Infrastructure, jobs on Lawrence City Manager Craig Owens’ mind after 100 days in office

In his first 100 days in office, one of the things City Manager Craig Owens noticed firsthand — while driving the city’s streets, observing the alleyway behind his house or pushing his son’s stroller over the sidewalks — was that the infrastructure was in bad shape.

Owens said the story is the same underground, where city water and sewer mains are in need of maintenance. He said that as the city worked out its 2020 budget this summer, there were a lot of unmet needs. But he said what didn’t seem to get its due attention was infrastructure.

“There were a lot of passionate remarks from the public and from stakeholders in the community without a loud voice really addressing the infrastructure issues that I think are so fundamental, and clearly the city’s most basic responsibility,” Owens said. “So these are going to be meaty community conversations over the next several years.”