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or 2 people. The city will need to look at how to evolve its current housing stock to be more consistent with how households are composed today in order to meet the needs of the workforce in a more sustainable way. Another component of that involves a look at how to evolve employment centers to meet the preferences of Generation Y, which has a higher preference for mixed-use neighnorhoods, easy access to transit, being able to walk or bike to amenities including work, and workspaces that encourage collaboration. The city's infrastructure, specifically broad band and cellular coverage, is obviously very important to they types of industries that call Pleasanton home and has been identified by the business survey as a deficit. While the city outperforms its neighbors in terms of total retail sales, Dublin's sales per capita exceed that of Pleasanton. This has much to do with Dublin's ability to attract some of the newer retail formats and the city will need to take a closer look at how to improve some of its aging inventory. The business survey also identified the city's permitting and approval process to be perceived as lengthy and difficult, with translates to additional cost that might impair attracting businesses in the future. Mayor Thorne asked whether the retail sales data included sales from Livermore's new outlet center. Mr. Braun said no and thought it had already resulted in an erosion of local sales. He confirmed for Councilmember Narum that the data does include automobile sales. Vice-Mayor Cook-Kallio commented on the increasing trend for people to do business out of coffee shops or other gather places and wondered how the data might account for this type of business or its needs. She noted that many areas are starting to establish flexible office space locations and asked whether this is part of the strategic plan. Ms. Srivastava explained that this sort of data is difficult to capture unless the individual has a business license. She acknowledged that there are a number of communities with this sort of incubator or flexible office space, but said most of those examples have been privately driven. Ms. Ott said the Economic Vitality Commission has talked about this sort of space, whether it be organic like at a coffee shop or a more formal space, but has not arrived at any formal conclusion. Councilmember Pentin referred to the graph indicating that 23% of Pleasanton workers use public transit of some sort and requested regional or statewide context. Ms. Srivastava could not provide specific numbers but said it is a good number for a community of this size with the type of freeway access that Pleasanton has. Ms. Ott noted that the data only captures those who work in Pleasanton. An additional component of the commute survey relates to Pleasanton residents, which she offered to provide to the Council. Councilmember Brown noted that the report says Pleasanton is well defined by its unique downtown region. She asked whether it is truly a different community asset and whether there are specific recommendations on how the downtown might address some of these demands. Ms. Srivastava said the downtown is a very unique sub-area and that they questioned whether it was even fair to compare it to an employment center like Hacienda. Any strategies related to that would come out later in the process with the draft plan. Mayor Thorne expressed concern that the strategies serve as more than just a document and asked how staff intends to translate the plan into actual priorities. Ms. Ott acknowledged the concern. She explained that the current plan has 6 goals with over 100 different possible action items. With the update, they have asked the consultants to help them prepare City Council Minutes Page 9 of 12 September 3, 2013