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5 at this time. He said the Rescue Squad has reduced its response time to 9 minutes 90% or more of the time. Dr. Brown said that Chief Werner provided an incredible presentation, which he said speaks to what a top notch department we have. He asked how State budget cuts will affect the Fire Department. Chief Werner said that there are more State budget cuts for the Police Department than Fire Department. REPORT : WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT AND BUSINESS ASSISTANCE Mr. Aubrey Watts, Director of Economic Development, said he wanted to make Council aware of what the Department of Economic Development is doing in the areas of workforce development and business assistance. Mr. Chris Engel, Assistant Director of Economic Development, reviewed the business visitation program. Ms. Holly Lee, Economic Development Specialist, gave an overview of business assistance efforts. She said the City partners with many organizations. Mr. Engel reviewed workforce development efforts and noted that much of the work is done in conjunction with the Thomas Jefferson Partnership for Economic Development and the One Stop Center. Mr. Engel said that there is currently $30,000 available that was previously approved for transportation for VIEW clients that could be used to provide fare free transit for VIEW clients. Mr. Watts said that the $30,000 would be sufficient to provide fare free transit through June of 2009. He recommended the following financial support for Council’s consideration: Entrepreneur Scholarships for City residents ($25,000); Wayfinding Project; Micro-loan program for Small Business ($250,000); Additional support for Small Business Development Center ($10,000); Apprenticeship Program ($50,000); and Soft Skills Improvement ($10,000). Mr. Watts also recommended that free parking with proof of purchase on weekends be extended for the downtown garages through the mall renovation project. Dr. Brown suggested that a work session be held. He said he would like to hear details on how the money would be spent, and would like examples of the youth program. Dr. Brown said focusing narrowly on bus passes for VIEW clients may be too constrained a view. He suggested trying to make buses half price for people on Medicaid and food stamps which might boost ridership. Ms. Edwards said she likes the idea of a work session. She asked the following questions: is there is a way to find out how many people were employed as a result of the job fair; how many people are served annually by the Small Business Development Center; how can we measure the impact of workshops; how can we connect summer youth interns with other resources; are interns eligible for the next summer if they were in the program last year; what impact has the technology incubator had and she would like more information about it; and what is the status of the LPN program. Mr. Norris agreed with scheduling a work session. He asked if it would be possible to expand or expedite the micro-loan fund. He said he thinks training for career ladder jobs is essential. He hopes we could expand the Entrepreneur Scholarships to those who do not have funds. He said he is worried about the business plans for downtown in general. He said he would like better information on the second half of the allocation and information about how successful the first half was. He asked if we have pursued participation in the Virginia Main Street program for downtown along with increasing residential units downtown. He asked how we can pursue more local contracting. He said he regrets the location of the One Stop Center on Hydraulic Road as it is inaccessible to many City residents. He asked if a downtown satellite office would be possible. He asked how we can position ourselves to purchase more green jobs