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garden and other amenities that the proponents believed would be palatable to the rest of the community. After the Task Force had spent over a year of putting this together, the Council came back and told the Task Force to put together a design just for sports fields. He did not agree with that then and he was not sure he agreed with it now. The Task Force wanted a park that could be used by the entire community and we want sports to be a part of that community, which is why he and Mr. Maas went to the first plan. To address Ms. Ayala's comment that this was never presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission, it was presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission, just not for a vote. It was part of a follow up meeting in which the Task Force had a couple of meetings with public hearings with the Parks and Recreation Commission for the first plan. The Parks and Recreation Commission did not vote on it. In a joint meeting with the City Council, he noted that he personally presented this plan to the City Council, so it is not that the Council had not seen this plan before. He introduced the Chair of the Committee to Save our Community Park, Bob Maas. Bob Maas, 7942 Raccoon Hollow Court, thanked Council for the opportunity to speak. It has been quite an emotional swing in the last 30 minutes in which we have gone from two lighted baseball fields now to eight. He believed it was healthy to have this dialogue, in order to discuss the things that really need to be discussed and avoid the backroom politics that really do not accomplish anything. As Council dissected the initiative, he believed Council answered all of the questions that the community had. He pointed out that the initiative has been circulating for signatures for only 13 days and the Committee is 40 percent to its goal already. No one will not sign this petition to get this on the ballot. Every one that the Committee has talked to wants this park and they want a community park with lighted sports fields, not just a sports park. It is a community park with lighted sports fields, as previously mentioned by Mr. Thorne. That is why he and Mr. Thorne have submitted this plan as a suggestion as to what could fit into this area yet be far enough from the homes so that it would not be intrusive to those neighbors. What goes in the cross-hatched area can be worked out through discussions with staff, councilmembers, the sports community, and the citizens of Pleasanton. He was available to answer any questions related to the initiative, but he wanted to reiterate the fact that this initiative proposes a community park with lighted sports fields. Ms. Ayala noted that if Mr. Maas wanted to keep collecting signatures he could certainly do so. She asked Mr. Maas if his Committee would be willing to meet to try and incorporate, once Council gives direction tonight to the consultant, the other uses that Council has on its priority list, so that the two could be part of an initiative. This initiative would include the other uses so that Council and the initiative proponents could get the whole community to rally behind the initiative, and not be divisive where people are thinking it is just for sports fields. Mr. Maas indicated that the proponents certainly did not want a division at all as it does not benefit any one. He indicated that he and Mr. Thorne are willing to meet at any time, with any one that Council suggests, to be able to work this issue out. That is all they wanted. What this community has been promised for many years is a community park on the Bemal property with lighted sports fields. He asked if Mr. Thorne agreed Pleasanton City Council 12 03/02/04 Minutes