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Council Watch
City Council balks at $20 million increase in civic center design plan
Fiscalini says the budget increase will pay for an underground parking structure
By Jessica Lyons
The San Jose City Council sent the architect designing the new Civic Center back to the drawing board on Sept. 14.
After critiquing architect Richard Meier's conceptual design at the council meeting last week, council members instructed Meier to draw up alternate plans. His current conceptual design would require a $20 million increase over the $214 million budget approved by the council.
Parking was one of the top concerns for council members and Meier alike--namely where to put parking structures to accommodate staff and visitors. Giant parking structures are unsightly, but underground lots are costly.
At the meeting, however, the council deferred consideration of a budget increase. Although Mayor Ron Gonzales has not been supportive of expanding the civic center budget, Willow Glen's council member, Frank Fiscalini, was one of three who said the council should be willing to spend more to accommodate the design.
Fiscalini is pushing for an underground parking structure, a more attractive--and expensive--feature of the new center.
"One of the things we heard very clearly from the community meetings was a desire to make sure the new City Hall has ample parking for both current and future needs," says Michelle McGurk, Fiscalini's chief of staff.
"Once you've built the building it's impossible to go back and put in underground parking," she adds, "and that's something Frank very much wants the council to look at and think very strongly about. It's very expensive, but we're building for the long term here."
Councilwomen Margie Matthews and Charlotte Powers also were willing to approve extra money to accommodate the civic center design.
For more information about the new civic center, check out http://www.ci.san-jose.ca.us/new.shtml.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
