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Minutes - San Leandro City Council Meeting - March 19, 1990 Page - 6 - MISCELLANEOUS: a. Matter of Approval of Final Plans for East 14th Street and MacArthur Boulevard - North Area Street Improvements. Dick Randall , City Manager, gave background of the North Area Revitalization Program and said this program had been in existence for 2-1/2 years. He said the City Council had recently adopted a Revitalization Manual and implementation of the 3-year action plan called for design and construction of public improvements. He said the item on tonight's Agenda recommended improvements on East 14th Street and MacArthur Boulevard and included monuments and landscaping. Mike Oliver, Assistant City Manager, said in 1988 the City Council appointed two citizens committees to review the four major thoroughfares in the North Area -- San Leandro Boulevard, East 14th Street, Bancroft Avenue, and MacArthur Boulevard -- and determine what could be done to address the deterioration in the neighborhoods. The committees returned 96 recommendations; their recommendations included putting the high quality of the areas on display, creating clear entry ways, encouraging business investment, creating zoning to encourage business and create a useable parking plan. Mr. Oliver described all of the projects that have taken place through the public-private partnership that was developed, including street clean-ups, neighborhood preservation, creation of two business associations, and the work of Elena Koster with those business associations, the Veterans' Memorial Wall , Siempre Verde Park, rehabilitation, the specific plan and parking plan, as well as the many improvements made by private property owners to their properties in response to this program. He said the City Council also directed staff to develop street improvements and the final design included gateway features and street trees. He said now is the time for the City Council to take final action and to direct the preparation of plans and specifications. He said, as a result of concerns related to the East 14th Street improvements expressed at the last two community meetings on this matter, modifications had been made, including development of a prototype entry sign for use City-wide and modifications to the proposed median island on East 14th Street to permit northbound traffic on East 14th Street to make a left turn into Farrelly Drive. The City Clerk read into the record a letter from Douglas A. Scott, President and Chief Executive Officer of Vesper Society Group in favor of the East 14th Street project. Michael Freedman, Freedman, Tung and Bottomley, the consultant on the project, described all of the elements of the North Area and said they are for a single purpose, to re-establish the high-quality identity of the community and stem the process of disinvestment. He said the street improvements were the catalyst to touch off the revitalization in the area and to maintain the momentum that has been built. He described the concept of the entry wall on MacArthur Boulevard and the landscaping and monument features on East 14th Street. He also gave background on the various workshops and said that at the last community workshop the issue of no left turn into Farrelly Drive for northbound traffic on East 14th Street was raised and, as a result, the plans have been modified to allow a left turn.