The year was 2008, the economy had just collapsed on speculative lending, the great recession had begun, businesses and restaurants were closing everywhere, liquidity in markets had all but dried up and we were about to embark on Phase I of our Downtown revitalization project which would change the gateway to Winters, spur investment and bring vitality! We had a ton of money from a recent bond issue for streetscape improvements and we were at the stage of implementation.
What could go wrong????
As City Manager’s, we are the ultimate “risk managers” in the city. One of the key tasks is weighing the risk and reward of doing or not doing things. Will the investment of the project bring the expected outcome? Is it more prudent to hold the money and wait for things to turn around, then dive in? OR, do you take advantage of record dives in contract costs (nobody was doing projects at the time) and move forward during the tough times with an eye on a horizon which would eventually turn around.
The picture in this post was taken at about 1:00 am in front of the famous Buckhorn Steakhouse, rated the #1 Independently owned Steakhouse in America by the National Cattleman’s Association. Yup, a giant hole completely blocking access into the restaurant and the entire street surrounding completely torn up. The picture was taken by John Pickerel, the owner of the Buckhorn.
John had just walked up as we were moving on a critical, all night construction effort to get some major infrastructure in during the overnight. He practically falls over at the sight. The contractor, Joe Ogando tells him to not worry, it will be all taken care of by the morning.
John looks at me and asks “do you think all this is really going to work?” All I could say “I sure hope so!!!!!”
This intersection is one of California’s small town success stories for
prosperity. Downtown Winters gets more out of a couple of blocks than most larger communities. It is a defining intersection and definition that you just need to go for it!