The sides are evenly divided.

A Lawrence City Commission candidate forum Monday night made it clear that there’s a 3-3 split on several key issues among the remaining six candidates in the field.

Here’s a look at how the candidates lined up on several issues at the forum:

Parks

Candidates Rob Chestnut, Mike Dever and James Bush all said they did not support a new city regulation that requires new homes to be within a quarter-mile of a neighborhood park.

All three candidates said they supported parks but said the new standard was too arbitrary and did not account for unique conditions in neighborhoods such as topography and the availability of walking trails or recreational opportunities at neighborhood schools.

“It seems like we’re creating inflexible standards,” Bush said.

Commissioners Boog Highberger, David Schauner and candidate Carey Maynard-Moody all said they supported the quarter-mile standard. Highberger said the standard was not arbitrary.

“The reason it is a quarter-mile is because that’s a distance that has been shown that people will walk,” Highberger said. “I want to make sure that every child in Lawrence has the ability to walk to a neighborhood park.”

Chamber support

Highberger, Maynard-Moody and Schauner all expressed some concern over the job that the Lawrence Chamber of Commerce has done in its job of coordinating economic development efforts for the city. The city contracts with the Chamber to provide services to recruit new businesses to town.

Maynard-Moody and Schauner both said they would be open to dissolving that partnership if it could not be properly tweaked. Highberger did not go that far but said there was room for improvement.

“What I know is that we have not kept pace with Johnson County when it comes to job creation,” Schauner said.

Bush, Chestnut and Dever all generally expressed support for the chamber’s work. Dever specifically responded to a comment from Highberger, who said that it seemed the candidates who were most “closely associated” with the chamber were the ones most critical of job growth in the community, yet were not critical of the chamber’s efforts.

“I think the chamber has done an excellent job of reeling in the fish,” Dever said. “But somebody needs to cut them and clean them. That needs to be the City Commission.”

Public transit

Bush, Chestnut and Dever all said that they thought the city’s public transit system was basically adequate for a city of 100,000 people, although Bush said the service might need some improvement for the elderly and disabled.

“I think the infrastructure is there, but I definitely would like to see the ridership go up,” said Chestnut, who said that may require a shifting of routes or better marketing efforts.

Dever said he thought a merger with the KU on Wheels system would provide the city’s T system the boost in ridership it needed.

But Schauner – who said the current T system was basically adequate – warned the crowd that a merger with KU might create more costs than benefits to the city.

Highberger said the current bus system was not adequate but was the best the city could afford at the moment. He said the system ultimately needs to increase its frequency to attract more riders.

Maynard-Moody said she would work to enhance services on the T, and said the city might have to look for new revenue to do it.

“I think we might need to consider allowing advertising on the T,” Maynard-Moody said, referring to the city charging companies to place advertising on the outside of the buses.

A standing-room crowd of about 100 people attended the forum at the Lawrence Public Library auditorium. The forum was sponsored by the Voter Education Coalition, a group of Lawrence organizations and businesses that have banded together to host forums.

The next forum is scheduled for 7 p.m. on Monday at the Odd Fellows Hall at North Sixth and Lincoln streets. The North Lawrence Improvement Association is host of the event.