From Economic Hardship to Fire Staffing Reductions –
We often take this month-long break from city council meetings to re-focus on the priorities facing the city. We are now halfway through the month of August, but still three weeks remain until the next city council meeting.
With that issue off the table, there is no shortage of big issues still facing the council, many of which must be dealt with in September. The list is so packed with high-end items, that issues that critically need to be addressed such as Fifth Street Redesign or Cannery Park do not make the list of top 5 priorities.
This is the first of a two-part series highlighting key issues.
5. Economic and Commercial Troubles
We start with the fifth biggest issue, which in many ways should be the biggest issue. Honestly, we have not written enough about Borders going out of business. The pro-growth forces brought in Borders to the protest of many who claimed that it would lead to the death of independent bookstores and one-by-one it proved largely to be true.
There will be those who claim that Borders did not directly cause, for instance, Bogey’s to go out of business, but the bottom line is that it did not help.
As Alzada Knickerbocker of Avid Reader told the Enterprise a few weeks ago, “We lost half our business” when Borders opened in September 1998 and “It never came back.”
Ms. Knickerbocker is fortunate though; her business survived and may now have an opportunity to improve in the wake of the demise of Borders.
The irony with Borders closing, aside from the poor policy decisions made by past leaders in this community, is that Borders did well in Davis and now Davis is not only without a number of independent bookstores, it will be without the tax revenue of Borders.
It is not just Borders that is creating a void, it is internal business practices. A few weeks ago the Vanguard ran a story about the fact that the landlord at the South Davis shopping center, built by and owned by Paul Petrovich, has four of seven stores in one section vacant due to excessive rents.
Four businesses at Oakshade Plaza in South Davis have either closed or moved in recent months. Mermaids has closed. Davis Creamery moved from Oakshade to the Lofts. Quiznos closed July 7, reportedly posting a sign that they could no longer afford the rent.
Pure Beauty then closed their South Davis location. That leaves four of the seven storefronts in that portion of the shopping center vacant.
In another story that we have not covered, is the further demise of Westlake IGA. The Vanguard had learned a month or so ago that the business owners were now looking to sell their store.
Preciously, we reported that their Bay Area stores had folded and the Davis store has struggled, despite a rally and neighborhood campaign to save it.
There is good news but also bad news. The good news is that there are a number of entities interested in buying the store. The bad news is that the landlord is interested in filling the vacant space and Dollar Tree is interested.
Writes the Sac Business Journal, “Westlake Plaza’s landlord and broker are eager to fill an empty space next to the grocery store, and Dollar Tree Inc. has expressed interest. For the prospective startup grocers, a dollar store is a deal killer. And neighbors say Davis doesn’t need a second Dollar Tree, which sells food, minutes away from the first.”
“We all want a successful shopping center and a healthy food store,” said Katherine Hess, the city’s community development administrator.
That may be, but the city allowed the property to essentially lie vacant for nearly four years until neighborhood activists and the Vanguard pushed them into action.
The city has prioritized economic development, and while we may take issue with some of the thrusts, the bottom line is that the city cannot afford to allow its existing commerce to further collapse, threatening to further erode the sales tax base.
4. Fire Staffing Report
We were expecting that the city would already have received the fire staffing report from CityGate. This is crucial if the city is to cut $2.5 million from personnel costs. The continuing belief is that report will recommend the city goes from 4 person fire engines down to three.
The original CityGate report seemed to believe that the critical number was 15. And they argued at that time for four-firefighter crews, “To provide both the speed and weight of attack and to lessen the need for two units to respond to a modest call, fielding three 4-firefighter crews is a very effective strategy, given the unusual amount of simultaneous incidents and widely spaced stations.”
Moreover, they are insistent that Davis needs more than 12 firefighters on duty. As a result, they need to work with UC Davis fire, “In the combined developed area of Davis and UCD, four fire stations staffed with a total of 15 firefighters on duty are wholly adequate to cover the entire area, if deployed as one system.”
The interim city manager reportedly believes that such a move overall could save between $1 million and $1.5 million to the city.
The Vanguard, in anticipation of this issue coming forward, has spoken with Fire Chief Bill Weisgerber.
The fire chief clearly opposes the move, arguing, “The idea of going from 4-person to 3-person engine companies is seemingly a ‘cost-savings’ strategy.”
