Vallejo Merchants Hit With Loss Of Foot Traffic After South Napa Quake
VALLEJO (KPIX) -- On a typical Saturday, the Vallejo farmers market keeps Georgia Street buzzing and business humming. But, just across the street, it's a different story -- the block is shut down with not a customer in sight.
When the South Napa Quake shook this town two weeks ago, inspectors red-tagged a building here and shut down the block. That sudden loss of foot traffic forced a Chinese restaurant here to close for a few days.
Mark Reed owns the Town House bar here and he questions why inspectors closed the entire street for just one red-tagged building.
"I really don't understand -- I'm not the 'safety guy' -- why the tape can't be moved further down the block to allow the restaurants and the antique stores to get some foot traffic," Reed said.
To lure customers, the city put up reminders that businesses are still open. But if the police tape stays up much longer, Fred Menard, who owns Indian Alley Antiques, worries what could happen to the store he's owned for 11 years.
"Probably I would have to close," he told us. "I don't have a Plan B. This is it. People with Plan B's don't achieve Plan A."