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Councilman Ruskin discussed the history of how substandard neighborhoods were brought into the City, and why they remain substandard, "because the capital improvements come with them, and since they didn't in this case (OakwoodIRobles), there was historical justification for the City not bearing the cost. I think there is a theoretical justification, but the longer it goes into the future, the farther back the original acquisition of those areas becomes, the harder it is to explain reasonably to citizens that this is something that the City doesn't have to pay for.... Over the long run, I think we will need to seriously address these issues... I realize it is a difficult issue. The money is not there, but it may be necessary to take a look at it and think about finding some solutions long term." Councilman Claire said, "One of the major areas that floods is 5th Avenue and has since 1948 when it was built. Since 1978 I can remember trying to work on that problem. It is a multi-million dollar, multi-jurisdictional problem." He said Proposition 218 forbids forming a special maintenance district to fund those projects. Councilman Claire said there had been an opportunity with the NPDES system to fund those kinds of projects, with Districts overlaying the whole City, but that opportunity was now lost, at least temporarily, until Proposition 218 is defined by the courts. In response to Councilman Ruskin's questions regarding improvements to bathrooms in the City's Parks, Parks, Recreation and Community Services Director Griffiths described his Department's attempts to work with the neighbors and eliminate and prevent vandalism, fires and graffiti with continued maintenance, surveillance and installation of durable institutional fixtures. He said improvements to the bathrooms was a high priority and his Department was currently upgrading the bathrooms and playgrounds to meet ADA accessibility standards and Title 24 requirements. Director Griffiths described the police involvement when graffiti is reported, and advised that several bathrooms have already been closed due to continued vandalism. In response to Councilwoman La Berge's questions regarding the scheduled $3 million for Roosevelt reconstruction, Director Nelson described how, even with street resurfacing, over time, a crown builds up "that is so high it is uncomfortable to drive on, and the street base deteriorates. Most of the larger streets, over time, have to be reconstructed. Roosevelt's time will come soon. We did do the chip seal on Roosevelt last summer, and we think we can get three more years out of Roosevelt, or more, but at some point we will have to cut it back and reconstruct." She said the $3 million was the original estimate based on a similar project, but they are reviewing it to see if all of Roosevelt needs widening. It may not be appropriate for the whole length of the street. She said James reconstruction will cost $1.2 million. ADJOURNED REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 JUNE 23,1997 MINUTES Page eo. 426 PAGE 24