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Peter Eberle, received additional time donated by Fred Ganjei. Eberle, director of the Downtown Association of Santa Cruz, wanted to share the first hand effect of a cinema complex in a downtown. While in the beginning there were concerns, with time the retail began to develop and flourish because people were downtown and were willing to shop. Additionally, not all business chose to stay open late, but with time more and more business did. He stated that for Santa Cruz, it has been a complete success. Randy Blair, said that he is the owner of "Pizza and Pipes" and he stated that there are only very few merchants open on Friday or Saturday night. Mr. Blair fully supports the idea of the retail project and knows that it will bring business and continuous action. The other issue is that currently, there are a lot of vacant lots downtown. Dave Redfern, is a business owner who started in this town in 1957, his main concern is that the city is deserted at night. Consequently, he believes that the project is important and will make a difference. While it will create traffic, the reality is that families will spend time and money in Redwood City during the evening and weekends. This type of traffic congestion is welcome. Judy Buchan, called but not present. Lisa Blanton, called but not present. Catherine Fraser, called but not present. John Lisher, was a 10 -year president of the Downtown Plan of Santa Cruz, and prior to the earthquake the downtown was 8 a.m. -5 p.m. However, part of their plan and vision after the earthquake was to increase the retail hours and to build a cinema. The result has been a 14 to 18 hours downtown, and a 9- screen theater that has brought energy and economic vitality. Thomas McDermott, started by thanking Syufy for his presentation and all the information provided. His concern for the "new downtown" include the following items: will special processes be instituted to improve the class of the theater, are art and foreign films to be part of the offerings, what are the possible anchor retail stores in mind, why were we not provided with multiple choices in the prior stages of this process? Darcy, donated her three minutes so that Dermott could explain his last two points: what will happen to the old century lot when it closes down, and is the final goal revitalization and growth for the city and its downtown. Rudolph Luca, resident of Redwood City for 47 years, presented to the council a petition with 52 signatures of residents who oppose the project. Luca's major concern is the traffic, and in reality the residents are very concerned about what will happen. Luca is aware of many reasons why in the past many other retailers were chased out of Redwood City, and because nothing was done to support these merchants we are now in this predicament. He requests that this be taken to the vote of the Redwood City residents REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTES DECEMBER 4, 2000 PAGE 14 MINUTES Book No.58 Page NO. 276