Special Concurrent City Council and Redevelopment Agency Meeting March 1, 2010

0:02:26thank you welcome to the El Cerrito city council meeting close enough wrap it once I could have your attention welcome to the El Cerrito city council meeting we will start with um the pledge of allegiance to the flag or actually let's start with roll call please

0:03:59councilmember Jones councilmember Lyman here councilmember Potter mayor potem Chang here and mayor Abelson here thank you will you join us please in the pledge of allegiance to the flag led by council member Lyman [Music] under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all

0:04:36Council and staff Communications is next I'd like to start out by announcing that the council has made an appointment to the arts and culture commission and that appointee is Joyce Hawley and so we'd like to welcome her aboard to that Commission thank you are there any other Council

0:04:57announcements yeah I have just a couple things here I um I thought the uh council member or Congressman garamendi's uh turnout was tremendous for a Friday night and get to know the our representative a little better and what his thoughts are on on a variety of things so I thought I thought that was

0:05:20really good um last time I had some comments about health care and quite possibly a National Health Care Pro uh program and I promise not to bring this up every night but I did want to update on a couple things um I was reading a report Health at healthreform.gov

0:05:43that Anthem Blue Shield or Blue Cross who announced the 39 increase apparently Blue Cross and Anthem across the the country is doing about the same thing so it just isn't the state of California that has such astronomical increases in premiums and I found a couple things

0:06:04interesting in this report and it's all it's all backed up by fact that WellPoint uh this was year ending 2008 2009 excuse me uh WellPoint accumulated 2.4 billion in profits in one quarter alone the last quarter of that period um the combined profits of the five largest

0:06:31companies in the United States uh was 12.2 billion it this was up 56 percent over 2008 and they're doing it with 2.2 less family 2.2 million less families so I again I reiterate I think we need a plan that people can buy into affordable if they need it if they so

0:06:55want a private plan that's great but I can't understand the 39 increase in last week in the chronicle um they noted that it looks like that small businesses will be hit with a huge increase in in premiums for their health so I I just want to point out if you're

0:07:15interested take a look at some of these things some of the statistics are coming out and uh uh we should pay attention we have a lot of uh P are a lot of our residents are affected by these types of increases uh the other thing I wanted to point out was uh the bait uh Youth Baseball had a

0:07:38parade I guess it went off we were in our training but uh it did go off and I just wanted to note that this is the 47th year the youth baseball has been in El Cerrito formal uh formerly the organization itself 47 years so congratulations to them I wanted to point out too that our light

0:07:59poles on San Pablo Avenue are being painted actually it's a great time to go see it because on the west side that hasn't been painted yet it has the silver poles on the left side it has the new painted poles and I think you'll it it's a great way of looking at the

0:08:14dramatic difference in the Improvement that this will make along San Pablo in my my opinion and finally in our packets the last two weeks we had notices for two rate increases for PG e one is for 80 little loader a little over 85 million dollars they're asking to be covered by an increase in rates

0:08:38and then the last one's one that gets me is for 18.3 million they're asking that the increase in rates to cover 18.3 million and the reason why I find that interesting is to the city of El Cerrito and to us as individuals 18.3 million dollars is a lot of money the PG e it isn't and apparently uh 35

0:09:00million dollars isn't either because they are trying to qualify on the ballot a measure Statewide that would require cities to have a two-thirds vote of the citizenry before that city can change power supply service 35 million dollars 35 million dollars to promote this thing and they want to

0:09:29increase our rates to cover an 18.3 million dollars besides that they're trying to take away rights of the city right now the city has the right to determine uh what service they will use they don't have to have a vote they don't have to have two-thirds they don't have to have

0:09:47uh ask PG e uh whether they like the idea or not and they say it's to protect I don't understand this one because usually cities would approve something if if they could get a better deal for their residents but the reason is they want to protect their shareholders and their

0:10:05customers and I thought that was interesting save us from what lowering the cost I guess and so uh funny they didn't mention the fact they would also keep their bonus program intact and if you know anything about PG e you know that they have a very healthy bonus program and give out

0:10:26hundreds of millions of dollars a year in in bonuses but I just think it's it's we should try and keep our eye on that because the uh the the measure itself that they're trying to put forward will actually take away rights of the individual cities thank you just wanted to let everyone know that on

0:10:48Saturday morning the city council met here with fire chief Lance Maples and police department staff as well as other staff to go over our Emergency Operations during a disaster and you may know that the city hall serves as our Emergency Operations Center in the event

0:11:03of a disaster and you know we were all reminded with the earthquake in Haiti and then it was Saturday morning that we had the bad news from Chile and we were watching a lot of the video well at the same time running through preparedness issues incident command systems and

0:11:19state and federal regulations for disaster and for Declaration of emergencies so it was a very fruitful training and I think that El Cerrito is very well prepared with a lot of backup and just a reminder to everyone because I even need reminders to have extra water and food and supplies in your home

0:11:38because there will be a period of time following a disaster where Services won't be provided necessarily by the government and we've had plenty of reminders and also two large earthquakes in Humboldt County closer to home to get us all ready and prepared so thank you

0:11:56you know in addition to the garamindi event and the EOC training uh council members Jones and mayor Abelson and I attended the opening night of the Opera and I will say that if you have an opportunity to go to one of the next two uh performances that are coming up I

0:12:13would highly recommend it it was uh very entertaining and a beautiful presentation and the venue is the El Cerrito High School and it's a beautiful location there um the other announcements that I have are from the crime prevention committee um the crime can the crime prevention

0:12:33committee is hosting a neighborhood watch informational meeting on March 22nd right here in the city council chambers um 6 00 P.M to 7 30 p.m so encourage people who are interested in starting a neighborhood watch to come and learn how how to do that and what it takes to keep

0:12:54it running the second announcement is the bicycle safety Rodeo it's our second annual Rodeo it's a event for bicycle safety for kids and families to come out and enjoy uh learning how to do obstacles to maintain your bike and some safety tips and that's May 22nd at the St John's Kearney

0:13:18Street yard adjacent to the greenway from 11AM to 3 P.M please bring your bike helmet it is the law in El Cerrito that even adults must wear their helmets so everyone should wear their helmets and come on down thank you thank you with that we'll move on to the next time

0:13:38on our agenda which is the annual business recognition Awards and we're going to be doing uh three Awards tonight and another awardee will be done at a later time yeah yeah yeah yeah Shan and um so I believe we're going to do that down there good evening mayor and members of the

0:14:04city council I'm excited to be here this evening to introduce the next recipients of the city of El Cerrito business recognition Awards the business recognition award program was established to recognize those businesses that have contributed in a unique way to the economic well-being of

0:14:19the city of El Cerrito the program was set up in partnership with the economic development board and businesses can qualify for an award in in a number of the following areas first a significant contribution of sales tax or employment longevity in the city of El Cerrito

0:14:35significant involvement in community events or organizations involvement with Innovative or Specialty Products or ideas or industry achievement tonight we have two new items that I want to point out the first is that we have a new green business category that we are recognizing in partnership with

0:14:51the Environmental Quality committee the second is that we've expanded our requirements to allow for the consideration of businesses that are located on San Pablo Avenue have an El Cerrito address but a Richmond business license our Economic Development board felt that

0:15:05a business such as El Cerrito natural that we're talking about tonight definitely contributes to the economic well-being of the city of El Cerrito in the form of employment and services that are available to both El cerdo and Richmond residents so to give you more information about

0:15:18the companies we're going to be recognizing I want to introduce Marty koliski chair of our of the El Cerrito Economic Development board and then Rebecca benacini from the Environmental Quality committee good evening as mayor and Council people and all of you here it's my honor and

0:15:39pleasure to be telling you a little bit about the businesses we're going to be giving awards to tonight and the first business I want to talk about is Playland not at the beach construction on play [Applause] construction on Playland not at the beach was started 11 years ago

0:16:02and after eight and a half years of hard work it opened on May 31st 2008.

0:16:07built and designed almost entirely by volunteers this non-profit Museum celebrates the innocent fund of a bygone era when families visited Whitney's Playland at at the beach in the Sutro Baths in San Francisco not at the beach is open weekends and school holidays and attracts visitors

0:16:27from the Bay Area the nation and around the world Playland provides live entertainment treasure hunts vintage pinball machines set on free play rooms full of Penny Arcade devices carnival games amazing murals and exciting miniature dioramas all of the Playland Museum of fun was

0:16:48created without a single donation from any City County state or government agency and without any grant money over 1500 volunteers have donated artifacts artwork and their hard work and artistic ability to make it come alive since it opened his doors plaguelandis

0:17:07had over 15 000 guests and has contributed greatly to our local economy puego and not at the beach is being recognized for industry achievement involvement with Innovative products or ideas and contribution to the community representing Playland out at the beach

0:17:24of three members of the unport board of directors who work seven days a week to make this all happen Tim Sauer Frank bufori and Richard tuck thank you sure just a couple things thank you everybody for the honor that you've given us tonight for those of you who have never been there yet there's magic

0:18:01happening right across the street from you as evidence of that tomorrow CBS is going to be broadcasting live from Playland not at the beach and it's by far not our very first national coverage in addition on Tuesday March 16th we're having the world premiere of our feature

0:18:19documentary remembering Playland out of the Balboa theater in San Francisco it's my understanding at this point the event is almost all sold out they just added a second show and in fact tonight we have the writer and producer of it Tom wash before I have the volunteers stand up I

0:18:43would just like to say one more thing there is another business in El Cerrito the Playland really relies on and that's called Lander International Lander just celebrated its 30th Anniversary last year we moved Tim and I moved Lander from Oakland to El Cerrito 24 years ago and we're kind of hidden

0:19:03but believe it or not in 1989 we were named by Inc magazine as the 289th fastest growing company in America privately owned I was singled out as the CEO of the year for the entire nation The Wall Street Journal came to visit we were in the New York Times we are quoted

