10/09/1989 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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. Addressing Ms. Ehrman's comments, Ms. Morrow said she did not think the commission ever lost sight of the opening of Willamette Street as its number one priority, but the opening of Olive Street had come up in conjunction with the Pankow development. Ms. Young agreed with Ms. Morrow's remarks. She said the commission was also attempting to respond to the direction that commissioners believed that they received at the last joint meeting with the City Council. Mr. Schwartz noted that Councilor Holmer had urged the commission to aggressively pursue its work plan. The commission had followed this recommendation in developing its program. Mr. Schwartz pointed out that, during discussions with the City Council in 1984, a task force had been proposed to examine the Willamette Street and Olive Street reopenings. This had never occurred. At that time, the city still had three of its five anchors downtown. Now there is one anchor left. Mr. Schwartz said all the right parties need. to be brought together to discuss the issue, and he recommended that it be done rapidly before the city loses its last anchor downtown and retail sales drop. Ms. Schue agreed with Mr. Jensen's remarks that there is a case to be made that people have not been fully informed about downtown issues. However, she hoped that the commission's proposal did not generate public uproar. She did not want the issue to become a political football, and hoped that the commission did not present the issue to the public as a way to solve downtown1s crime problem or retain The Bon as an anchor. Ms. Schue was unsure whether the city lost its downtown anchors because Willamette and Olive streets were closed. It could not be proved one way or another. Ms. Schue encouraged an upbeat approach, and the use of statistics such as those e cited by Mr. Brown. Mr. Green asked who would bear the cost of the financial impact of the street reopening, and how the City would recover its investment in the project. Ms. Aspinwall-Lamberts responded that the ultimate design of the road would have a major affect on the cost of the project. Until this is done, it would be difficult to gauge the cost. Mr. Schwartz said the money would not come out of the City's General Fund, but would be taken from gross receipts on sales and the ad valorem tax. The City would benefit from any increase in gross receipts on sales as these funds go to the Downtown Development District. Mr. Boles pointed to the availability of public anchors in the downtown. Responding to Mr. Schwartz's desire to pursue the opening in a rapid fashion, Mr. Boles felt that this would exacerbate tension already present in the community. He said the only way to address the concern of public participation and the reopening is to put boundaries around the council's vision of downtown and present it to the community for consideration. Ms. Prichard said people who rent retail space want to locate where their business will succeed. It was her experience as a broker that it was difficult to persuade people to locate on the mal led portions of downtown. Retailers want access. Ms. Prichard added that a downtown with character and a personality is important to the community. e MINUTES--City Council/Downtown Commission-- October 9, 1989 Page 6 Dinner/Work Session