Bye bye Vallejo ... It's time to leave

In my 20s I fell in love with a young man who drank a lot. He was beautiful and had great potential so I married him.

[djchefmak]

nice shop, great one of a kind art that is vital in any downtown you will be missed .... Djchef Mark.

[djchefmark]

wrong name MARK!

[tim]

I am sorry to read that you were not able to be successful in Vallejo, because our town desperately needs business. I too look at Vallejo and see a vast amount of potential and it saddens me that
our city can't seem to pull itself out of the seemingly endless quagmire it is stuck in. Could you imagine a downtown Vallejo and Mare island remade into something like San Antonio's riverwalk, with thriving business, restaurants and shops? Apparently Vallejoans can't or won't

[Keenly Aware]

Well, Lavonne at least wised up to the fact that we are doomed to continue to slide downward as "conflicting visions" clash in perpetuity. Grandiose schemes are heralded and fail while practical ones are denounced and denied.

[soaking it up today]

tim wrote:

I am sorry to read that you were not able to be successful in Vallejo, because our town desperately needs business. I too look at Vallejo and see a vast amount of potential and it saddens me that
our city can't seem to pull itself out of the seemingly endless quagmire it is stuck in. Could you imagine a downtown Vallejo and Mare island remade into something like San Antonio's riverwalk, with thriving business, restaurants and shops? Apparently Vallejoans can't or won't

vallejo has an abundance of activist groups, each with a different view, all willing to fight, sue, whatever. there is very little you people can agree on.

[anon]

tim wrote:

I am sorry to read that you were not able to be successful in Vallejo, because our town desperately needs business. I too look at Vallejo and see a vast amount of potential and it saddens me that
our city can't seem to pull itself out of the seemingly endless quagmire it is stuck in. Could you imagine a downtown Vallejo and Mare island remade into something like San Antonio's riverwalk, with thriving business, restaurants and shops? Apparently Vallejoans can't or won't

Need business? No kidding! Maybe we can get behind:
The chance to woo a large-scale office tenant to Vallejo's waterfront has spurred the city's Economic Development Department and waterfront master developer to update their plans.
Vallejo and other contenders have until mid-September to prepare their courtship of this unnamed potential tenant that wants a building within a 15-minute walk of the ferry. The prospective client is looking for a 46,550-square foot building with about 150 parking spaces -- primarily housed in a parking garage, according to a Vallejo City Council staff report.

The vision that thinks a Barbie "art" store can stand alone in a city ,Ike Vallejo, is naive. It might flourish in a subleased portion of a 'leather' store in the Castro or Guerniville. San Antonio's river walk would be fantastic! I am sure there are no businesses like the Barbie store on the walk. Sans the restraints and shops what tax generating businesses reside there?

[save our waterfront]

anon wrote:

<quoted text>
Need business? No kidding! Maybe we can get behind:
The chance to woo a large-scale office tenant to Vallejo's waterfront has spurred the city's Economic Development Department and waterfront master developer to update their plans.
Vallejo and other contenders have until mid-September to prepare their courtship of this unnamed potential tenant that wants a building within a 15-minute walk of the ferry. The prospective client is looking for a 46,550-square foot building with about 150 parking spaces -- primarily housed in a parking garage, according to a Vallejo City Council staff report.

Whether its Drill, Baby, Drill or in Vallejo's case Build, Baby, Build - the good old boys in this town will not stop or be happy until our Waterfront is filled with more empty buildings.

Mark my words ... the courtship will result in an 'un-named' tenant who promises us the moon, leading to a new building on/near our Waterfront; leading to a decision by the Tenant to wait because of some unforeseen issue that they had no control over(of course, after the building is already up); therefore clearing the way for more crappy Callahan deSilva buildings to be erected on our Waterfront.

Vallejo's sad and true story.

