Our Vision

We envision collaborative governance that empowers all stakeholders—residents, community organizations, businesses, and city government—to shape local policies, budgets, and outcomes.

Lawrence Recreation Center Fees

The City implemented fees at Lawrence recreation centers starting in January, in spite of strong community opposition. Over 3,800 residents signed the No Fees for Lawrence Rec Center petition, the most signatures we’ve ever seen on a local petition, and over 2,000 survey respondents (82% of all respondents) opposed these fees.

Expected Memberships The City is expecting to issue 3,000 memberships this year —2,250 paid memberships and 750 free ones for youth and low-income individuals. Last year, about 13,000 unique visitors used our City’s recreation centers (pg 5), so the City is expecting 10,000 fewer people (1/10th of Lawrence) to use our recreation centers this year.

Expected Revenue The City budgeted to bring in $450,000 from these fees, but we don’t believe this math adds up. Most passes are between $80-$120 a year, which means the City would need over 4,000 people to sign up to reach their financial goals.

January Data The Lawrence Parks & Rec department recently released data from their first month of membership sales. While they claim to have passed their goal of 2,250 paid memberships, they are counting each monthly membership as one membership, and they have only brought in $182,000 of the expected $450,000.

We believe that lumping annual and monthly passes together in the City's data is misleading. If one person bought a monthly pass for 12 months, that would be counted as 12 memberships. If all 2,250 memberships the City is anticipating selling were monthly passes, that would only equal about 200 residents buying passes. At an average of $12/month, this would only bring in $27,000 of the $450,000 the City is hoping to generate with these fees

Learn more at the LJWorld article, which includes lots of graphs, and The Lawrence Times article on the presentation before the City Commission.

Other City News

The Lawrence Farmer's Market has conducted a robust community engagement process to identify the best location for a permanent market location, and on Feb 10, they presented a proposal to the City Commission to start investigating South Park for this purpose.

You can see their presentation and community members’ feedback here, and you can read The Lawrence Times article about the Commission meeting here.

Proposal for Parks & Rec Funding without Rec Center Fees

More Info on Parks & Rec Fees!

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City of Lawrence Budget

Budget Analysis, Engagement, and Advocacy

To facilitate greater understanding and transparency regarding the City’s 2026 Budget, our coalition:

  • Conducted an independent analysis of the City’s current and proposed budgets.

  • Published reports and articles to educate the community about the City budget.

  • Asked the City for increased transparency and public engagement regarding their budget.

  • Hosted A Community Conversation about the City Budget.

  • Produced our own community engagement survey to capture the public’s opinions about the City budget.

  • Presented before the Commission about their proposed 2026 Capital Improvement Plan, budget, and Parks & Rec fees.

Illustration of budget planning with colorful charts, graphs, and a paper labeled “Budget” in large text. Includes pie and bar charts, flow diagrams, and a pen, symbolizing financial analysis and organization.

Learn More!

Petition to Empower Lawrence Voices

The Coalition for Collaborative Governance requests that the City of Lawrence:

  • Collaboratively engage with our community to drive their decision-making.

  • Transparently provide complete and easy-to-access information.

  • Be accountable to our community in their actions and practices.

Sign This Petition!

Our Goals

  • Develop more collaborative relationships between our local government and its residents.

  • Identify recurrent challenges and successful practices in local governmental processes.

  • Promote solutions to make our local government’s cultures, policies, and practices more transparent, collaborative, and accountable.

Learn More!