Group Responds to October 20th City Council Meeting
Contact: Diane Lichtenstein, 523-1235
Members of Alamedans for Alameda Point Revitalization (AAPR) said today that they are encouraged by the Council’s apparent willingness to continue good faith negotiations with the City’s Alameda Point development partner, SunCal, and to provide more disclosure to the public as to the issues and resolutions being discussed.
“What I heard is that even with the constraints of the development agreement issues in the initiative, there are ways to modify them and SunCal is very willing to proceed along these lines,” said AAPR’s Diane Lichtenstein.
“Negotiations have been happening for five months now,” added Honora Murphy. “It is time to move forward, even if the City has to hire a mediator to get things worked out.”
In a letter to Interim City Manager Ann Marie Gallant dated October 19, 2009, SunCal’s Pat Keliher reiterated that SunCal has been meeting weekly with the Interim City Manager and staff for several months to address City concerns and “incorporate additional commitments by the developer through legally binding agreements prior to the vote on the Initiative.”
“The decision will ultimately be in the hands of the voters,” continued Lichtenstein. “SunCal has agreed to discuss the issues. We are pleased to see the Council moving in that direction as well. The community deserves a full public airing of the issues.”
Added AAPR member Helen Sause, “We finally have a plan that fulfills the community vision and is fiscally feasible. We just cannot let this opportunity pass us by. We urge our city leaders to negotiate in the best interest of the community.”
