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Public Comment Jim Bigelow, with the Redwood City San Mateo Chamber of Commerce, spoke about the need to consider the corridors in the General Plan and capitalize on them because there are opportunities to redo things with a theme. He highlighted that a lot can be accomplished in this plan that can help areas such as Woodside. He supports this plan and this approach because it is an orchestrated effort. He believes that Council should proceed. Cynthia Denny, with time ceded by Dan Ponti and Vidgut R. Lingamneni, said that she is a representative from the Sierra Club. She quoted from a book by David Brown that she recently picked up at San Gregorio. She spoke about the value of soil and how agriculture has had an impact on the environment. She advocated for cities with boundaries. She wants to work together and to improve the relationships. She asked for clarification on what Smart Growth might mean and shared information from the Environmental Protection Agency website. Carole Wong thanked the staff for handling the issue of dual designation and supports the vision that is described in the plan. She spoke about civic imagination criteria and how well did the plan meet it and how is our city doing as far as the plan meeting "needs" and "wants". Thea Henry Hamilton spoke about traffic issues and, agreed with the concept of a trolley. She spoke about the need for vegetation control, removing carbon from the air, and the possibility of having utility lines underground so that bigger and different types of trees can be planted without the limitation from such lines above ground. Shawn White expressed his appreciation for the "Building Community" element and said that is why he enjoys living here. He expressed concerns about connecting various areas in Redwood City, such as the downtown area to Bair Island, how to leverage Redwood Creek and maybe building a park with the creek in the middle, and also connecting this area with downtown. He would like to create more open space downtown with creative ways for people go outside and play. Chair Gee thanked the staff and the community for their involvement and commitment since this is the blueprint Redwood City's future. The City Council and the Planning Commission took a break at 9:00 p.m. and resumed at 9:25 p.m. City Council and Planning Commission Comments Some Council Members made the following comments in regards to the document as a whole: needs to be more innovative, need to clean up some outdated information especially on the charts, housing is missing as a guiding principle for the Council, the introduction could be improved to provide the "WOW" factor, the vignettes are better. It was pointed out by a few Council Members that Cargill is to prominent in the introduction and may need to be toned down, also the notion of "complete streets" needs to be included. One Council Member, while agreeing with JOINT CITY COUNCIL/PLANNING COMMISSION JULY 27, 2009 MEETING MINUTES PAGE 6 MINUTE BOOK NO. 62 Page No. 427