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. - . Councilman Ruskin said he felt good about the other two elements of Item No.2 the seismic retrofit subsidies and the assembly of sites in the downtown. He expressed some reservations about below market rate loans for capital equipment. "I would want to be ~ certain that if we made those loans, that they were really made to competitive enterprises, businesses that exhibited a strong ability, good business plan.... I would want to give it to businesses who could get loans elsewhere. I wouldn't want to give it to businesses who couldn't get loans elsewhere.... We would give them a little incentive to come here. We don't want to be using this as a way to prop up weak businesses. Item 4,... "I think the creation of a downtown association is a great idea, and I really support Mr. Saye's efforts..... this is a good time to fonn an association with the renovations that are occurring on Downtown Broadway. The major impetus should come from the downtown merchants." Councilman Leipzig said he agreed on the Programmatic Assistance recommendation, but said he "had a big question on the below market rate loans for capital equipment purchases, and I want to see more on that before we jump into it. I don't want the City to get into competition with Bay Area Bank giving loans.... On the fee waivers.... I agree that if we are strapped for time let's put a hold on that, give it to the Chamber of Commerce, they have the resources and the time. Back on the Auto Strategy, I don't think it is good business practice to say we are going to spend $25, $50, $75, $100,000, and not know what it's for. I understand putting it aside, but let's have a little more specifics before we do that..... I think it would be a stronger symbol to the dealers if we changed our sign ordinance, if we cleaned that up first, then we could come to then and say look, we really '- do want to help you, because that was the number one issue they had at the meeting. That would be a stronger good faith gesture, in my opinion." Mayor Hartnett said "On the Auto Strategy I do support the recommended strategy of setting aside $75,000 as encumbered funds for reasons stated by a number of Council Members, but I don't take that as a message that the sign ordinance issues aren't going to be worked on. In fact that needs to be enacted as part of the Auto Strategy, and it is already being worked on." Director Church stated that the sign ordinance recommendations are scheduled to go before the Planning Commission early in the new year. MEMO 11/26/96 Mayor Hartnett said the dealers "are helping with the momentum in bringing that forward." Mayor Hartnett said the Subcommittee Report strongly supports not only symbolism, but concrete actions addressing the issues of auto dealers in the community, and expressed strong support for setting aside the $75,000 as encumbered funds to spend as appropriated by Council in that endeavor. Mayor Hartnett said he agreed with his colleagues as to fee waivers and tax rebates in expressing a cautionary tone towards these recommendations. He said he didn't agree with a general strategy of fee waivers and tax ~ rebates, and as a matter of practice, 1) this would be an extremely complicated matter to set REGULAR COUNCIL MEETING MINUTE BOOK NO. 55 NOVEMBER 25, 1996 MINUTES Page No. 057 PAGE 10