How about this - IF Vallejo is serious about fixing up the downtown, lets get to work on positioning Office buildings on the empty lots in the downtown area (still well 15 minutes of the ferry and in fact closer than the rumored site)... bringing workers downtown who will support restaurants, bars, stores and so the revitalization of our downtown will finally begin. Even it if starts as a daytime thing that clears out by seven pm as the fearful workers leave 'unsafe' Vallejo ... we will have the beginnings of something that will force our City leaders to finally clean up the crime issues surrounding the downtown area.

[anon]

save our waterfront wrote:

<quoted text>
Whether its Drill, Baby, Drill or in Vallejo's case Build, Baby, Build - the good old boys in this town will not stop or be happy until our Waterfront is filled with more empty buildings.
Mark my words ... the courtship will result in an 'un-named' tenant who promises us the moon, leading to a new building on/near our Waterfront; leading to a decision by the Tenant to wait because of some unforeseen issue that they had no control over(of course, after the building is already up); therefore clearing the way for more crappy Callahan deSilva buildings to be erected on our Waterfront.
Vallejo's sad and true story.
How about this - IF Vallejo is serious about fixing up the downtown, lets get to work on positioning Office buildings on the empty lots in the downtown area (still well 15 minutes of the ferry and in fact closer than the rumored site)... bringing workers downtown who will support restaurants, bars, stores and so the revitalization of our downtown will finally begin. Even it if starts as a daytime thing that clears out by seven pm as the fearful workers leave 'unsafe' Vallejo ... we will have the beginnings of something that will force our City leaders to finally clean up the crime issues surrounding the downtown area.

Exactly, what waterfront property are you in fear of losing? The grass? The parking lot? Using Mare Island Parkway as a reference is it just the property to the West or is ANY property that borders the parkway?

[the windy corner]

save our waterfront wrote:

<quoted text>
Whether its Drill, Baby, Drill or in Vallejo's case Build, Baby, Build - the good old boys in this town will not stop or be happy until our Waterfront is filled with more empty buildings.
Mark my words ... the courtship will result in an 'un-named' tenant who promises us the moon, leading to a new building on/near our Waterfront; leading to a decision by the Tenant to wait because of some unforeseen issue that they had no control over(of course, after the building is already up); therefore clearing the way for more crappy Callahan deSilva buildings to be erected on our Waterfront.
Vallejo's sad and true story.
How about this - IF Vallejo is serious about fixing up the downtown, lets get to work on positioning Office buildings on the empty lots in the downtown area (still well 15 minutes of the ferry and in fact closer than the rumored site)... bringing workers downtown who will support restaurants, bars, stores and so the revitalization of our downtown will finally begin. Even it if starts as a daytime thing that clears out by seven pm as the fearful workers leave 'unsafe' Vallejo ... we will have the beginnings of something that will force our City leaders to finally clean up the crime issues surrounding the downtown area.

"...promises us the moon...", but isn't this what we have seen come and go with the cancer treatment center and then the movie studio? ms. brown said we have to be willing to take risks, and i agree, we should not sit back and wait for economic recovery to come to us, we should inspire it. i think anyway.

[Zombie Watch]

Vallejo is dirty and dangerous downtown. Lavonne may be saving her own life in my opinion.

[save our waterfront]

anon wrote:

<quoted text>
Exactly, what waterfront property are you in fear of losing? The grass? The parking lot?

Unless some of you had visited cities that value open spaces and waterfront properties, I would expect a comment like this.

Most cities that are lucky enough to have open waterfront space and interesting views would never think of building on them just for the sake of building. I see many city owed downtown parking lots that would serve your desire to Build - how about you build on those first and then we'll talk about building on open green space.

San Francisco is a perfect example and mirrors Vallejo in many ways .. remember some wanted a freeway on our waterfront in the 1970s ... after the freeways came down in SF, the waterfront came alive and is treasured by all that use it. IF the day comes that people want to live in downtown Vallejo, those same people will thank us for having a vision of a livable city.

Educate yourselves - here one link and their are many examples. Building boxes on our waterfront will benefit NO one but the builders, especially if they negotiated the deal 40 years ago and have yet to start building anything yet.

http://www.jjr-us.com/index.aspx...

