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Clean
it all up or it won’t sell
By
Carol Main of
the Desert Journal
"Beautiful
towns attract business," said Lane Pack, Administrator of the Sierra
County Economic Development Organization in his column, “SCEDO on the
move,” in the Dec. 21 issue of the Desert Journal.
And
drawing business to Truth or Consequences is the reason the city
commissioners voted Dec. 26 to offer utility rate cuts to new companies.
The words “economic expansion” were used during that meeting,
implying a viable base to expand from.
Commission
attempts to firm up the precarious financial base of T or C by increasing
utility rates of current residents and businesses will not be offset by
these proposed rate cuts until new companies are enticed to come here.
If,
as Pack said, "beautiful towns attract," then the car salesman's
maxim of clean it up before you try to sell it comes into play.
New
company scouts checking out the city to determine if it can support their
business will take note of the abandoned building at 2585 S Broadway (once
Ramos Diner), the boarded up building at 1905 S. Broadway and a closed
business plus several "for sale" and "business closed"
signs before entering the downtown area.
In
the primary shopping strip on Broadway from Post Street to Date Street
there are currently eight empty business sites including Amin’s
Department store building of which Carl Amin said, "For the past five
years business got progressively worse so I closed up shop."
In
order to attract new companies a city must first keep what it has. On Main
Street back from Date to Post streets, there are now a total of 16 closed
commercial buildings for sale, including 13 in the older historical area
from Jones to Foch streets.
El
Cortez Theatre owner Brian Trego, 415 Main St., who bought the business in
1996, said the older buildings are empty by design.
"The
city," Trego said, "is trying to depress this area to run the
small business man out. There is a favored circle of Realtors and other
landowners who pressure the small businessman to eventually sell out to
them. They are deliberately keeping these buildings empty.”
"And
some of these buildings," Trego said, "are a fire hazard to the
rest of us, like the old Buckhorn Bar. That place is full of old
furniture. It is such a fire hazard that it is scary, but the city won't
do anything about it."
The
old Chinese Lantern building, 414 Main St., has been empty since last
April when Ceramics Plus owner Dave Johnson was killed.
At
614 McAdoo, Dr. Pete Grenko's old office building, only one of three
spaces is rented, and at the Hot Springs Mini Mall, 110 Main St., only two
of eight are occupied. These might take a tip from the Vista Professional
Office complex, 500 Main St., with four of five units full.
Southwest
Cargo, 149 N. Date St., is out of business and the building is for sale.
Before leaving, manager Antonio Garcez said, "In the three years we
have been here not one city commissioner has ever walked in our doors or
let us know they cared if we were here or not. Given all of the problems
and questions this city has not addressed, we are going to Silver City
where we know we will be welcome."
Across
the street on lower Date Street, the Zamora building that recently housed
NAPA Auto Parts is empty again. NAPA moved last July to 908 N. Date St.,
south of Circle K.
NAPA
manager Eddie Gurule said, "We moved to get a better and bigger
location because we are expanding the store. We are in the process of
buying from Howard Bartoo and all of the units are full. I really like
being in this building because when I was a kid I belonged to the scouts
in here.”
The
old La Kiva Boys Club building has undergone a complete renovation just
since its recent bingo days.
At
Big Bull Archery & Supplies, one of the new tenants, Ron Grainger
said, "We moved up here in August from Billy Howell's building at 700
N. Date St. in August and my new landlord, Howard Bartoo, has been great.
He has really treated me good."
This
is the upside of Date Street, but the downside is once more apparent
across the street where the Shalako Inn, 909 N. Date St., is for sale, as
is the Honey Do Inn at 655 N. Date St.
And
then there is the out-of-business Black Range Motel and Cafe, 711 N. Date
St., and the abandoned Sonic building, 905 N. Date St., the former
laundromat at 904 N. Date St., and the old Fina gas building at 2152 N.
Date St.
Reached
by telephone, a Sonic spokesman who did not want to be identified said,
"It was cheaper to buy land and to build a new place than it would
have been to fix up the old one." So the old one is left as city
decor.
Newer
empty buildings include the former Planet Pizza office complex, 902 N.
Date St., and the Respiratory Services location at Seventh and North Date
streets.
In
addition to all of these, today there are four more empty buildings and
seven vacant plaza type offices on just Main, Date, Broadway and McAdoo
streets. Plus Newberry’s in the IGA shopping strip with its
going-out-of-business sign.
The above listed places are only those that a company scout will see when
driving north or south through town and his word will be used to determine
if this town is a city his company can profit by moving to it.
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