0:19:20everywhere we're not doing quite as well as we used to we're in this thing called a recovery from a recession but I can assure you all the things that happen magically across the street with playland wouldn't ever have existed without Lander I'd like to acknowledge some of the

0:19:37volunteers we have here tonight so please stand and for those of you who haven't visited we sure hope you will come and visit and spend the day and find out what it's like to go back to your childhood and be seven or eight years old again we're also always looking for more

0:20:04volunteers and just to show the power we have a special affiliation this year with the Walt Disney Corporation anybody who comes and donates eight hours of their time gets a free day at Disneyland you have to be at least six so we have lots of families that are

0:20:21coming all the way from Reno Nevada and from the Central Valley and all over the place in fact from our volunteer base we've had people from the very very beginning who've been volunteering now for 11 and 12 years who've traveled a humongous distances every weekend to get

0:20:37here so it's not just local thank you very much for this honor thank you on behalf of the city of El Cerrito and and our city council Richard I would like to give you this certificate of our of recognizing you for all of the effort that you have put in and I know it's

0:21:02that seven days a week I think every day of the year too by the way and tell you how much we appreciate the work that you have put into making El Cerrito a better place thank you so much [Applause] our next recipient is El Cerrito natural grocery company for over 20 years El Cerrito natural

0:21:46grocery company has been a great place for all your natural foods needs carrying only a hundred percent organic produce this is the place to go for Quality natural and organic food a certified Green business El Cerrito natural grocery is all about sustainability

0:22:04both in what it sells and how it operates in fact in 2005 they installed a 35.7 kilowatt solar system to generate their own electricity since 2002 they have been 100 employee owned and operated and currently have over 50 employees El Cerrito natural grocery is being

0:22:26recognized for longevity in the city of El Cerrito and contributions to the community accepting the award for El Cerrito natural grocery are Pierre Jones store manager Jennifer San cooler assistant general manager and Bob gerner general manager and founder [Applause]

0:22:47[Music] first uh thanks uh thanks to everyone here for uh having us here and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the residents of El Cerrito as well as outside communities but mostly uh the neighbors surrounding and I'd say they come from everywhere and it's an honor privilege is humbling as

0:23:19well I've been with the company for 23 years going on 24 and uh it's been a great experience and we're going to continue to do our best to support the community and just go all out on behalf of the city of El Cerrito and the city council I'd like to award you this recognition certificate and thank

0:23:46you for the many years of service that you've given our community and let you know that we look forward to many more years of the same thank you [Applause] and even though they're not here tonight to accept their reward I still wanted to acknowledge Yao yassan our third recipient this evening

0:24:20is a Japanese food market that has been in El Cerrito for almost 20 years they have been located at the current location for 12 years in the smallest Store on San Pablo Avenue for seven years even though yahwe's son means green Grocer in addition to groceries the store carries a variety of old dairy

0:24:40daily needs Goods fresh seafood fresh sushi as well as no take out lunches the family-owned business has customers that come throughout the Bay Area and they are proud to make El Cerrito their home yayasan is being recognized for industry achievement longevity in the community

0:24:57and contribution in the community so thank you very much [Applause] I just want to turn over now to Rebecca benicini who's uh representing Environmental Quality committee and also his honor Economic Development board good evening mayor city council members I'm happy to speak to you tonight about

0:25:21well-grounded tea and coffee bar which is the first business recognized jointly by both the economic development board and the Environmental Quality committee as an outstanding green business well-grounded is a family business started five years ago by Jen kamarami

0:25:37and Kevin O'Neill they are committed to using fresh and local as well as organic materials and they Source all of their goods from small local businesses as well as Farmers their organic coffee is roasted in Richmond very close they use locally produced Clover organic

0:25:54milk oakland-based numi organic teas as well as baked goods from local bakeries committed to waste reduction more than 75 percent of well-rounded's waste is either recycled or composted in addition together with the neighborhood businesses many of you probably know

0:26:10that they started very recently the Stockton Avenue art strolls and they also support Community Theater music as well as a number of other community events while grounded is also a supportive Earth Day and in 2006 helped coordinate the city in the city the planting of

0:26:26trees along Stockton Avenue which have really added to the beautification of that street in addition while grounded has been in Contra Costa certified Green business since 2005 and is the only restaurant or Cafe in El Cerrito which is certified in that business category

0:26:42well-grounded is being recognized by the eqc the Environmental Quality committee for having met very high standards of environmental performance that was verified by the county they have taken actions to conserve resources prevent pollution minimize waste and reduce

0:26:57their carbon footprint representing well-grounded are Jen kamarami Kevin O'Neill and their son congratulations Kevin and Jen [Applause] well thank you we are honored for the recognition and we love being in El Cerrito so thank you so much for all of your support over the years

0:27:31I guess the a great deal of pleasure to present this certificate to well-grounded tea and coffee which I think has done a fantastic job of revitalizing Stockton Avenue and bringing to El Cerrito but so many people here have said they want and it's a pleasure to us all to see what you

0:27:53offer [Laughter] including Jack and watching Jack grow as the business grows and we wish you many years of success and thank you so much for being a part of our community thank you [Applause] thank you thank you foreign that item I would like to thank the economic development board and also the

0:28:51Environmental Quality committee for the hard work that they put into making the selections and bringing us this program which I think is a really helpful program to encourage our businesses to do the kinds of things that we would all like to see them do and um to help attract new business to El

0:29:12Cerrito and um so thank you all for doing all the good work that you've been doing um the next item on the agenda let's see is um not sure if we mentioned item 4A if the proclamation commending Lucille Irish will be done at a later time as Lucille is unable to attend tonight

0:29:40okay oh I'm sorry we also forgot that okay so um excuse me so now we're going to go to item number three on the agenda which is oral Communications from the public and with the city clerk please call we have several speakers the first is Al Miller Al Miller [address removed] here in El Cerrito

0:30:09good evening mayor Abelson the council members uh where Mr Lyman announced that he and several of you had attended the opening performance uh I had had the privilege of attending the closing performance of the first production uh yesterday afternoon uh the artistic director in his opening

0:30:30remarks made a couple of a statements that particularly resounded with me when he mentioned that El Cerrito High School students are involved in the lighting the sound management and the stage management of the production it didn't elaborate on to what extent but I think that that's one of the

0:30:53win-win situations that we get out of the arrangements the next production is a Copeland Opera and he mentioned that it involves a lot of dancing folk dancing He also mentioned that Miss Burgess the dance teacher at El Cerrito High School will be involved in the

0:31:09choreography or choreography choreographing you tell I'm not a theater person uh of those dances and that her dance students from El Cerrito High School will be performing those dances also a business you just recognized are well grounded has the concession to provide treats and drinks that

0:31:33unfortunately can't or fortunately can't be taken into the theater but I mentioned that because I know you collectively and individually have supported the uh can I say acquisition is anyways Berkeley Opera coming to El Cerrito and I wanted to thank you for that

0:31:53the other thing I wanted to mention is the consent calendar and how it's used I recognize the facility of a consent calendar in speeding up and shortening the meetings but I urge you to be continually aware of items that are on the consent calendar because I think they

0:32:14often present opportunities for you to inform us as to what's going on in the city things that you and the staff have achieved for the city and too often we hear unhappiness about the way staff is performing on this request or that request and often there's indication in

0:32:37the consent calendar of significant accomplishments by the staff that I think you could use to a better opportunity to help us members of this community understand how hard they work what they contribute and what they gain for the city and often there's items that you all have achieved

0:33:01that take extra time extra meetings Etc that we should be aware of the last thing I would mention is that again well-grounded mayor Abelson mentioned they've enriched the community of Stockton I would think that they have created a community of their own centered around Jenny K and

0:33:24well-grounded and I'm very happy to be a member of that Community but thank you for recognizing them all Elizabeth carti good evening mayor and members of the council how do we get this I think that may be yeah um General comments oh this is the sorry I'm I've got two items here

0:33:55um I would like to um ask that you put a moratorium on the current ordinance regarding chickens on the books my understanding is that you've written another one that's in process that has uh Provisions for people to have chickens and that the uh that that's in motion and right now it is giving a

0:34:28mixed message to folks about um chicken ownership um by having the old one be so different and being acted upon in people getting fines and such when there's something coming if I'm understanding this correctly that is more I guess permissive and that's all Destry Miller

0:35:06hi I'm Dustin Miller I live at [address removed] I'm just in support of putting the moratorium and the current chicken ordinance and anticipation of the new one so that's all I have to say Rhys Halpern foreign mayor and City Council Members Reese Halpern [address removed] El Cerrito I

0:35:33too am here on behalf of or encouraging and urging you to enact it immediately a moratorium on the current code Provisions having to do with backyard chickens no I don't own any chickens but it's consistent with The Greening of El Cerrito we've heard so much about this

0:35:49evening my understanding is that a number of you on the city council actually support changing the current Draconian laws affecting backyard chickens I understand that a number of Code Enforcement Personnel support the changing the laws but their hands are tied they have to

0:36:05enforce the current law unless you agree that a moratorium is appropriate the reason a moratorium is appropriate in my mind is I by way of example I asked some people to show up this evening in support of a moratorium they were afraid to even show up because if they do they

0:36:22could be subject to code enforcement coming out not because they want to but because they have to if they know there's backyard check-ins insisting on a thousand dollar application fee to get a permit to keep chickens I have a law office my fee the application for my permit to have a law

0:36:39office is a fraction of that it's just it's a law that clearly needs to be changed my understanding is that you all want to change it but the problem is in the meantime people who do have chickens are already getting some visits from code enforcement Personnel they're

0:36:56looking at a thousand dollar application fee or say goodbye to their chickens that's not consistent with The Greening of El Cerrito that we heard about there are several other people here that I was just going to ask who may not be on the open Forum time to speak but if they

