At a meeting on Feb. 20, when the association and the city council met to discuss downtown issues, Joe Antuzzi reiterated that the temporary fences around the downtown plaza need to come down and the plaza completed.

But that was just one of the issues the association is frustrated about.

Following an agenda that allowed each speaker to touch on a separate issue, association members one by one brought up various problems, including parking, the downtown plaza, the future of the mall, even the problem of cigarette butts on the sidewalk.

Joe Antuzzi, chairman of the association, headed up the meeting. "We realize and understand the budget crisis the city is facing, but we feel the plaza would bring people to downtown Sunnyvale," Antuzzi said. He noted that completion of the plaza would be in the best interest of both the city and the downtown merchants. If the downtown area looked more appealing to residents, the merchants would get more business, which would produce revenue for the city.

Nick Gera and Andy Kasic, both members of the downtown association, told city council members they wanted to see the establishment of a formal parking advisory board. Although members of the association meet with city staff to discuss parking issues on a regular basis, city council member Jack Walker directed city staff to look into the issue.

Kasic's expressed concern that the city is not taking care of downtown issues. He said that he's seen a streetlight out for six months, even though he contacted city staff regarding the problem.

Kasic also said shoppers sometimes confuse one of the three Mozart buildings for his own small business because a sign outside the buildings is misleading. He says he's lost business because of this problem and says repeated attempts to contact different departments of the city have yielded no results.

Kasic recommended that the city put one person in charge of downtown issues. "There are parking issues; there are garbage issues. The contact person would help us with these," Kasic said.

City Manager Robert LaSala said Kasic's statements confused him because there already is a person who acts as a liaison between the city and downtown merchants. According to LaSala, Karen Davis, the economic development manager, is the point of contact for those issues.

Members of the downtown association did say they look forward to working with the city on downtown issues. Jonathan Thalburg said that the Chamber of Commerce, the Sunnyvale Downtown Association and the city worked together to create and promote an ad campaign to draw residents to downtown Sunnyvale. Thalburg said he would welcome such an opportunity again. Mayor Julia Miller said at the meeting, "I agree that a partnership between the Chamber, the downtown association and the city really makes things work better."