David Holroyd has a degree in education from Kansas University, but he spent virtually his entire career as a laborer at Lawrence’s Kmart Distribution Center.

That doesn’t mean the Lawrence City Commission candidate hasn’t put his degree to use. The 60-year-old retiree said he’s been in the education business for years by espousing his views as a frequent contributor of letters to the editor for the Journal-World’s Public Forum, as a regular participant on the larryville.com Web site (under the pseudonym Corn Cob), and now as a City Commission candidate.

“There are two ways to educate,” Holroyd said in a recent interview. “You can get hired by a school district and sit in a classroom, or you can do it this way. It is basically that simple.”

The lesson that Holroyd is delivering is one of the more blunt ones of the campaign season. He thinks city leaders have failed to maintain certain parts of the community, particularly older neighborhoods.

“They need to start running this city like a city instead of a nickel-and-dime store,” Holroyd said.

Holroyd knows old neighborhoods. He has spent the past 32 years living in the Oread Neighborhood. His home at 1224 La. stares at the backside of the Kansas University Alumni Center. He is mainly surrounded by students now, and he admits that parties at 4 a.m. are frustrating. But he said he’s even more frustrated by how city leaders have dealt with the neighborhood.

He said the neighborhood’s infrastructure, such as streets and sidewalks, were in bad need of repair. He also was frustrated by efforts in 2002 by neighborhood activists and some city leaders to try to save four houses in the 1300 block of Ohio Street from being torn down to make room for a KU scholarship hall.

He calls the Oread Neighborhood Assn., which fought hard to save the homes, a “dysfunctional” group of people who only want to do what “benefits them personally.”

“I saw those old houses for 30 years, and I was glad to see them go,” Holroyd said.

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It is not just his neighborhood he is concerned about. Holroyd, who previously owned rental property in the city, said he thought about moving to a home he once owned in East Lawrence.

“But I could see the handwriting on the wall,” Holroyd said. “People don’t like to hear it, but East Lawrence is becoming an inner-city slum. If you don’t believe me, just look at the alleys.”

Holroyd said he also thought the city had done a poor job planning for its newer neighborhoods.

“Growth has been mismanaged,” Holroyd said. “Prairie Park was developed, and there is not even a grocery store for that area. It seems if you are going to plan a neighborhood, you need to have the services there so you don’t have to drive two or three miles across town.”

Holroyd — a lifelong bachelor who retired at the age of 53 — said he would have time to devote to the City Commission. He said his first task would be to walk every neighborhood, both during the day and night, and take notes on what needs to be repaired or corrected. He also said he would advocate the city create a 90-day period where property owners could apply for a building or demolition permit to make repairs on their properties without paying the standard building permit fees.

On other issues:

• He left open the possibility of changing the city’s smoking ban. “I understand the concept but do not support the way it came about. It seems to me that the City Commission should have more important issues than a ban on smoking.”
• He said “there is a false perception that housing is not affordable. The real truth is that the expectations are inflated of those wanting to start out. I have seen condos for sale in Lawrence, small homes for sale, and both are affordable.”
• He opposed the current roundabouts the city has built. “J.C. Nichols would be laughing himself silly if he were alive. Can you imagine the Country Club Plaza with the junk we have on our streets?”

Holroyd originally launched campaigns for both the City Commission and the school board. Last week he announced he was dropping out of the school board race, though his name will still appear on the ballot. Holroyd said he was dropping out of that race, in part, because he wanted to focus on mounting an opposition effort to a $63 million school bond package.

Holroyd, though, said he was having no second thoughts about his decision to run for the City Commission.

“I’m probably going to be dead in 20 years,” Holroyd said. “My friends said it was either time to put up or shut up. I’ll put up for a few weeks, and if it doesn’t work, well, I still might not shut up.”