5/8/2012 Council Preview

Probably another long one.  We seem to have a lot of them nowadays.

We start the evening with a closed session involving a liability claim against the city, and I literally know nothing more than that.  Then we have five minutes to go from the West Conference Room over to the NOVA conference room for a joint study session with the Planning Commission and the Sustainability Commission regarding the El Camino Real Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) proposal.  Then we dash back to chambers for the council meeting.

There are two special orders to start the meeting.  First up is the Lakewood School Color Guard, which is always fun.  Then there’s a new one – recognition of the winners of the Centennial Writing Contest.  They will also get recognition during the actual Centennial Celebration in August.  This is followed by a presentation by students from Homestead High titled “Abolish Polystyrene Movement”.  That ought to be fun.  Then it’s on to business.

The consent calendar is fair-sized, including a second ordinance reading, a contract amendment, accepting an EMS grant, and so on.  Then it’s on to business.

Item 2 is going to be the big one – a move to reject the Raynor Activity Center long-term lease proposals and begin a process to sell the property.  Based on the direction from Council in closed session, staff is proposing that we first declare the property surplus, then see if any public agencies wish to bid to buy the property, then offer it for sale to any private entity that agrees to a compatible use with the existing Public Facility zoning (government, public utility, or a school, basically), then placing the proceeds from the sale into our capital improvement fund.  I’m not sure what all I can say about this issue, since it involves closed-session stuff (I can talk about it in the public meeting, but I’m not sure about now).  I strongly encourage you to read the RTC to see what’s being proposed.  I expect a lot of speakers on this topic.

Item 3 is one that always involves some discussion – the action plan for this year’s CDBG and HOME funding.  Most interesting is that staff is proposing that most of the agencies get a little more money than they got last year (except for Sunnyvale Community Services, which was already at an upper limit).  This may or may not involve some discussion, depending on if colleagues want to tinker with the numbers.

Item 4 continues a taxicab franchise renewal from last meeting.  While staff proposed denying the franchise at our last meeting, it’s now proposing the franchise be renewed, since the franchise has apparently made good on its requirements and covered the cost incurred from past late payments.

And then item 5 has us considering whether or not to take positions on the June ballot.

That’s about it.  See you there.

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