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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAnne Hazen Pt. 2 TranscriptionCity of College Station Heritage Programs Oral History Interviewee: Anne Hazen Interviewer: Unknown Transcriber: Brooke Linsenbardt Year of Interview: 2013 Place: College Station, Texas Project: Former Mayors and City Council Oral History Project Interviewer (I): With whom we have talked so far have talked about the fact that they didn’t spend any money. 00:08: Anne Hazen (AH): Right, well I know. That’s a. I: Until, until 00:10: AH: Since there’s four to a page, you know, one. I’d have them printed and I cut them myself. [laughs] We’d sit at home with a clipper you know and a thing and cut them. I: [Laughs] Yeah. 00:18: AH: And I’d put a stamp on the back and have friends mail them. I: Yeah, there you go. 00:22: AH: It was very low budget. I never had any of that fancy stuff. I: Kitchen table politics. 00:26: AH: Right. I: Well listen. 00:28: AH: It’s not even politics. I: Ready. Thank you for so much come, excuse me. Do you want me to called councilman or councilwoman? 00:41: AH: Are you going to say, or do you have to say that? I: No, I don’t have to. 00:45: AH: Well you can say councilwoman first and then don’t mention councilwoman again. I: Okay. 00:50: AH: Okay. [laughs] I: Thank you so much Councilwoman Hazen for agreeing to participate in this Heritage interview for the College Station Project HOLD, the Historic Online Library Database. We will have this for current and for future generations. And we really appreciate your taking the time to participate. You are in the interesting position of having served on the Council two entirely different times. And let’s begin by talking about the decision that you made to run for office. What led to that? 01:39: AH: Well the first time was in about 1977 or ’78. I can’t recall the quite, quite the, the year. But at that time College Station was much smaller, and, I moved here in 1972 and the first thing I noticed, I had three children going to College Hills, was there was no sidewalks. And I had already joined the League of Women Voters and that was one of our first projects was to study the need for sidewalks and bike lanes in College Station. And, so we did the project and when we got finished our consensus was that we definitely needed sidewalks on Francis Drive and on Glade Street. And so then in order to get that done, I ran for city council. I was very urged to run by members of the League and peoples in the neigh, in the neighborhood, school and neighborhoods. And because my kids had gone to College Hills and I was running for a place instead of the whole, it wasn’t the whole city. I didn’t represent the whole city, I was running for just that College Hills area. I knew most of the people, and they all wanted that sidewalk on Francis Street. And I have no idea who I ran against, I can’t remember, but I did win that election. I was running to get sidewalks and bike lanes. It was a safety issue. And I’ve always been, I’m a nurse, and I was always was working on something, the safety of the citizens. I: And you ran again a number of years later, was your motivation different? 03:11: AH: I was urged to run at that time, by some of the members of the city council. And I had just retired from Hospice Brazos Valley [mumble]. And I was looking for something to do and so, they asked me if I would run again because they wanted me, the incumbent, they wanted me to unseat an incumbent. And so that’s what I did. I, I ran against Dick Birdwell. And another person ran in the race, Da-Dorcas Moore. And, I was successful in running again, and being elected. I: Tell us about the differences in the, in the, the two campaign times, or was there a difference? 03:59: AH: Oh big difference, big difference. The first, they, the, the first campaign, you mean the first campaign itself? The campaign the first time was, I, I was well-known already. And I just walked the neighborhoods. The League of Women Voters always did their e-election guide and so they interviewed us all. I don’t remember that we had candidates’ forums at all. But, I probably knocked on doors and made phone calls. But there was no campaign literature or anything like that. And it was a small area of town. I don’t remember how many votes, but it wasn’t, you know, I got the majority, but it was a small election. The second time, I was the kitchen table type of candidate. And then I had a very inexpensive card which it got four to a page and I cu-cu-cut them at home. And so it was, it was a, still a low, a very low budget campaign. And I was running on, my experience from the past, having been on the council before and apparently not making anybody too mad. And then also on my reputation as a hospice nurse, and then, uh I guess my willingness to serve, so. I: Tell us about your most vivid memories from the first run for office, and then the second time. 05:26: AH: Um. Let’s see, I’m, I’m not, I’m really not sure of what the, the first time. Well the first time, I didn’t know anything about campaigning you know, it was pretty much on, that I wanted to serve and there was an issue, a big issue, and that was the sidewalks. People were very worried about the safety issue. The university had just started to grow large, really large. I think we probably at twenty thousand or something then. The students were driving up and down Francis Street. A lot of them had started to, they were living over on Plantation Oa, Plantation Oaks and Briarwood, I think the two apartment complexes over on Harvey Road. They were cutting down Munson Avenue and down Francis Street which was the, the route to the school. And people were very concerned about the safety issue. I: Would you say that the, the campaigns were more about personalities or were they about issues? 