Moderator: Welcome to today’s chat with City Commissioner David Schauner, who is one of nine candidates on the March 1 primary ballot.

We have a lot of questions already, so we’ll go ahead and get started.

The chat took place at 1 p.m. Friday, Feb. 18, and is now closed, but you can read the full transcript on this page.

Steve, Lawrence: Would you support a compromise on fireworks allowing them in the city on just one day, the Fourth of July?

David Schauner: Steve, I support the current fireworks ban, and believe that is proven to be successful. The enforcement of a 1 or 2 day fireworks use outweighs any advantage. I do believe that we should encourage more public displays of fireworks.

Arletia, Lawrence: Your solution to the homeless here in Lawrence?

David Schauner: Arletia, I do not believe that there is a one-size-fits-all solution to the problem of homelessness. Lawrence’s answer consists of collective action by community groups, Bert Nash and the Lawrence Memorial Hospital. We also need to involve the Lawrence Police Department and Downtown Lawrence merchants in developing measures of accountability and work towards finding gainful employment for all homeless individuals who are capable of working.

Joan, Lawrence: I am not a native but when I moved to Lawrence, I felt at home. I love the diversity and vitality of our downtown but I am concerned about the changes I see. I believe the homeless population is escalating and is more aggressive than in the past. I am concerned about the diminishing number of retail establishments and increasing number of bars. What do you want Lawrence to look like in 10 – 15 years and how do we get there?

David Schauner: Joan, I have expressed concerns in the past about the changing mix of retail establishments downtown. In the past 20 years we have lost over 45 retail establishments. I am uncertain weather the change in retail mix downtown is related to our homelessness problem. However I am certain that our increased retail activity on south Iowa has been harmful to our downtown retail merchants. I do support providing additional tools to our Police Department to reduce aggressive pan handling. Any significant change will only be achieved if the stake holding in resolving our homeless issue work cooperatively to find a solution that empowers the stakeholders as well as the downtown merchants.

Mike, Lawrence: How do you feel about round abouts that you approved, that school buses have to drive over instead of around, do you think this is safe?

David Schauner: Mike, finally a question about roundabouts. Roundabouts used in the proper setting do provide safer movement of traffic. Roundabouts improperly retrofitted create the concerns that you expressed in your question. I believe the city should re-examine its installation of roundabouts policy to insure they provide for safe movement of not only passenger cars, but also school busses and emergency equipment.

Cheri, Lawrence: Why is it that the Kansas Department of Transportation has funding for roundabouts but has no funding for a bypass for Lawrence? Would not a bypass eliminate a need for so many of the expensive roundabouts? Thank you.

David Schauner: Cheri, I am unaware of any state matching funds available to construct roundabouts in lawrence. The SLT will require many millions of dollars of state money to complete. K-DOT officials have told City Commissioners that they may not have enough money to complete all of the road promises that they have already made. Those promises do not include completion of the SLT. Ironically the completion of the SLT will have little or no effect on the need for roundabouts. Studies have shown, that the SLT would carry largely out of town traffic and would not in any significant way reduce the intra city traffic which roundabouts are designed to handle.

Richard, Lawrence: Other than proximity to K10 why is the proposed SE Lawrence Light Industrial Area important to the community?

David Schauner: Richard, the importance of the SE area plan is related directly to our ability to provide industrial land for the creation of a strong local economic program. The SE areas proximity to K10 makes it an ideal location to attract clean industry that produces good paying jobs and good access to public highways. It also provides an opportunity to investigate the creation of a road and bridge connection from East Lawrence to the Kansas Turnpike. The creation of such a link could significantly reduce the through town traffic on 23rd street and lessen if no eliminate the need to complete the SLT

Terry, Lawrence: What specifically will you do to bring economic stability to Lawrence and to provide more moderately priced housing? What can you do for a young couple who works hard but still can’t afford to buy their first house because they’re so high priced in the city? Do you have any specifics as to how you will get that done (if a majority of the city council votes with you), or is it just a general goal of yours?

