Rocklin business leaders push for new downtown
Henry Carillo grew up in Rocklin and remembers the charming dirt roads of his youth. So when it came time to open Rubino’s Ristorante with his pal Chris Rubino nearly a decade ago, Rocklin was the only destination. Today, like many downtown business owners, he complains Rocklin hasn’t been a destination for many potential customers because it’s missing something. “A downtown is the heart of the city,” Carillo said. Last week, Carillo joined more than a dozen other Rocklin business owners meeting to discuss the state of the downtown. Rocklin Area Chamber of Commerce Chairman and Rocklin Connect Realty owner Franklin Burris said he wants the informal group to form a business association so they all will be a unified voice for downtown’s future to influence city planners and potential developers. “We have to define the downtown ourselves,” Burris said. “No one wants a downtown by chance.” Burris said projects like the proposed Downtown Gateway are steps in the right direction. It is a 140 unit mixed use project with 15,000 square feet of commercial space planned for the corner of E. Midas Avenue and Pacific Street. But there are ideas on the table to transform the city’s center into a pedestrian-friendly business environment with a central park along the rail road station and an amphitheater inside Rocklin’s historical quarry. Owners like Carillo said he needs more foot traffic now and would settle on signs pointing to the downtown, better lighting and redevelopment funds to update the property facades. “I’d like to dream but we need something right away, not 20 years down the road,” Carillo said. The downtown push comes at a difficult time when the recession has forced the city to slash workers and services. Mayor Scott Yuill said he hopes the Downtown Association materializes so plans can be made for the future. “During this downtime, the downtown stakeholders can spend more time formulating themselves for when the economy turns around,” Yuill said. Connie Gayaldo has lived on Pacific Street for nearly nine decades and has seen failed attempts to revitalize what has long been seen as the downtown, Pacific Street and Rocklin Road. “It’s been lost over time,” Gayaldo said. “People are letting it go.” She hopes this time people will hang in there and finally make it happen. “I think it’s wonderful,” Gayaldo said. “We need more people together.” The next downtown meeting is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., Thursday, Feb. 25 at Sunset Whitney Country Club.
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I own a business in Rocklin, but it looks like some downtown businesses are advocating for favoritism and financial help from my city taxes. After all, that’s how communism works. You take from everyone and then the statists redistribute it to whom ever they decide should get it (like friends and buddies). That’s one of the myriad of reasons why, years ago, I told the Rocklin City Council that I’m tired of living in a developer owned communist community. We’ll the developers are going broke and the City Council needs campaign money so they need to pander to the next best group that will help the council continue the process of building an unnecessary downtown. We certainly don’t need more people around here and I wish they’d quit selling Rocklin to LA and the Bay areas. That’s not their job. When more folks move in, it doesn’t mean more haircuts at your shop. It simply means more hair salons and barber shops. Worse, these folks come with the dream of opening a small business with the cash coming out of the sale of their LA home. Hence, you actually have too many hair salons and barber shops and too many bankruptcies and empty strip malls. The people that actually do benefit are those with a vested interest, like our city council, in highway infrastructure expansion. Once the Fed prints money to help us with that, the highway builders make out like bandits. Once the roads improve, more folks move out to Rocklin because the commute to shorter and the problem …