Business owners face empty streets and revenue woes as Monterey
facelift drags on
Gilroy – Downtown business owners watching expansive sidewalks take shape outside their stores agree the area needed a facelift. But they wonder if the operation had to be quite so painful.
The overhaul of the two block stretch of Monterey Street began in April and is already three months behind schedule. City officials blame unforeseen rain delays and technical problems, while business owners facing out onto a deserted street say the city did a poor job of planning.
Some have gone as far as demanding the city compensate them for lost revenue. That figure could add up, with business owners in the heart of construction, between Sixth and Fourth streets, reporting revenue drops of 50 to 75 percent.
Gina Horwood, who runs the Downtown Halloween Shop at 7483 Monterey St., had $60 in sales in a recent week. She chalked it up to a lack of “drive-by traffic.”
Ro Gaeta, owner of Bike Center at 7441 Monterey St., said he has relied strictly on past customers for repeat business.
Both businesses have managed to survive because their families own the buildings and they don’t have to worry about rent.
That doesn’t mean Gaeta didn’t consider closing up shop and finding a new job.
“There are some days I wonder why I should even open up the store. Why pay the PG&E bill?,” Gaeta said. “I really feel sorry for all the businesses” who don’t own their own building.
The short list of stores that have shuttered since construction began in April include an antique dealer, a children’s clothing store (now replaced by a wedding shop) and a silk screening store. The owners could not be reached and it remained unclear if the closures stem from the construction.
Bob Tapella, owner of Garlic City Billiards, expects to survive but said the project has cost him $70,000 in lost revenue. He said the city should have hired a bigger construction company capable of finishing the work more quickly. The current contractor, Golden Bay Construction, of Hayward, only secured the work after objecting to a competitor’s bid on grounds the company did not employ enough minority-owned or other disadvantaged contractors, as required by federal law.
On Wednesday afternoon, the construction area was empty except for three Golden Bay workers installing a crosswalk.
“I think this construction crew is pretty good, but the only thing is, I think they were kind of a small company,” Tapella said. “They do a little piece of cement here, a piece of cement there. But no one is working on planting trees, putting in light posts. There are a lot of things they could be getting done at once.”
City officials anxious to speed up the pace of the project hammered out a new contract with Golden Bay in recent weeks. It included incentives for meeting new deadlines and overtime pay for work on Saturdays. Golden Bay said it would put additional crews on the job to ensure the road re-opens by Oct. 13. Officials say they still plan to meet that deadline, as well as a Nov. 22 completion date for sidewalks.
“The bottom line is that we are very sad it didn’t get done on time, but I don’t want the city always to be blamed for everything,” Mayor Al Pinheiro said. “I don’t think there’s any one thing in the project that’s perfect. Not the contractor, not the city, not the people” who own stores and buildings.
Some business owners, Pinheiro said, have asked if the city would compensate them for their losses.
“I say no, because once this is all turned around, we’re not going to call you up and ask for a share of your profits,” he said. “The intention from day one was good. I don’t want anybody to hurt, but things have happened and we dealt with them to the best of our ability.”
Pinheiro added that once the project is complete, downtown stakeholders must take responsibility for the area. Business owners should improve the appearance of their stores, building owners should repair their facades, he said.
“When the street opens, it’s not going to be over,” agreed Linda Graham, who has seen profits plummet 65 percent at Collective Past, her antique store at 7495 Monterey St. “People have to be re-trained to come and shop here again. They haven’t been able to do so for the last six months without a lot of hassle.”
