Monday, May 19
Lawrence Business Magazine LLC
Lawrence Business Magazine LLC
2012 Third Quarter - Women of Impact

City of Lawrence: A Look Back At Our City’s Female Mayors

By on 138 Comments
CITY OF LAWRENCE
Third Quarter 2012
story by MEGAN GILLILAND COMMUNICATIONS MANAGER, CITY OF LAWRENCE

Making A Local Impact: A Look Back At Our City’s Female Mayors

 

Women MayorsRunning for local, elected office is perhaps the most effective place to make an impact on our community. Local elected officials have a say regarding laws, regulations, fees and programs that are part of the daily lives of their constituents. They are most likely to personally answer a concerned citizen’s phone call or, you might even bump into your City Commissioner while shopping for produce at your local grocery store. Either way, City Commissioners are your connection to local government, a government that strives to increase the quality of life for each resident and make Lawrence an outstanding community in which to call home.

Running for elected office, no matter what level, is daunting. You are challenged by your convictions, your connections, and you must define what makes you the best candidate for the community. In 1973, Lawrence elected its first female mayor, Nancy Hambleton. Eight women have served the Lawrence community as Mayor since then and each has made an impact in their own way.

Of the eight women who have served as Mayor, Marci Francisco, Shirley Martin-Smith, Bonnie (Augustine) Lowe and Sue Hack met for lunch to discuss their experiences.

Passion, vision, commitment to community were the primary themes discussed as the ladies gathered for lunch in downtown Lawrence. Each of the three women were brought to public service through different paths but each found that once elected, they were ready to face the great responsibility the community had entrusted to them.

“The best elected officials do not have an agenda or specific issues to champion,” Bonnie Lowe, Mayor in 1997, says. “Those who voted for us for City Commission knew we would make decisions that were in the best interest of the community.”

The common theme of job growth and economic development quickly became a priority for the women while in office.

“My professional capacity was helping people find jobs,” Shirley Martin-Smith, Mayor in 1990, says. “I was concerned about job growth and decided I wasn’t encouraged by local efforts in regards to job creation. Once elected, any time there was a valid request that focused on job creation, I backed the project as long as the cost-benefit analysis showed that it made sense.”

Lowe served as an Executive Vice President in banking when elected to the City Commission. She cites jobs and economic growth as her top priorities while in office.

“My strong suit was finance,” Lowe says. “I knew where to go to find others on the Commission or in the community that were experts in other areas where I was not. That is key. I didn’t have to be an expert on everything. It was about knowing where to go to find that expert I needed to make a decision.”

Sue Hack, Mayor in 2002 and 2007, first took office as the city finished formalizing policies related to tax abatements and incentives for businesses. She served on the City Commission when a formalized plan was adopted for tax abatements, which is traditionally a spirited debate among elected officials and community members. “When I ran the first time, there was a lot of conversation about growth in Lawrence,” Hack says. “Those conversations continue today. Communities do not just stay the same – they either grow or decline. I believe there is still a lack of understanding about the fact that a community can grow, and grow wisely. Without growth, the things we take for granted in Lawrence would not happen.”

Just as growth continues to be an issue, keeping neighborhoods and downtown vibrant remain strong points of discussion in Lawrence. Marci Francisco, Mayor from 1981 to 1983, took office at a time when neighborhood issues took center stage at many discussions. Much-needed neighborhood amenities including sidewalks, bike paths and storm water drainage were identified in neighborhood plans. Francisco also served during the time that zoning for a “cornfield mall” was rejected. Francisco also served during the time that downtown development was a major issue.

“When I was on the Commission, we adopted the downtown plan as part of our overall Comprehensive Plan,” Francisco says. “We added our efforts to the work of prior Commissions and left a framework for future Commissions to follow.”

MayorsFrancisco was also involved in creating some of the first recycling and sustainability programs for the city.

“Timing is everything,” Francisco says. “Sometimes you get things done by throwing out an idea and seeing what interest is there. I wanted the city to look at recycling; a relatively new concept in the early 1980s, and it just so happened that the EPA required the city to identify a new location for our landfill. The Parks and Recreation Department was going to be charged to haul trees to the dump. Instead of paying for the landfill costs, the city decided to start chipping tree limbs and reusing that material in Lawrence. This was our first targeted effort at recycling.”

The women agree that being welcoming and open to constituents was a key.

“I always felt like it was intimidating to go to the City Commission meetings,” Martin-Smith says. “You should always want people to come to the meetings and make their voice heard.”

“I never wanted people to feel nervous or unrecognized,” Hack agreed. “I wanted to acknowledge citizen participation and ensure that they felt they were listened to.”

Each of the women felt that their time on the City Commission was worthwhile and that their efforts made an impact. The ladies are quick with encouragement and enthusiasm for future elected officials.