0:37:11wouldn't mind standing at least acknowledging that they're here to support my request and others requests that you immediately adopt a moratorium until there's appropriate regulations on board wow that's more than I even imagined thank you Linda Schneider good evening mayor and city council

0:37:42folks I'm also here for the chicken agenda we have a really wonderful Greening forward momentum with chickens and fruit trees and the um the rain water or you know the asphalt however that is done and all these meaningful ways of moving forward that I think are beneficial not only to us as

0:38:05Citizens here but as a role model for other cities and at the same time the old ordinance is still being enforced in a way that gives a mixed message of finding or getting rid of the chickens so the the ability to move forward or even the trust in the community by the community

0:38:25that they can have them and and make this for momentum gets shut down so that's why we're asking for a moratorium on the old ordinance as the new one is being brought forward thank you Julian okay hi uh firstly I I would like to say I've been a resident of Elsewhere for 30

0:38:54years and I would like to thank the city for their Progressive actions in this Renaissance that seems to have occurred in El Cerrito in the past decade or so it's it's a real uplifting feeling but I'm really here to support the moratorium and the chicken ordinance

0:39:13and I understand the complications but I think moratorium by definition is a temporary uh withholding until such time as a new ordinance can be uh decided upon and you know in just following nationally what's happening with this uh movement of maintaining a small

0:39:37footprint gardening self-sustaining and chicken is all all part of the same agenda so I urge the city to not have such a restrictive ordinance in place have a moratorium until a new one can be decided thank you Jay Dutton hey you're in Council thanks for letting

0:40:07us uh request this moratorium it's important a lot of us that have chickens or know people have chickens and most everybody gets along with their neighbors well and can work things out we don't need a thousand dollar permit fees and serious things over our heads

0:40:21that's all I got to say um Inca and I'm sorry I can't pronounce your last name Inca arachica hi good evening mayor and City Council Members I am too here to support the moratorium I believe that the permit fee basically outweighs the reason that people have chickens which is to help to sustain

0:40:50their own living with the rising costs of food these days and everything else I think it's important that people have options that they can feed their family and I think the permit fee is definitely excessive it totally outweighs the cost savings that people actually

0:41:11have when they can provide their own food thank you foreign no other speaker slips okay thank you comment if I could just clarify one issue for the council um there was information distributed to the council um um regarding this issue um as you know a moratorium on the existing regulations

0:41:33of keeping of animals within the city is not on the agenda tonight um the information that went out to the council did give you a back uh background update on a particular instance of Code Enforcement that City staff has undertaken after numerous complaints about chickens being kept at

0:41:52one property um the the tenant of that property has also requested a moratorium we forwarded that information to the council but it is not on the agenda tonight for Council action okay so I think we're ready to move on to the next item on the agenda then which is item 4C

0:42:16which is uh the impacts of budget cuts on older adults and the value of current Senior Services to the community hello again uh mayor and council members it's an honor to speak with you tonight and I am there are a lot of wonderful things happening the Renaissance in El Cerrito

0:42:41all the wonderful new businesses that contribute so much there's also a lot of fabulous things happening with our older adult programs so I'm here tonight on behalf of the El Cerrito committee on Aging to talk to you about the Older Adult Services we feel really strongly that the

0:43:01outstanding Services you have in El Cerrito benefit the older adults and the community as a whole so I'm going to highlight for you some of the services largely through pictures and talk about the demographics of the city the cost attendance and value of these services

0:43:18go so first uh just to familiarize with the locations we have our Monday through Friday main Center which is the open house Senior Center and that's on Stockton right near right behind the library uh they operate five days a week and in that same building which is

0:43:42pictured here we have a Saturday program uh Sakura Kai Japanese language program and then on Mondays Christ Lutheran Church operates a day and St John's Church operate today on Tuesday so the open house is funded through this fees that um seniors pay some other funds that come

0:44:09in from the county and and the city pays for some while the other programs the current High Chrysler Lutheran St John's are funded through the school district or um adult education and now some fees so it's particularly impressive about El sereno's old adult program is that it

0:44:33has something for everyone in this very diverse community so we're able to meet a variety of needs the social needs to Medical some limited medical needs we help with cognitive conditioning and physical fitness that's very important to older adults we have services that meet the needs of very

0:44:55active older adults and also services that support homebound seniors so the city Older Adult Services provide social engagement through meals isolation is a very big problem with older adults It's associated with negative Health outcomes resulting in premature placement in nursing homes

0:45:19and studies show that when Elders dine together they eat more and it helps maintain their ideal body weight it keeps them staying connected to their community and Friends our city old Adult Services also keep people engaged through activities you see a lot of smiles on their faces there

0:45:41this is a folk dancing class at open house Senior Center they're having fun they're making friends they're getting exercise at the same time so with an activity like this this can create a reason to get out of the house it can provide structure for their week and something to look forward to

0:45:59the city old Adult Services Provide support with medical needs and I was very excited to learn that we operate a foot care clinic at the open house the center has a nurse and a doctor that come once a month and as with other services the elders pay a fee for this

0:46:18this is so important because circulation problems can make it very difficult to feel when there's a problem in the foot and wounds heal slowly and all it takes is an ingrown toenail or cut to create a very serious problem that can cause someone to lose a toe a foot or Mobility

0:46:38so this is preventative medical care that really goes a long way so we're not operating a medical clinic but this is one medical intervention that the center chose to bring in that has a huge impact on maintaining Elders Mobility health and Independence to avoid nursing home

0:46:53placement City Older Adult Services Provide support with medical needs through the nutrition program for older adults it can be hard to cook for yourself and poor nutrition is an obvious problem for anyone for older adults poor nutrition can create balance problems that lead to Falling deficiency

0:47:11B12 that can mimic the symptoms of Alzheimer's and make them disoriented and malnutrition is so common for elders because of problems with shopping and cooking and all these issues the doctors screen for it regularly it's a very serious problem through our programs at all the centers

0:47:28we're ensuring older adults that need our assistance are getting one of the most basic human needs met and that's with food so in this picture this is from the Christ Lutheran Church MonDay program all three of these women are volunteering the cook who planned and

0:47:45prepared and is preparing this meal in the purple she has a she's volunteering her time and then the woman helping her the oranges and then the woman in the pink is is making the flower arrangements for the tables there's a huge number of Volunteers in all of these centers that support these

0:48:02programs those are just three examples City holders Adult Services Provide support with keeping people fit cognitively so Recent research shows that one factor in keeping cognitively fit is learning new things so these folks are in a computer class at the open house Senior Center

0:48:22so the programs funded through the adult school include a variety of languages German Spanish Japanese and all the centers offer activities of stimulating provide opportunity to learn new skills City old Adult Services provide the ability to keep active through lots of

0:48:41physical activities every day there's a fitness class at the open house Senior Center and for each day that one of the other programs is open there's at least one Fitness class so this creates eight opportunities a week this ranging from Tai Chi to balance training and fall prevention and it

0:48:58doesn't include the walking and the trips there's no YMCA in El Cerrito but the quality of the classes for older adults of all Mobility levels is very similar to those that you would find at the Y wise in neighboring cities and if you haven't been to any of these centers you

0:49:14should they're bustling with activity they really feel like a why many seniors take advantage of these walks within El Cerrito and areas Beyond there's a group that walks to destinations within El Cerrito every Thursday and I'm sure they stop and get coffee at well-grounded

0:49:34with other trips out to outside El Cerrito they get to enjoy the Bountiful nature that we're surrounded by here's a trip organized by the open house Senior Center to the DeYoung here's another one to the Sundial Bridge Tomorrow there's a group leaving for the annual snow trip on Amtrak

0:49:59they have a lot of fun and like many activities old adults from surrounding cities sign up for these trips and seniors pay fees for these trips so the city Older Adult Services provide help keeping active through the easy ride program and we've increased the center the open house has increased this

0:50:18to four days a community on Aging feels this is an absolutely essential service this picture shows one of our drivers Desi holding the door open to the bank when it's no longer comfortable or safe to drive older adults can still take care of personal business such as going

0:50:38to the bank going to the grocery store attending the committee on Aging meetings we have some members who come using that it enables them to participate older adults can continue to do things they've always done and want to continue doing and also it keeps the community safer

0:50:56a number one priority for all of us as we age is to remain as independent as possible and avoid placement to a nursing home into an older older adults I always say in surveys into what we all want these two programs Alzheimer's respite and home delivered meals help older adults as they're losing more

0:51:14of their independence for those caring for people with Alzheimer's it's a 24 7 responsibility they get tired they need breaks they have other things they have to attend to and this Alzheimer's respite program is a huge benefit to the community and so both these programs the home

0:51:32delivered meals and sometimes that's the only meal someone gets that day and it's contact with when somebody seeing that they're okay they both can make the difference between home and institutional institutionalization for certain individuals okay now I want to talk about

0:51:52demographics in our city I base this off of the city flyer on demographics I started there in our city we have 23 plus 23 000 residents um and I took that percentage my age off of here and uh 60 plus five five thousand three hundred thirty three and then I took an estimate from the age bracket

0:52:21here another 1685 from age 55 to 59. so we have an estimated 7 000 uh people 55 and older and our meeting age is 46. so this is a really big percentage of our City's population 60 plus 22 percent uh now I want to talk about the senior services expenses now this is from the

0:52:56last year's budget that I got off the website and the expenditures for senior services and the budget were 594 000 100 000 revenue is 290 300 000. and revenues I just listed some of the big items measure C money coming in 80 000 program fees I've been mentioning that people

0:53:19pay fees for the meals for the trips for lots of things that they participate in they're contributing and the rides big ones 78 000 and they do some great fundraising at the open house Senior Center and the annual fund has raised 25 000 and um in addition to this they have had a

