It has now been a full 90 days since the city construction, road and infrastructure project was started on the main street of our small town.
The things in this update are all taking place literally outside our front door; right by the main access to our little shopping arcade The Red Dragonfly Gallery shares with three other shops.
So here's our main street, as of a couple of days ago...
A quick note: As was true of previous updates, we are creating these "construction updates" as much as anything to create a "permanent record" of the ongoing events, using the Steem blockchain. This may not make for the world's most interesting reading (sorry!) but we feel it would be nice to have a record of sorts to look back on from points in the future!
Since the Last Update
The most "visible" piece of news we have had was that all the older trees lining the street — and giving downtown a good bit of its "old" atmosphere — were cut down.
Backing out a little further; the gallery is to the right of the guy with the STOP sign
The official reason given was that the trees — originally intended to be left in place — had root systems that would materially interfere with the trenches/accessways that will house the modern electrical, cable and water systems. So they had to come down.
Since Port Townsend is a very "environmentally active" town, this was upsetting to many citizens and merchants. On a personal level, I would say it felt like yet another step towards turning our town into "yet another generic small town."
Of course, nobody had any advance notice this was going to happen... most of us just showed up for work one morning and most of the trees had already been cut down and the debris removed. I suppose it was done this was to prevent protracted protests that would further delay the construction process.
Behind Schedule... Slightly
The news from a fellow merchant — who has befriended the construction manager — is that the entire project is running "slightly behind schedule."
Eventually, the utility masts will ONLY have street lights, no wires at all
That said, the crews are still hoping to have everything finished on time by June 30th, because evidently they have been offered a very lucrative contract somewhere else that requires a July 1st start date. Which would require all the equipment and gear to be cleared out of here, at least a few days before June 30th.
So we feel hopeful on that front.
From the perspective of most of us with shops and galleries, "tourist season" formally starts around Memorial Day weekend (May 26th-28th, here in the USA), so an on-time finish to the project would mean that only one month of our busy season would be disrupted. And since the project would be near its end by then, the interference with the normal traffic flows would hopefully be minimal.
Other Pieces of Progress and Decline
We still have very little sense of what the "City Beautification" part of the project entails.
Hopefully, there are plans to replace all the old trees we lost... or the entire area would end up looking very "sanitized" and uninviting.
On the positive side, we have been watching quite a bit of drainage and trenching work getting done to fix the drain system that failed last October and cause the flood at our gallery!
New curbs and sidewalks being cast; in the foreground the drainage system/pumping facility that should save us from future floods
A very "industrial grade" looking drain and pump system is currently being installed, and we've seen the diameter of the pipes; multiples of times bigger than the 4" (10cm) pipe that couldn't handle a 20-minute heavy rainfall. In addition, we've been assured that not only is there a main pump and a back-up pump, there's a main power supply and a backup power supply for each! AND they are now wired directly into the city electric grid, not into one of the adjacent buildings.
Well, it's a LOT more impressive than the single drain we had before...
Not so happily, one thing we have noticed is that fewer and fewer local customers now come to the downtown commercial district, for any reason. In March's update, I mentioned that our foot traffic and sales had dropped by 20-25% compared to last year; during the last 30 days, the decline has deepened, and we're now running at about 40-50% behind last year.
Whereas some of that might be attributable to an unusually cold and rainy spring, there's little doubt that "things are getting worse before they can get better."
The parking situation continues to worsen; as of this writing we have now lost about 300 yards of kerbside parking on both sides of our main street. Where these spaces were previously made available on the weekends when there was no active construction, they are now off limits due to new curbs/sidewalks being installed and cast with fresh concrete.
At this point, there is no parking-- and no trees-- on EITHER side of the street
More Merchant Casualties
Since the last project update, a few more businesses have permanently closed their doors due to the disruption and decline in business.
Last time I mentioned a long-time tenant — a jewelry store — was in the process of closing; they have now left their premises.
A gift shop (which I never could quite figure out how managed to stay open) and a second-hand shop (surprisingly) have since closed.
New sidewalks being poured
On the upside, one empty space is now temporarily being used as an art studio/shop by a painter who's new to the area; a sandwich shop has opened up in part of another vacated space... we're not sure yet whether they intend to be there permanently, or they are just a temporary "space filler."
Whereas things are not easy around here, we're relieved that we are — at least "on paper" — now halfway through this debacle. There are still many question marks about how the finalized project will look, but we're trying to have faith in the idea that there will be a "new normal" starting in July, and we can just get back to the business of promoting art and artists.
In the meantime, we feel apologetic towards those artists who had hopes and expectations of getting included in the Red Dragonfly "family" this spring... we're sorry, but truthfully, "you're not missing anything."
Till the next update!
Thank you for reading! Red Dragonfly is a proud member of the @sndbox creative initiative.
The Red Dragonfly is an independent alternative art gallery located in Port Townsend, WA; showcasing edgy and unique contemporary art & handmade crafts by local and worldwide artists. All images are our own, unless otherwise credited. Where applicable, artist images used with permission.