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Session 1910 <br />January 26, 2004 <br /> <br />Mr. Wagner disagreed with Mayor Adams's interpretation of the premise. He sees the <br />suggested task force as high level strategy discussions to assist the City Council in <br />making plans. Mr. Wagner said the task force is not meant to make the plans. He does <br />not agree with Mayor Adams's interpretation of the premise, and sees it as <br />misrepresentation. <br /> <br />Mr. Lieberman asked if the intent could be satisfied also by going to current boards and <br />commissions. Mr. Wagner responded that comprehensive plans were not far-reaching, <br />not strategic-searching focus. He sees the proposed task force spending time utilizing <br />their areas of expertise and considerable more time than the Plan Commission. <br /> <br />Mayor Adams said that in the previous Council meeting he understood Councilmember <br />Welsch's proposal to be a strategic planning board, a group to make recommendations <br />for economic redevelopment of University City and to do this they must stipulate <br />specifically what needs to go into a given quadrant. He said that what he just heard from <br />Mr. Wagner was that this group would go out and look at the City, see if the City zoning is <br />correct or if the zoning should be redone differently. Mr. Wagner does not see their role <br />as presenting a plan for the City Council to decide. Instead, he sees the task force as <br />presenting ideas to the City Council. <br /> <br />Mr. Munkel said the next step was to ask how the City Council will make the suggestions <br />of the task force happen. Mr. Wagner said they would present options, expert advice <br />from a pool of citizens; none of it would be mandatory. <br /> <br />Mr. Sharpe said that he understood the suggestion to be that whether done by the <br />Council or done by Councilmember Welsch herself, she wants the task force to go <br />forward. Ms. Welsch said that is what she wants, but she feels it is a stronger statement <br />if the Council backs the suggestion. Mr. Sharpe drew an analogy with the Proposition K <br />Committee, pointing out that it was successful because it has a focus and a purpose <br />which were clearly defined and understood. Such delineation, he felt, is missing from this <br />suggestion. He does not understand why an existing group cannot work with this <br />proposed task force. He asked if the proposed task force does not want to work with the <br />existing boards and commissions? Ms. Welsch said no task force exists yet, so there is <br />no likelihood of their refusing to work with existing groups. She thinks their different <br />approach and attitude is a significant contribution. Mr. Sharpe encourages citizen groups <br />and citizen participation, but feels that her suggestion lacks sufficient focus and direction. <br />Ms. Welsch asked Mr. Sharpe if he would agree to limiting her charge to Olive Street <br />Road only, focusing upon one stretch only. She sees Olive Street Road as the heart of <br />the problem and the area of greatest potential for University City. Mr. Wagner agreed <br />with the analogy to the Proposition K Committee and said it was how he envisioned this <br />task force operating. He said it was successful because the City Council asked for the <br />assistance. He said focusing upon Olive Street Road would be a good start. <br /> <br />Page 3 <br /> <br /> <br />