[save our waterfront]

Sorry for the typos - kinda got excited and starting tying too quickly and forgot to proof read.

It should read here's one link and there are many examples.

That said - many other examples exist here in the good ole USA, towns just like us that have to re-invent themselves. Many of those that are lucky enough to have Waterfronts are reclaiming them and using them as the draw to bring people back. Google Historic Cities Waterfronts Revitalization and you'll see other examples of what we could have.

Once you build on them - they are gone for good. I heard that State Farm's lease is coming up and they may not be renewing ... best to wait and fill that ugly building first - one empty & ugly building is one too many for our Waterfront.

[gimmie gimmie gimmie]

Vallejo has been and is run by liberals, what you see everyday is the result. wise up, liberals democrats only know how to loot and destroy and long as you let the entitlement classes stay the prime focus of the mayor and the city council not much can change. now the community activists [black panthers] are here to help spend the city money, how much of that will help the cities image ?

[anon]

save our waterfront wrote:

<quoted text>
Unless some of you had visited cities that value open spaces and waterfront properties, I would expect a comment like this.
Most cities that are lucky enough to have open waterfront space and interesting views would never think of building on them just for the sake of building. I see many city owed downtown parking lots that would serve your desire to Build - how about you build on those first and then we'll talk about building on open green space.
San Francisco is a perfect example and mirrors Vallejo in many ways .. remember some wanted a freeway on our waterfront in the 1970s ... after the freeways came down in SF, the waterfront came alive and is treasured by all that use it. IF the day comes that people want to live in downtown Vallejo, those same people will thank us for having a vision of a livable city.
Educate yourselves - here one link and their are many examples. Building boxes on our waterfront will benefit NO one but the builders, especially if they negotiated the deal 40 years ago and have yet to start building anything yet.
http://www.jjr-us.com/index.aspx...

Can you go to image #3 in you "example" and explain where all this "open space" is other than the beach, which Vallejo has none? The aerial view seems to show quite a bit of development (commercial and residential) around their waterfront. Anymore examples?

[Jim in SF]

gimmie gimmie gimmie wrote:

Vallejo has been and is run by liberals, what you see everyday is the result. wise up, liberals democrats only know how to loot and destroy and long as you let the entitlement classes stay the prime focus of the mayor and the city council not much can change. now the community activists [black panthers] are here to help spend the city money, how much of that will help the cities image ?

This is the right analysis at the end of the day. Johnson and his Great Society has destroyed an entire race of American people and the spoils of that failure have destroyed many, many cities including Vallejo. Now liberal democrats are helpless to do anything about it, they are joined at the hip to a political corpse. The blind leading the blind.

[Bizarre]

You guys have one answer for every question like cult members who drank the cool aid.
1. Running an art successful art gallery is a difficult task even in a good economy. It requires networking within the art world and major art scenes which are New York, Paris, London, LA and Shanghai. Outside of those cities, it's not going to happen unless you sell wallpaper art like sailboats or big eyed kitties.
2. Most people who run galleries or any successful business work and study at the same kind of business first. You will also find that many gallery owners are " independently" wealthy. Their wealthy social backround, elite college and years in the art scene connect them to the network of clients that will by the work of their artists , plural. Not just one artist.
3. When I saw the store on Georgia , I thought it was a textbook example of someone who should never run a business.
Before she signed the lease... Was she generating enough sales of her product to create the demand for a storefront?
What was the demand for weird looking Barbie Dolls? How do you market that and what is the expected annual sales and projected future sales based on past profit?

It was a ridiculous business. Common sense was not used.

To open a business reliant on a bizarre product with no sales base in a section of town mired in poverty that no one visits. Coupled with the worst economic recession ( caused by deregulation , a conservstive republican idea!) What did she think the results would be?

It's as stupid as the cupcake store, a business that can be appropriated by a supermarket. In an age of an obesity epidemic , they open a business that sells bacon covered cupcakes? An unhealthy product.

Again, someone who opens a business based on emotion or dreams will
have a hard time confronted with the reality of running a business.

