20 | THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN WWWKANSAN.COM | BACK TO SCHOOL | MONDAY, AUGUST 13, 2007
LAWRENCE
Talking with the leader of Larrytown
Lawrence mayor Sue Hack discusses everything from her history to important city issues
BY TYLER HARBERT tharbert@kansan.com
The Kansan recently sat down with Mayor Sue Hack to give University students the chance to get to know their elected official and discuss city issues. Hack, a University alumnus, is serving for the second time as mayor.
Kansan: How long have you severed in different political and public roles?
Hack: I taught school for 34 years and I taught English, geography, history and social studies. They were mostly ninth graders. In terms of volunteer opportunities citywide I served on the Sister Cities
Hack: I came to KU in 1965 and was here until January 1970 when I graduated with a degree in education. I returned back home to St. Louis and taught there for a year and a half, and then my husband and I were married in 1971 and then I came to Lawrence to teach and to live here. We've been here ever since. His family's here. Often a typical resident will say, "Well I went to KU and I just didn't want to leave."
"The outreach of this community is really important and it is a forward-looking community and that is in large part because of the University."
SUE HACK
Lawrence Mayor
Kansan: What are some key issues in Lawrence that students should know about?
Board and then the Parks and Rec Advisory Board. I worked on a number of commission candidates' campaigns in the mid 1990s and by the late 1990s I began to think about running myself. I ran in the spring of 2001 for my first term as city commissioner and I served for four years and then ran for my second term in 2005 and my five years will be up in 2009.
Hack: I think one of the things we work with a great deal is land use issues. The University of Kansas is one of
Kansan: How long have you been a Lawrence resident?
as they expand. We have some older fragile neighborhoods near the University and we want to make sure we protect them. Those are very desirable for student living and for professors and for folks that want proximity to the University and to downtown.
KANSAN FILE PHOTO
the few if not the only University that has a land use agreement with the community in which it exists. That's really significant because two years ago the University drew boundaries around its property. Within those boundaries the University can build to the extent that it needs to without having to go through all of the planning and permitting, but they also agreed that outside of that boundary, they would work with the city
Mayor Sue Hack takes her position at a Lawrence City Commission meeting. Hack is a long-time Lawrence resident.
As a community, we're always dealing with growth that doesn't become sprawl and has a certain amount of density to it. Retail issues, safety downtown and safety in our neighborhoods. I think the domestic partnership registry certainly is something that University students would be interested in knowing that we have and we're the first community in the state of Kansas to have.
Kansan: What are some of the toughest challenges you've faced while in office?
Hack: The ones that create the most community angst are those that deal with land use. Always. That's very true of any University town because you have a lot of engaged people. The balance between growth and uncontrolled growth really is oftentimes in the eye of the beholder. The South Lawrence Trafficway is probably the one that has raised overall as a continuing issue the most concern.
Kansan: What are some of the most rewarding aspects of your job?
Hack: Having been a teacher, I
love being able to go into classrooms and talk about Lawrence and what it's like to be mayor. I recently had an experience reading to some third graders at Deerfield Elementary School, about 60 of them, and we talked about Lawrence and Lawrence history and they had studied Quantrill and we talked about the Eldridge. They knew so many things about what the city did, probably more than most of the adults in this community, which was really exciting. So I got about 60 beautifully written thank you notes and they were wonderful. One of them said, "Mrs. Hack, thank you very much for coming. I didn't know that you knew Quantrill." Apparently I was a little too effective in my conversation about Quantrill. It was very cute. Those are fun things.
hope that University students feel comfortable in talking to the elected officials of the community in which they live and take part for however long they're here. We also have a number of advisory boards that KU students are welcome to apply to.
Kansan: If students want to get involved with city issues or they have questions, what should they do?
Hack: I'm always open to e-mails or phone conversations. I would
Kansan: What do you hope students will take with them when they leave the University?
Hack: I would hope they understand they're coming from a wonderful University that's going to give them a broad base of education. But I hope they also know that Lawrence is a pretty remarkable community. Our community reaches out to help fund things like Boys and Girls Club and after school programs and the community shelters. The outreach of this community is really important and it is a forward-looking community and that is in large part because of the University. I think the partnership between the city and the University is vital.