Page 10 University Daily Kansan, April 3, 1981
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Candidates discuss city's future course
A sometimes-stormy Lawrence City Commission campaign, during which one candidate dropped out amid charges of interest group politicking by some of the candidates, will end next week.
Next Tuesday, April 7, all registered voters inside Lawrence city limits will be asked to choose three of six candidates for city commissioners. The candidates are James Hambleton, Bob Schumm and Nancy Shontz. Polling places open at 7 a.m.
Of the three commissioners whose terms are expiring, only one, Lawrence mayor Ed Carter, is not running for re-election. Schumm and Clark are the incumbent candidates; Schumm has served since 1979, Clark since 1973. Carter is stepping down after four years of service.
Mike Amyx, the sixth-highest vote-getter in the 13-candidate primary election field, dropped out of the race at a campaign rally of Women. Voters candidate forum.
Each candidate at the forum was asked to respond to four questions:
- What makes you different from the other commission candidates and what special talents do you think you can bring to the City Commission?
- What will be your policy priorities as a city commissioner?
- What segments of the community do you think are under-represented and what will you do, or what have you done to change that?
- What do you think of the recent J.C. Penney downtown mall proposal and what do you think of an enclosed downtown mall in general? What options do you prefer to improve downstairs if you don't like the mall approach?
The J.C. Penney mall proposal was received March 27 by Mayor Carter and City Manager Buford Watson. It was a conceptual drawing for an enclosed downtown mall that would close Eighth and New Hampshire streets, incorporating several existing downtown buildings.
Kansan reporters Pam Howard, Steve Robrahn and Dale Wetzel produced this story.
The
Candidates
Barkley Clark
Clark, 41, is a KU professor of law, who was elected to the City Commission in 1970 and was elected in 1977. He lives at 1511 Crescent Road.
- I believe I have more experience in city government than anyone else running this Tuesday. I have had two years experience on the planning commission and eight years experience on the commission, including two terms as mayor.
I'm the only RU faculty member on the commission which is advantageous for both students and staff. I am the only lawyer to have served on the commission in 30 years. I have a concentration in local government and legislation and teach classes in both areas.
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- My continuing concerns are to try to defuse and cool down tempers which have flared recently during meetings and around town. I will work hard for the department stores and want to continue work on the riverfront park system.
- I want to continue efforts in housing rehabilitation programs and beef up the public transportation system.
- From my vantage point, the centercity neighborhoods are wellrepresented, which is substantialprogress from their position of beingunder represented four or five yearsago. I'd say the disabled andhandicapped are the most underrepresented now.
- The Penny's proposal is an interesting improvement over the JVJ proposal and will leave most buildings downtown intact. I still don't like the idea of an enclosed mail and favor the concept of freestanding department stores. Our other shops. The Penny's proposal is more in scale with our present downtown.
1 favor more apartments and recreation facilities downtown and a shuttle bus system could help with the need to possibly if retail activity there increases.
Gleason, 32, is a Lawrence attorney. He lives at 1647 Vermont St.
Tom Gleason
- Years of practical经验 experience have given me the opportunity to consider opposing viewpoints, in any sort of question, and consider the pluses and cons of each proposal. I realize there are no pact answers and very few easy answers.
At the same time, I have the ability to look for all the good parts and all the bad parts of any proposal and determine whether that proposal is a net or a detriment. I can then act accordingly in the best interests of the community.
The legal experience I have differentiates me from all but one of the candidates, and the practical application of that legal experience makes me different from that one. The rough and tumble of the courtroom is a different sort of situation from the academic side.
- My principal priority will be to restore some measure of belief, on the part of the city at large, that the City Commission wants to hear what the individuals of Lawrence want to say. We need to let the people know that their views are encouraged, to have the widest possible range of proposed solutions to any problem. That way the Commission will be able to consider all the possibilities, and if one is most interested, we will ask. If a synthesis of views from different groups of people is appropriate, then we have that group available.
- That tends to be a carryover from the previous question. I think that you have to say that the general population of the community is under-represented, because they don't have the benefits of consideration of all points of view. I don't think there's any specific segment of the population that is under-represented. Depending on the issue, any segment may be left out of consideration.
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If there's any one identifiable group, I think that in questions of land use, the individual homeowner, the person who lives there, is probably paying his taxes, are probably the most
Hambleton, 56,
director of business development with Design
Square. She lives at 1312
Rainforest Place.
- I've been a part of the community-based group that's had a hand in developing the Robert Tekla and Associates downtown proposal (Tekla is the city's urban planning consultant). I've been involved in those study sessions.
under-considered people in the community when a question comes up about development next door to residential neighborhoods.
I've considered the reports that we've received from the city's hired consultants in the matter. They have quite a bit to say about the effect of an enclosed mail, located anywhere in the city. They've indicated that Lawrence. They've indicated that wherever you locate a mail, it would not be favorable.
What does concern me is that we have been advised that we should hold out, and we can successfully hold out, for so-called free-staffing department stores, or free-standing stores with some associate shops But, by bringing up more mall propaleses, it seems that none of the essential retail establishments can consider our desire for free-standing stores. I'm a little concerned, and I think the Penny's proposal has a great presumption against it that it has to overcome.
