Photo by Ruth Heide The city has a contract to replace these dumpster enclosures in the alleyway behind Main Street this year. Business owners and city officials this week discussed the need to improve the downtown appearance.

Tourism and trash don’t mix



By RUTH HEIDE

ALAMOSA — Downtown merchants who shared concerns about Alamosa’s appearance during a city council work session this week can expect to see immediate improvements on streets and alleyways.

Business owners meeting with the council on Wednesday said they were concerned that the downtown’s disheveled appearance would deter customers.

They listed several items such as lights out on Main Street, unsightly dumpsters in the alleys and dirty streets.

The city staff’s weekly update to officials on Friday responded to some of those concerns. For example, the city’s street sweeper should be on the road again already following a setback due to repairs. The city had to replace a fuel injector pump on the street sweeper and replaced one of the panels on the box this month. The sweeper was expected to hit the streets again yesterday.

City administrators said the sweeper would first be used in the downtown area and then move out through the commercial areas and finally the residential areas.

The city is also looking into buying a back-up sweeper but is looking for a used machine that is affordable since the city’s budget is pretty tight.

The city is also responding to dumpster enclosure concerns, particularly in the alley south of Main Street. The city has a contract with Garrison Fence to construct and install chain link gates with privacy slats to block the view of the dumpsters but expects the project to take six weeks or more before it is completed. The city initially built the enclosures that are there now. City administrators said those are the only areas with space for such dumpster enclosures downtown, however, because the alleys are only 20 feet wide with power poles and gas meters on both sides. That does not leave room for fixed enclosures around the dumpsters. In addition, any dumpsters owned by the businesses themselves must be maintained by those businesses.

City Manager Nathan Cherpeski said the city plans other improvements this spring. For example, the city will begin painting the curbs.

The city is also looking at repairing the alleys on the south side of Main from Denver to Edison Avenue as money becomes available in coming years. The city reconstructed three blocks’ length of alleys north of Main, at a cost of $200,000, but did not complete work on the south side at that time because of scheduling conflicts with the Sixth Street project and gas line installations in the alley.

Alamosa Mayor Farris Bervig told downtown business owners the city has spent $1.5 million on streets, lights, sidewalks and other projects in the downtown area since 2003. Bervig said the ultimate solution for improving the downtown’s appearance is pride in community. “That’s what you’ve got to instill,” he said.

He said he put two large lights off the back of his business and encouraged fellow business owners to take some of the responsibility for cleaning up the city as well.

City Councilor Charles Griego advocated for more lighting downtown. He said the more lights, the more inviting Alamosa will be for tourists such as those getting off the train at night.

Councilor Leland Romero said lighting can make a difference for a downtown and referred to the 16th Street Mall in Denver as a good example.

Councilor Josef Lucero said a town that is clean, well lighted and offers proper signage will attract visitors.

Cherpeski said the city can increase lighting but that will also increase expenses because the city pays $17.50 per light per month to the electric company for an annual total of nearly $200,000.

Councilor April Gonzales said people loitering in front of bar doorways on State Avenue do not do much to entice tourists into the downtown area. She said sometimes people smoke right outside the doorway although they are not supposed to smoke that close to the entrance.

Another concern brought up by downtown merchants was ice build up on the south side of the street where it is shaded. Cherpeski said city crews can address such problems as long as they have access to the ice. For example, if cars are always parked on the icy spots, it is difficult for city crews to get ice-melting substances on those patches of ice, he explained.

Cherpeski said the city has an Urban Renewal Authority but it has not been active since 1974. It was created in 1959 and active until 1974, he said. Cherpeski explained that the fiscal mechanism for an Urban Renewal Authority is property tax. He said property owners would continue to pay taxes, but the amount the city would receive would essentially be frozen so increased property tax revenues could go to the renewal authority for a set period of time. For example, if a new development came in, the property owner would pay the full property tax but the city would only receive an amount representing the property’s value before it was improved. The money that was generated could be used for infrastructure improvements.

Downtown business owner Bob Carlucci said Monte Vista operated an urban renewal authority for 10 years and cooperated with property owners to fix up the front facades of their buildings. The problem with that, he said, was the renewal efforts came more as a reaction to businesses already closing than a preventive measure. He said Alamosa has a choice of becoming aggressive in maintaining and improving its downtown or deciding the downtown is not important.

Bervig responded, “This council’s never said the downtown is not important.”

Mayor Pro Tem Kathy Rogers agreed. A small business owner herself, she said the council in no way wants the downtown business owners to feel that they are less important than bigger developments that come in. “We want what’s best for Alamosa, just like you do,” she said.