0:53:40bequest fundraising campaign that has raised 491 hundred thousand almost half a million and so there is a lot of funding there besides what the city provides so I hope I'm understanding the numbers correctly but I just wanted to get a sense with expenditures at almost 600

0:54:03000 revenues at almost 300 000 coming in if I understand this correctly that leaves three hundred thousand coming out of the general fund and to pay for the senior services for all of our elders so that would be um 1.1 percent of general fund going to pay for all these services that support

0:54:27our elders and other Recreation budget 8.2 percent um I wanted to find a way to show that how heavily these services are used without bogging down with a lot of numbers so here's a sense of the volume so the first part so the weekly Senior Center attendance so this doesn't

0:54:54include the Easy Ride trips open house serves uh 800 900 people a week and this the Saturday program very busy also 85 to 90 every Saturday Chrysler Lutheran 40 to 50 St John's 20 to 30 and every day that they're open there's a meal and lots of activities so I mentioned these robustling centers

0:55:23they really are so total for the week 945 to over a thousand um people coming some people might be coming once a week or multiple times a week but this is how many times people are coming in to get services we feel that the senior center provides benefit or the senior services that we

0:55:49provide provide benefit to the whole community there's extensive volunteerism and Community participation with all of these programs at the centers themselves there's a huge number of volunteers at open house 95 volunteers keep it running at the other centers there are Nummies saw the three

0:56:09women in the kitchen that's every Monday and there were other volunteers there too um we reduce 911 calls and the associated expenses people are keeping fit they're being checked on people can notice when something's not right suggest they go see the doctor so if a

0:56:28lot of prevention going on that helps the expensive crisis of having to knock the door down and come in that cost the city money um there's Revenue coming in from seniors in other cities this is um seniors from Kensington El Sobrante Albany and all around us Richmond are really

0:56:53attracted to these services and pay fees that bring money into the city and healthy Elders volunteer in other settings such as schools polling places Etc so when they're healthy we all benefit now finally I just want to talk about threats and the impact and opportunities

0:57:19so the threats to the Older Adult Services with the reduced City Revenue you know that results in cuts and we know that the city has been dealing with that so some a few staff hours have already been cut to the open house Senior Center which can make it more challenging to

0:57:37keep up with the coordination of services yeah now the West Contra Costa School District you know what's going on there um we're really concerned about that they those programs fund the Saturday Japanese program the Chrysler Lutheran the St John Senior Center and the

0:57:56Alzheimer's respite programs and the this funding is very much oh this serves about 170 people a week and that's meals and other services um so we're very concerned that these services are going to be cut and and we will we hope that there's a way that you can find a way to support

0:58:18uh these services and keep them going um if the school district pulls out there's a lot of volunteer support very little Staffing there um but some critical Services we want to see continue the impact on um uh Cuts existing Cuts future Cuts continued cuts um on our seniors

0:58:45isolation for sure if they're an opportunities to get out weight loss I mean any Cuts Like the West Contra Costa Pro Unified School District programs that those are meals people will not be getting they will not be eating the same amount of food so there will be weight

0:59:00loss with that and increase Falls increase 9-1-1 calls and definitely increase institutionalization now um so we let's see um I want to talk about opportunities here um so we have a growing population in of Elders in El Cerrito like most of the country but it stands out here

0:59:37um the largest group in the city is 45 to 59 that's 20 so more people are coming that's more customers to pay fees more people interested in these services [Music] um we have a real opportunities the community participation how many people give their time and energy and money as

0:59:59we have heard um and um okay so um so we at the committee on Aging don't want to see a dismantling of these Services we feel that what you have is a solid foundation that can be built upon other cities don't have all this and we feel that this is a set of services that

1:00:26we can be really proud of and the other City other City residents take advantage of and brings Revenue so um so we at the committee have a dream of a brand new larger state-of-the-art Senior Center here in the city and we know that times are tough now and we think that things will be better and

1:00:48we want to keep these great programs that you have going here thriving to be positioned for the growing need and we want to also say that we appreciate the outstanding leadership provided by Monica quartz and Ellen pasch and the people who are keeping the other centers going Carol Kehoe Kimmy

1:01:09Honda and Jan um Tucker they run the other services and also the city staff and you who have created this vibrant set of services here in the city and it wouldn't happen without the leadership from you so we know these are difficult times with tough choices to make and we know

1:01:34you're considering a quarter Cent tax so we'll hope you consider measures like this to help keep this and other general fund programs going we want to see our bustling centers continue be able to get the meals that they need the rides that they need the activities to stay healthy they've given

1:01:54we feel it's the right thing to do for the seniors of this community to support their programs that they contribute so much of the time and money to and we all benefit from thank you so much I was just wondering uh thank you Elizabeth on behalf of the committee on

1:02:13Aging which you chair and I was just wondering if you wanted to introduce um the key people that you were mentioning who are here in the audience too oh sure yeah absolutely so Monica is that maybe we could turn on the lights first Monica's the head of the recreation

1:02:28department and the senior services are in her Department um so and Kimmy Honda please stand up Kimmy runs the Sakura Kai program on Saturday St John's Senior Center that operates on Tuesday and Carol Kehoe runs the Christ Lutheran that operates on Monday Monday yes

1:02:58thank you thank you for your presentation um and I was just gonna say and then I was just going to say as uh over the years I've been invited to participate and speak at these various groups and I want to say how thoroughly um I agree with what was said in this

1:03:18presentation about the value of these services and they really are some of them in danger of actually being eliminated the ones that are funded by the um this Contra Costa Unified School District which is sakurakai Christ Lutheran Senior Center St John's Senior

1:03:35Center and the Alzheimer's respite which operates out of our senior center are actually in danger of being eliminated because of school district deficits and issues so um if there was ever a time when they needed our support I suppose this would be it and they do provide a great

1:03:56service to the residents that I've talked to in those programs thank you do we have questions yeah I absolutely think that the services are really wonderful and somewhat unique you know not every Community has such a range of available services in a conveniently

1:04:13located spot I do have a question maybe Monica can address these about the budget look like the numbers that were presented for the income for the senior center then we're offset by the revenues generated by the senior center I'm wondering if the recreation department

1:04:29budget also would need to have the revenues we bring in which are substantial for our programs to really compare apples to apples on the budget and also if you could speak to the services that might be considered any of our city services of course we want to lobby for the school district continue

1:04:46their funding but what are the key issues you see coming up in this budget year for our services that we'll be making decisions on Well for now our services are full and complete we've been some stopping opportunities or changes Ellen pasch is the director of the

1:05:05senior center had maintenance under her and we've moved that so she can concentrate fully on the Senior Services Program we've had a part-time person that we had for a few months and we let her go and provided a full-time staff with the opportunity to go down to the senior

1:05:27center for 50 percent of the time and we've reduced some of the part-time hours but as for the Senior Services Program it is fully intact at this point we are trying to increase the revenues down there the difference between the senior center and the community center is a lot of the

1:05:46community center programs are subsidized by the fees for service the senior center even though some programs do we do charge fees they're nominal they're four dollars and 525 if you're a non-resident and some are free opportunities um as you know and uh we have bequest

1:06:07and this year we have subsidized our revenues with a for the senior center to keep it whole from a bequest for about eighty thousand dollars so those are the types of things we're doing to make the senior center whole at this time it does take it's a different it's a different kind

1:06:28of recreation program and it's important to this community and we're trying to make it whole and complete but it it has some funding issues um because of the nominal amount of money that is spent on each class I did I answer you uh what you wanted yeah in part but I

1:06:48was just wondering on the percentage of budget for the senior center versus the recreation other parts of the recreation department offhand um I don't know if I can recall that maybe Elizabeth can answer whether the revenues were subtracted out of the number that was presented

1:07:06for the rec department um okay so I I took the um early on in the budget there's a there's a summary that has each department and their and their total amount of General funds so I took that amount and divided it by what I saw as what was remaining after some of the expenditures is on the

1:07:41budget as last year that's how much was spent 594. I took what came in from various sources including fees and you know Paratransit money that kind of stuff and that was listed in a revenue section um I divide I subtracted that came up with 300 000. that looked to me like

1:07:59what was left for the city to pay for these senior services and then I took that number and divided by the total general fund 26 million to 1.1 and took what was on that early that summary page early in the budget um um I think it was three point something million

1:08:23um the recreation what the general fund part that pays for recreation that was a summary in the beginning I don't know if there's any fees in there but it was the general fund I don't know if that makes sense this is the first time I've seen this slide tonight so I would really have to

1:08:42go back to our budget and for instance measure C which has measure measure J is not out of this fund um and I'm not exactly sure what's in here so I can't speak to this I'd be glad to come back or in a weekly report outline the revenue sources and how we balance the senior center budget

1:09:06that would be great it's just a little bit confusing and maybe if we're going to get to putting numbers up that we work together with staff to present those thank you comments for questions from the uh um for the rec center or the senior center staff I was just curious if

1:09:27there's any programs that promote intergenerational um activities thinking about the high school having we have had intergenerational activities mostly with the elementary school coming in at different times um we have had programs adopt a grandparent we've had the ballet come in

1:09:51there and do performances with the seniors we've had some opportunities in the past where some seniors have elected to read stories to to the children as an active intergenerational program I wouldn't say we have it at this time but we do do different opportunities at

1:10:11different times throughout the year and throughout the years okay thank you with that we're going to move on to the next agenda item which is adoption of the consent calendar and it's already been noted that there's a correction on the minutes which I think is um

1:10:39I don't know if it's worth I think that could just be given to the city clerk it's just a name change um are there is there anything else well as long as we're doing little things like that the time mayor Abelson you convened the special concurrent city council Redevelopment

1:11:00agency meeting at 7 colon 6 p.m I don't know what time that is so okay just an example okay um so I'll move approval of the consent calendar items 5A through 5G um item 5A the minutes as amended in this meeting second okay there's been a motion a second to approve the consent calendar

