"A recent news story in the Journal-World told of a study initiated by Lawrence city commissioners and staffers to learn what other Big 12 and area cities are doing to attract new jobs and new businesses to their communities.
Based on their reaction to the findings of this study, Lawrence officials either have been in the dark for some time or have not paid attention to the growing concern of many local residents about the city’s economic health.
Or maybe it’s a bad case of complacency or arrogance, which seems to be a growing disease among many in Lawrence and on the Kansas University campus".
In addition as I wrote in an article published at Op-Ed News.Com on December 31'st, 2007, funding problems and misrepresentations have plagued the project in Lawrence. A December 10th, 2007 article published in the Lawrence Journal-World newspaper indicates that the support for this bi-state project might be limited to the very area in which the idea was conceived.
The article entitled, "County agrees to loan money for national heritage area" states:
"A contract to initiate a management plan for a national heritage area that includes Douglas County and 40 other Kansas and Missouri counties could be signed later this week.
Freedom’s Frontier National Heritage Area Board of Trustees is in the process of raising $300,000 to pay for that plan, which will be developed in conjunction with a management team from a branch of National Geographic. So far half of it has been raised by private and public sources, according to a letter to Douglas County commissioners from the trustee chairman Deanell Reece Tacha.
In her letter, Tacha asked the county to guarantee the remainder of the funds if the fund-raising falls short. She emphasized, however, that she doesn’t think that will happen.
“I think it is nothing short of remarkable that we have already raised half of the funding in these beginning months. Thus I have every reason to believe that we are only asking you to serve as backup,” Tacha wrote.
Commissioners Bob Johnson, Jere McElhaney and Charles Jones, however, agreed during their meeting Monday that the county would loan the remainder of the funding to the heritage board, if that becomes necessary. The heritage board would have to repay the county."
For the record, Lawrence , Kansas (where the idea of the Freedom's Frontier National Heritage Area seems to have been born) is located in Douglas County {Kansas}...
On December 23'rd , 2007 the newspaper published an article entitled "Chamber Leadership". Information found in the article states that the Lawrence {Kansas} Convention and Tourism Bureau recently moved out of the city's Chamber of Commerce facilities and is now "under the auspices" of the Destinations Management company, and that "receipts from the city’s bed tax now go to the new organization, not the chamber."
In case you are wondering just who runs Destination Management , look no farther than the Mayor of the city herself. On January 17th, 2008 the Lawrence Journal-World published an article entitled , "Hack Seeks Guidance on Ethics Issues" the article stated:
"Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack is turning to the state’s Governmental Ethics Commission for guidance on how to properly separate her family’s business interests from her city duties.
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