Incoming Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack will take your questions after officially beginning her second mayoral term.

tribalzendancer

The price of oil and gas has risen more and more over the years. Today we consume 4 barrels of oil for every barrel that is discovered. This imbalance will inevitably lead to oil and gas prices that will continually increase as demand cannot keep up with supply over the coming decades. Because Lawrence (and all cities) are so dependent on this source of energy to provide for both economic growth and quality of life, in what ways do you think the city of Lawrence can reduce its dependence on fossil fuels, with specific regard to creating incentives for alternatives that spur local job growth?

aldo

Why do you call this proposed tax a “one-cent” tax? Why don’t you call it by it’s correct name, a “1% sales tax” ? From both a mathematical and an interpretive standpoint, 1% is a whole lot different than 1 cent. I feel it’s misleading to call it other than what it is.

kef104

Considering Lawrence voters just added business expertise to the city commission, why would you propose higher taxes? We do not want higher taxes, we want government that quits wasting money and learns to live within a budget that its citizens can support. With that thought, what is wrong with planning to expand our library but waiting until we have the money with our current taxes to do it?

Thank you,

LarryLawrence

Over the last several years our real estate taxes have increased significantly. Your 1% sales increase, while it might be for beneficial projects, is another tax increase.

Why can’t we talk of tax relief rather than another increase?

truthhurts

Hello Mayor Hack – can you explain why we should earmark additional funds for economic development? Shouldn’t we determine where the city and the chamber of commerce have failed first?

Thanks

robdew

Generally businesses seek communities that have a low tax burden. Given that we are currently having trouble attracting new business how does the sales tax propsal account for business development and those businesses currently trying to survive?

Rob Dewhirst
Lawrence

Moderator

Hi. This is Cody Howard, 6News Director. I will be moderating today’s chat with Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack. Our thanks to her for joining us today.

Sue Hack

Thank you for having me, Cody. I am glad to be here…

Moderator

We’ve had several questions about the city’s proposed domestic partnership registry. With the attorney general’s opinion giving the city the approval to proceed, several people are interested in your opinion on that idea going forward.

Sue Hack

In that the Attorney General has indicated that the City of Lawrence is within its home rule authority to proceed with domestic partner registration as long as it is only for residents of Lawrence, I think it will be important to have this on a Commission agenda in the near future. Our legal staff is reviewing the opinion, but I would not think they would find reason to disagree. As for my personal feelings, I would be in favor of providing this registry opportunity in Lawrence. I don’t know how my fellow commissioners feel, but we will definately put it on an agenda.

blackwalnut

What will the city do to ensure that a Wal-Mart at 6th and Wakarusa does not create traffic jams when Free State High is in session? Who will pay for any street improvements that need to be made?

Sue Hack

In that this issue is scheduled for trial beginning on Monday, I can’t comment on the particulars of the case. What I can say is that in the plan that was turned down in October, The developer would be paying for signalization.

Bassetlover

I applaud your comments at the City Commission meeting last night regarding the shame we’ve brought to this community by all the mistrust and negative blogging. You really hit the nail on the head. What plans do you have to bring consensus and unity….or will this ever be possible when bloggers can hide behind anonymous posts?

Sue Hack

You have asked two good questions. First of all, I think we have a great resource in this community to help bring differing sides to the table to see if we can build bridges rather that build obstacles. Bert Nash Community Health Center has, in the past, been a catalyst for trying to find areas of common ground. I would love for them to be involved again. As for the anonymous posts…we would all be better off without them.

none2

Hi I’m very concerned about the sales tax increase proposal. After I read all the LJWorld articles about what this money will go for, I just don’t understand. I live in North Lawrence which needs the the issues outlined in the 2006 drainage study dealt with at some level. Nothing was mentioned about that in these sales tax articles. Why would I want to vote for a sales tax increase for a rec center, a library, some work on the Kasold street, yet nothing for our drainage issue. Shouldn’t flooding take a higher priority to libraries and rec centers?

Sue Hack

One of the items that I would like sales tax dollars to go to would be infrastructure improvements. That would include the implementation of some of the needs addressed in the drainage study for North Lawrence. I certainly consider those to be infrastructure improvements.

merrill

Because rapid residential growth often fails to pay for itself as in Lawrence, many local officials feel forced to accept any commercial development in whatever form it comes typically, cookie cutter shopping centers and big-box stores. These patterns lead to the same problems increasing traffic, marginal services, lack of open space and rising taxes that many new local residents tried to leave behind.