“Serving on the Lawrence City Commission is a fabulous education,” Francisco says. “You really put yourself in a good place to be a better citizen and help people after you have served your term.” Bonnie Lowe cautioned future leaders.

“Educate yourself first then do it,” she says. “Speculation went viral when I started to talk about running. If you think you don’t have the finances to run, you would be surprised how the community is willing to support you if you are a good candidate. And, don’t shy away from running if you’re not from Lawrence.”

“Enjoy the ride,” Martin-Smith says. “Remember to have a sense of humor and realize that you serve unofficially even after you are out of office.”

“It is absolutely critical that we have a diverse group of people who want to serve on the City Commission,” Hack says. “It is a lot harder than it looks and decisions are a lot more difficult to make than you think.”

The next City Commission election is in April 2013 in Lawrence.

Share.

Related Posts

138 Comments

  2. fast income on

    I absolutely love your website.. Pleasant colors & theme. Did you make this site yourself? Please reply back as I’m trying to create my very own blog and want to learn where you got this from or just what the theme is named. Thank you!

  6. enginar on

    Taze ve doğal enginarlarımız günlük olarak özenle toplanır, sofralarınıza sağlık ve lezzet katar. Sipariş için hemen iletişime geçin, tazeliği kaçırmayın!

  7. qq88 on

    Youre so cool! I dont suppose Ive learn anything like this before. So nice to seek out any individual with some original thoughts on this subject. realy thank you for starting this up. this website is something that’s wanted on the net, somebody with just a little originality. useful job for bringing something new to the web!

  17. stake us bonus code on

    Hi, I do think this is an excellent site. I stumbledupon it 😉 I will revisit once again since I bookmarked it. Money and freedom is the greatest way to change, may you be rich and continue to help other people.

  26. qq88 on

    I’ve been surfing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It?s pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all webmasters and bloggers made good content as you did, the web will be much more useful than ever before.

  28. Subtitling on

    Spot on with this write-up, I honestly feel this amazing site needs much more attention. I’ll probably be returning to read through more, thanks for the advice!

  31. Game on

    Good post. I study one thing more challenging on completely different blogs everyday. It’s going to all the time be stimulating to learn content from different writers and observe somewhat something from their store. I?d desire to use some with the content material on my weblog whether or not you don?t mind. Natually I?ll provide you with a hyperlink in your web blog. Thanks for sharing.

  36. Audio Description Services on

    An outstanding share! I’ve just forwarded this onto a coworker who had been doing a little homework on this. And he actually bought me dinner simply because I found it for him… lol. So let me reword this…. Thanks for the meal!! But yeah, thanks for spending some time to talk about this issue here on your blog.

  37. download tiktok on

    After I initially left a comment I appear to have clicked on the -Notify me when new comments are added- checkbox and from now on every time a comment is added I recieve 4 emails with the same comment. Perhaps there is a way you can remove me from that service? Cheers.

  41. qq88 on

    I’m amazed by the quality of this content! The author has undoubtedly put a great amount of effort into exploring and structuring the information. It’s inspiring to come across an article that not only provides useful information but also keeps the readers captivated from start to finish. Hats off to him for creating such a remarkable piece!

  47. best no id casinos 2025 on

    Hey there! Do you know if they make any plugins to assist with Search Engine Optimization? I’m trying to get my blog to rank for some targeted keywords but I’m not seeing very good success. If you know of any please share. Cheers!

  48. มังงะ on

    Thanks a lot for sharing this with all of us you actually know what you’re talking about! Bookmarked. Please also visit my site =). We could have a link exchange agreement between us!

  54. best casino without swedish license on

    It’s a pity you don’t have a donate button! I’d most certainly donate to this brilliant blog! I guess for now i’ll settle for book-marking and adding your RSS feed to my Google account. I look forward to new updates and will share this blog with my Facebook group. Talk soon!

  58. baca disini on

    This is the perfect blog for anyone who would like to understand this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost hard to argue with you (not that I actually would want to…HaHa). You definitely put a fresh spin on a subject that has been discussed for decades. Great stuff, just great.

  60. มังงะ on

    One thing I’d really like to say is that often before buying more laptop or computer memory, take a look at the machine directly into which it can be installed. In case the machine will be running Windows XP, for instance, the memory threshold is 3.25GB. Applying in excess of this would just constitute a waste. Make certain that one’s mother board can handle an upgrade volume, as well. Interesting blog post.

  62. มังงะ on

    Hiya, I’m really glad I’ve found this information. Today bloggers publish just about gossips and web and this is really frustrating. A good website with interesting content, that’s what I need. Thanks for keeping this site, I’ll be visiting it. Do you do newsletters? Can not find it.

  68. Dubbing company on

    Spot on with this write-up, I seriously think this site needs a great deal more attention. I’ll probably be back again to read more, thanks for the info!

  70. มังงะ on

    I’m not sure why but this blog is loading incredibly slow for me. Is anyone else having this issue or is it a problem on my end? I’ll check back later and see if the problem still exists.

