian and vegan movement going on among young people. "We try to let students know that we have these options available throughout our store -- we offer vegan muffins, cookies and quickbreads in our bakery. In our grocery and frozen food departments we have quite a range of vegetarian and vegan choices," Smith said. When asked if The Merc has done anything to make their products more affordable for students, Smith said the company had come up with a program in order to help out with the added expense of eating organic. "At The Merc we do understand that organics can be pricier than conventional products. To make our store more affordable to shop, we have created The Merc Basics Program. We took a look at items that are "basic" to people's everyday lives. We then purposely lowered the prices on these staple items," Smith explained. With the demand for organic foods on the rise, more and more business are seeing the pototential places like the Merc have been benefiting from for years. Now there are organic products on the shelves at the Market in the Union. That is just one more step into introducing organic foods to students who would more often than not opt for the cheapest products they can find no matter how unhealthy or chemical treated they are. “I don’t really care where it came from or how it got here, they could have traveled across the country in a big truck and polluted the air the whole way and been grown with harmful pesticides and what-not. All I care about is if I have enough money to put food on the table in front of me, and still go out for a beer with my friends,” Erker said. On the contrary some students are optimistic about the steps being taken in Lawrence to promote healthy eating and local growers. “I think it’s fantastic that they have organic products at the Union.” Parker said. “Many students don’t realize it’s not just about being healthy it’s good for the earth as well, and I must admit I have started doing as much as I can lately to try and do my part for the environment. I recycle, I eat good food, I have a compost pile, every little bit helps, people just need to realize it.

Looking for a place to play

2007-12-05T04:39:40Z

When Tom Bracciano surveys the football field at Lawrence High School, he sees a plot of clumpy grass bordered by sidelines marked with bare dirt. The USD 497 Director of Facilities and Operations has a vision of what a practice facility should look like – and it is quite a bit different from Lawrence High’s current field. “We’ve come up with some scenarios and concepts for putting artificial turf on practice fields,” Bracciano said. “These grass fields are trampled and overused, so these new surfaces would be safer and more energy efficient.” USD 497 of Lawrence has laid out several options for improving the athletic facilities at both Lawrence High and Free State High. The district could choose either to replace the grass fields it currently uses or build a multi-sport facility for the two schools to share. School officials have discussed improving or adding athletic fields at several board meetings this fall but have not yet finalized any plans. If Lawrence school officials need inspiration in their search for an answer to the riddle of facility improvement, they could look a few miles west to Topeka. In fall 2003, Topeka’s USD 501 erected a multi-sport facility called Hummer Sports Park. The facility includes a football field, soccer field, running track, two baseball fields, two softball fields and an aquatic center. Topeka High, Topeka West and Highland Park High share the facility – though Highland Park hosts football games on its own campus. USD 501 Athletics Coordinator Rick Benke said the facility has been convenient for community events and has helped Topeka’s high schools save money.

“We started this project with the idea for our schools to not rent fields from the city,” Benke said. “It has been a huge plus because we used to play games at Washburn (University) and for practices we were spread out all over the city. It makes it easy for the coaches, the kids and the parents because having them all here at one complex cuts down on travel expenses and busing.” Lawrence’s current conundrum is similar to the one Topeka faced in 2001. Both Lawrence High and Free State High play their home football games at Haskell Stadium at a cost of $3,000 per game. Haskell Stadium is also home to Haskell University’s football team, meaning the natural grass field undergoes a substantial amount of wear and tear throughout the season. Bracciano said it would probably cost about $7 million to renovate Haskell Stadium and replace its grass playing surface with more resilient artificial turf. Repairing Haskell’s football field is an appealing option for the school district because it would help preserve Lawrence High’s 78-year tradition of playing at Haskell and eliminate the need to build a new football stadium, but Haskell and USD 497 have not come to an agreement yet. “As far as communication with Haskell, I don’t know where that will go,” USD 497 Board of Education member Marlene Merrill said. “But we do have a long history of working with Haskell and having our games there. We have to look at maximizing what we will get and at the same time we need to address the needs we already have.” As an alternative to patching up Haskell Stadium, Lawrence could follow in Topeka’s footsteps and build a multi-sport complex for its two schools to share. The district has looked into the idea of a large, multi-purpose facility in the past, and members of the school board looked at drawings of what the complex would look like. Bracciano said if USD 497 decided to build a complex, it would be similar to Topeka’s Hummer Sports Park and would provide facilities for football, baseball, softball, tennis and soccer.

