| Mr. Reece thought that the concept was phenomenal. He thought that the |
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| City had to look at something like this to stay above the curve. He was |
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| afraid that some on Council were looking up at the big bright light from the |
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| sky asking what it was, and it would fall on them. He did not think they |
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| might have the foresight to think out of the box because they had been so |
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| comfortable for so long in the box. Without some form of tax incentives or |
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| Federal funding or dollars to help support it, they would continue to do |
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| what they had done. The City was built out, and they were comfortable |
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| with the tax base. There had been some decline over the years, but it was |
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| mostly steady. He believed that they had to move to the next level and |
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| continue to reinvent, or they would de-evolve from where they were at |
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| today. He brought up comparing downtown Rochester to some areas in |
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| Rochester Hills, and he said that there was a difference. There was a |
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| synergy in a downtown Rochester or Birmingham or Royal Oak, because |
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| those were about as close to a walkable community as there was in |
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| metropolitan Detroit. They did not have light rail, subways or mass transit |
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| that people would use to get somewhere to walk around. He said that he |
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| loved going to the Village of Rochester Hills in the middle of winter to do |
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| Christmas shopping. There was something that reminded him of his |
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| days as a kid growing up in Detroit and going to Gratiot and Seven Mile |
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| and shopping in the wintertime. The difference was that a downtown had |
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| history and an energy that he did not think they could replicate. As much |
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| as he liked the Village, it was kind of sterile to a certain extent. He |
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| thought it was wildly successful, however. On Christmas Eve or a few |
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| days before Christmas, there was no place to park. They could take that |
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| concept and move it to the next level in some locations, like the Bordine’s |
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| location, or perhaps combine the Bordine’s location with the center to the |
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| south to get a little larger land mass and make it walkable. They would |
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| never make Rochester Rd. like downtown, walkable Rochester, because it |
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| was too wide and busy. He felt that the concept was great, and he was all |
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| behind trying to look at some areas to make them work. He felt it was |
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| important, looking at current statistics, to remember that all the members |
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| had witnessed the great depression of their times. He felt that the |
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| statistics were going to be skewed as far as renting versus home buying. |
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| People were afraid. When he was younger, he never would have thought |
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| that home buying would be a concern. It was for people today, and he saw |
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| that fear in his kids, who were now young adults. They were not sure what |
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| the future held. They had seen something that none of them had ever |
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| witnessed. It had changed the statistics. He thought it would revert back, |
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| noting that Clear Creek Subdivision No. 5 was sold out. People were |
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| buying $400-500,000.00 homes again. On the other hand, he felt that |
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