  74. click resources on

    I found your interesting topic by searching Ask. Looks like your skillful blog have allot of readers at your exclusive weblog. I find it to be a success story for every website maker.

  80. internet on

    hello!,I like your writing so so much! percentage we keep in touch more approximately your post on AOL? I need an expert in this space to unravel my problem. Maybe that is you! Looking forward to see you.

  82. มังงะ on

    Hello there, I found your website via Google while looking for a related topic, your website came up, it looks great. I’ve bookmarked it in my google bookmarks.

  85. มังงะ on

    One thing I’d like to discuss is that weight loss program fast may be possible by the appropriate diet and exercise. Your size not merely affects the look, but also the actual quality of life. Self-esteem, depressive disorders, health risks, as well as physical skills are affected in excess weight. It is possible to just make everything right whilst still having a gain. Should this happen, a condition may be the perpetrator. While an excessive amount of food and never enough work out are usually responsible, common health conditions and popular prescriptions may greatly enhance size. Thx for your post in this article.

  94. Snaptik on

    A fascinating discussion is definitely worth comment. There’s no doubt that that you ought to publish more on this issue, it might not be a taboo matter but typically people do not speak about such topics. To the next! Kind regards!

  96. source on

    hey there and thank you for your info ? I have definitely picked up something new from right here. I did however expertise some technical points using this site, since I experienced to reload the site lots of times previous to I could get it to load correctly. I had been wondering if your web host is OK? Not that I’m complaining, but sluggish loading instances times will sometimes affect your placement in google and can damage your quality score if ads and marketing with Adwords. Anyway I am adding this RSS to my email and can look out for much more of your respective fascinating content. Make sure you update this again soon. https://mylittlebookmark.com/story3921524/best-mesothelioma-law-firm-directory

  98. oradentum official on

    This is the right blog for anyone who would like to understand this topic. You understand a whole lot its almost tough to argue with you (not that I actually will need to…HaHa). You certainly put a fresh spin on a subject which has been discussed for a long time. Great stuff, just wonderful.

  100. มังงะ on

    Valuable information. Lucky me I found your website by accident, and I’m shocked why this accident did not happened earlier! I bookmarked it.

  104. off plan projects in dubai on

    Hi there! This is my 1st comment here so I just wanted to give a quick shout out and tell you I truly enjoy reading your blog posts. Can you recommend any other blogs/websites/forums that deal with the same topics? Thanks a lot!

  105. Snaptik on

    You need to take part in a contest for one of the highest quality websites online. I most certainly will highly recommend this blog!

  106. off plan projects in dubai on

    Hi there are using WordPress for your blog platform? I’m new to the blog world but I’m trying to get started and set up my own. Do you require any coding knowledge to make your own blog? Any help would be really appreciated!

  115. มังงะ on

    Please let me know if you’re looking for a article author for your weblog. You have some really good posts and I think I would be a good asset. If you ever want to take some of the load off, I’d love to write some content for your blog in exchange for a link back to mine. Please shoot me an email if interested. Regards!

  117. มังงะ on

    Thanks for your posting. My spouse and i have often seen that the majority of people are desirous to lose weight because they wish to show up slim and attractive. On the other hand, they do not generally realize that there are additional benefits for you to losing weight additionally. Doctors state that over weight people come across a variety of ailments that can be directly attributed to their own excess weight. The good thing is that people who sadly are overweight along with suffering from numerous diseases are able to reduce the severity of their particular illnesses simply by losing weight. It’s possible to see a progressive but identifiable improvement with health if even a negligible amount of weight loss is obtained.

  123. Industry-Specific Keywords on

    I have been browsing online more than 3 hours today, yet I never found any interesting article like yours. It is pretty worth enough for me. Personally, if all web owners and bloggers made good content as you did, the internet will be a lot more useful than ever before.

  129. Digital download on

    I’d like to thank you for the efforts you’ve put in writing this site. I am hoping to check out the same high-grade blog posts from you later on as well. In truth, your creative writing abilities has inspired me to get my very own website now 😉

  131. digital invitation on

    I blog frequently and I really appreciate your content. This article has really peaked my interest. I will book mark your website and keep checking for new details about once a week. I subscribed to your Feed too.

  133. Core Keywords on

    I discovered your blog site on google and examine a number of of your early posts. Continue to maintain up the excellent operate. I just further up your RSS feed to my MSN News Reader. Looking for ahead to studying more from you afterward!?

  135. Free sales process health check on

    I have noticed that car insurance providers know the motors which are at risk of accidents along with risks. In addition they know what kind of cars are inclined to higher risk plus the higher risk they have got the higher a premium rate. Understanding the simple basics associated with car insurance will help you choose the right kind of insurance policy that may take care of your preferences in case you become involved in an accident. Appreciate your sharing your ideas on your blog.

Leave A Reply