McEwen's building should be saved

The recent story of the embattled McEwen's furniture store on the corner of Redlands Boulevard and Eureka Street is rather fascinating.

[Rexall]

Oh come on!

Stop the flowery Redlands prose.

This building is neither "stately" nor "beautiful". It's merely non-offensive.

To be honest, I'm not fascinated by this process. What's so fascinating about a failing furniture store? What's so fascinating about the proprietors of a failing business who proudly exclaim their long-time Redlands heritage, then threaten to leave a legacy of a boarded up building at a major downtown location if they don't get their way.

Is that civic pride or what?

I appreciate the fact that the doctor did some 'boots on the ground' homework to check out a Walgreen footprint. However I must point out that had he Googled Walgreens San Bernardino he would have seen 10 stores plus the one on Church and Lugonia in Redlands. All are strip mall same.(BTW, isn't there an Alta Vista Credit Union with a drivethrough catty corner from McEwen's?)

I doubt that you can save "millions of dollars" doing anything with the cops. From Segways to Airplanes, the boys must have toys. You would have thought that a Chief costing $500,000 a year would have spent time correcting maintenance problems at Safety Hall rather than drinking coffee at the Fox Theater.(Or at least get in shape to straighten up that pudgy uniform look.)

I suggest that Council start having its meetings at the Bowl under the Procellis. They can swivel between ogling the slogan "Without Vision a People Perish" to staring at the $2 million toilets called the Mission Gables Building.

Redlands has rushed right across that bridge to the 21st Century, hasn't it?

[Passing By]

Rexall wrote:

Oh come on!
Stop the flowery Redlands prose.
This building is neither "stately" nor "beautiful". It's merely non-offensive.
To be honest, I'm not fascinated by this process. What's so fascinating about a failing furniture store? What's so fascinating about the proprietors of a failing business who proudly exclaim their long-time Redlands heritage, then threaten to leave a legacy of a boarded up building at a major downtown location if they don't get their way.
Is that civic pride or what?
I appreciate the fact that the doctor did some 'boots on the ground' homework to check out a Walgreen footprint. However I must point out that had he Googled Walgreens San Bernardino he would have seen 10 stores plus the one on Church and Lugonia in Redlands. All are strip mall same.(BTW, isn't there an Alta Vista Credit Union with a drivethrough catty corner from McEwen's?)
I doubt that you can save "millions of dollars" doing anything with the cops. From Segways to Airplanes, the boys must have toys. You would have thought that a Chief costing $500,000 a year would have spent time correcting maintenance problems at Safety Hall rather than drinking coffee at the Fox Theater.(Or at least get in shape to straighten up that pudgy uniform look.)
I suggest that Council start having its meetings at the Bowl under the Procellis. They can swivel between ogling the slogan "Without Vision a People Perish" to staring at the $2 million toilets called the Mission Gables Building.
Redlands has rushed right across that bridge to the 21st Century, hasn't it?

Excellent Post!

[Passing By]

flyer wrote:

the airplane was purchased with drug seizure money and the pilots are volunteers.

And the fuel, maintenance costs, hanger fees, etc come from...?

[Red Baron]

flyer wrote:

the airplane was purchased with drug seizure money and the pilots are volunteers.

This whole program is a travesty, and may be a reflection on the Department as a whole. Seizure money can be spent on a lot of things, particularly to implement programs otherwise unfunded designed to stop illicit drug use. There are literally dozens of projects to help at-risk kids that are going unfunded.(Even like the current lay-offs at the Community Center.) This flying program appears to have little benefit to the town. The major benefit is 'fun' for the pilots and a free way for them to keep their licenses current.

Pilots may be volunteer, but how about the sworn officers who ride along as observers? They're getting paid.(As a aside, I watched the Council meeting during which this program was approved. Bueermann played interlocutor to a string of sloppy-fat pilots who drooled over the prospect. Then there was the uniformed policewoman whose beat was Redlands High School. She gushed over how much saver she will feel on campus with a Cessna overhead.)

This whole project is a solution looking for a problem. One more way to divert attention from the mediocre FBI data for Redlands.

[Little Stevie Wonder]

Redlands should give-up the plane and buy the McEwens building with the savings? First things first, COUNCIL MUST DENY the architecturally inappropriate and access challenged Walgreens proposal. Then the value of that site can be more in line with other "abandoned" projects in the vicinity that the City RDA can consider for purchase/trade/sale to include the old safety hall and the real abortion to the historic downtown, the Redlands Mall. This entire "strategy" is useless unless City officials process and approve the REDLANDS GENERAL PLAN UPDATE without any further delay! Unfortunately, the processing of the Downtown S.P. and the Super Walmart environmental documents are again planned to precede the General Plan Update EIR. How can you begin to even talk about consistency with the General Plan when it is so out of date? "Smoke and mirrors" should be the new slogan that City officials and the Council majority prescribe to, and we the voting public better make sure that their lack of vision will lead to them perishing from the Council, before we perish as a community.

[ABC]

The building is useless. It should be torn down and a parking lot should be built there. If the business can't survive there, let it go and use the space for something the city needs: parking.

As for the police department, why can't they move out by the airport? Who says the facility itself HAS to be near downtown? It would make more sense to move the police out there and use that land, than to tie up property that might be able to turn a profit closer to downtown.

Oh yeah, and they could be closer to the airplane they use to watch the high school sports with too.....