The "Special Little Italy District" established in this Resolution is designed to promote and protect public health, general welfare and amenity. These general goals include, among others, the following specific purposes:

(a)        to preserve and strengthen the historical and cultural character of the community;

(b)        to protect the scale of storefronts and character of the existing retail uses along Mulberry Street and other major shopping streets so that Little Italy will remain a unique regional shopping area, and thereby strengthen the economic base of the City;

(c)        to preserve the vitality of street life by reducing conflict between pedestrian and vehicular traffic;

(d)        to permit rehabilitation and new development consistent with the residential character and scale of the existing buildings in the area;

(e)        to provide amenities, such as public open space, and street trees, to improve the physical environment;

(f)        to discourage the demolition of noteworthy buildings which are significant to the character of the area; and

(g)        to promote the more desirable use of land in the area and thus to preserve the value of land and buildings, and thereby protect and strengthen the City's tax revenues, consistent with the foregoing purposes.