Two candidates — a rookie and an incumbent, both vowing to protect Lawrence’s neighborhoods — threw their hats into the ring Tuesday for Lawrence City Commission.

Mike Rundle, 49, coming off a four-year term on the commission, and David Schauner, 57, a novice candidate, made separate announcements at City Hall. But they sounded similar themes, and several of the same supporters were on hand for both events.

Rundle, a shift manager at Community Mercantile Co-op, was mayor in 2001 and served an earlier four-year term on the commission in the late 1980s. He said that experience was one of his chief assets in seeking a third term.

“We need a shared vision of our future,” he said. “It’s not a city with a dead center, littered with unused office and retail space. It’s not a city with increasing poverty. It’s not a city that looks like Anywhere, USA. And these are very real possibilities.”

Rundle said he would push the commission to stick to its strategic plans, include neighborhoods in decision-making and keep a close eye on the city’s budget during lean economic times.

Schauner is an attorney for the Kansas National Education Assn. in Topeka. He has lived in Lawrence fewer than three years but has become known at City Hall for his vocal opposition to a proposed Wal-Mart Supercenter at the corner of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive.

He said Tuesday that proposal was “a poster child for bad planning” and said city leaders were too eager to cater to development interests.

“Leaders need to be concerned with neighborhoods and their long-term viability, instead of short-term profit,” Schauner said. “The population of Lawrence will double in 35 years, and unless good decisions are made, Lawrence will cease to be a livable city.”

City leaders also have worried that Lawrence is becoming a bedroom community, where residents leave the city each day to earn (and spend) their money in Topeka or Kansas City. With his Topeka job, Schauner is an example of that phenomenon.

But he said it showed that city leaders had failed.

“I think the fact that Lawrence doesn’t have a good-paying job base is a problem,” he said. “Our policies have catered to low-paying retail jobs, and unless that changes, our problems will continue.”

Lee Gerhard, Ken McRae, Dennis “Boog” Highberger and Lynn Goodell also have filed for the race. If just one more candidate files, a Feb. 25 primary election will be held to narrow the field back to six. The filing deadline is noon Jan. 21; the general election is April 1.