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With the state's proposed budget cuts, cities are scrambling. Already Sunnyvale has placed a moratorium on all redevelopment projects. The council will have to make some tough decisions about what capital projects to keep and what to put aside.
The city's business community is particularly concerned about the immediate plans for the town Plaza—a site at the intersection of Francis and Evelyn that is already torn up.
What exists on the site now is a square of metal fencing and black sheets of waterproof material.
On Feb. 4, merchants told the city council that the site is not only ugly, it makes the area inaccessible to the public and is hurting business.
The business community urged the council not to delay plans to construct the plaza.
If nothing else, merchants asked, at least take down the fences.
Joe Antuzzi, chairman of the Sunnyvale Downtown Association, said at the meeting, "Perhaps we can't have all the design elements we would like, but even turf and granite paths would work."
Suzi Blackman, president and CEO of the Sunnyvale Chamber of Commerce, said the fences are an eyesore and wants them removed. Blackman spoke on behalf of the Chamber to ask the council to push the project forward. "We understand that there're budget constraints, but let's certainly do the minimum," she said. "If nothing else, just get the fences down."
Even so, the council voted to delay negotiations for completing the downtown plaza project to Feb. 25, when they will examine other capital projects and make their decisions all at once. Council member Manuel Valerio said, "The fact that we're frustrated by it doesn't relieve us of the duty to look at it in terms of all our other capital expenditures."
Blackman said that at the minimum the fences should be removed, but she added that there is a need for further improvement. "I don't just want the fences down; what I want is a usable plaza," she said. Blackman envisions a plaza with benches where people can sit down to read books, take walks with children in strollers, and, of course, support local businesses.
Blackman recognizes that it will be difficult to push the downtown plaza project forward when others are arguing for the benefits of their projects at the meeting on Feb. 25. "I'm a little disappointed, but I understand why they have to wait," she said.
"The council members have to make some critical budget cuts. The good thing is, they did sound supportive," Blackman said.
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