Some people don’t hold back their feelings when they catch Tanya Green slipping a yellow parking ticket under the windshield wiper of their vehicle. As one of Lawrence’s parking patrol officers, Green has had some nasty words hurled at her while checking the meters around downtown. “Have you ever watched the show ‘Parking Wars?'” Green asked, referring to reruns of a reality TV show about Philadelphia Parking Authority employees. “We don’t boot tires or tow cars away, but we get the verbiage.” Green walks right past meters with one minute left. But if the time has actually run out, she stops [...]

Recent changes have helped Lawrence significantly reduce its greenhouse gas emissions, and city leaders will soon discuss what else can be done to reduce the city’s impact on the environment. As part of its work session Tuesday, the Lawrence City Commission will receive an update on the city’s climate protection and sustainability goals. The commission adopted a Climate Protection Plan in 2009, which included the goal of reducing communitywide greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2020 and by 50 percent by 2030. Sustainability Director Jasmin Moore said that since the baseline year of 2005, greenhouse gas emissions from City of [...]

In their first meeting with the public, the two finalists for Lawrence city manager were greeted with a full crowd and a variety of questions, ranging in topic from economic incentives to the city’s role in arts and culture. About 150 people filled the meeting room at the Carnegie Building on Sunday for the event, where city manager finalists Susan Sherman and Craig Owens gave presentations that included their plans for the first 100 days in Lawrence. After their presentations, each finalist answered questions from the public for 30 minutes. Lawrence resident Paul DeGeorge, who co-owns Wonder Fair, said he thought [...]

After discovering a century-old tunnel directly under their house, a Lawrence couple have filed a lawsuit demanding that the city either relocate the tunnel — which is still used for storm water drainage — or pay them for damages. The 6-by-6 foot, arched brick drainage tunnel was constructed in 1911 in response to a typhoid outbreak and follows the course of a ravine that once ran from Mount Oread to the Kansas River. More than 100 years later, when Sarah Merriman and Donna Geisler bought their house at 812 Ohio St., they had no idea that the tunnel ran corner-to-corner under [...]