How do you intend to avoid the above?

Some are threatening to not shop Lawrence because of your tax hike proposal. Thoughts please.

Thank You,
Merrill

Sue Hack

First of all, I don’t agree with your assumptions regarding retail. I have not heard any individuals indicate that they are refusing to shop in Lawrence due to a proposal to at least open a conversation about sales tax.

KsTwister

What requests will you be asking of the Kansas Congressional Delegation with your trip to Washington, D.C. this year? Will most of this be concerning the ‘T’s replacement buses, or help with other infrastructure needs?

Sue Hack

You are right in that we will be asking for help with our needs for infrastructure and the transit system. In addition, we will be talking about additional funding for our municipal airport and we will again, ask for additional funding for Haskell. It is also a chance for us to let our Congressional Delegation know what we are doing here in Lawrence.

Moderator

What are the plans at the airport?

Sue Hack

We have made a number of great improvements to our airport, but if we were to increase the depth of our runways, we would be able to open the airport for larger aircraft which can be a boon to our community.

Moderator

And what about Haskell funding plans?

Sue Hack

Haskell has not had an increase in its federal dollars, in fact there have been reductions. In that Haskell employees are federal employees, they can not lobby for money themselves. It is up to us as city leaders to make sure that we do all that we can for this important insitution.

HoosierPride

When will we see something done about the vacant Farmland property? Its a real eyesore for those coming to Lawrence on K-10. How long do we have to wait?

Sue Hack

Great question. The City is moving ahead on an attempt to purchase the property, but there is a tremendous amount of clean up work to do…not only are there enviromental issues, but non environmental issues as well. You are right that it is a real eyesore at this point, and we are working as fast and as hard as we can to change that.

Ragingbear

The homeless situation in Lawrence has gone largely unchanged over the last few years. What plans do you have as either a city commissioner or mayer do you have in order to address this issue?

Sue Hack

We have a group of individuals that serve on the Coalition of Homeless Concerns and they are planning to meet with the Commission soon to discuss their plans for addressing some of the issues. It is an extremely complex issue and there are mental health issues, housing issues and employment issues to be dealt with. Commissioner Amyx will be working with this coalition to plan some strategies.

LogicMan

(Congrats on your presumed election as the next Mayor)

The relatively new public bus system is bleeding money, and is not likely to ever become self-supporting or even close.

Any thoughts about reducing it significantly, say to just “shooting the square” and extensions out the major roads (west 6th, east 23rd/Clinton, north/south Iowa, N. Lawrence)?

Thanks.

Sue Hack

I love your reference to “shoot the square”…you must have grown up here!! As for the T, we are constantly looking at and reviewing the different routes to make sure they are as efficient and effective as they can be. From what I understand, there are no public transit systems that are profitable, and while ours continues to make amazing progress in terms of ridership, we do have work to do and Cliff Galante and his department work very hard on this. If we are able to merge with the KU on Wheels system, our ridership will increase.

thoughtpolice

What opportunities do you see for citizens to become more involved in local government?

Sue Hack

Great question…First of all, I would encourage all citizens to pay attention to our City Commission, County Commission and School Board. Secondly, we have opportunities to serve on boards and commissions and task forces constantly. These are great ways to become involved. On our weekly agenda we always post what vacancies on boards and commissions exist and we look for interested citizens to fill them. A letter to me at City Hall will be a great way to indicate which of these would interest people. Work on campaigns and run for office would be two more idea.

cowboy

How much in proposed budget cuts or efficiencies in city operations are proposed in the upcoming budget

Sue Hack

We don’t have that information yet. Last night we scheduled our budget study sessions which will include meetings with department heads, public comment sessions, and our City Manager’s proposed budget. What I can say is that we will not have very many pleasant choices to make this time around.

Moderator

That concludes our chat today with Lawrence Mayor Sue Hack. Thanks for taking time out of your shedule to join us today.

Sue Hack

Thank you, Cody. I appreciate the opportunity and hope that people continue to stay engaged in what we are doing.