He continues, “However, the issue is more accurately one of how many firefighters are needed to respond in time for both the rapid treatment of life-threatening medical emergencies (before permanent or fatal harm occurs) and the control and extinguishment of fires (at the earliest stages, before small fires become large).”
The question that Mr. Weisgerber believes is critical is how many personnel are needed on the scene of a residential structure fire within 11 minutes of a 9-1-1 activation?
He responds, “Firefighting forces of 15, plus a command officer, are necessary to perform all the tasks vital in reducing the effects of fire on the structure and to the occupants. That equates to the first unit arriving at 4 minutes travel time, with multiple units by the 8th minute of travel.”
Our examination, from a few years ago, showed roughly 85% of all stations have gone to three-men crews. Mr. Weisgerber, however, argues that, “Davis’ fire stations are widely spaced apart. Multiple units are needed to deliver enough firefighters to serious emergencies, within a reasonable period of time, in order to effectively perform synchronized tasks for the necessary results.”
He adds, “A compounding issue in Davis is the high occurrence of simultaneous fire-related incidents – averaging an unusually high frequency of approximately 20% of the time.”
Mr. Weisgerber’s citing of the high occurrence of simultaneous fire-related incidents is something that I would like to probe more, because CityGate mentioned it two years ago – why would Davis have an “unusual rate” of simultaneous incidents, which Mr. Weisgerber cited to be 20% of the time?
The bottom line is that Davis is looking to cut $2.5 million. Fire staffing changes could get us halfway there and would target a department that is at the heart of the city’s compensation problem. Most cities have already gone to three-person staffing arrangements, but as the Chief’s comments indicate, this is going to be a political fight.
We will have the remainder of the list later this week.
—David M. Greenwald reporting
I, for one, will very much miss Borders. It’s very sad to see it close its doors…
I can’t recall who told me this, but recently I heard that the new tenant in the Borders space will be a clothing store along the lines of Forever 21.
[i]He responds, “Firefighting forces of 15, plus a command officer, are necessary to perform all the tasks vital in reducing the effects of fire on the structure and to the occupants. That equates to the first unit arriving at 4 minutes travel time, with multiple units by the 8th minute of travel.”[/i]
We get maybe one of these sorts of large structure fires every year. It costs us roughly $1.4 million a year to keep an extra 9 firefighters on staff for this one operation.
A better and more creative approach would be to reduce our crews to 3 on a truck for the 364 days we don’t have a structure fire which requires 15 men plus a commander, but train our police officers to assist the firefighters on that one day. We might also be wise to train an unpaid group of volunteers who could show up and assist the professionals as needed.
It is too darned costly to overstaff our fire department 365 days a year for the remote possibility that on one day everyone needs to respond to a catastrophe. It makes a lot more sense to use the money we save by maintaining our roads which are crumbling in the wake of fire trucks racing around town to attend to sprained ankles.
[i]He adds, “A compounding issue in Davis is the high occurrence of simultaneous fire-related incidents – averaging an unusually high frequency of approximately 20% of the time.”[/i]
My study of the calls into the fire department don’t show much bunching of fire calls at all. But even if that is true on occassion, it does not change the fact that the fires our department responds to are a small fraction of its calls, that structure fires are a small fraction of the fire calls, and that structure calls which require a 2-plus-2 team are a small fraction of the structure fires.
[i]”Davis’ fire stations are widely spaced apart. Multiple units are needed to deliver enough firefighters to serious emergencies, within a reasonable period of time, in order to effectively perform synchronized tasks for the necessary results.”[/i]
Vacaville has 3-man crews. Its 4 fire stations are more widely spaced than ours are in Davis. Moreover, if the DFD merges fully with the UCDFD, our fire stations will beocme less widely spaced than they are now.
[quote]As Alzada Knickerbocker of Avid Reader told the Enterprise a few weeks ago, “We lost half our business” when Borders opened in September 1998 and “It never came back.”[/quote]Good to know that now that Next Chapter, Gayles & Bogeys are not on the scene in Davis, the Avid Reader will see revenue increases of over 100%. Borders did not develop the property… Mark Friedman (who did) probably didn’t/doesn’t much care about Davis growth policies (except, maybe,as they relate to commercial properties). Ah, facts should never get in the way of a good story.
[quote]Honestly, we have not written enough about Borders going out of business.[/quote]
Agreed. I tried to bring this up a number of times but no one was that interested. I think attracting good retail to Davis is a top priority–and as I have said before I believe a mix of chain and local stores is best, though some shudder at that thought.
