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world with strength. He stated that any uncertainties surrounding the project would hinder the competition process, and the TDD’s ability to keep the price down and speed up the implementation. Mr. Edwards stated that it is also really important for the City of St. Louis, all the people who have worked on this project for many years, and for the metropolitan area, in order to get funds in subsequent years, so this is a critical project. He informed Mr. Jennings that the FDA was just in town last week for its quarterly meeting and was very excited, but if this keeps hitting bumps it could cause some concerns. Mr. Jennings asked how much this project would stand to lose if the FDA backed out. Mr. Edwards stated that there is probably about 23 million dollars still available. He stated that St. Louis is one of five cities in the country that were awarded the Urban Circulator Grant. In order to bridge the gap this project is really important for economic development, quality of life and clean electric transit. Also, if the Loop Media Hub occurs; which seems to have a greater chance now than ever before, Mr. Edwards stated that it could be a game changer for this 1 gigabyte system, attracting IT and other companies, as well as being valuable for the residents that can utilize it. He stated that there will be some companies out there that would be interested in taking advantage of laying the conduit down at this point in time, since it will be very inexpensive to do. Mr. Jennings asked Mr. Edwards if initially the City of St. Louis had even been somewhat skeptical of this project. Mr. Edwards stated that the City’s Aldermen, State Congressmen and Senators have always been in favor of this project, and the City of St. Louis is the actual entity that submitted the application. Mr. Jennings asked if the Trolley would stop at the History Museum or be expanded into the City of St. Louis. Mr. Edwards stated that the trolley would stop at the Museum where riders can get off and ride the circulator that goes through Forest Park. He stated that his hope is that it will become a prototype for other areas of St. Louis and that it will be expanded. Mr. Edwards stated that other areas want the expansion right now and downtown St. Louis has already spent over a hundred thousand dollars on a feasibility study in hopes of figuring out how to connect it to Grand Center and the Central West End. So University City needs to keep this moving forward, otherwise they will kind of lose their edge for this wonderful opportunity that is all positive. Mr. Edwards concluded by stating that it has been proven that modern cities that really survive are the ones that have good transit. COUNCIL COMMENTS Mayor Welsch asked Dr. Carr how long she would like the postponement to be. Dr. Carr stated that she would like the attorneys to report back to Council, and although she didn’t necessarily want to rush them, she does not want to delay it for a long period of time. Voice vote on the amended motion of Dr. Carr to grant an extension of time for the attorneys to further explore the issue related to the letter of credit carried by the majority, with the exception of one Nay vote from Mayor Welsch. 5. Approval of third extension request for the Conditional Use Permit (C.U.P.) for The Loop Trolley, a public utility facility in the CC-Core Commercial District and PA – Public Activity District. Mr. Jennings moved to approve, seconded by Mr. Sharpe. Mr. Kraft amended the motion to approve by requesting that the Conditional Use Permit be postponed for two weeks or until the next City Council meeting, seconded by Mr. Crow. Mr. Sharpe asked if the extension would hinder the progress of this project. Mr. Walker stated that in his opinion, a two week extension would not accomplish very much. Therefore he would suggest that Council give some consideration to the fact that a lot of work has been done in an attempt to move this project forward and that an alternative would be to extend it for two or three months. Mr. Kraft stated that the reason he had suggested two weeks is because the last time Council gave the TDD a month to resolve two issues, they only came back with one resolution. So he thought that if Council extended this C.U.P. for a longer period of time they would lose their leverage and there would be no reason for them to negotiate with the City. Mr. Kraft stated that a perfect example of what could happen is the Edward Jones Dome. He stated that cash flow is great, but there are