David Schauner: Terry, Housing in Lawrence is higher than comparable housing in either Topeka or Johnson County. There are a variety of reasons for the price difference, most of which the city can not control. However, the city can and should incentivise low to moderate income housing for people working in Lawrence. Importantly the city can actively encourage economic development within the community that attracts good paying jobs which will enable those employees to purchase home in the community. There is no a one size fits all answer to this problem, however the use of a multifaceted approach including those i mentioned can make housing more available to those who want to live and work in Lawrence.

Richard, Lawrence: What is your plan to stimulate business growth in Lawrence and bring a base of quality, non-professional jobs to our labor market ?

David Schauner: Richard, if by non-professional jobs your mean production jobs, or those that don’t require a graduate degree, I think we have produce a number of those jobs in the past few years. Our tax abatement policy has helped Amarr Garage Door significantly expand its work force. Attracting the right mix of professional and non-professional is the goal of the economic development plan jointly sponsored by the city and county funded contract with the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce.

Eric, Lawrence: It seems the Lawrence community is becoming polarized between East and West geographic areas. With a large percentage of the city’s resources going towards infrastructure and services to the growing Western corridor, what is being done for East Lawrence to ensure it doesn’t fall into a state of blight?

David Schauner: Eric, We need to continue to enforce our building code, not only in East Lawrence, but the rest of the community as well. The city continues to spend millions of dollars replacing infrastructure in East Lawrence. I support a program that would provide access to forgivable loans and other low intrust loans for residential improvements in East Lawrence.

Steve, Lawrence: Some say the current City Commission is anti-growth and development. How do you view this. Also there is a view that development is good because it brings growth that increases our tax base, but it seems to me that growth requires more services and does not always pay for itself. Please comment.

David Schauner: Steve, I am pro wise-growth. The city has begun a study to determine if growth pays for itself. My view is that if you include all costs driven by growth including police, fire, library, infrastructure replacement, and schools in the cost of growth, new development does not pay its own way. However, growth is not a bad thing if managed properly. The city needs to review its methods of financing infrastructure replacement, as well as work with the school district in the location of neighbor hoods schools including city parks, recreation paths and other public areas.

John, Lawrence: How do other cities grow, if new growth never pays for itself?

David Schauner: John, other cities use a variety of financing tools including platting fees and the requirement that developments provide park land as a condition of zoning and sub-division approval. The cost of growth study, which was conducted during the past year has identified a number of additional revenue enhancements to off set the cost of growth. I believe the city commission will continue to review those options, and at the conclusion of the current Tischler Study, make some decisions on how to fund the cost of growth.

Eric, Lawrence: I understand that you support the smoking ban in Lawrence. So I would like to ask why you feel it necessary for the local government to protect citizens from themselves? The people that go (or went) to bars knew that they would be exposed to second hand smoke but choose (a freedom the constitution gives us) to go to these places and work at these places anyway. And do you think it is right for government to tell business owners that smoking is not allowed even though it is a legal activity and the city is not paying any part of the lease or mortgage on these establishments?

David Schauner: Eric, A local doctor told me after we passed the smoking ban, that we had saved more lives than he would have saved in an entire career of practicing medicine. The truth is that government has a long history and responsibility to protect the health and safety of citizens. OSHA and other federal and state programs mandate safety conditions in the work place. Second hand smoke is a recognized carcinogen and there is no known safe level of exposure. To require employees in an environment that contain known health hazards is unreasonable. Asking customers to sit in the non-smoking section of a restaurant is like asking children at the swimming pool if they want to sit in the peeing or non-peeing section of the pool. There is simply no way to restrict ETS to a specific section of a restaurant.

Denise, Lawrence: Our public library is talking about an expansion in downtown Lawrence. Do you agree with me that this is long overdue?

David Schauner: Denise, the Lawrence Public Library is housed in an over crowded 20th century facility. We have an obligation as a community to provide a 21st century facility to our public. I favor retaining the library in an downtown location and preferably expanding the library at its current site.