1:11:25items five a through 5G all in favor please say I I any I think that was unanimous do you mind if I just comment um 5D and 5e uh indicate grants various grants that are coming into the city and just wanna remind people that this is money coming back to the city to help us

1:11:49in this case there's um retrofit Bay Area which is to help with energy retrofitting and also uh climate showcase committees program which is another sustainability program so just wanted to there is continues to be money coming back to the city and I think that should be noted

1:12:14that we've we put a whole lot out there and some of it's coming back so thank you okay with that we'll move on there are no public hearings so we'll move on to uh item number seven policy matters which is a Redevelopment agency item so I'll turn it over to Redevelopment agency chair Potter

1:12:35okay we are now ready for item seven which is the developer solicitation for redevelopment of agency property located at one zero eight six zero and one zero eight four eight San Pablo Avenue thank you good evening chairperson Potter and members of the agency board

1:12:56I'm Hildy mile senior project manager with the city's Redevelopment and Housing division I'm here tonight to request the board's Direction okay apologize um I'm here tonight to request the board's direction to issue a request for proposals for a residential mixed-use

1:13:17development at the agency-owned property located at 108.60 and 10848 San Pablo Avenue also known as the tradeway property the agency held a study session on October 19 2009 on the future Redevelopment of the tradeway property and directed staff to prepare a developer solicitation

1:13:38the RFP or request for proposals prepared by staff indicates the agency's preference for a mixed-use project with an affordable senior focused residential component it is also crafted to allow developers to respond with alternative proposals for residential development

1:13:54the maximized project feasibility and the leveraging of the agency's investment staff believes this flexibility is necessary and desirable in order to elicit quality responses in a challenging economic time after the RFP is issued and the close of the RFP response deadline

1:14:15staff anticipates that we would return to the agency board with a recommendation for a top-ranked and a second ranked developer upon if there is a developer selected staff would then work with them and negotiate an agreement in terms of legal and environmental considerations issuance of the RFP does

1:14:36not commit the agency to select a developer nor does the RFP make any sort of determination regarding the nature of the site or any buildings on the site and I would like to add some background here in considering the purchase of the property in 2008 agency staff hired

1:14:53qualified reputable firms to perform due diligence studies as was appropriate and prudent considering the significant investment of public funds that we were considering making in the site one of these studies was a historical resources evaluation the evaluation concluded that the

1:15:12buildings at the site do not qualify as an historical resource under existing standards that is the consultant's professional opinion the RFP discloses this study and other relevant information in order to provide that information to prospective developers so that they may make their own assessment

1:15:31of the site's challenges and opportunities neither the agency nor the city has made nor are they making tonight if they issue the RFP an official determination regarding the nature of the site historic or otherwise there will be an environmental review process under the California

1:15:48Environmental Quality act at such time as a developer is selected and they propose a project for the site and that concludes my staff report for this evening thank you thank you questions from accountancy board if I may um just one quick question I'm looking at appendix one which is additional

1:16:08background materials and the third bullet down is the historic resources evaluation um I know that the Historic Society did provide a letter from the park was it the park manager um this isn't this is a letter that we got back in October or August and it's a a letter

1:16:32that seems to come from the um I don't think it was the state historic preservation officer but it was the uh Federal parks ranger in the area that was trying to make some determination about the this property right completely cleared such a letter okay I I okay

1:16:56thanks if I find it if if I would love it to be brought to my attention if it doesn't exist yeah I don't know if Tom Mr panis is here I believe he wasn't in a dark set of documents that you provided to us correct yeah great thank you I'm just would it would be great if that was included in

1:17:16the RFQ okay I will work with other staff I'm not aware of this document or to whom at the city it was sent so I will okay thank you I'm glad I wasn't crazy thanks I mean just for the record since the copy of the letter is here it might be useful to know um who it was from and

1:17:37who it was to and whose jurisdiction it pertained to if we might is that permissible I would guess that um the the letter is going to be brought to your attention again as part of public comments and you can decide what you want to do with it at that time excellent great thank you

1:18:01um I just said some questions for Hildy um if you can just explain some more about the the Assumption or all the the conceptual kind of designs that are set forth in the in the RFP and kind of how much of this is a recommendation versus your conceptual you know because it does

1:18:22go the gamut of densities and parking ratios the when we were considering uh agency was considering purchase of the site we commissioned a feasibility study to look at some different uh scenarios and and this this information was also presented during the October 19th study session so

1:18:45what this these aren't really designs these are simply massing studies what we were looking at was what giving current zoning and and general plan conditions what might fit on the site what might be allowable from an affordable you know if we're looking at doing a residential

1:19:00development um and given that what is the feasibility what are the associated development numbers that come out of that so we're not um and we explicitly say in the RFP that this is not a program for development this is simply um some potential scenarios that we

1:19:20looked at and we encourage any developers that respond to come up with their own responses does that answer your question so there's no inherent kind of you know we're pushing them in any direction or not is this just completely you know feasibility of given lot size and some densities and

1:19:37requirements and given the real estate economics I mean we I think we're trying to cast our net wide in the sense of developers know their business let them respond with what is going to make the most sense and will evaluate it from the perspective of what leverages our

1:19:51investment and do you think at this time is is it too detailed to get into because I I appreciate you know mentioning of certain things like the on the uncoupling of the parking costs and um and I just wonder if now is a good time to bring up other I guess Transportation demand Management

1:20:12Programs such as Transit passes and car sharing kind of just so that it's in the realm of their thinking and their response because it could have a direct impact on what parking ratios come out because um I guess I've seen multiple projects going forward right now like the South

1:20:31Hayward BART station where they're providing free AC Transit passes for the life of the project for all 100 I believe 300 units of family and Senior affordable housing as well as San Leandro Bridge housing another 100 units all all the units are being provided with a free EC

1:20:55Transit passes because AC Transit has this Easy Pass Program so just some things to I don't know if Now's the Time to pepper um I think those are are things that um during there's going to be sort of a period here of informal question and answer from interested developers and

1:21:15there is a site tour that's scheduled um and I think as they are sort of answering asking questions of me and of planning staff as they certainly will we can certainly um you know sort of communicate the status of City efforts and that there's a willingness to consider

1:21:32um but we have to be clear about sort of what is current city policy and adopted adopted documents um and uh so we have to sort of walk that line if you will um but I think that there is a growing Awareness on the development communities part of of what is sort of being what's

1:21:54in the draft specific plan for example great thanks thanks okay are there any um public speakers yes we have several ready the first of which is which part key good evening my name is Rich Sparky one three one five Devonshire Court I'm here tonight representing the else

1:22:31reader Historical Society there's much in the RFQ in which we have no opinion or no interest but there are a couple of things in which we do have interest and I'd like if you have a copy of the draft RFQ in front of you turn to page six at the top of that page existing structures on the site do not

1:22:57appear to qualify as historic resources pursuant to SQL based upon and historic resources evaluation and maybe you know something that we don't know but in actual fact nobody knows if that statement's true or not when we saw that statement Last Summer we presented this

1:23:23document to the two agencies which make the rules in this field one is a state historic preservation office and the state historian uh made her opinion plus she ran it by her staff and they were unanimous in agreeing that proper evaluation of the site has not been done and the statement

1:23:46is not supported by the report we also gave this report to the agency for the federal government in this area which is a department of interior National Park Service the architect the historic architect uh in this area uh also reviewed it came to the same conclusion that nobody knows if

1:24:08that statement is right or not because the proper evaluation has not been done so both of them agreed with the Historical Society that first of all it may not be true and second of all no proper evaluation has been done because the investigative report does not

1:24:29support the conclusion now when I we brought this up a couple of times before and I was told that oh it's okay this is not an environmental document this was part of the due diligence that was done for the city prior to for the agency prior to the close of escrow

1:24:52it was never meant to be an environmental document so therefore there didn't have to be public notice it didn't have to be of public hearing it didn't have to be public input okay so what happens next if this goes out the way it goes sometime later a staff just told you a

1:25:12proper SQL evaluation will be done and what if the society is correct as we are suspicious that there really is an historic resource on this property you're going to have one very bad developer because he will have found out after all his work that he's now got an historic resource

1:25:37to deal with it's particularly going to be angry when he finds out that this agency knew that in July of 2009 because we appeared in front of you in July of 2009 made an appearance sent you a letter we appeared also in October same thing but we don't want to give you a problem

1:25:57without a solution so sooner or later proper evaluation is going to have to be done as staff just told you why not do it now that would be the right way to do it do it now before going ahead with the RFQ as before the historical society is willing to meet with you if you wish our

1:26:21assistance in resolving this issue thank you Tom panas good evening Sherman Potter members of the board and staff my name is Tom panis I live at [address removed] in El Cerrito I'm here this evening to speak about the events of the past couple of years as they relate to the former Valley of the

1:26:57Moon then Contra Costa florist and Chamber of Commerce building the RDA received report last received last July a copy of a letter from historical side of taking issue with the process surrounding and the findings of historic resources report that was prepared for this building

1:27:12since the executive summary which is attached contained a clear language stating the report was a secret document the society wanted to know how a SQL document could be created without public notice or input from the public RDA staff responded that despite the language in the executive summary

1:27:27summary the document was not intended to be a secret document and the society didn't need to worry about it the RFQ in front of you tonight clearly suggests this report is a SQL document this flip-flopping seems rather odd to us Society also took serious issue with the

1:27:42absence in the report of a historic context study to support the report's conclusions and we commented this failing meant the conclusion of the report was unsupportable as Rich has already mentioned both the National Park Service and the state historic preservation office agree with the

1:27:57society now I stood before you again on October 19 and reminded the our day of this failing and that it meant the conclusion the report was unsupportable get this unsupportable non-seeker report is cited in the RFQ as representing a valid secret conclusion this boggles my