Here is another retail issue that no doubt will get little notice until its too late. Rite Aid has been struggling to stay alive for years. Again, this is a national story. I have no idea how well our local Rite Aid stores are doing but the national chain is hurting and is perennially on the list of companies who could go bankrupt. I am not predicting here (unlike Borders where I thought it was a sure thing) but its an issue. Fortunately I don’t see the closing of either store as a disaster but it adds more vacant space to be filled…
[quote]In another story that we have not covered, is the further demise of Westlake IGA. The Vanguard had learned a month or so ago that the business owners were now looking to sell their store.
[/quote]
Is anyone surprised at this, especially after Trader Joe’s opened? The far bigger story will be if and when the Save Mart closes–it is also hemorrhaging money and Save Mart, who used to try and keep stores losing money open to save jobs (kind of old-fashioned and nice) is under pressure by Wal-Mart, Target and others across the State. they plan to change the store format soon but that may not be enough.
I’ve also blogged that Nugget is losing money chain wide and the Davis store on Covell is essentially the flagship store even though its not the largest.
The economic downturn continues. Retail is changing. Davis is in much batter shape than most central valley communities (partly cause we don’t have that much retail beyond autos and restaurants) but we are not immune.
We need to take a hard look at these issues and not just react to events after they happen.
[i]The far bigger story will be if and when the Save Mart closes.”[/i]
A friend of mine, originally a Davis resident but now a West Sackite whose parents own a number of West Capitol Avenue roach motels–told me a month or so ago that Raley’s, which is headquartered in West Sac, is interested in opening a store in Davis. He didn’t say they are looking at the Save Mart site. But that would make sense for them.
As to that shopping center … it seems to me they need to reconfigure the parking lot. I’m not sure why, but it feels very inefficient. Like they have very few parking spaces spread over a large area.
… Along these lines, some shopping center owner in Davis needs to give solar shade a try. Aside from the power it would generate, the ability to guarantee a parking space in full shade to 100% of your customers has got to be a draw.
A problem for the Anderson Shopping Center is, with the Safeway + Big 5 + Petco + Peet’s + Dos Coyotes + etc. just a couple blocks away, there is not a great attraction to the Save Mart center. So perhaps having a 100% solar shade lot — perhaps including a nice outdoor eating zone close to the restaurants on the east side of that center — more customers would go there on a more regular basis.
Rich:
The larger issue is how many supermarkets does Davis need? With the addition of TJs Grocery Outlet and Target adds a lot of supply whereas the demand hasn’t changed much. TJs is small but a typical one sells as much as a full sized grocery store.
If I were Raleys I’d look at Nugget’s viability–if they go under (not saying they will but its very possible) the Nugget on Covell is the Crown jewel. Whole Foods would also love that site.
the Anderson Plaza is old and tired, in need of major changes as you say. But who will pay?
[quote]Agreed. I tried to bring this up a number of times [Borders going out of business] but no one was that interested. I think attracting good retail to Davis is a top priority–and as I have said before I believe a mix of chain and local stores is best, though some shudder at that thought. [/quote]
I certainly was interested in the issue of Borders closing, and said so many times. Frankly, I don’t think a clothing store where Borders was is a very good fit. One of the draws of Borders was its little coffee bar, welcoming atmosphere to those who wanted to sit and read/study, and the bargain books couldn’t be beat. You could also get a bite to eat at restaurants next door, then return to Borders to study/browse. I created an entire eclectic and excellent cookbook collection from Borders, and used Borders as an excellent source for inexpensive gifts at Christmas or for birthdays. The staff was extremely helpful and friendly. I will miss Borders immensely. It is one of the few retails stores downtown that I shop(ped) at.
I agree with you that we have to start worrying about what other stores are going to fall in this “recession that has never ended”. So many stores operate on such a small profit margin, it doesn’t take much to make them go under – even big retail chains. And the explosion of the technological age has really decimated retails stores that don’t see the writing on the wall (pardon the pun). Blockbuster and Borders are two prime examples, who failed bc of Netflix and e-readers respectively. In this day and age, as a business you have to be able to change your model very quickly, and almost read the tea leaves of changes to come…
Council member Sue Greenwald made a suggestion that wouldn’t it be nice if we could get an Apple store to locate here…