CITY MANAGER’S REPORT
Week ending May 13, 2011
Affordable housing programs recognized
The City of Lawrence’s affordable housing program was honored for its strong stance on green priorities when Tenants to Homeowners, Inc., received a 2011 Leadership in Affordable Housing award from the Climate Protection Partnership Division of the EPA. The award recognizes affordable housing developers that demonstrate innovative use of Energy Star guidelines and products to provide significant energy savings and reduced emissions of green house gases that are related to energy consumption.
Additionally, the City of Lawrence Community Development Division, in partnership with the State of Kansas Department of Commerce and Tenants to Homeowners, Inc. received recognition by being awarded a “Best Practice” award by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Kansas City regional office for the Rhode Island Roost Affordable Rental Housing development at the 1100 block of Rhode Island Street. This project was funded by Neighborhood Stabilization Program grant funds. More information on these awards may be read in the attached memo.
Correspondence with sister city relating to Japanese earthquake
Following the March 11 earthquake which devastated Japan, Mayor Amyx sent a letter to Hiratsuka Mayor Ritsuko Okura expressing Lawrence’s concern for our friends in Hiratsuka and throughout Japan. Mayor Okura responded with a letter of appreciation. To date, contributions from Lawrence residents to the American Red Cross and other Japanese Relief efforts total approximately $10,000.
City expresses interest in electric vehicle deployment planning grant
Attached is a letter to the director of the Kansas City Clean Cities Coalition expressing the city's interest in a potential grant application for a partnership in this region for Department of Energy Electric Vehicle deployment planning. A work group here has been identifying a way to begin deployment of electric charging stations in Lawrence. At this point, what a partnership would look like is undetermined, but we are expressing our interest in a potential grant application to benefit the region. Our match would be in-kind staff time of city, county, KU and Westar staff.
City unsuccessful in obtaining grant for depot restoration
The city previously applied for a grant for rail funding for the restoration of the Santa Fe depot in East Lawrence. The Federal Railroad Administration announced the grantees in a press release this week, and Lawrence was not selected for a grant.
10th annual Underwater Eggstravaganza hosted by Parks and Recreation
The Indoor Aquatic Center enjoyed record pre-enrollment for its annual Underwater Eggstravaganza event on Saturday, April 23. Fifty-seven children signed up in advance to make a springtime craft, and over 100 participants joined us for the egg hunt in the pool that followed. This year marked the 10th anniversary of the Underwater Eggstravaganza; the event is currently coordinated and run by Aquatic Programmer Jai Hoyer, with the assistance of LPRD Aquatics management and part-time staff. Please see the attached report for more information.
Quarterly web statistics
The City of Lawrence website, lawrenceks.org, received 246,309 visits from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2011 and had 707,930 pages viewed during that time period. This represents a 7-percent increase in both visits and pages viewed from the same time period last year. Parks and Recreation had several entries in top 10 most viewed pages. The top 10 most viewed pages on the City of Lawrence website from Jan. 1 to March 31, 2011 were:
2. Jobs
5. Citiwiki – City Services Directory
6. Planning & Development Services home page
7. Adult Sports
8. Departments
9. Youth Sports
The city’s database of frequently asked questions top five viewed answers during the same period were:
1. Why do fire engines respond to emergency medical calls?
2. I think I may have a warrant, what do I do now?
3. A tree in my neighbor's yard overhangs my property - can I trim it without my neighbor's permission?
4. Do I need a permit to install a fence?
5. How do I keep a ticket off my driving record?
Content for the FAQ database comes from the city department pages, as most departments have a FAQ section.