Downtown businesses benefit from city facade-improvement grants
JOHN COX, The Bakersfield Californian
5 min read
A tear in the canvas awning above her restaurant's rear patio was bad enough, but the pigeons that flocked there only made it worse. Downtown restaurateur Shawna Haddad Byers felt she had no choice but to close the dining area altogether.
But that was less a solution than a source of new questions from her customers.
"Everyone was asking, 'When are you going to open the patio?'" Haddad Byers said Wednesday.
The patio has since reopened — and other improvements have recently been made, as well, to her restaurant, Two Goats & The Goose — thanks to a city-funded grant program that has become popular among downtown business and property owners.
The process can be cumbersome, and it requires owners to pay for work out of their own pockets before being reimbursed. But judging by the number of businesses signing up, and the total amount of grants awarded so far, the program seems to be helping achieve the city government's goal of revitalizing downtown.
Upgrading the appearance of a shop's exterior is an established strategy known to not only promote business activity but also lead to higher property values in an area where local government hopes to encourage private investment.
A leading proponent of the program who has encouraged business owners to apply for the money, Vice Mayor Andrae Gonzales, said more than $1.4 million has been awarded downtown from an "economic opportunity area" fund that has received tax-increment financing, along with Measure N sales tax revenue and federal pandemic recovery money.
"I think this is one of the, really, more exciting projects that the city has created," said Gonzales, who represents Ward 2 on the City Council, "and I'm really proud that we've been able to expand it over the years."
A tap room business on 18th Street called Off the Rails has also received financial support from the program to pay for new signs. It would like to do more, such as installing an outdoor dining and drinking area, but the owner's husband, Anthony Esparza, has found the program to be difficult and limiting in some ways.
One challenge Off the Rails faces is its unfamiliarity with construction contracting, Esparza said. Another obstacle he cited is that the city money comes only in the form of reimbursement, meaning the business or property must have money available to pay for improvements up front.
Esparza said he's not going to give up on the process because of how much the business stands to gain. But he said it's too bad the program isn't simpler to use.
"The city is, they're definitely — what's the word for it? Trying. But, you know, there's a lot of things that go with any project that just make it time-consuming," he said.
Owner Mariano Alvarez of Pacific Jewelry Co. on Chester Avenue said he has been approved for as much as $43,000 in improvements, but that because he doesn't have the cash handy, the improvements he wants to make on his storefront facade — a new sign and removal of old wood — may have to wait.
His hope now is that he'll be able to work out an agreement by which he can pay 10% of the work, get reimbursed by the city, then contract another 10%, repeatedly until the job is done.
By comparison, Haddad Byers had a straightforward experience. She was able to contract not only a new awning for her rear patio but also an attractive awning for her facade, a new front window and a freshly poured concrete floor plus storage area for the back. Additionally, she has hired a local artist to create murals for both the restaurant's bathrooms.
A city employee was supportive through the process, walking her through the steps, she said.
"It was a very positive, encouraging thing," Haddad Byers said. "Like, 'We want you to succeed. We want everybody to do well.'"
Customers have complimented the results so far, she said, and the front awning keeps the interior cooler than before. Ultimately, she expects the result to be greater business flow.
"If the place looks nice, people will generally peek their head in and … check it out," she said. "It's been a positive for me."
There was one stipulation that limited the work she contracted: Any job costing $25,000 or more must pay workers at a higher rate, called prevailing wage. For that reason, Haddad Byers kept the budget to $24,377.21.
Gonzales said other thresholds can apply. Jobs costing at least $40,000 require approval by the City Council, and anything up to $100,000 must be the subject of a public hearing.
He also noted downtown is not the only part of the city benefiting from business and property grants targeting economic opportunity areas. Seven EOAs exist citywide, including in Old Town Kern and southeast Bakersfield. A total of 63 businesses have received grant funding across the EOAs, a city spokesman said by email Wednesday.
In downtown, the program was so successful that it became a competitive process in October, leading to 40 applications. Of those, 24 led to projects totaling $978,986, spokesman Joseph Conroy noted.
Gonzales said he has made it a priority to inform business owners about the availability of grants, and that he wants to make the process simpler. In his view, the program's potential frustrations do not detract from the value to downtown businesses.
"They're the ones bringing people downtown," he said.
