New Group Wants to Improve Retail in Port Angeles
The ten members of the Retail Sector Study Group met last week for the first time. Their goal is to improve the retail situation in Port Angeles.
The group consists of: Kent Myers, Brad Collins, Brooke Nelson, Pat Downie, Kaj Ahlburg, Dan Gase, Mike Edwards, Joe Cammack, Katrina Berg and Tracy Hedin.
The main obstacles they discussed were the closure of Gottschalks in 2009, the limited hours that shops are open, merchants not accepting Canadian currency, and people shopping online. The group will meet again on May 20th.
The group consists of: Kent Myers, Brad Collins, Brooke Nelson, Pat Downie, Kaj Ahlburg, Dan Gase, Mike Edwards, Joe Cammack, Katrina Berg and Tracy Hedin.
The main obstacles they discussed were the closure of Gottschalks in 2009, the limited hours that shops are open, merchants not accepting Canadian currency, and people shopping online. The group will meet again on May 20th.
posted by Tom Harper at 9:09 AM
29 Comments:
Isn't this effort better led by the Clallam Economic Development Council, with help from the Chamber of Commerce? Why does the City pay tens of thousands of dollars each year to these organizations and yet still feel the need to develop their own task force?
The one task force member who may have some expertise to contribute would be Brad Collins, who is trained and experienced in city planning. He should be the designated city representative to a study group led by the Economic Development Council and C of C.
As for the other members... one investigation that might lead to some food for thought would be to analyze the retail spending of Kaj Ahlburg and his family. He obviously has amassed some considerable wealth from his Wall Street financier days. How much of it does he spend in retail shops in Port Angeles as opposed to other places? What reasons guide his family's shopping location decisions?
One reason Sequim's downtown is more attractive that PA's: the HWY 101 by-pass around Sequim means that log trucks, chip trucks and other large commercial vehicles are no longer tearing up the downtown streets, spewing noxious fumes, and generally creating an uninviting pedestrian atmosphere for shoppers.
Port Angeles should impose a $10 toll on any truck that travels through the downtown business district. Use the toll money to create a fund that would rebate utility bills for any and all businesses in the downtown. Reduced utility rates could be an incentive for businesses to extend their hours into the evening. Or, use the toll money to build up a fund that would help to pay for a constructing a truck by-pass around the downtown.
Not having a dog in this, I don't really care. But if I did pay taxes in Port Angeles, I would hope that none of my tax dollars are going for yet another ineffectual, self aggrandizing committee.
That ship has sailed and PA has missed the boat by about 25 years.
The Cornerhouse Cafe, the two book stores, Westside Pizza, and sometimes the old five and dime are pretty much the only places downtown that interest me.
Any of the other places I have been in I found to be too expensive.
Besides, I don't see any point in investing our bucks down there, the big quake is going to take it all out anyway and the wise ones there should consider getting out while they can.
BTW, if I had a small business downtown it's not likely I would have long hours, and at times there would be a sign on the door.
GONE BOATING :-)
I smell another BOONDOGGLE...the sound of money circling the drain.
I'll give you THREE reasons downtown is looking so sad: 1.) rents. The landlords are a bunch of slumlords who want Seattle rents for substandard properties, 2.) the city does everything possible to suck as much $$ out of a business, from special parking for employees at the tune of $15 bucks a person, to expensive permits for sandwich signs, 3.) utility rates are too high. Add to that the logistics of trying to get deliveries during the day (near impossible, and there are no back alleys or back doors) and the reality that there is a surcharge for deliveries "out this far". OH!! And, the locals don't do business with anyone but Walmart. Forgot that one...no one even gives a new business a chance. Wait there is more the newspaper has totally made up circulation numbers (how they justify charging so much for advertising) the radio station, while better in ad fees, is right-wing canned talk radio (not really a wide audience, and more people on a pension than real wage earners). And, that's it for advertising.
Oh wait, there is more -- the years on end of tearing up the main arterial streets and the arrogance of the Public Works department. The nonsense that is emitted from the "public information officer". The lack of any support from either the Downtown lackies or the Chamber of horror.
I'd rather flush my money down a rat-hole than open a business downtown.
the "new group" is not new.
In fact, it smacks of the Emperor's NEW clothes.
Can't we find some NEW new people?
Anon 6:11 PM May 6: Well said. Thanks for the info and insights.
