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1 Commissioner Hansen questioned why, . when the City for years had <br /> 2 found it impossible to communicate at all with the center owners <br /> 3 regarding signage for the center, they, had all of a sudden come up <br /> ` 4 with a $1,500.00 mural instead of the uniform signage the center <br /> 5 really needed. He said he would rather see the $1,500.00 saved for <br /> 6 that purpose. <br /> 7 Mr. Johnson told him the center owners had never realized relations <br /> 8 with the City had deteriorated to the extent they had until after Joe <br /> 9 DiSanto replaced Irene Drumm,in New York last August. Since then ties <br /> 10 with the City had been renewed and $125,000 had been spent in <br /> it improvements. The Eberhardt manager reiterated information he had <br /> 12 given at another meeting regarding the center owners' intent to <br /> 13 overfinance a Dallas property by $300,000.00 to pay for upgrading the <br /> 14 St. Anthony center to include standardized signage. Mr. Johnson said <br /> 15 store owners are currently responsible for paying for their own <br /> 16 signs and two of them, Don Leary and the owner of Kelly's Tots and <br /> 17 Teens are . examples of store owners who want to keep the signage they <br /> 18 have. <br /> 19 The center manager added that one indication that standard signage is <br /> 20 a real possibility is the fact that the prospective renters of half <br /> 21 of the vacant Penny's Supermarket space have indicated they wouldn't <br /> 22 sign any lease which didn't guaranty uniform signage would be <br /> 23 forthcoming. He conceded that the center managers were still waiting <br /> 24 for the go ahead on the standard signage which they had originally <br /> 25 thought would be given by this time. <br /> 26 Staff Requested to Provide Tax Increment Financing for Uniform <br /> 27 Signage <br /> 28 When the proponent reported his company's request, Mr. Childs <br /> 29 indicated his doubts whether new state legislation related to this <br /> 30 type of funding would allow the City to do this. He said the City <br /> 31 wants to help get the center upgraded and confirmed that there had <br /> 32 been more communication between the City in the last eight months <br /> 33 since Mr. DiSanto had taken over in New York than there had been in <br /> 34 the preceding 8 years. The Manager said he perceived Mr. DiSanto <br /> 35 seemed more than willing to do something to upgrade the center. <br /> 36 However, Mr. Childs agreed with Commissioner Hansen that standardized <br /> 37 signage would accomplish that better than a mural on the back of the <br /> 38 center. <br /> 39 The Manager agreed with Commission concerns about how the mural might <br /> 40 look after it was up and its maintenance after a few years. He said <br /> 41 he knew murals had been used effectively in other municipalities but <br /> 42 felt that the decision of just how professional the proposed mural <br /> 43 would look or how well it would fit into that area once it is up <br /> 44 should be made by the Commission and City Council. <br /> 45 Johnson Answers Some Concerns <br /> 3 <br />