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7 Mr. Cox said he cannot support asking for the Attorney General opinion and does not trust the opinion of the Attorney General. He said the strategy of an easement has only been proposed because Council cannot get a fourth vote for a sale of land. He said it is not good public policy and sets a bad precedent. He said it circumvents the intention of the cons titution. He said we are looking at a failure of leadership locally. He said there are clearly things that could make him support the Meadowcreek Parkway: a workable interchange; replacement parkland; and commitment to a regional network, but said we ha ve none of these three and a half years later. He said an easement is tantamount to giving away the only bargaining power to have. He said he hopes the Attorney General opinion helps in some way, but we need to ask if that opinion is going to change anyo ne's mind. He said the conditions he listed are necessary for his vote and said he is willing to come to a compromise. The motion to authorize the City Attorney to send the draft letter seeking an opinion from the Attorney General on conveying land via an easement for the Meadowcreek Parkway was approved by the following vote. Ayes: Mr. Caravati, Ms. Richards, Mr. Schilling. Noes: Mr. Cox and Mr. Lynch. nd APPROPRIATION : $5,578,000 - TRANSIT CENTER GRANT (2 reading) Mr. O'Connell said that Council has held a public hearing on this issue and the Steering Committee has held a number of public meetings over the past year. He said the improvements proposed will be constructed within the available grant funds. Mr. O'Connell said Council is asked to ap propriate the grant funding and authorize proceeding with final design, with the Steering Committee providing design oversight. Mr. Bill Letteri, Facilities Manager for the City, presented slides of the proposed transit center and improvements to the eas t end of the downtown mall. Mr. Letteri said the project has been fully embraced by the FTA. Mr. Letteri said Council is being asked to: appropriate $5,578,000 in grant funds; authorize WRT to proceed with design development; approve the CIDA land lease for the amphitheater (in separate action following); and authorize the Steering Committee to provide oversight for the design process. Mr. Lynch asked how much has been spent of the $1 million grant already appropriated. Mr. Letteri said $650,000 of th e grant was committed to WRT and $300,000 of that has been expended to date. Mr. Lynch asked if there is anything to preclude WRT moving forward with those existing funds. Responding to a question from Mr. Caravati, Mr. Letteri said that there is stron g interest on the part of Council regarding the design and he anticipates that as we get near the end of design development that the design will go to the BAR and then formal approval will be made by Council. Mr. Caravati asked if there will be an opport unity for public input along the way, and Mr. O'Connell said that if the same model is used as was used by the Steering Committee previously, then there will be public meetings along the way. Mr. O'Connell noted that all Steering Committee and BAR meeting s are open to the public as well. He said one of the duties of the Steering Committee will be to lay out a schedule. Mr. Caravati said he wants to make sure that is a focus. Mr. Schilling made a motion to withhold the appropriation and allow the archi tect to work with the available funding. Mr. Lynch said he is supportive of all the recommendations short of the appropriation, and asked if Mr. Schilling will support that as a friendly amendment then he will second the motion.