06:29: AH: Issues. Definitely on that first one, it was issues. I: And the second time? 06:34: AH: Um. I don’t, I, I really can’t say when the first. When I ran them out, against Mr. Birdwell, I can’t really say, I think it was, issues that they weren’t happy with the incumbent. And therefore I represented a different focus on, vision for the city. I had a real vision for the city. Now where is that. My opp, my opponent didn’t have much of a vision. I: Do you think that, that your vision gave you the edge to win? 07:12: AH: I think the vision and the rec, and my reputation probably, gave me the. I: Now did your family participate in the campaign? 07:23: AH: Oh they, they were recruited, yes. Especially in the first campaign. You know, they were, they were very much involved with the first one. The second one not so much, not so much. Most of my friends, a lot of my friends helped me on the second one. My husband was, not as involved the second time. The first he was supporting me I guess. I: After the first campaign, did it get easier with more experience? 07:54: AH: The first, after the, the second time I ran it, it was 19, let’s see 98. ’98 was the first time and then 2000 and 2002. And each time it got you know, easier I think. Except more expensive, but easier. [chuckles] I: There’s a saying that all politics is local. How would you say that the city politics has changed from the first time you ran, to this most recent experience that you’ve had. 08:29: AH: The most recent experience running? Or this most recent campaign? I: Of, of serving on the council. 08:35: AH: Oh, of serving. So you’re, I’m talking about 2004 or 2002 when I ran? Or, or 20-, 2000? I: Let’s, let’s go back to your, let’s compare and contrast the very first time that you were on the city council, with your more recent experience, beginning in 1997 or ‘8. 09:01: AH: Um. I: Did the councils operate differently? 09:08: AH: They operated very much differently. The, first council, North Bardel was the city manager. It was a good old boy system. I was the first woman ever elected to city council, they didn’t know what to do with me. Orientation to the city council was to ride with the police chief. And there was like four or five people in the police department at that time. Chief Byrd dropped me, rode me around where all the big problem areas were in the community. And I did that several times. Pretty much went with the department heads and the departments you know, rode around with them to try to, or visited all the different things to kind of be oriented to the city. And the, the rest of the council were, at that time it was Homer Adams and Larry Ringer, Gary Halter. So I had some really good old timers on there that, that oriented me on to the issues. But I didn’t know what I was getting into. I [chuckle] had no idea about you know, all the responsibilities of the city. I: Sometimes it’s an advantage and sometimes it’s a disadvantage to be the only woman in the group. Did that difference disappear? 10:23: AH: Well I think, [chuckle] as the only woman I kept trying to think of what the differences were and I got to go to the Speedway and welcome A.J. Foyt because nobody else wanted to do that. I got to go to a lot of ribbon cuttings and women’s things that nobody wanted to do. So I, I was, I did serve, I, I functioned for, for the, for the council. And of course everybody else was reach-working you know, they and so I think they were all employed or at least working in something at the time. So I did have a, a good chance to do some things that nobody else did. But they always treated me very, they were all very polite. Homer Adams and I fought like cat and dog, but he was so ni-. I mean we never agreed on anything, but I tell you he was the politest man to me, he treated me so nice. So it’s, just, you know, we never agreed on anything. But he was the most, he was a real gentleman to me. So, I always remembered that from the council. I: What advice would you offer today to people who are thinking about running for office? 11:36: AH: The same advice I’ve been giving for years, which didn’t work this, I don’t, apparently has not worked this last time, but is that serve on city committees. Go to meetings. Listen. Read the agenda, the whole agenda from the council meetings. Go to citizen’s university. And then wait until you have enough time so that you can spend twenty hours, at least twenty hours a week on the week the council meets, reading the agenda and preparing because it’s a lot to prepare. And I think that would be most important. I: Let’s talk for a minute now about, the fact that city employees sometimes feel that they’re precluded from, knowing, or talking with people who serve on the city council. During your time on the councils, did you reach out to city employees? 