1:28:14mind and I don't want to think about the potential liability for the city that this represents in the larger picture many others and I are completely befuddled by the rda's apparent attitude that needn't bother with sequel most planners consider secret of being part one of their most

1:28:29important tools because it assures that all parties are well informed and encourages public input and ensures that all parties uh get proper Community notice I'm sure the chair and the rest of the board would agree that the secret process served the public and the city very well as it

1:28:46applied to the planned relocation of the Portola Middle School yet operating with within sequence seems to occur very rare if ever on RDA projects the RDA tore down the building at 11135 San Pablo Avenue without preparing any kind of a historic resource document a gross violation of

1:29:03sequa there are plenty of hearings on the San Pablo Avenue streetscape project a project much smaller than what was discussed this evening plenty of projects on the upper Fairmont Avenue one of hearings on Opera Fairmont Avenue project much smaller than we have

1:29:16tonight so I asked why haven't there been any public hearings here any community outreach to find out what public wants what the community wants here I think the Public's very interested in Redevelopment I suggest the board provide the following direction to the agency staff

1:29:29do we get a proper historic resources evaluation done now not later that we get the public involved in this and other RDA projects and that everybody start learning about and using sqa for the community's benefit and the staff's benefit as I said before and as Rich already said the Historical Society

1:29:46supports a proper adaptive reuse of this building consistent with the best management practices thank you very much for your time and your interest this evening Kathleen McKinley good evening Madam chair members of the Redevelopment agency you know who I am Kathleen McKinley [address removed]

1:30:09um I'll cut to the chase I think any RFP that does not take into account the probable historic character of this building is defective and it's going to lead to mistaken development for the site uh the previous speakers haven't really addressed why this structure is

1:30:28historically significant it was a quarry office and it's in its uh original uh Avatar if you would and the reason why this is important is that the Quarry business was very significant part of el Cerrito's early economic history it was later used as a florist shop

1:30:49which was you wouldn't think very important part of elsewhere's economic history but it was because um in the 30s and 40s in the 20s too the Japanese American Community were very important flower growers in the area and one family had a retail flower shop that was connected with that business in that

1:31:10site so this building has ties to El Cerrito's very early economic history and important parts of that economic history that have sort of disappeared as functioning things and it's also tied to El Ceres ethnic history because many of the people who worked in the quarries

1:31:29were Italian-American Quarry workers and Masons and of course the connection with the Japanese-American community and the flower sewing business is really significant and the Japanese American communities is still a very significant component of the ethnic makeup of the

1:31:44city of El Cerrito so we have those particular ties that are important but then turning away from the historicity of the building I spent 12 years on the Planning Commission some of it with a number of you on the the Redevelopment agency and Council now and when we revised the general plan one of

1:32:06the significant things we were concerned about was the the the characteristic the design characteristics and the functional characteristics of San Pablo Avenue one of the major issues that was identified as well as a major issue for the city was the um basically the the attractiveness or

1:32:26unattractiveness of San Pablo Avenue in fact it specifically says development within the San Pablo Avenue Corridor is generally unattractive and does not provide a friendly environment for pedestrians sprinkled throughout the general plan is a focus on pedestrian

1:32:42friendly development human scale building um and specifically in connection with San Pablo Avenue encouraging development that is not man not too Monumental and I'm not opposed to a three or four story buildings along San Pablo Avenue I think all of you know that from your history

1:33:01with me but um we also have emphasized building articulation different styles interesting interesting uh looking buildings and things that make elsewhere uh San Pablo Avenue uh a place where people actually could imagine walking we have an existing structure on this site

1:33:24that embodies a lot of the characteristics that we say we want and design and it's Charming which isn't really very typical for El Cerrito but it's it's small it's interesting looking it's high quality it has this these historical connections and it um could be incorporated into different

1:33:47into a a development we've talked about wanting to have um buildings step back from San Pablo at least in you know and part of the part of the street you could have you could save this existing structure and build behind it and above it stepping up from the street there's no reason to destroy

1:34:08this structure I think it's in fact it would be ridiculous to me for the city to destroy an existing structure that embodies a lot of the design characteristics that we say we're trying to develop in El Cerrito when you add that to the fact that the building probably has historic significance and

1:34:30we need to actually do a study to determine that because the existing document is conclusory and it is not supported by evidence I do this for a living and I know what's evidence and what isn't what we have is a document that creates the impression that there is no historic significance

1:34:48it's almost an opera conclusion I think it's legally insupportable and if we put an RFP out there on that basis we're running the risk of finding out later that it was historically significant and getting a developer who's very ticked off when he has to accommodate that fact

1:35:06so we better find out now and when we are looking at what we want on that site take into account that this has this is a the Midtown section that's you know right next to City Hall which is you know it's new and it's big but it's got charm and interest too we have a

1:35:23Charming interesting small building that could be used for retail for small office it could be even incorporated into the front of a residential structure behind it that could be the you know the manager's office or something like that there's there's no reason to destroy

1:35:40this this structure to accommodate new development on this site and there's every reason not to destroy it but to try to preserve it regardless of his historical significance it's an interesting Charming building we don't have that many of them we certainly don't have very many of them on so San

1:35:59Pablo Avenue I think it would be a real mistake to to destroy this building I didn't spend 12 years on the Planning Commission to have that kind of thing happen it would be very un I would be very personally unhappy to see that that that happen with this structure

1:36:15thanks Dave Weinstein hi I'm uh Dave Weinstein I live at uh Ashbury I'm uh the vice chairman of the illustrial Historical Society now you know um at the last meeting of the society I gave a talk about architecture in El Cerrito and I showed a whole bunch of interesting buildings and 70 people

1:36:42showed up there was a lot of people that were really interested I'm given the same talk shorter tomorrow at the St John Senior Center so there's tremendous interest in the buildings in El Cerrito I've written about architecture and historic preservation for many years now

1:36:54and I spend a good deal of time visiting other cities where I always like to walk around and find interesting buildings and I do it here in El Cerrito all the time I mean um this building is one of the most Charming on San Paulo Avenue there's only two others I would put in

1:37:09the same category one of which is the uh Cerrito theater and that one had to have you know pretty massive rebuilding it would just be a big mistake um for a city that calls itself a well-educated uh Community to tear down one of the nicest buildings in town especially when um as has been said it

1:37:27could really be incorporated into a very creative development and it could be an outstanding place on what is you know generally a kind of a boring stretch of of Street and it really needs buildings like that so why tear them down while the RFP should uh you know needs to do

1:37:44is to change to say that developers should consider incorporating this uh very potentially and almost certainly historic building into their plans thank you thank you Patsy burnt good evening chair Potter board members my name is Pat burnt I live at [address removed]

1:38:1854-year resident of the area and I think most of you know who I am and that I've been associated with the Chamber of Commerce for a number of years actually as a volunteer paid employee for over 30 years while not speaking for the chamber on this issue I want to tell you one of the

1:38:36goals of the chamber because all as long as I've been Associated has been to make San Pablo Avenue a place where people want to spend time whether to dine or to shop making the Avenue pedestrian friendly is a good way to further this goal but how pedestrian friendly is a place where

1:38:53everything that once was pleasing to see has been leveled and one Fell Swoop the Redevelopment agency staff is proposing to flatten one of the most Charming buildings on the Avenue and replace it with a big square box aside from Charming the agency is proposing to wipe out a one-of-a-kind

1:39:11marker of el Cerrito's Legacy a building that served and is The Last Remnant of two of the most important industries in El Cerrito the Quarry industry and the flower industry what does Redevelopment one two agency want to wipe out the important Landmark for Italian and Japanese ethnic

1:39:31communities as you as the Redevelopment board should tell the staff to go consult with the community as was done for San Pablo Avenue and the staff can come back to you with a vision of the honors our community and our history while at the same time enhancing Sam Pablo Avenue as

1:39:49a destination this has happened in San Francisco and Santa Barbara Seattle and hundreds of places across the country this needs to start happening in El Cerrito thank you thank you and our last speaker is Lois Boyle yes I'm Lois Boyle a former employee of the city of El Cerrito

1:40:19and the president of the Richmond Museum Association and while I am from Richmond that doesn't I hope you don't think that doesn't mean our concerns and interests in historic preservation is confined to those boundaries for years I was working with the Historical Society to find a place where

1:40:41there could actually be a museum here in El Cerrito and we long for that little building that you're talking about today it's Charming when you bring people through El Cerrito very few remarks are made about the Avenue until they see that and then they want to say what is that and you tell

1:41:06them right now it's the chamber office but it has a character and it has history and you have a unique opportunity to participate in Saving one of America's Treasures this country has a national policy to save America's treasures and in every Community those Treasures Define who we

1:41:29are what we are and what we've been so this opportunity for you to require some creative planning to incorporate this use into the designation of the site as commercial residential mixed use is appropriate and would certainly be a real boost and a wound to El Cerrito

1:41:53thank you thank you so um I'll bring it back to the Redevelopment agency board for discussion I did want to point out that the board has had a number of hearings as was mentioned by some of the speakers on this site where we discussed the potential for a mixed-use project in

1:42:18July and October and that in fact mixed use is the zoning designation for the site and in addition I wanted to mention that um the RFP is not for a project but for a developer to come forward with a project that could well take into consideration the character of the building but with

1:42:38that said I wanted to see if other board members had comments certainly I will give an attempt to start here I I would like to start with what you just left off on um back in October we requested staff to go get qualified developers to go through the public process to to come

1:42:57forward with a plan that could be debated in the public with a with a qualified person so instead of working in thin air without all the proper numbers without all the qualifications to see what type of project would work our request was to go get a qualified developer that could work with the site

1:43:18so that that's sort of the first context here is that is that we are trying to get a qualified team not a project so that's this is what the chair just reiterated um I have the pleasure of knowing more about this topic than I like because I deal with it professionally and I will

