Deron Belt, president of the East Lawrence Neighborhood Association asked me: “Would you consider writing a short piece on Tripp's involvement with neighborhoods and historic preservation?  I think people in our neighborhood would appreciate learning about his work.  I certainly would.” I would like to share this with everyone in LAN.

Needless to say, I was disappointed that Tripp’s significant involvement in the early, challenging years of LAN were not included in his Lawrence Journal-World obituary. Like many of us, he came to LAN with a neighborhood concern, got involved, and served with distinction as the third LAN chair in 1992.

During his tenure, LAN was acknowledged by the city commission with the first “Lawrence Neighborhoods Week” proclamation, noting LAN’s fifth anniversary. He also shepherded LAN through the most serious challenge to neighborhoods, the revision of aging Plan 95. LAN’s ability to influence the direction of future city growth through the Horizon 2020 comprehensive planning process was possible because LAN made sure neighborhood/preservation activists served on key subcommittees as effective counterbalances to the Chamber/developers’ profit-first interests. 

We also crossed paths as he and his family saved the English Lutheran Church at 1040 New Hampshire from destruction at the hands of Allen Press. His other preservation efforts were with the Save the (Union Pacific) Depot and the Castle Tea Room projects.

Personally, I will remember Tripp as a mensch, the real gentleman who followed take-no-prisoners LAN chairs Mary Thomas and me to elevate citywide respect for our LAN. He was a very wise person, who meant well and did well, moving LAN forward and leaving it stronger.  

His first From the Chair is thoughtful, timeless, and reveals more about Tripp’s qualities than could I in this short tribute.

Steve Lopes

 

FROM THE CHAIR (December, 1991, Volume 5, Number 8, Lawrence Association of Neighborhoods Newsletter:)

A little more than a year ago, a friend and neighbor called me to see if I were as concerned as he and some other neighbors about the proposed widening of Ninth Street. I never guessed that responding "yes" would involve me in so much civic activity and bring me to writing my first LAN "From the Chair."

We met. We discussed. It was apparent, even as a small group, that we needed an organized voice to be heard and understood. Our goal was to make our concerns known to the city decision makers and to have them reflected in their decisions.

Some of my neighbors (I was not one of them) have had years of experience fighting "decrees" that would burden our neighborhood. They knew that addressing issues on an ad hoc basis had met with only limited success.

We needed form; but with what frame and what figure? We turned to LAN to help the Hillcrest neighbors get organized and recognized. It was LAN that showed my neighbors and me the steps required to shape a body that could speak with a unified and significant voice. LAN midwifed the creation of the Hillcrest Neighborhood Association and once again fulfilled its mission of "...encouraging and assisting in the development of new neighborhood associations." For that, a special "thank you" is extended to Steve Lopes for his organizing help on behalf of LAN.

 After nearly five years in existence, LAN is accumulating the kind of corporate memory that provides guidance for neighborhoods to either resist encroachment or cultivate an opportunity. LAN has supported Fair Housing, citywide recycling, additional police and firefighting personnel (and a 1/2 cent sales tax to pay for them), a strong Downtown, and Federal Neighborhood Reinvestment projects.

LAN also advocates for the preservation of historic neighborhoods and structures, helps to get heavy traffic off residential streets and accomplishes much more to enhance life in Lawrence.

LAN has also provided a valuable forum for the exchange of ideas about ways that help a neighborhood enhance its identity. And LAN's five years of speaking for Lawrence neighborhoods make it an ever-more audible voice for the special interests of neighborhoods in the affairs of our city. Like the League of Women Voters, Chamber of Commerce, and other organizations that play an important role in shaping our community, LAN has become another respected voice.

I humbly accept the chair of LAN because I know that the representatives of the various neighborhoods will give me guidance and help. I resolve that the power of LAN's voice will not wane, and that as our community faces the challenges of the future, most notably Horizon 2020, it is my hope that the neighborhoods of Lawrence will be the focus of decisions for the City of Lawrence.

I am hopeful of success due to the able work of my predecessor, Mary Thomas. Speaking for the LAN neighborhood associations (and, especially Hillcrest), LAN members and myself, I wish to express to Mary our collective gratitude for a job well done.

I am encouraged because I have seen a freshet of concern that arose over a proposed downtown mall become a steady stream of care. Our neighborhoods are now reliable tributaries providing vitality to the growing current that is our city. Individual members of the community, city staff under the leadership of Mike Wildgen, and those who sit on the City Commission now swim in this swelling current.

Let us help keep the channel clear so that Lawrence, our own River City, will rush with the current. As Shakespeare advised, "There is a tide in the affairs of men/ Which taken at the flood leads on to fortune/ Omitted, all the voyage of their life/ Is bound in shallows and miseries" (Julius Caesar, IV, iii). Our tide is at the flood and will wash away obstacles to a community that is a good, beautiful and just place for neighbors to live.

-Tripp Anderson