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asked what the original rationale was of the policy makers who made this decision in 2000 as to why Pleasanton wanted to invest $1 million dollars in a BART Station? Mr. Fialho said the project would be different than other BART stations. The proposed West Pleasanton/Dublin BART Station would be publicly financed and privately constructed. In an effort to move this project forward, the City originally entered into a MOU that helped subsidize the cost of construction, and what is being presented to Council is not the merits of whether to build a second BART station but it is the merits of the previous MOU versus what Council is currently considering today. From staff's perspective, the proposed funding agreement was more financially responsible as compared to the previous agreement. Mr. Sullivan said he was trying to gain some insight, as the previous Council believed this was an adequate investment for the City. Mr. Roush said in order for the entire BART system to work well and in order to draw people who otherwise might not use BART, primarily people from north of 1-680, to use it more frequently, the idea was that the West PleasantonlDublin BART Station was an important part of the over arching regional transportation system and Council supported having both stations in the area. John Reynolds, a BART representative, mentioned that he had been involved in this project since 1999 when the Board of Directors authorized entering into a public/private partnership. Since that time, this project has been on Track I of the Regional Transportation Plan and Tier I of the Alameda County Congestion Management Agency (ACCMA) Transportation Plan and Track II of the Expenditure Plan for the adopted Alameda County Measure B. Stoneridge Mall property owners and the President of the Safeway Real Estate Subsidiary specifically indicated that the reason why they located in Pleasanton at that site was in anticipation of a future BART Station. Since that time the Heinz, Schwab and E-Loan Corporations have all located at this site and have all indicated that a driving force of their investment was the anticipation of the West PleasanVDublin BART Station. The Mills Corporation in focusing their subsequent development towards the new BART Station is another indication of the fact that there is good synergy between transportation and commercial uses both for retail and employment. The supplemental Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that was adopted and certified by the BART Board of Directors in 2001, reaffirmed the fact that this line segment looked at a three station configuration and since that time, BART has worked diligently based upon the economic challenges it has faced to bring this station out of the ground. BART sees this station as the relief valve for the existing East Pleasanton/Dublin BART Station and the West Pleasanton/Dublin BART Station would help to moderate the demand at the East Station and allow for accessibility for automobiles, buses and pedestrians. The West Pleasanton/Dublin BART Station would also provide which does not currently exist, a free-pass pedestrian pathway linking Pleasanton to Dublin and Dublin to Pleasanton to allow more synergy between the two communities. Mr. Sullivan believed there were some regional transportation benefits in constructing a second BART Station and potentially from a Pleasanton standpoint, economic benefits for those major employers who located in this area. He did not believe the way in which the arrangement of the Mall is being set up did not seem to be taking advantage of the potential synergy as between the BART Station is a parking garage for BART patrons and on the other side is a parking garage for mall patrons, which seems to be the real synergy. While he understood the economic element, he believed the issue was in asking the Pleasanton taxpayers to invest Pleasanton City Council Minutes 20 11/1 5/05