I didn't know that the city extracts parking fees for employees or sandwich signs, and hadn't really thought about the difficulties of getting deliveries when there are no alleys or convenient loading zones.
It seems as though the lack of convenient parking for customers is a factor, too. The Gateway project took away some of the parking places. Maybe the Gottschalks site could be turned into a large parking ramp?
By the way ---- thinking about that downtown corner ---- When the Border Patrol moves out of the Federal Building, how many other workers will be left in that building? Will it be mostly empty space?
"...The landlords are a bunch of slumlords who want Seattle rents for substandard properties..."
I'm curious --- are there a lot of individual landlords with higher expectation$, or is downtown property mostly owned by only a few land barons? If it's the latter, who are they? Can you name some names? Do they have local ties? Seriously, I'm just curious about this.
Actually, the subject line of this post is....
"New Group Wants to Improve Retail in Port Angeles"
Yet comments soon jump to just the downtown area, veeery interesting.
Maybe because everyone else is getting sick and tired of the city concentrating mostly on just that area.
When it should just be turned into a nice day use area.
When the Border Patrol moves out of the Federal Building, how many other workers will be left in that building? Will it be mostly empty space?
Would anyone that is wise want to move in there to fill that space?
Most people want to improve retail in Port Angeles. Is throwing taxpayer money down the drain with yet another politicial "action" group the way to do it?
I'll tell them the secret and it won't cost them a dime: people need more disposable income. You can promote downtown all you want or hand out "I shop local" buttons or however else you're spending taxpayers' money, but if the taxpayers don't have anything left after necessities or are worried about their job they aren't going to buy useless crap, which is mostly what retail is.
I brown bag it most days and I stopped buying crap I don't need because I just have enough to live and I don't see my wages getting any better anytime soon, and gas and food are starting to go up. That's why I don't "shop local".
You can search who owns properties downtown: http://websrv8.clallam.net/propertyaccess/?cid=0
I'm not going to name names, but one owner is a guy from Southern California that owns -- at least -- a half dozen properties in the "down town area" and probably a 100 rentals in the greater area. A real "mogul". One woman owns, at least, as many commercial properties, and has driven out businesses when they've asked her to fix the plumbing and sewer problems in her buildings.
There really are a very select few who are managing to destroy business in the community by refusing to lower rents in this economy. If rents were lowered, across the board by HALF, I'd expect you'd see a blossoming of new business in the area, and that business could stay afloat.
These building owners get exceptionally LOW tax rates, and other benefits -- many haven't had increases in years.
I doubt that anyone realizes how expensive employees are -- for each hour of wages the employer pays nearly that much in taxes, and fees. For each dollar earned in profit, the state, county and city suck out a percent. The permits necessary to run a business keep rising. Insurance costs do, as well.
The big box stores have so many more write offs and they can spread out the profits from one store, to cover the losses on another (it's a tax dodge, fyi), and they can negotiate with the city, county and state for better tax rates, and special deals. Comparing big stores with little retail establishments is like comparing grapes to hand grenades.
Little business, once the backbone of the country's economy, has been undermined by taxes, fees, requirements, permits, and restrictions so that the life is sucked out of them. The only way a person can be in business, these days, is to either make buttloads of cash (not likely around here) or to not employ other people (i.e. self employed).
The problem with Port Angeles is a willingness to spend money, but not to invest in anything that would bring long-term income to the area.
The area is not suited for high tech because of the stupid, stupid stupid single control of the fiber network in the area. The area is not suited for warehousing, for shipping, for industry because of the distance from a major arterial highway, the lack of rail, and no cargo ship capacities of the port.
The area is not suited as a destination because we have very little hotel (and Red Lion is only a step above Motel 6) rooms, luxury resort facilities, or entertainment venues (Vern Burton doesn't qualify, the high school auditorium is crumbling, and the college one is fine, but too removed).
The vision of the people wanting to "improve retail" are myopic, as are the leaders of this town. Only, no "NEW" people can be part of these committees and groups because it is an incestuous little town.
here are the records of one of our local land barron families:
http://websrv8.clallam.net/propertyaccess/SearchResults.aspx?cid=0
check out the property "values", do they look like the values on YOUR properties?
oh well link didn't work.
Go to the clallam county records search online and look up the last name Westrem You'll find 6 pages or more.
Also try "delguzzi." Make it one word, not two.