She could have opened that store on Fisherman's Wharf and it would have failed. Who wants an ugly Barbie Doll?

[gimmie gimmie gimmie]

Bizarre wrote:

You guys have one answer for every question like cult members who drank the cool aid.
1. Running an art successful art gallery is a difficult task even in a good economy. It requires networking within the art world and major art scenes which are New York, Paris, London, LA and Shanghai. Outside of those cities, it's not going to happen unless you sell wallpaper art like sailboats or big eyed kitties.
2. Most people who run galleries or any successful business work and study at the same kind of business first. You will also find that many gallery owners are " independently" wealthy. Their wealthy social backround, elite college and years in the art scene connect them to the network of clients that will by the work of their artists , plural. Not just one artist.
3. When I saw the store on Georgia , I thought it was a textbook example of someone who should never run a business.
Before she signed the lease... Was she generating enough sales of her product to create the demand for a storefront?
What was the demand for weird looking Barbie Dolls? How do you market that and what is the expected annual sales and projected future sales based on past profit?
It was a ridiculous business. Common sense was not used.
To open a business reliant on a bizarre product with no sales base in a section of town mired in poverty that no one visits. Coupled with the worst economic recession ( caused by deregulation , a conservstive republican idea!) What did she think the results would be?
It's as stupid as the cupcake store, a business that can be appropriated by a supermarket. In an age of an obesity epidemic , they open a business that sells bacon covered cupcakes? An unhealthy product.
Again, someone who opens a business based on emotion or dreams will
have a hard time confronted with the reality of running a business.
She could have opened that store on Fisherman's Wharf and it would have failed. Who wants an ugly Barbie Doll?

There ya go ! barbie dolls indeed !

[Just the Facts]

Vallejo is a troubled town. No arguments. But your letter reveals that you had a faulty business plan, reap the rewards of your own actions and then blame your failure on Vallejo's problems. The problems were already here. Your the one who built a business that didn't met the needs of the market. Don't confuse that with Vallejo's problems. They are two separate matters.

[save our waterfront]

anon wrote:

<quoted text>
Can you go to image #3 in you "example" and explain where all this "open space" is other than the beach, which Vallejo has none? The aerial view seems to show quite a bit of development (commercial and residential) around their waterfront. Anymore examples?

Wow - rather lazy of you to want others to do the work for you. That is often the case in cities like Vallejo who hunger for just something or anything and end up being taken advantage of by developers like Callahan deSilva.

If our waterfront still had prior rundown development (a la Mare Island) that we were working to reuse, our conversation would be different. In our case, we have open space and that should be treasured as our prize -- valuing our waterfront does not mean we will not have some development ... it just means that any development should be accessible to the public and limited to appropriate uses. For example, high rise office buildings, parking lots, and private condos are just wrong for the space.

Here is a link listing other mistakes:
http://www.pps.org/reference/waterfrontsgonew...

From here, you can find other examples that should inspire you to think outside of the box. You could also research the history of Vallejo's waterfront - we have a historic museum located downtown for you to learn more about what might be appropriate for our waterfront.

There is a lot of development just across the way that could be a happening strip of interesting things to do - imagine taking a night stroll over the pedestrian bridge (or in a water taxi from a pier at the end of Georgia Street) over to Mare Island to have dinner in an indoor/outdoor cafe.

Looking over from the Georgia Street Pier to the Capital Street pier where folks and families have dropped fishing lines and are just hanging out ~ sounds like fun too.

Now I know you're likely inclined to just punch holes into others ideas and dreams ... that may be your thing. The fact is that Callahan deSilva has tied up our Waterfront for 40 years and still we have nothing - another 40 years and we'll likely both be dead ... what do you want to leave your Grandchildren? Empty office buildings on waterfront property?? Doesn't sound very inspired to me.

[Martijuana Dreamin]

Now you're trippin' again, another "grandiose scheme that goes nowhere", as was once properly described here.
Wellll, looks like we'll get the votes from the Planning Commission, then the new council majority can sink it for you, or try to "tweek" it, as they like to say.