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. . I . - the last planters we put in, and there are no signs of cracking, and they have a false bottom so they can expand a little more." ',,---, 1) MIS: LEIPZIGIBUCHAN TO APPROVE THE STREETS COMMITTEE RECOMMENDATION, OPTION D3 (To remove 1/3 to 1/5 the planters and replace 10-27 trees.) Councilman Ruskin stated for the record "that option (D3) is an option which has as its goal, as part of the recommendation, the ultimate removal of all those trees and planters by phasing them out." Councilman Ruskin said that after the sidewalk decisions were made he was able to focus on the planter and trees issues and listened intently to those advocates of how the trees added to the unique nature of the downtown area He thus changed his mind about the planters. He spoke to the value of keeping the trees and how the planters that were well maintained were attractive, and how all planters could be made attractive with specific maintenance remedies. Councilman Ruskin said if the Council decided to save the planters and trees a maintenance budget would have to be established. Councilman Ruskin said he is seeking a middle ground, "mostly keeping the trees and planters, but analyzing where perhaps we might want to lose one or two where there are so many trees they obstruct commerce." Councilwoman La Berge also said she spent a lot of time on Broadway looking closely at the trees and planters and spoke in favor of keeping the large, leafy mature trees, and their beautiful canopy effect. Councilwoman La Berge said "if we were to systematically cut down the trees,....we would be very sorry." She said those trees were unique to Redwood '-- City and were very comforting. She added that trees are valued in all the City's neighborhoods. Councilwoman La Berge said that if the Council goes forward with Councilman Ruskin's suggested remedies for the planters and "new sidewalks, the same beautiful trees, put in new planter boxes where needed, clean-up the ones that don't need to be replaced, do something about the newspaper racks, and ask the merchants to keep their area clean" the City will have a beautiful downtown. She expressed support for keeping the trees. Councilman Claire said the City should avoid the "sameness" of some city's tree programs, and agreed with Council Members Ruskin and La Berge that the old trees give the downtown a special feeling. Councilman Claire spoke in favor of a maintenance budget to update trees and planters on an on-going basis and said he would support Option No.1. In response to Council questions, Senior Engineer Lynch said that of the 28 remaining planters all would have to be replaced in a year or two. Vice Mayor Howard said she did not want to keep building bigger and bigger planter boxes which would cut off walking areas, and she stated that eventually all the trees will have to be replaced and wanted to guard against all the trees coming down at the same '-- time. She said it would be prudent to do some tree replacement now and gradually replace Regular Meeting Minutes MINUTE BOOK NO. 54 May 13, 1996 Page No. 235 Page 12