Hummer Sports Park, Topeka

In the short term, the Board of Education could choose to renovate both high schools’ practice fields, with or without the addition of a new sports facility. Currently, football, baseball and softball teams at Lawrence High and Free State High practice on grass fields. If the district follows through on its proposed plan, a synthetic surface called AstroPlay would be installed on the schools’ on-site facilities for $7 million. Bracciano said resurfacing the fields would substantially improve the state of the fields. “With grass, you have a whole lot of maintenance issues,” Bracciano said. “Right now, we use a lot of water, fertilizer and seed and spend a lot of time on mowing and aeration. Quite honestly, a lot of that fertilized water goes into the rivers and streams. We would have better-quality fields that we could use 24/7 with no downtime to seed or aerate.” The renovation of the schools’ practice fields could be funded by what Bracciano called “performance contracting”. Using performance contracting, the district would be allowed to borrow from the state enough money to complete the project because the new surface would save energy. Those waiting for a full-fledged multi-sport complex might not want to hold their breath. The project, estimated to cost $21 million – without accounting for the purchase of land – has not moved much past the point of speculation. Merrill said the Board of Education had to make sure to take care of educational necessities before focusing on new sports facilities. “A lot of options are under consideration and no decisions have been made,” Merrill said. “The big issue is, ‘What is the need?’ And we’re looking at educational needs, not just enhancing sports only. So we have to look at what benefits all students.” The Hummer Sports Park in Topeka was built with help from a bond issue that passed in 2001. The facility cost $17.5 million, about $4 million less than the facility proposed in Lawrence. Benke said some Topeka citizens were hesitant about building the sports park, but for the most part the public has been happy with the return on its investment. “I think our board did a really good job of talking to the public,” Benke said. “We had meetings because we had to pass a bond issue, but the city was very supportive. We had public meetings where all of the problems were talked about, and the city decided the park would be a positive.”

Slot Machines re-vitalize the Woodlands

2007-12-05T01:25:34Z

Mike Stout, a longtime greyhound kennel owner at the Woodlands in Kansas City, notified the track’s management that he would be leaving at the end of May earlier this year. Stout had raced his greyhounds and operated a kennel at the Woodlands almost every year since it first opened in 1989. But the greyhound racing industry had fallen on tough times in recent years, especially in Kansas City. Stout could barely stay afloat financially with the ever-declining purse money. Then in March, a few months after he shared his intentions of leaving, everything changed. The Kansas legislature passed a law that allowed the track to put in slot machines. A local referendum was passed three months later. Stout was astonished and decided he wasn’t leaving the Woodlands. “It was unbelievable because they had been trying for so long and it was such a big surprise,” Stout said. “If it wouldn’t have happened, I’m sure the Woodlands wouldn’t be racing today.” Woodlands general manger Jamie LaRocca confirmed Stout’s suspicion. LaRocca said that the track had lost at least two million dollars for the past five years and the owners were disenchanted after being denied slot machines for 15 straight years. But what a difference the promise of 800 slot machines can make. The machines will bring newfound wealth to the Woodlands, its employees and the kennel owners. When the slot machines are implemented in May or June of 2008, the Woodlands will become the ninth greyhound track in the nation with the gambling device. Around the nation, slot machines are saving the sport of greyhound racing. “Places have gone from barely hanging on to having slots, having the building paid for, renovations are going on, the dog men’s purses are great – it’s just a snowball effect,” LaRocca said. “It just helps every entity of the race track itself.” Kennel owners make money from a complex point system. Currently at the Woodlands, the value of one point is $25. If a dog comes in fourth place in a race, the kennel is usually credited with around one point, which would be $25 right now. But after the slots are put in, LaRocca said the value of one point would likely rise immediately to $80. A top grade race is worth around seven points so that would mean with slot machines, every victory would be worth around $600 for the kennel owner. At race tracks with slot machines, kennel owners have seen purses rise by as much as six times what they were before slot machines. Iowa was the first state to allow slot machines at race tracks in 1995. Bluffs Run Greyhound Park in Council Bluffs, Iowa saw the value of one point rise from $20 before slot machines to $130 now. Even if the total money being gambled on racing declines, the purses will stay high because in law, the slot machines are part of the race track. “Our law says they have to supplement the purses from the profits of the casino because it was a dog track with slots added as opposed to a casino with dog racing added,” Bob Hardison, kennel owner at Bluffs Run, said. “They wanted to make sure we were rewarded.”

