Haraway enjoys serving his community
From new developments to the creation of 565 and County Line Road, Haraway has seen it all.
Steve Haraway remembers a time in Madison when there was only one red light and County Line Road didn’t exist.
The city councilman for District 2 says it’s “unbelievable” to see how much the city has grown over the past 30 years.
From new developments to the creation of 565 and County Line Road, Haraway has seen it all.
“Probably, the greatest thing has been the creation of the school system,” Haraway said. “It has opened up so many opportunities for our kids and helped to identify Madison as a community that is focused on the education of our children.”
He owns a small business that does commercial and residential site prep and excavation. He and his crew work at Huntsville Airport clearing snow from the runway.
“I learned a lot of things from working with the Airport Crew that I think I can relay to our city should we ever have to deal with a major snow event again,” Haraway said. “These guys have a system that they follow to get the runways and taxi ways back open as soon as possible. I saw first hand the equipment they use and was able to see the things that worked best in case we decide to purchase snow removal equipment in the future. They work around they clock to make sure the airport is back in operation as soon as the snow event is over. This past event Huntsville International was back up and running before Birmingham and Atlanta.”
Haraway has served on city council since 2004, representing the western boundary of the city, which includes parts of Hwy 72 and the south end of Madison Boulevard.
“I have always believed that if you’re not willing to get involved and do something about the problem then don’t complain,” he said. “I had several concerns with the way things were going and felt like I could give back some of my time to this community to help solve the problems we were facing and make Madison a place people were proud to call home.”
He is well-known in the community for his involvement in local athletics. He’s been involved in sports for the past 11 years, coaching teams and serving on the Rec Advisory Board, which reviews and evaluates the city’s sports programs and to make recommendations to the city council for funding, improvements, changes, enhancements, expansions, or other modifications or additions to sports programs.
“I have had the good fortune of watching and coaching some of the greatest kids you will ever meet,” he said. “I have seen how dedicated our parents and coaches are to helping our community teach our kids about sportsmanship and being a part of a team that accomplished so many goals they set for themselves. When you’re at a game and you get to watch the students rush the field after seeing a winning field goal that just beat one of your biggest rivals to claim an area championship you can’t help but get excited with them.”
As to how he balances his career with pubic service, Haraway said it’s all about having a support system.
“It’s not hard when you have a great wife who supports what you are doing,” he said. “We talked about this very thing when I first decided to run and realized it was going to be a team effort on both our parts. When I have meetings or events I have to attend and my boys each have somewhere they need to be, it gets a little tough, but we have some great family and friends who also help.”
