For what it's worth, I'm thinking the City is trying to link the Monroe Corridor improvements with the demolition of the current city hall (recently improved for $ millions to earthquake standards) and building a $100+ million brand new city hall.
It seems many people are opposed to the city hall demolition (as being very expensive and very bad for the environment) but those same people are pro-Monroe street improvements.
And the city is trying to combine the two, so they get less resistance.
Thanks,
Kris