1:43:42would agree with many of the public speakers that um historical um structures and and cultural resources can be a real uh project stopper so that that is part of the reason why I wanted to make sure that a developer was aware of the risks that are associated with the

1:44:03structure um you know it it is something that potentially could be mitigated and I think uh Ms McKinley potentially even highlighted some of the mitigations that potentially could be out there by incorporating it into the structure but there are other mitigations I think our

1:44:21last speaker spoke about museums uh frankly the structure could be a museum or be incorporated into a museum at another location um that said I I actually think that if we could uh modify the text in page six and incorporate some of the documents that were distributed this evening I think

1:44:43the developer would be aware of the opportunities that this building offers and uh we should be going in out and getting a a developer a team that is includes this as part of their skill set and hopefully they can look at the structure and see its charm and uh in

1:45:05doing so incorporated into their proposal and come forward with a project that is pedestrian friendly and and uh human scale to clarify my understanding is that the RFP goes out for a developer and they would in turn the city for the SQL evaluation a specialist who could take that part of

1:45:25The Challenge on so I I hear what you're saying the combination of the developer with an inclination or sensitivity to the historic resource but in addition to that be well aware that there was no SQL evaluation done that's clear in the RFP and that this would go out to an

1:45:40environmental consultant for that part of the work agreed let me Miss Chang um I unfortunately wasn't at the October discussion but I think I um I would have would agree that it's I mean architecturally it's um it's very it's definitely a unique building I can't say I really noticed it

1:46:05very much growing up here um but I think what really um is highlighted is the story behind the building because it's of the connection to the Quarry and the Japanese Community I wouldn't I would uh support what council member Lyman is suggesting as a way to kind of vet the

1:46:25include as another selection criteria a developer that has a track record of integrating historic features into proposals yeah I it appears whether a historical evaluation or not eventually says that this is a historical building I I don't know that um in the scheme of things may not

1:46:53matter it sounds like that there are people that would like to keep this for other purposes I mean if if suddenly an evaluation comes up and says there is no historical uh would that mean well but I understand all bets are off so all I'm saying is that maybe we should concentrate on

1:47:14whether we would like the developer to consider the building or point out to him that it is very possible to keep the building and develop around it or the developer we're asking for for proposals and to me that means an open slate unless this agency wants to start

1:47:38defining what they want on that or not maybe we should just leave it The Proposal the way it is without however take out the sentence about the evaluation and mention the fact that there's a possibility that it would be deemed historical and that would be through SQL processes

1:48:04my understanding on this we may want to get something sooner than that I'm not saying that we don't but maybe we should take that sentence out and make sure that the developers understand that it's very possible and there is some support in the community that that

1:48:27building be considered in the overall design back at this it it bothered me because it seemed to imply what I as I read it and I had to read it really carefully word for word but it seemed to imply to me that it was saying there is no significance with what it was trying to

1:48:50say and it was like why is the sentence here so I would um personally like to get rid of this sentence in this document and um as I started thinking about the building in a project I thought well you know if somebody were creative maybe they could figure out a really interesting way to

1:49:15incorporate the building in a project that would be um allow the use of the building and um lid also um point in some way back to the features of the building for example if this were a senior project the whole thing then that might you know in some way this this was you know we're

1:49:37pointing back to the history of the use of the building that might be really an interesting way to do it so I could see that that a developer could come up with some interesting ideas about how to do that and I think if we saw if we came across the developer who offered that kind of a solution as

1:49:56opposed to some other developer that might be the developer we would want to go with for example don't start qualifying uh proposals if I if I mean I don't mean I'm not I'm not saying I'm not suggesting we put any but anyway so so that I I could just see that there might be some interesting

1:50:15ideas out there potentially um I'm not saying what you just said by the way um the uh but the um so but it bothers me to put this sentence in here because it I have you have to read this sentence really carefully I'm not sure that everyone reading through this document

1:50:36would do that and they might therefore make the assumption that isn't necessarily true and that's what I don't like about that sentence um but it would be interesting to see and entertain ideas about how to use that building um to see if somebody would come up with an

1:50:56interesting idea that we might like I just want to make a call fortunate that the sentence was very summarized and probably is now taken out of context that it doesn't seem like there was an intentional interest and misrepresented it we now have the executive summary

1:51:13thank you for providing that and I think that the sentence is accurate in the context of it but now it takes on a different meaning and it sounds like most of the agency board members are interested in deleting the sentence that's in the RFP and I had a thought that we might be able to include

1:51:31a short paragraph that includes three these three main ideas the first one is that the site has been occupied with Industrial and Commercial uses for over 85 years that a preliminary review of the site has been conducted and the evaluation concluded that the site was

1:51:51likely not eligible for the list of historic places or the California list but additional evaluation of historic resources should be included in a future SQL evaluation so the developer would know what that we that there is a potential that there wasn't a preliminary study that was done

1:52:11um and that there's going to need to be more in-depth study done as part of the sqa work and that the project design will be driven by to some extent that historic evaluation so I don't know if that um is something that you think would work with this RFP I I personally don't like reference to

1:52:33it's the second Point still points out that it appears that we have done a historical research and that there's no that there isn't historical resources why don't we just leave it out and just say there's a possibility that there is historical um significance to the building and then

1:52:55it'll be uh it'll be just studied at a later date so however you want to word it so in practical purposes are choices whether to include all the information on this topic which would be the report that we've gotten during property evaluation as well as any letters and

1:53:15and documents we received tonight or to potentially put in nothing but a sentence that says that there is a structure there that is potentially eligible so that's what I'm hearing the choices are that's that would be my preference because uh testimony even here shown that it's

1:53:34inconclusive the the letter that comes from uh that the Historical Society put in that indicated that uh what this the national park and the federal government has said that that the evaluation that was done was inconclusive it doesn't say that there's historical or not historical

1:54:01um significance they haven't looked at the I don't think they've studied it in the way you're supposed to to give that they're just saying that um the research that was done on it by the city uh is not conclusive right and so so basically it boils down to either

1:54:23provide the information we have or provide none of the information we have I don't know why we would provide to the developer any information other than saying that there could be historical significance because we conducted historic evaluation are these letters historic

1:54:42ity attorney has something to add I was just gonna put that that part of the um the part of the RFP RFQ um includes materials that were done as part of the due diligence that the agency conducted in acquiring the property the report that was prepared regarding historical resources

1:55:09was prepared by a professional in this field it was a limited report but it does con does contain the conclusion that was prepared for the agency in preparing its due diligence providing that material to a potential developer is a necessary piece of disclosure to a future developer all of

1:55:31the other information is as board member Jones just indicated a critique of that report whether or not that needs to be disclosed is I think not necessarily the case it could be but it isn't legally required to be so I just want to be clear that that the way the RFQ is set

1:55:51up rfprfq is set up is that there's an appendix that contains a number of reports that were prepared about this property that are being disclosed as part of the necessary disclosures to a potential developer and that that report is one of them and so it is necessary to

1:56:05disclose that the fact of that report um additionally one of the things that I think would be worthwhile is that obviously you should conclude your discussion and provide direction to staff but I think that before you direct them about particular wording in the RFP

1:56:21it would probably be helpful for them to hear your direction and then work with the agency's legal counsel on how to make any changes to that and then bring it back to you for a final review before it's distributed so but what I'm hearing you say is that something need has to be

1:56:37said about the findings of the preliminary study that was done as our due diligence yes and I'm suggesting we also add the fact that as we have it of the long-term occupation of the site for uses in El Cerrito and then the statement if we have concurrence that additional

1:56:55evaluation will be included in the secret process a must must be included because they're they're responsible for the SQL document so it isn't going to be imperative well unless they determine that I just think that some addition whether we don't know at this point what level

1:57:14of document will be required some some analysis under secret will have to be undertaken and that is stated in the RFP I mean there's no mistaking in fact no developer is going to read this and be confused about the fact that about whether or not additional environmental

1:57:28review under SQL is going to be necessary before they can proceed with development so and any developer who's going to undertake this project knows that historical resources are going to be a part of that the disclosure of the existing report is going to include them

1:57:42in that this is an issue they're going to have plenty of information available to them to know that evaluation of the structure on the site is going to be necessary before development can proceed yeah and I just would point out that the discussion that makes it clear about the

1:57:56SQL evaluation is on page five in the same section that the sentence that we're discussing changing is located in so um well we could just we can just mention the fact that there has been Oracle evaluation okay it's available that's fine that way we don't get into this thing

1:58:20about oh you're you're concluding already that there's some historical when when we have some some protests on that I think that's would be fine um I was going to say there's another issue which is there's more than one building um I agree with you on that so we need to

1:58:42specify what buildings we're talking about yeah it says it says all structures Laurel instructors on the site okay but any other any of the comments that we've been making have been about ones just that one building not about the the large trade way building as it's

1:59:03known uh we're not taught you know so we need to be careful if as we develop any language um actually you can't it that structure may be equally eligible so I'm not certain that you can differentiate at this time because I think it's up to the professionals well I was going to ask whether we

1:59:23put it in the report or not when we talk about the Quarry building or I'll call it the Quarry building it's actually a fairly small building and then there's a building and back of it so we're talking when we talk about the Quarry building we're talking about the original smaller and not the

1:59:41addition on the back correct even though I know that has to be evaluated but well yeah I think we're getting into details here now that are beyond what our charge is tonight which is give to give direction to staff so they can go back with legal counseling craft a new

1:59:58paragraph for this RFP so if we can get concurrence on that would be great sure my request would be that staff move forward with an RFP that has modified to at least disclose this report as well as our concerns about the structure um so that so that a developer can come

2:00:21into it with open eyes I'm a little unclear so are they going to come back to us with the new language or a little confused what's that's what's been suggested right now you can add that you can add that no certainly I mean I would support that them coming back with the specific