I've been on the city commission before, for a four-year term starting in 1971 and I served one year as mayor. I was the first woman ever elected to the board of directors of a university familiar with both the business and University communities. I'm on the board of directors of the Chamber of Commerce and have been a member of the League of Women Voters for 25 years. I'm also president of Cottonwood work training residence center for mentally handicapped adults.
Nancv Hambleton
I's very willing to take time to get the facts. I have an understanding of community urban revitalization planning from my job experience and am familiar with funding programs and state and federal agencies. I call myself
John H. Hill II, D.C.
Chiropractic Physician
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a practical idealist because you have to know your expectations before you can get something done.
- One of our biggest priorities should be to deal with the needs of the community. I'm very anxious to get a plan developed so we can be the coordinator for downtown development and must compete with other cities to attract retailers. Public transportation is also a priority along with identifying with problems and situations in the neighborhoods of the city. All of the neighborhoods are important.
I don't know that I feel there are groups which are under-represented. Some groups are more vocal than others and the older neighborhoods have more problems, especially with worn out public utilities.
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- I haven't seen it the J.C. Penney company's proposal to judge it. I'm glad to see J.C. Penney is still interested in Lawrence. They're recognizing there's a market here that needs to be met. If we can keep the lines of communication open, we can come to action soon, the commission will be approached with repeated mall proposals for outlying areas.
I not opposed to an enclosed mall. I can accept retail clusters around free-standing stores or a scaled-down downtown mall. I really need more information to make a firm decision. Clusters are quite acceptable to me, but I realize retailers favor a mall approach.
Nancv Shontz
Shontz, S3, lists "community volunteer" as her occupation. She lives at 3224 Saddlehorn.
- My background has been a community-service type background. I've had many years experience in the League of Women Voters and many other groups devoted to improving life in our community.
I've also had experience in land use planning which this city needs to continue to grow in a healthy fashion.
I believe I'm the only candidate who's taken a number of years just to be an observer of city government before I entered the public scene. I believe that gives me a perspective they've never had.
- The first thing I would like to do is to make some changes in the procedures in City Commission meetings in order to help us make our decisions in a more calm, deliberative manner and to allow them more involvement and more involved with decision making.
One change in City Commission meeting procedures would be that no major decision would be made the first night it was presented. Miscellaneous items, such as the tickets they contained important items, but would be placed on next week's agenda.
The staff should always be required to present alternative proposals with their data and support materials.
And we need a policy manual. That is, a manual that includes all of our policies on any matter. Including what will be done, who will do it, who will pay for them, how much to be financed. We need to evaluate each policy in an organized fashion.
We also need a public transportation system in which people with special problems can be carried about the city, and a shuttle bus system to relieve parking problems in our downtown. The whole point is that we should start planning now to have a comprehensive public transportation program.
Finally, we need a stormwater management program that will correct present problems and prevent future ones.
represented segments of the community.
- I think persons with handicaps, the elderly and retarded citizens are under-
Also under-represented are the older neighborhoods that are not part of our community development target neighborhoods and new neighborhoods already developing problems, even though they are not considered old.
Groups representing the elderly, handicapped and retarded are working together toward the goal of having a diverse group of people doing to whatever I should assist them.
As for the older neighborhoods, they need to be made eligible for the community development program.
- The Pennymills mall proposal is still quite massive and I believe it to be out of scale with the rest of the downtown. I expect improvement over the last mall proposal.
We don't know what Teska and Associates will say about it. I believe, and I think Teska will say, that it is not a workable project.
I would like to see a number of small shops come in and at least two full-day department stores. I would also like to see a nice restaurant, a hotel, a theater, something that would increase the liveliness of our downtown activities.
I do not approve of a downtown mail for Lawrence. Enclosed mails are designed to attract and capture shoppers and prevent them from even being aware that there are other opportunities in the area to take advantage of downtown shopping, and present downtown is that there is equal accessibility to all of the shops downtown and that works best for our community.
Bob Schumm
Schumm, 34, is a two-year incumbent city commissioner and a Lawrence restaurant owner. He lives at 1720 St. Andrews Drive.
- My experience as a businessman over the last 10 years has been very valuable to me and the kind of job I can do. I've had many experiences during my last term and I feel that I help balance the commission. I'm the only independent business person on the commission. The city is a place where people need someone with business experience.
- I am very interested in seeing implementation of retail projects. We've got the retailers interest now and we'll see more about it, we'll see more suburban mail requests.
My experience as a commissioner has provided me a wealth of experience about retailing in the central business district. Now is the time to implement a retailing plan for downtown and I would continue to the new commission.
Other than that, I think we need to continue to provide a variety of city services at a minimal cost. We need to keep taxes low.
- I don't know about that plan because I haven't read it. I'm glad to see interest by J.C. Penny's. Before they haven't shown that much interest in Lawrence, but I'm not really ready to look at their plan with precise observation. I'm interested in exhibiting a true and sincere interest in Lawrence and that's good.
I'm waiting for the downtown plan developed by Robert Teska Associates. Up to this point I've been pretty much disinterested in an enclosed mail, but ready to see something develop which might mean having to compromise.
I favor free-standing cluster-type developments downtown, which came out of our summer work. I'd like to see the free-standing concept pursued as we develop it and if that doesn't work, then we should look at our next best alternative.
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