Judy: Why don’t you support the right of the community to vote on a smoking ban instead of leaving that decision up to the City Commission?

David Schauner: Judy, I was disappointed when the group collecting signatures to put the ban on the ballot abandoned their effort. Approx 80% of the American public does not smoke. According to studies I have read the other 20% tries to quit smoking from time to time. The task force that studied the ban question held numerous lengthy public meetings before making its recommendation to the city commission. The arguments in favor of the ban were so overwhelming that I could not in good conscience vote against the ban.

Lauri, Lawrence: Will the City Commission use the recently released Police Department Resource Plan to create greater accountability within the police department?

David Schauner: Lauri, the recent study session about the Police Department resource plan was good first step in developing a community consensus on what outcomes the police department performance should be measured against. Only if can agree on what we want the police department to accomplish can we begin to institute management changes to achieve our goals. I would support additional venues for public to the register their concerns about police department performance. Additional resources are not the only way to improve our departments performance. Clear community direction and involvement are also required.

Deborah: Mr. Schauner, thank you for all your hard work as commissioner these last several years!

The Centennial Neighborhood Association has long advocated for a stricter interpretation of land use as regards rental businesses in single-family residential areas.

How do the new zoning policies going into place address the inequalities between landlords who can use capital gains or losses on their residential properties, and homeowners who cannot?

David Schauner: Deborah, the proposed zoning regulations do not attempt to address a landlord’s tax advantages or dis-advantages. Rather it is an attempt to modernize our zoning code that was first adopted in 1966. The issue of rental properties in single family neighborhoods, most especially in the Centennial and Oread neighborhoods, remains unresolved. Unfortunately, market forces of supply and demand have driven the price of single family homes and made them more attractive to land lords to use as rental property. City assistance in providing financing tools for first time home buyers in these neighborhoods should be made more available. I would support a neighborhood summit to investigate what additional tools are available to the city to stabilize these single family neighborhoods.

David Schauner: To all those who have emailed about spelling errors I can only respond that I am not doing the typing and that you forward all complaints to Dave Toplikar at the LJWorld. Who says he will clean up typos later.

Deborah, Lawrence: Johnson County has adopted a strict limit on the number of rental houses in single-family zoned areas.

Would you be willing to look at adopting a similar restriction to encourage single-family ownership in designated areas of Lawrence?

David Schauner: Deborah, thanks for your second questions about rental housing restrictions. I am no familiar with the Johnson County restriction, however this tool and others should be explored as a way to stabilize and encourage single family neighborhoods.

Moderator: This will be our last question. And, yes, we will go back and clean up the typos.

Steve: Mr. Schauner, what would be one significant project in each target neighborhood that has happened while you have served on the Commission. Those neighborhoods being, Oread, Pinckney, East Lawrence, Brook Creek and North Lawrence.

David Schauner: Steve, neighborhoods are the life blood of any community. Neighborhood associations have made many presentations to the city commission over the years. The villa woods project was a good example of how neighborhood involvement improved the initial project into a livable neighborhood that was an asset to the area. The Trails Project that was in East Lawrence and Brook Creek as well as the rest of the city. Storm water projects in East Lawrence and North Lawrence will reduce flooding and stabilize property values. Much remains to be done to re-vitalize the neighborhoods in our original city foot print. The Hobbs Park project is another example of city work done to improve the quality of life in a neighborhood. The purchase of additional park land in West Lawrence will provide additional recreational opportunities for residents in that area.

David Schauner: Thanks to all who emailed questions. Citizen involvement is essential in all levels of government, but especially at the city level. I encourage everyone to vote for the candidate of your choice. The decisions we make today will effect not just 2005 but the next 50 years.

Moderator: We’d like to thank Commissioner Schauner and his typist, Randall Meeker, for coming down to our office today to take part in this pre-election chat.

And we’d like to thank all of our readers for their questions.

We have several more chats planned for next week, including two on Monday, featuring Jim Carpenter at 1:30 p.m. and Mike Amyx at 2:45 p.m.