David Schauner had several reasons for moving to Lawrence in 2000, but one stands out: It’s not Topeka.

Schauner, one of nine candidates seeking three seats on the Lawrence City Commission, lived in the capital city for 27 years, and he watched the downtown empty out and commercial developments sprawl elsewhere.

“The only thing that Topeka was willing to do was move to Wanamaker and develop a horrific, poorly planned retail strip,” he said. “What it did was kill all retail that wasn’t on Wanamaker (Road). What you ended up with was a decaying downtown, decaying neighborhoods.”

He added: “I finally became so disgusted with the prevailing attitude in Topeka that I knew it was time to move.”

In Lawrence, Schauner decided not to sit back and watch the process repeat itself. He ran for the City Commission in 2003 and is finishing up his first term.

Although he doesn’t make a practice of taking pot shots at Topeka on the campaign trail, many of his issues can be traced back to his desire to make sure Lawrence doesn’t follow the same path as our neighbor to the west.

One key tenet of his philosophy: Take care of established neighborhoods.

“The thing that Topeka was unwilling to do was honor its old neighborhoods,” he said.

Schauner, who still works in Topeka as the general counsel for the Kansas-National Education Assn., ran a campaign two years ago that had a heavy focus on growth and development issues — part of a trio of candidates who ran with the backing of the “smart growth” Progressive Lawrence Campaign. As the third place finisher in that election, he received a two-year term, while the top two finishers received four-year terms.

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Schauner said he believed people sometimes mislabeled his views on the city’s growth.

“People who don’t know what I stand for have accused me of being anti-growth,” Schauner said. “Nothing could be further from the truth. Grow or die is probably a fair statement. But how do we grow? Do we just put up anything, anywhere we want? I don’t think so.”

Instead, Schauner said the challenge for Lawrence was to grow while maintaining the city’s same sense of community.

“The issue kind of reminds me of what are we going to be when we grow up?” Schauner said. “What are we going to be when we are 150,000 people, and that will happen someday? I hope we’re a bigger version of what we are right now.”

Schauner said that meant the City Commission had to pay attention to details and, even more importantly, set rules and follow them.

“I think it is human nature to try to avoid conflict, and one way to avoid conflict is by just saying yes to people,” Schauner said. “Another way is to not have any rules. As a city commissioner, you can’t just tell somebody they’re a nice guy and give them an extra 60,000 or 80,000 square feet of commercial space. That is not how you build a livable community.”

On other issues, Schauner said he:

• Supports the city’s smoking ban. He said the scientific evidence that secondhand smoke creates negative health issues was “overwhelming.”
• Thinks the City Commission has a limited ability to control housing prices in the community. He said the best strategy to address housing affordability issues likely would focus on attracting higher paying jobs to the city. “All housing is more affordable if our residents earn a decent wage.”
• Fully supports the city’s efforts to deny the construction of a Wal-Mart or other big box store at the intersection of Sixth Street and Wakarusa Drive. “Streets in that area can’t handle the increased traffic volume. Protecting neighbors and neighborhood property values near that intersection must be a high priority,” he said.

Schauner, who before becoming an attorney was a high school social studies teacher in Larned for five years, spends much of his work day fighting for teachers. In his job as the KNEA’s top attorney, he handles many cases involving labor disputes and unfair dismissals of teachers.

The City Commission, he said, plays into his Perry Mason personality.

“I love to ask questions,” Schauner said. “If I don’t understand it, if I don’t have enough information, it really bothers me. I think I am a bit more analytical than a lot of people. I have to have someone explain to me why the square peg is going to fit into the round hole. I just don’t buy it.”