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Vice Mayor Howard commended Code Enforcement Officers Jerry Schnell and Karen Chew on the "Redwood City Cares" program. She said it will encourage people to take care of code violations without being told to do so by the City. Councilwoman La Berge said code enforcement was also one of her top priorities, both commercial and residential. She said she supported the recommendation that the City start with El Camino Real, and said, "we would be better off to do one thing right now, very well, and then move on to another, rather than trying to attack too many areas of the City" at one time. She said she drove El Camino the other day, and "it needs a great deal of help. Many of the items we are talking about like painting curbs, landscaping, newspaper racks, and SamTrans benches that are falling apart, that sort of thing can be done relatively quickly.... We should concentrate on doing these things as well as we possibly can. My next area of concern is Woodside Road. I really do hope we will move to Woodside Road next." She said members of Neighborhood Associations near Woodside Road have told her that commercial code violations have a very negative impact on their neighborhoods. Councilwoman La Berge suggested the plan as outlined in the Report to do inspections of commercial properties along Woodside Road, El Camino, Jefferson, Broadway and Veterans Boulevard in March and April might be too ambitious. In response to Councilwoman La Berge's questions, Code Enforcement Officer Schnell said the chart in the Report showing Redwood Oaks neighborhood residents apparently not responding to violation notices was due to the fact that the 30-day follow-up inspections had only now just begun, and the results not yet reported. Schnell described the entire notification process, and also, how the flu had taken its toll on code inspection in the City. He said the letter states that within 60 days "we're going to walk the commercial areas. We are going to walk Woodside Road, Veterans, Whipple." Schnell said they will look for A-ITame signs, hand painted signs, garbage and junk and visible trash containers. He said, "We're not going to do the major improvements like we are doing on El Camino, planting trees... but we're going to do the enforcement things, such as the sign ordinance, garbage containers, and we are going to do that on Woodside. You are going to see an improvement on Woodside Road, Veterans, Whipple and Jefferson, and all up and down El Camino." Councilman Claire explained the difficult road code enforcement must take. He asked his colleagues to review the code enforcement saga of an Upton residence that engaged the City for twelve long years. Good work by the City's code enforcement officials wasn't enough to force that owner to comply, and in fact, the owner filed a law suit that put the Council Members, personally, in jeopardy. Councilman Ruskin said the El Camino Real and Woodside interchange looks like an entryway and therefore addressed the Council's desire to begin improving entryways. He said the Team "would consider the various suggestions that were made, the Charette, Council Member La Berge's questions about 'is this too broad an initial attempt to have code enforcement in all the commercial areas', we'll look into that." REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 FEBRUARY 24, 1997 MINUTES PAGE 13 Paqe No. 174