By Michael Glenn
Teen-age Dirtbag
My last Hutchinson City Council meeting as a reporter was Tuesday, July 21.
Most people would likely celebrate being taken off a city beat, especially one that can creep into the late hours of the night when there’s an unscheduled executive session. I can honestly say, this summer, I haven’t left city hall before the sun set for the night. Four-hour meetings tax the brain like none other.
This last meeting had a group of people representing the “Earth Matters” group, made up of members of churches trying to protect creation. One of their asks of the council was to ban the distribution of single-use plastic bags at retailers, which the council should do.
In fact, I have a couple of other ideas to “Lawrencify” Hutchinson. I lived in Lawrence for nine months, and they are far ahead of the curve compared to the other cities and towns across our state. We can learn a lot from Lawrence and Douglas County, which doubled its population in 40 years, while Hutchinson has stayed flat.
Of course, the University of Kansas, Haskell Indian Nations University and its proximity to the Kansas City metropolitan area have added some gasoline to the growth. But Lawrence does things differently that, if Hutchinson joins, could make it a similar beacon to the Wichita area and south central Kansas.
The first one involves banning those oil-made bags that kill wildlife and pollute the environment. Many of the complaints I’ve heard opposed to the argument seem mostly lazy and can be fixed with a simple habit change: throw a few canvas or reusable bags in the back seat and keep them there, then you’ll always have a bag at the grocery store.
Or, if you forget, spend an extra $0.15 on a paper bag or walk out with your items in your hands. I promise, it doesn’t feel like stealing in Lawrence since everyone does it.
Another ordinance the city could pass at its next meeting is to decriminalize cannabis possession to $1, like Lawrence. Kansas loses everything and gains nothing from its “Reefer Madness” take on cannabis, but Hutchinson could at least give people a break.
To my knowledge, the Hutchinson Police Department doesn’t automatically send someone to jail on cannabis possession alone, often getting a notice to appear, but the relatively high costs and processes someone has to go through for possessing a plant seem excessive, even if it’s considered lenient statewide.
The $1 fine satisfies the fact that law enforcement has to follow the illicit status of cannabis in the state but realizes the department has bigger problems to fight, like crimes with victims. The $1 fine would only apply to simple possession for first and second offenses and not apply for anyone with more than 32 grams or any possible driving under the influence incidents.
Besides these policy changes, Hutchinson can benefit from a change in culture. There are many, many people in our community who want growth and will welcome anyone who wants to visit or live here, but many of our neighbors feel differently.
I heard a joke that the original settlers of Hutchinson—and many other parts of the plains before the Rockies—were stubborn folks who didn’t want to saunter across the mountains to make it to Oregon or San Francisco.
The reality is, those people are called Denverites and live in Colorado. But even I can sometimes feel the stubbornness Hutchonians show when someone proposes something new or out of the ordinary.
We have to do something different. Our population is near flat, while our infrastructure was meant for more than 40,000 people. Property taxes will not change if our population doesn’t, and walkable cities and bike-friendly streets will make younger people want to move to Hutchinson.
There’s already been great work done on some parts of Main Street, and the Landmark is a great example of what needs to be in town. High-density, mixed-use developments with inclusive cultures are where young professionals with disposable income want to live, so it’s no wonder Lawrence has doubled while Hutchinson has continued to flatline.
High-density, mixed-use development need not only be in large cities. I think our current city leadership, especially City Manager Enrico Villegas, has tried to give some energy to Hutch, but it takes a village to open its doors and welcome anyone who wishes to live and grow here.
I’m looking forward to returning to Lawrence in a couple of weeks, but I will miss Hutch. Hutch is home, like I keep telling people, but there’s something about “LFK” that no other city can replicate. Hutch could learn something from its northeastern neighbor.