The law in Kansas reads close to the same. The slot machine addition also has kennel owners breeding and raising more dogs. Stout, who has a greyhound farm just outside of Topeka, said he was only raising 15 to 20 dogs per year before the slot machine announcement. But now there’s closer to 100 dogs on his farm. “We’ve all just been struggling for so long to survive and now it’s an opportunity to hopefully make some money again,” Stout said. “And revive the sport and revive our industry.” Reviving the sport, however, has proven to be trickier at sites with slot machines. Although the tracks are making enough money to make the sport profitable, they aren’t attracting enough new customers to make it relevant. At Bluffs Run only a little more than five million dollars were bet on live greyhound racing last year. In 1994, the year before the track received slot machines, more than 34 million dollars were bet on the races. Hardison said it showed that slot machines overshadowed the sport. “One thing we’ve learned in Iowa is that once they get slot machines added to the dog track part, they don’t care as much as they used to,” Hardison said. “There’s nothing more profitable than casino gaming.” Stout said he hoped the Woodlands didn’t fall into a similar complacency once the profit from slot machines started piling up. He said it would be up to the management to attract customers to greyhound racing by educating them about the sport. LaRocca said he expected more people to bet on greyhound racing after the slot machines were unveiled. And if not, he vowed not to leave the sport behind. “As far as the Woodlands is concerned, ownership is fully committed to making sure a lot is going into the racing product,” LaRocca said.

Greyhound track managers and kennel owners seem determined to use the slot machines as a means to bring the sport back to national prominence. One of the main obstacles standing in the way is that most people don’t understand that gambling on greyhounds is a form of pari-mutuel wagering. In pari-mutuel betting, the gambler is playing against the other bettors who put money into the pool and not the house like traditional betting. The payout is calculated by the odds and the amount of money invested in the pool. Many greyhound racing supporters believe explaining the techniques of pari-mutuel wagering to casual gamblers could increase interest. With race tracks slowly becoming casinos, there is a perfect venue for this type of education to take place. “It certainly looks to be the trend at all race tracks and the thing that’s coming,” Gary Guccione, National Greyhound Association president, said. “I’m here at a symposium right now and a lot of the discussion is converting race tracks to casinos. It’s the hot issue.” But not everyone is thrilled about the Woodlands future addition. Part of the reason the law took so long to pass was because of opposition from the Native American community, which feels casinos at race tracks infringe upon their rights. There are also organizations like Grey 2K USA that wish to eradicate greyhound racing all together. With more money being pumped into the sport, their mission becomes increasingly more difficult. Mike Stout now waits impatiently for the day that the Woodlands floor is covered with slot machines. Because Stout knows what it means to him financially and what it could mean to the sport.

