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Item 6d Pleasanton Downtown Business Improvement District Advisory_ Board Report and Budget and LeW of the Assessment for 1999 (SR98:185) Councilmember Pico abstained from this item and left the dias. Susan Rossi presented the staff report. Mayor Tarver declared the public hearing open. Steve Barlow, 4321 First Street, objected to being a member of the assessment district. His business has a worldwide market and he did not feel he had any interaction with the downtown. The Downtown Association has not contacted him or recognized his business in any of its events or publications. His business does not rely on downtown traffic. He indicated his business pays the maximum fee of $350.00. Mayor Tarver felt some of the downtown activities would bring people to his shop. Mr. Barlow said Cruise Night does bring people to his shop, but he has never been asked to participate in any of the planning. He has discussed this with his staff for the last two years. He did not even know the Downtown Association sponsored the event. He is open to cooperate. He felt that his business was the biggest draw to downtown and is the biggest tax base for the City. Ms. Micheloui encouraged him to contact Craig Scharton, Director of the Downtown Association, and suggested several opportunities to participate in downtown events. Suzanne Slupesky, 5063 Monaco Drive, operator of California Stampin', also objected to the assessments and indicated she had written two letters in this regard. She objected to the assessment being based on retail sales. Her sales are extremely high; she ships worldwide and has a website for most of her business. Less than 15 % of her business comes from Alameda County residents and she objected to paying the maximum assessment. She feels she draws many people from around the Bay Area. In every event, her business has been excluded and at the last Heritage Days, she was completely blocked off and customers could not get to her store. Every event has hurt her business. She appreciated the work of the Downtown Association and she is very active in the community. She felt the assessment needs to be reviewed and suggested an adjustment to her assessment so it applies only to sales in Alameda County. Craig Scharton, Executive Director of the Pleasanton Downtown Association, indicated he coordinates and facilitates the downtown activities. The organization's activities are done by volunteers. He was here to get approval of the budget. He described some of the projects and Pleasanton City Council 17 07/21/98 Minutes