Darn good points on here! PA's highway / truck route situation is just plain weird and makes no sense. Geographically this town isn't laid out too well. It's no secret the cost of living is far too high here, especially with our job market. I've heard of DelGuzzi and Westrem before. Ordinarily I'd say boycott them, but anyone who leaves vacant lots along a main street for decades won't care about unrented buildings. I hate to sound like a tea partier, but every new focus group, every new layer of bureaucracy, each new law and tax and fee adds that much more of a burden to the small business owner.
Not much the city can do about some of these, but they can look into a bypass and simplifying the bureaucracy.
I particularly like Billy's comment about downtown. I keep saying "mixed economy" and focusing all our attention downtown isn't going to help.
In the meantime, Lincoln to Race, 5th to 8th looks like it's doing well as a professional area. 8th and C seems is a nice little mini-community. The highway strip doesn't look like it's doing too bad. The college is about ready to open a new building. Maybe not the wisest thing to do with declining enrollment in the public schools, but, if done right, colleges are often their own hub of economic activity. Look at the branch off from UW or BCC to compare apples to oranges.
As I understand it, delguzzi corp lost interest in this town years ago when things started slowing down growth wise and they wasn't making the big bucks.
Went to places like Lost Wages and did a shit load of developments there, my son worked for them there.
Now that Lost Wages is going to hell it's hard to say which area their next target is, but it'll be a place they think they can make the big bucks.
On the bright side, my new four cycle outboard motor is a real sweetheart. :-)
PA Nerd, but we don't need a bypass to cut through the guts of our town. The Cutler proposed bypass routes trucks up Race, out on Lauridsen past Civic Field, the Dream playground, through residential, past two grammar schools. Do we really want big truck traffic to screw up our little town like that? Better to do a REAL bypass, and route it to bypass town totally (as Sequim's bypass did).
Although, honestly, I see no reason to NOT keep traffic flowing downtown, only rerouting the streets to be two-way, and heading trucks out on Front, and away from First. That does make the MOST sense, and the one the visiting architects promoted, if I remember correctly.
Route trucks through industrial and retail, not through residential.
"Although, honestly, I see no reason to NOT keep traffic flowing downtown, only rerouting the streets to be two-way, and heading trucks out on Front, and away from First."
Ever try to hold a conversation on the sidewalks, downtown, when the big trucks are rolling by? Have you felt the walls and floors shake in some of the stores, as those big trucks go by?
The trucks are definitely a detriment. They bring down any possibilities of downtown becoming a pleasant place people WANT to go to.
But, I agree with Anon 7:15 that re-routing truck/highway traffic through residential areas, as Cutler promotes, is a very bad idea.
Putting aside all the other obvious reasons that route is a bad idea, even the truckers and tourists aren't going to be thrilled having to drive 20 mph through the school zones on both Race and Lauridsen, both ways, to get through town.
Is there any truth to the rumor that Sam Haguewood is a major reason why there is no Hwy 101 by-pass around Port Angeles? I've heard that when the elder Haguewood was on the city council in the 1970's he lobbied against the state DOT's bypass plan because he wanted all the 101 traffic to pass by his downtown restaurant.
Can anyone who was around during that era shed any light on whether there was indeed a viable by-pass plan back then that was scuttled by local political pressure?
I've heard that story a few dozen times by various people.
I'd love some "horses mouth" information about it, too.
Meanwhile, who were the dingdongs that pushed to have the railroad tracks taken out in the 70's? What morons were running this place? How sweet would it to be to have a train that runs from Port Townsend to Port Angeles?!!!
Back then, just as today, the morons running the place only have vision as far as the end of their nose.
I've heard - from sources that seem to know what they're talking about - that Haguewood is indeed the reason there was no bypass.
All these old, "respected" Port Angeles families have so many skeletons in their closets. Check the online jail roster every so often - you'll often see some familiar names.
http://www.clallam.net/LawEnforcement/html/correctional_facility.htm
and we still let Haguewood's spawn be on boards and committees?
Damn, this place would have been a nice place if it wasn't for some really BAD apples.
Actually it was old man Traylor (Traylors Resturant) who lobbied successfully to keep the bypass out.
I see Brad Collins and Pat Downie are on this board - sell outs! Two more politicos who ran on a "progressive" platform only to hook up with the old council and its leftovers the moment they could.
I know Collins is an appointee, btw.
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