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Charlotte Severin, 4512 Mirador Drive, Chair of the Task Force, which unanimously voted to take this project as a whole and not piecemeal it. She was excited about the support from Council and the Civic Arts Commission and hoped to keep this a whole plan. She was confident the funding would be raised and urged Council to proceed quickly. There were no further speakers from the public. 4. NEXT STEPS AND MATTERS INITIATED BY COUNCIL OR COMMISSION Holly Nelson said she joined the Pleasanton Cultural Arts Council (PCAC) several years ago because she was aware of the fund raising that would be necessary for the Firehouse and wanted to contribute her skills to that effort. She supports the arts even though she is not an artist. They have been waiting to find out just how much money would be necessary for the project. That figure is now known and the Foundation is in place to continue raising funds for this great project. Margene Gerton-Rivara said this project has been unanimously approved by the Civic Arts Commission. She hoped the project could be built in its entirety and believed all the arts groups in Pleasanton were enthusiastic about the project and fully supported it. She has been working on this project for four and a half years, but fundraising could not begin until the numbers were known. Tegan McLane said she has known since she was a teenager that the community needed a nice theater. She works for the City of Sunnyvale and runs a theater about the same size as proposed for Pleasanton. From a regional perspective, there is a need beyond Pleasanton for a theater like this. Sunnyvale has a 200-seat theater and there are only two other theaters in the South Bay down from San Francisco that are the same size. The Sunnyvale Theater is very busy, with two resident companies. There are often two productions a day, with the youth theater performing in the morning and another company in the evening. The need for this type of a facility is enormous throughout the Bay Area. She was very pleased the City of Pleasanton was considering it. Jo Molz she appreciated arts of all kinds and thought this project was wonderful. Nancy Scotto said she also grew up in Pleasanton and participated in arts programs. As she is raising her own children, she noted there is a lack of arts programming. She teaches ceramics at Foothill High School and felt the benefits to the community from this project were huge. This is in line with the Youth Master Plan and others and fills many voids for the community. She did not want the project to be built in stages. She noted after students leave high school, they have no local programming for arts and most must go to Concord. Joint Workshop City Council/Civic Arts Commission 5 09/06/05