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automobile. And to change that you are talking about changing a 100 year design factor and that I can't quite see. The automobile is basically here to stay. We are not just suddenly going to run out of gas. We will find some other means, whether it be natural gas, which the county and the states are already using. They'll convert the automobile to something else. It's that freedom of transportation, and that's how the peninsula basically was developed." Vice Chairman Verdone said Redwood City certainly needed more housing, and he would like to see a larger ratio of owner-occupied units, whether affordable or not. Councilwoman La Berge thanked the Planning Commission for the opportunity to participate in this discussion and said the proposed project was an exciting one for Redwood City. She said Commissioner McCoy's remarks were well said, "we are at a point where we have to begin thinking about housing in a different way than we have in the past. It is not going to change over night, but I do believe there are many people who will be attracted to this kind of a development who believe that it is important to try to use mass transportation. . .. try to walk as much as possible rather than to use automobiles. I don't think automobiles will be off our freeways for a long, long time, but I do think we are going to see different kinds of people live in a development like this if we build it. There are a few points I want to make. One is that the idea of a village is a very important one to me, that we create something here that makes people want to talk to their neighbors, want to be outside walking, that they enjoy the outdoors. We have one of the most wonderful climates in the world here, and to make it have a feel of a village would be very, very important to me. Secondly, an extremely important component of this project would be to have a child care facility. I think you will hear from other Council Members that this is absolutely critical. Redwood City has run out of space to have child care facilities. There are waiting lists at day care homes, nursery schools, there is simply not enough space for children. This would be an ideal place to have a child care center, either within the complex or close by.... It would be an advantage to the people who live there, but it also could be an advantage (to people) who are going to be traveling by train to employment in other places. If we build, if we insist that a child care center be built somewhere within the area, it will be used extensively. With 500 possible housing units there, I believe we will have a great need for a child care center." Vice Chairman Verdone said, as a realtor, he had also received calls for child care facilities, and "especially in a project of this magnitude it would be a nice thing to incorporate." Michael Harris., 197 Wellesley Crescent, said he'd like to address the issue of subsidized or affordable housing. He said the word affordable is subjective, and "Redwood City has some of the lowest prices on the peninsula. East of Middlefield Road you can find under $200,000 homes. In the avenues, maybe $250,000, and the... alphabet streets, $260,000s in that range. Redwood City has very affordable housing in comparison to the incomes around here. I have a real problem... when you have (an affordable unit) next door to one where the guy is paying full price, and another guy gets subsidized. What is the incentive for the guy who pays the full price on something, to go out and get an education, get job skills, whatever it takes that he wants to do to pay for what he wants in the form of housing, when the guy next door who PLANNING COMMISSION STUDY SESSION WITH COUNCIL PARTICIPATION OCTOBER21,1997 STUDY SESSION MEETING MINUTES MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 PAGE 8 Page No. 610