Recently by Tanner Grubbs

Dolph Simons Jr., World Company chairman and Journal World editor, remains transfixed in thought as he plucks away intensely on the old typewriter in the corner of his office.  A collection of the day's various news prints blanket his large desk.

            "Nearly impossible to find one of these nowadays," Simons said of the old machine, polished to a fine black.

            This year has, perhaps, been equally as colorless for the Journal World.

            As part of the growing trend among newspapers across the country striving to adapt to new technologies amidst an ailing economy, the Journal World had to cut several part-time and full-time positions this year, according to Simons.  

            Metropolis newspapers, however, may be taking the hardest hits.

            The Kansas City Star, owned by the McClatchy Co., the third-largest newspaper company in the U.S., cut 120 jobs from its workforce in June and another 60 in Sept. of this year.

            "The two biggest costs are newsprint and personnel," said Malcolm Gibson, general manager of the University Daily Kansan (UDK).  "You can't cut newsprint often times, so you have to cut personnel."

            Costs involved with the delivery of the newspaper also play a significant role.

            "People forget that the single biggest cost of the newspaper is taking it door to door--the labor costs, the energy costs and so on," said David Winter, a journalism graduate student, who has worked with such newspapers as the Denver Post and the Detroit Free Press.

            According to an Audit Bureau of Circulation report, the Kansas City Star's weekday circulation dropped 2.3 percent to 239,358 newspapers per day as of Sept. 2008.  In comparison, the Lawrence Journal World reported circulating 18,635 during the same period for its daily publication.

            Richard Musser, a retired KU journalism professor of 32 years, attributes part of the recurring layoffs to what many call "the death spiral"--a trend of rapidly declining ad revenues that began in the third quarter of 2007.  There has been an overall decrease in ad revenues for 10 straight quarters.

            According to the Newspaper Association of America, representing over 2,000 newspapers across the U.S. and Canada, ad revenues from third quarter '07 declined 7.4 percent, compared to -18.11 percent the same quarter of this year.  This decline equates to about $2 billion in losses.        

However, across the nation, smaller niche publications--publications targeted at a specific audience--are faring much better, Gibson said.

            The UDK, a niche publication targeted toward students, had its most lucrative year last year, generating $1.4 million in ad revenue.

            Of the $1.4 million generated by the UDK, only about $30,000 was generated by the online sector.

            Gibson pointed to the current dilemma for nearly all newspapers, including the UDK, in trying to bring that revenue across to the web, but solutions have not been forthcoming.

            To help relieve some of this tension, it may be time to revive the days of privatizing newspaper companies.

            "Public ownership was good for newspapers for a while because it allowed them to do certain things that you couldn't do under private companies," Gibson said.  "We need to relieve the pressures of the stock market."

            Whatever the case may be, the online community has remained vocal in its frustration over the waning industry.

            "There's a lot of whining out there," Musser said.

"Well, I'm sorry--it's too bad.  It comes to a point when this just doesn't help."

            Musser stressed the need for the journalistic community to look at the newspaper business in a different light in order to make progress.

            "Newspapers as a mass communication device; something for everybody--these are going to shrink," Musser said. 

"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years.  That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."

For students entering the tenuous newspaper industry, Musser gives this succinct advice:

"You need to stop relying on an industry that will hire you for 30 years," Musser said.  "That's what I preached for five years before I left KU."

Musser added that students should be fluent in digital, HTML, video, and blogging skills before entering the job market.

Gibson said that while there may be a few out there who can "do it all," being an expert in all these areas needn't be a prerequisite. 

"There's never going to be one-man bands.  Collaboration is key," Gibson said.  "We can't teach you everything, but what we can do is teach you an appreciation for it all."

While disagreement among experienced journalists persists on how to best remedy the weakening industry, agreement remains ubiquitous in the fact that change is leading it to an uncertain future.   

 

Of the 318 individuals listed as homeless in a 2008 Lawrence survey, only 50 are listed as chronically homeless.

            Outside of the Lawrence Community Shelter and the Salvation Army, no system of emergency temporary housing is available to individuals and families who have suddenly fallen on hard times and into homelessness.

            "It's a real sort of juggling game that a homeless person has to play to get a space each night," said Loring Henderson, director of the Lawrence Community Shelter.

            The Housing Connection, an online database to track housing units available in Lawrence, is being implemented by Lawrence-Douglas County Housing Authority (LDCHA) to help qualified homeless individuals and families find the temporary housing they need.

            The LDCHA agreed to operate the program based on a proposal by The Community Commission on Homelessness (CCH).  

            "It's one of those experiments where we have no idea," said Barbara Huppee, executive director of the LDCHA.  "We could do a good job in operating it, but it doesn't mean anything if they don't come.  It's speculative; totally speculative."

            The online database is expected to be operational by Jan. 2009.  The cost to operate the database for one year--outside of the salary of the coordinator--is estimated at $57,192, which will not be covered by the LDCHA.