Dead malls

2007-12-02T23:35:01Z

Walk inside the Riverfront Plaza’s east tower on 6th and New Hampshire and you can still see the bright green tile on the floor. The tile was put down more than 10 years ago hoping to lure customers to Lawrence's first enclosed mall. Now on one side of the former mall sits a hotel, while the other side was converted for a Pregnancy Care Center. Problems with parking lot access, competition from another new outdoor mall in North Lawrence, and the rise of online shopping meant the Lawrence mall never got off the ground. City Commissioner Mike Dever thought Lawrence was a bad fit for a mall from the start. "Many successful outlet malls are located in isolated areas on major interstates or in tourist havens that have a large supply of pent up demand from visitors,” Dever said, “I think the City of Lawrence is not located in either of these two areas." A few years after its opening, the Riverfront Mall went out of business, and other malls in the area were starting to see their glory days as a retail attraction come to an end. Business at enclosed malls has been going down steadily around the country for the last ten years. Customers and their credit cards are choosing to shop at box stores and open air malls like The Legends in Kansas City, Kan., or Town Center Plaza in Leawood. Malls have reacted in different ways to the change in shopping habits. Some malls locally like Oak Park have become even more popular, by bringing in new stores and tenants. Other malls in Kansas City failed to adapt to their new conditions like Bannister Mall and died a slow death . Finally there is Ward Parkway Mall, which has evolved with the times, and gives hope to other malls in the area looking for one last chance. To really see how far some local malls have fallen, you look 40 miles east of Lawrence to Metcalf South Mall in Overland Park. Almost 40 years ago, the opening of Metcalf South Mall was celebrated throughout the city. A whole section in the Kansas City Star was devoted to the first enclosed mall in Kansas. It became the hangout spot for teenagers in the 1970’s and 1980’s, families would crowd the mall on weekends, and kids would flip coins from their allowance in the fountain. The mall had everything anybody could want, from the hottest new clothing stores, to a barbershop, and even an arcade, Metcalf South Mall was the place to be. Over time the competition from other malls increased, while Metcalf had a tough time keeping their stores from going out of business. The mall quickly lost touch with the times. Today, if you walk through the mall, you can still see the Footlocker sign above the store, as well as some of the old store logos that haven’t been torn down, but most of the stores and people have left and the mall only seems to be reminder to people in the area of what was once a landmark in the community. For Jennette Fulster, exuctive assistant to the mayor of Overland Park, she has fond memories of the mall. “ It was so big, it was like Oak Park is now,” Oak Park Mall doesn’t have to look to the past to remember their glory days, they are living in it right now. Despite being 30 years old, Oak Park is still the crown jewel of malls in Kansas. Director of Marketing Kate Peterson thinks there is one major reason for the malls sustained popularity. "You have to keep getting new stores and tenants so customers have a reason to keep coming back," Peterson said. Oak Park is planning major renovations for early 2008, the mall plans to add new stores such as XXI which is a popular Forever 21 brand. Unlike Metcalf South, Oak Park has taken advantage of being rooted in the middle of the richest county in Kansas. "Being in Johnson County does help because this area is big on the income and we get a lot of college students, so that doesn't hurt either."

One of the malls that hasn’t been helped by its location is Bannister Mall in South Kansas City. Bannister Mall, built just 27 years ago, was once one of the hottest malls in Kansas City. As the years passed the mall saw the area around it rise in crime and drugs. Shad Bailey, who owned a telemarketing company that was located inside the mall, heard crazy stories such as people hiding under cars and slitting ankles with knifes, but most of those stories were never proved to be true. Bailey though, said the mall’s reputation took a hit. “I would have people call in looking for a job, and once I told them we were located inside Bannister Mall, they wouldn’t show up for the interview,” Bailey said. By the turn of the century, JC Penney, one of the mall’s anchor tenants left the mall, but Bannister was already into a free fall as empty store fronts dotted the inside of the mall. After failing to land a Bass Pro Shop, the mall continued to decline until it eventually closed in May of 2007. Bailey felt the mall management never adapted to the changing landscape and demographics of the mall. The stores that were making the most money weren’t the ones selling high priced clothing items, but rather gold teeth. “By the end, most of the shoppers and people that worked there were African-American,” Bailey said, “ The people running the mall never got out of the mindset of making it a suburban mall, when it should have been more of an urban mall.” One mall that looked like it was going to join Metcalf South and Bannister as another failed mall was Ward Parkway Mall. Once one of the biggest malls in Kansas City just 20 years ago, by the late 1990’s the mall started to notice a severe drop in customers. As mall management watched open air malls gain in popularity, they decided to make a drastic change. They started making more of their stores accessible from outside as well as inside the mall. Customers could go to the store they wanted to without ever stepping foot inside the mall. This is a new trend known as a "Hybrid Lifestyle Center". While Ward Parkway has the traditional stores inside the mall, it also accommodates larger square footage users such as Dick's Sporting Goods, 24 Hour Fitness and Old Navy. Known in the industry as Mid-size boxes. Ward Parkways is also currently under construction adding its newest business, “Staples.” This new development has breathed new life into the mall making it a viable place to shop once again. General Manager of Ward Parkway Chuck Oglesby thinks this could be the future for declining malls. “This evolution is a trend across the Unites States as developers seek opportunities to capitalize efforts on existing retail locations surrounded by good demographics and placed in highly visible areas,” Oglesby said, “The costs of renovation are substantially less than new construction and zoning and entitlements are already in place. With increased costs on construction goods and steel, it is very probable that this trend will continue for some time.” While Ward Parkway shines a light of hope for other declining malls in the area, Metcalf South Mall has yet to write its final chapter. Developers from Colorado have offered a plan to turn the mall into an outdoor plaza combining new stores with office space. While a decision on the final plans won’t be made on Metcalf South Mall until next year, Shad Bailey notes one thing malls have to do to stay alive. “Malls have to adapt to the times and the areas surrounding them, if they don’t they won’t be around long in today's market.”