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much could be done by this summer to help the community, but waiting until the end of March was unwise. He realized the State of California is working on solutions, but felt there were things the City could do as well. He has spoken to representatives on the California Energy Commission, the legislature, people in industry and in advocacy groups. The strong opinion is that it makes sense for cities to develop their own energy plans and strategies. Mayor Pico asked if the Planning Commission could take this on as a project. He acknowledged all the work already done by the Commission and Mr. Sullivan and felt the Conunission could take the leadership on this process. Mr. Sullivan indicated he would love to do that, but would want to involve other members of the community. James Paxson of the Hacienda Business Owners Association, for example, would like to be involved as well. He suggested this be placed on the next Planning Commission agenda to decide if it wants to do this. Robert Cordtz, 262 West Angela, supported the staff recommendation to continue these items until after the priorities workshop. He referred to page three of the staff report on the environmental commission "If there is a place where Pleasanton has not achieved the full benefits of implementing sustainable elements, it is simply in the backlog of implementation programs." He felt the city staff was being worked to death. There are 150 people involved in Council, Planning Commission, and other committees and staff has to deal with all the agenda items for all those people. He was told nothing would occur with the San Francisco Land Use committee for eight months. The Downtown Specific Plan has been going on for two years with about 65-70 meetings being held. He referred to the sustainablility proposal and said there was not enough information. What is the baseline? The San Francisco baseline report is out of print. He has participated in two General Plan reviews, the revitalization of downtown and other committees who have made numerous recommendations and asked if this was all for naught. With regard to the energy strategy, Mr. Cordtz disagreed it would take ten years to build a nuclear plant. He believed the problem was with the unions and he referred to the problems with the San Francisco airport expansion, which is now $259 million over budget, six months late and has already suffered strikes of electricians and carpenters. He felt supporters of the endangered species act were also being used to shut projects down. He felt conventional electric power plants could be built in a couple of years if the activists would get out of the way. The 230 KV line is not new. This project came here in 1986. The NIMBYs didn't want it. The civil engineer for the Kottinger Heights development had indicated a decision should be made at the beginning of that development on where to put the power line. No one listened. The problem is back and the Public Utilities Commission will tell Pleasanton where to put the line. Staff just can't keep up with these issues. He urged Council to put this on the back burner and take care of other problems first like the golf course, the San Francisco property, fixing streets, mitigating traffic problems, etc. He urged Council to defer this until after the priorities workshop and he did not believe this is a priority. He is more concerned about Pleasanton City Council 17 02/20/01 Minutes