12:38: AH: I was very comfortable with the city employees. I never talked about city business with them. But if they were, I’d known they’d lost a parent, I would you know, tell them how sorry I was. If I known they were gonna have a baby, I would encourage them. You know, I would talk to them about other issues and, and they, you know felt. I, I got to know a lot of them through other, through my church, through the schools, through my work, so that I knew a lot of people in the city, especially when we were small. You know, you got to know people and work for the city. And and I, I never talked to them about city business though. And I know that that was the rule pretty much, you know, without getting the city manager involved. I: Talk a little bit about the relationship that you had with the city manager and with department heads. 13:36: AH: I always had a very good relationship as far as I know. I didn’t have any problems like, they got to be good friends. And when I would see with them in other places, you know I would chat with them you know, about other business besides the city you know. But I, I had a, a, a real good relationship with them I feel. I: The university has always been central to College Station since its beginnings and many of the basic city services came through the university. And the history of College Station can be seen partly as, as trying to get independence in the provision of those, basic city services. How would you characterize the relationship between the city and the university? 14:31: AH: Because so many of the city council members were professors at the university, I think you know, we had a, that kind of relationship was good. The university was not really interested in participating in funding projects with the city. They would support you know, bui, verbally support projects we were doing. They would let us know if they needed something from us. I think part of that was that they weren’t sure they could get the funding because they depended on the region for, for many projects. And so they were not willing to you know, promise anything. So I’ve always felt that we, we were, both had the same goal, but the city was pretty much doing it on their own I felt. I: Are there any special issues that relate to serving on the city council in a, in, in a, in a university town? 15:37: AH: Well, students. That was a big issue. And traffic. And the safety of the students and the fact that there are so many new ones every year, that the, the city is continually edu-and they’re living in our community. There are not that many on campus. So the city’s continually educating a new groups of students about you know, how to live away from mom and dad in a community that has lots of children and things that you, you know, you do and you, you can’t do if you’re living in a neighborhood. So I think that probably is the biggest issue that we had as a council and all the times that I served was welcoming the new students who were a part of our community, but really didn’t, didn’t plan to stay around. And often caused problems. I: Growth is considered critical to expanding the tax base. Could you talk a little bit about how city services expanded during the times that you were on the city council? 16:50: AH: As best I can remember, we were continually growing. Continually. The whole time. That, there was never a time where we could sit back and [chuckle], and I mean, we had meetings that lasted till ten, eleven o’clock at night. Every council meeting. Because there was so big an agenda. The agendas were so big. Lots of new developments. Lots of zoning issues and planning issues. And lots of committees to serve on, because there was continual growth. New roads, we, we’d have to widen roads, put in new traffic lights because the traffic was increasing. The city was getting big so fast. I: There’s always a dynamic tension between developers and neighborhoods. Did you see a shift in that from the, from your earlier service on the council to your more recent service on the council? 17:54: AH: I think, yes, at, it, when we were, when I was first on, there were just a few apartment complexes. And we needed them desperately because the university was growing. And they were welcomed you know, into the city. And we really didn’t how they were going to affect the city. I mean, some of the, those over there by Post Oak Mall. The Plantation one and the Briarwood, those were built. And then I think some on Anderson Street. Some fourplexes over there. They’re a, but on the second time round, there was a lot of, we were still growing rapidly, and there was a lot of comp-competition between the developers from in, in, in the community and those from with outside the community. And there would be a lot of, there were a lot of issues. And the neighborhood, the developers who hadn’t been here and had worked in the community a long time, did not understand the preservation of the neighborhood and neighborhood issues. And, there was continual tension between the neighborhoods and develop, big developments that were, that were coming in. I: And they were coming in from outside the community? 19:07: AH: In other words, they were developers from Houston or Dallas or somewhere else who were coming in to build an apartment complex. And they were going build it and sell it you know, and get out. It was not gonna be. And it might have an impact on traffic or things you know, things like that, that would then cause problems after they would build in the neighborhoods by kids, people cutting through neighborhoods. And there were a lot of issues, neighborhood issues.