            The Housing Connection is aimed primarily to individuals and families who have fallen suddenly on hard financial times.

            "These are people who are used to keeping their house; and buying their groceries; and sending their kids to school; and driving their cars to work," said Margene Swarts, assistant director of Planning and Development Services in Lawrence. "They're not used to bumming around the street, or living in the car, or living in the park."

            The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines a "chronically homeless" individual as meeting either one of two criteria.  The individual must be unaccompanied with a disabling condition and continuously homeless for at least a year, or unaccompanied and disabled who has had four episodes of homelessness in the past three years.

             "The longer a person is homeless, the more difficult it is for them to keep and maintain housing," Swarts said.  "A lot of totally legitimate things happen, and people can become homeless."

            Swarts is confident that the LDCHA will be able to raise the $57,192 through private means or grants to jump-start the one-year pilot project beginning in January.

            Having been in development for the past five years, the Housing Connection has coincided well with the current economic crisis.

            "None of us had the crystal ball to see the bottom fall out of the market," Swarts said.  "Although there have been foreclosures, I think our rate has been down compared to the state and the nation as a whole."

            Swarts attributes the low rate of foreclosures to the overall "conservativeness" of lenders in Lawrence.

            Whether it was a foreclosure or other means that forced the individual or family into the brink of homelessness, case managers will work closely with each case in order to ensure they find housing under their own support in 3 to 6 months.  Only agencies, such as the LDCHA, that are part of the Housing Connection will be able to access the database.  Without the case management and selective access, problems could arise.

            "People can't maintain their housing for a variety of reasons," Swarts said.  "Many times, it's that they don't know how to live within the rules of their lease.  The case management will help with that."

            Despite the statistics, many view the general homeless population in the light of the minority who are chronically homeless.

            "There is a vast percent of the homeless population that is one check away from homelessness," Swarts said.  "I think the general picture is that people think the homeless are just a bunch of dead-beat bums, and that's just not true."

Its concrete walls can be seen intermitting the horizon in West Lawrence.  The new Wal-Mart isn't going anywhere, and Dillons knows this.

Accompanying the estimated $10-11 million expansion project taking place at the 4701 W. Sixth St. Dillons (Store 19), management is preparing to begin an extensive retraining of all employees to promote a more interactive shopping experience.      

Corie Spone, human recourses coordinator at Store 19, described the program as a "moral-boost" for all employees.  Employees will be encouraged to interact more with each other as well as with customers. 

The atmosphere that Spone and management would like to see is already taking place at Store 37 in Topeka.

"Seeing how the associates interacted with each other was amazing," Spone said, who had a chance to visit the store.

Employee retraining, combined with expanded departments, is part of a strategy to compete with the emerging Wal-Mart across the street.

Store 19, however, is no stranger to competition, as one of Lawrence's two Hy-Vees sits just down the road at 4000 W. 6th St. 

Corie Spone, human recourses coordinator at store 19, finds Dillons to have the upper-hand. 

"Their prices are higher, and they just don't have the variety we have," Spone said.  "Hy-Vee offers only a handful of product brands."

Dillons expects to see a 40-45 percent increase in total sales when the expansion is up and running, according to Stephen Adam, assistant manager at Store 19.

Sheila Lowrie, Dillons Stores spokeswoman, described the project as an enhanced Dillons Marketplace.  Currently, Kansas has only one Dillons Marketplace, which is located in Wichita.

"Store 19 will be beautiful when finished," Lowrie said.  "We're really happy how the marketplace turned out in Wichita, but 19 will be even better."

Included with the expansion will be a Starbucks, which Spone hopes will attract more students.

Emily Knight, KU sophomore, has had family living near the 6th and Wakarusa location on Somerset Circle for the past 11 years.  She still shops there with her family.

"I like to see familiar faces when I shop and to know that I am purchasing domestic-made goods," Knight said.  "I walk in to Wal-Mart and get lost for six hours.  I can go in to Dillons with a purpose and get out quickly."

Although Spone is thankful the new Wal-Mart will not be another superstore offering an expansive grocery department like the one located on Iowa St., she knows the two stores will still be in strong competition.

"We will be taking the greatest hit to our general merchandise department," Spone said.  "Their prices will be lower than ours, but we hope to attract customers with our one-of-a-kind shopping experience most stores don't offer."  The new Wal-Mart will also be offering basic, yet popular food items such as bread and milk.

A large amount of money and time is being devoted to the new employee program, which will be retraining all 109 current part and full-time employees, plus the extra 125 needed for the expansion.  Spone will be spearheading the orientation process.

"I'm a little nervous," Spone laughed.  "That's a lot of orientations."

Spone also described the environment as a hybrid between a mall and Disneyland.  She expects to see employees singing happy birthday to each other over the intercoms.

Brian Gay, 28-year employee and grocery manager at Store 19, looks forward to participating in the program.

"It's a wonderful deal.  It gets us back to the basics.  Nine or ten years ago our company was just about the money," Gay said.  "We're getting back to being a neighborhood store."