2:00:43language that would be section six or whatever this is of the RFP section B the paraphrase the um direction is to clearly disclose um the existing study done during due diligence and to indicate the historic uses at the site and to bring this back to the city council for final approval

2:01:09prior to issuing the RFP yes after reviewed by agency legal counsel I think is what the recommendation was staff and legal counsel if possible we'll see it at our next meeting but if not the one after that okay so we're going to continue this item then well wait a minute

2:01:32is there other uh comments about we need to well I have some I have no others no go ahead but we'll take other comments but with item until it's brought back with the revisions in on page six so um I just want to make it clear to the clerk that we're continuing this item

2:01:53until a future agenda and we'll proceed with other comments on the RFP so Mr Jones yeah asking to provide directions so I think this is a good time for that okay the only really the only area other than the uh historical that I had was um I only see in one area of the reap of

2:02:15the proposed draft proposal that we expect a developer to uh comment on how they're going to actually operate the development and I think it's important it's one thing to build the facility and it's quite another to operate it and I think and I was going to uh mention that on page 10 it could be put

2:02:41in what I'm about to say and it could also be added uh Pages 10 and 11 where we deal with criteria and information that we ask the developer their plans on actually operating their the facility once it's built and to ask them or at least comment on how long they they plan on keeping the

2:03:05building and operating it it's I think it's one of the most important criteria we could put in is to find out how committed the developer is uh is it one of these that they're gonna build and then sell or are they interested in operating whatever they're proposing if

2:03:25it's housing they have to somehow manage it and operate it if it's senior housing I'd be interested to see the type of program the type of services they're going to provide for instance are they going to provide a cafeteria on which the people eat or is this the totally independent thing

2:03:43I do I do like the idea and I think we should keep in the emphasis of the possibility of senior housing uh we it's the one area in housing that we actually know that there's a demand for surely Manor has uh I'm told two to three year weight and therefore this type of senior

2:04:08housing it appears would have the bet in this economic situation might be a very good idea since uh it's marketable at this point or it appears to me I should say so anyway that's my suggestion on it so just a comment about that I do think important to note no eventual uses operational aspects but

2:04:31I I would like for the wording to be such that it uh was General enough that a person would be able to develop it for mixed use and have some flexibility as they move forward to respond to market conditions and other development that would go around it and changes that might occur

2:04:49in Del Norte place as a result of this specific plan I I wouldn't want it to be so specific that we restricted our opportunities yeah I agree I don't think I mean I I don't think we can say I mean there's plenty of really reputable developers who build and sell I don't think it's I

2:05:11don't think we want to preclude ourselves from saying we don't want I didn't say that what I said is I want the developer to State what their what their intentions are so that we can evaluate it I'm not saying that we have an opinion one way or the other right okay

2:05:26so that clarify that um put on this RFP okay um actually uh this discussion has caused me to look again and and I'm seeing that we have selection criteria submittal requirements um but I don't see the process the waiting do we have waiting for the various like is is the experience of more value than

2:06:04a project I mean how how is the how is the decision going to be made have we told the contractor or the developer what the how this is all weighted we have not devised a formal waiting system partially we don't know whether we're going to get one response three

2:06:23responses or 12 responses so I think we are looking at what how many how much resources we want to spend on the evaluation sort of given that unknown we don't really know um and I think we do want some flexibility um in how we look at the criteria um I don't know how much we want to

2:06:48formalize it into um you know a matrices of this counts for 10 or this gets uh 20 points so we did not devise that formula system um uh after the um after we received the responses um Debbie Kern who is the consultant that the agency's working with on this and I

2:07:12will sit down and see whether um we have to sort of stretch a finite amount of her time and my time over evaluating the developer responses so some of them may immediately drop out and we can really delve in you know some responses may immediately rise to the top so we did not devise a formal

2:07:32waiting system the reason I'm asking is that it it appears that there's a the developer could potentially spend a lot of their effort on the description of the proposed project concept when we've our guidance back in October was we wanted to get somebody on board

2:07:50that would help us with the concept and take the concept through the public process and and if somebody was to spend a lot of time on that public on the concept and have one Concept in mind and they came and we get a bunch of public comment that changes the concept

2:08:07they walk I mean it's so I guess my question is how do we tell them that their qualifications and their creativity are more value are what we're really chasing what I what we if you go to the bottom of page 10 I've tried to establish what sort of given the conversations that we

2:08:28have had what the agency priorities are and to help guide a developer in terms of how they should look at competing goals perhaps in structuring their response I think the most important number one feasibility of project and leveraging of agency investment I think the message is

2:08:48very loud and clear that we have finite resources and we don't stretch those as far as possible um two we want to maximize the number of very low and low income units provided that's an as an agency obligation that's a housing element obligation um and we want sort of for every dollar

2:09:07provided we want maximum affordability um senior serving project and the presence and the robustness of a mixed-use component there may be trade-offs involved here and so I've tried to give a clear indication of how the agency may weight those those trade-offs that said I

2:09:28you know those those priorities may be up for um discussion but that was the attempt by staff to guide the developer in terms of how they should and those are consistent with our guidance in October I guess again and maybe I missed it somewhere in the early Preamble I thought we were looking

2:09:48for not a proposal not a project but a developer and so I'm just very concerned that this item five is asking for a project not a developer it's asking for both um we want to find a qualified developer that we can work with um because we put affordable housing funds

2:10:09in this project there is a a need for affordable housing so we should be up front and saying this is this is not just anything this is a residential an affordable residential project the land use requirement is is for mixed use so we have structured it therefore and and

2:10:30so this is somewhat of a hybrid animal um and that we are both looking for a developer we can partner with but they need to propose something we're not asking for anything that would be near as detailed um as uh some rfps I've seen without asking for fancy pictures we're not

2:10:47asking for design at this point we're just saying you've got a in addition to your qualifications and credentials as developer you've got to give us a site plan and the financials for your proposed development is that if I could I would just add it just as a general rule for rfps we avoid weighted

2:11:11criteria because it's in sort of inherently biased to start and particularly as you recall when we had the initial discussion in October the economy was a big part of it and so that being said the board gave us direction to go forward rather than wait so we're trying to build in this the

2:11:29agency's maximum flexibility so and that's what you can do prove you can do it um and that still is our guidance go forward I mean that is I think the general guidance for tonight I just it's it's I don't want somebody coming in with a lot of fancy pictures and boards and

2:11:49work in their their one only proposal that could possibly work on this site and you know we can't we can't make it work for some other reason but I think I think you've done your best so thank you well if I may I think that's part of what is nice about the request for qualifications is you get

2:12:11somebody that you can work with and then you start working with the particulars whether it's historical whether it's financing whatever the size of the you know whatever it is and where parking stalls forty thousand dollars of parking stuff no uh so I think that's what's

2:12:29good about a request for qualifications then you pick somebody you can work with and then you start working I do think it is in the process of evaluation it is good to get some idea of what the the developers thinking about but uh like you pointed out we're not

2:12:47asking for drawings weren't this is not a uh a contest where we give money out people come and design and we pick one um so I think there's flexibility in that and I I like the way it's laid out myself great thank you I guess if I could add um Justin to give or to ask the developer

2:13:12to provide operational in that operational you know program description that includes some Transportation elements into having heard the presentation on the importance of senior Mobility I think maybe adding you know instead of just referring people to this specific plan actually just adding

2:13:31um one of the overview maps that show all the the richness of Transportation options connections to The Greenway the transit actual numbers of Transit lines just because I mean we have this Bay area-wide Regional context and then it goes straight to the site and I think

2:13:46that could you know without say prescribing exactly what needs to happen just getting them to think creatively that you know even though you don't have to think about the design to get to um you know you don't have that can wait but you know these larger elements of

2:14:05programmatic operation and connections to to Transit and and whatnot in sidewalks and all that should be considered so miss chain do you think that that's captured in the RFP as written um I think I think it could you know just having that graphic would be really helpful and

2:14:31I don't know adding a graphic okay okay may I sure make a suggestion sure regarding that I think we um we talk about sort of regional context and site context and then we go on to uh describe the site and the entitlements process I can add an additional graphic

2:14:51from the draft specific plan um that sort of drills in more on the Midtown node and the connections um I've tried to be very careful in the entitlement section because it is a draft specific plan how do I indicate the city's willingness to work on parking restrictions Etc when

2:15:11that is in fact right so um so maybe just for information you know existing conditions of Transportation resource purposes because it's conveniently you know already done and it's um yeah thanks okay I was gonna say if we were talking about um I thought I heard my hearing is

2:15:36really bad tonight I apologize but um I thought I heard it said that we that you were referring to the general plan on Transportation all the RFP is doing is is there's a brief entitlement section that just wants to give developers a general description I just wanted to make sure

2:15:54that it had the current and correct information on on transit um and as opposed to um old information for example we now have rapid the main thing I'm thinking about is that we have the rapid bus system which is uh richly serves this area provides service every 12 minutes on top

2:16:16of other service which typically runs about every 15 minutes um and um no matter what document you look at the main thing is to get those details in I think because that's the heart of it and that um if a developer knows that these services are there and available

2:16:37that they will know you know hopefully that they you know they may then look at more of a um a use that will incorporate uh and take those features to the their best their highest advantage as opposed to not knowing anything right thank you are we not getting too

2:16:58much in design detail I mean not design it's existing conditions existing conditions so I think those are comments I want to try um finally to wrap up and to summarize the direction we have discussed possible changes in the historic resources section there's a request to add the graphic on the Tod

2:17:18and then and some indication of the operation of the site after completion of construction was there anything else that I missed okay with that we look forward to seeing this item again and I will turn the meeting over to Mayor Abelson for our liaison reports okay are there any reports no no reports

2:17:39I have none no and I don't either uh with that this meeting is adjourned uh to the next regularly scheduled meeting on Monday March the 15th thank you all for coming foreign