Siskiyoutopia

Nice list! Here are some of my thoughts off the top of my head!

I agree, a nice steak house or Italian would be great! Something that would be open for lunch/dinner even on Monday nights! I think the old Yreka Meat Market would make a great little steak house…. it already has great history about meat…. and interesting “decor” with the meat hooks, etc. It shouldn’t be too high end, however… to succeed they need a variety of prices ~ we have a lot of Senior Citizens and they go out to eat quite a bit here in town, but don’t really do “spendy”. I think a “Spaghetti Factory” type place in the Franco American Hotel or even in the old Clarendon Hotel would be cool. The prices are affordable, the choices are good and they cater to families as well as others.

We used to have nice Western Stores, a Pet Shop, a Drive In Movie Theatre, a micro Brewery, Fabric store, and Stationery and Gift shops. Would sure like to see some of that return!

I think ice cream in the evening would be soooo great! A candy store that specializes in home made goodies might do well, they could supplement with a website and online purchaces. In the little town of Columbia, Calif which is a Gold Town (also a State park…) they have a candy store that specializes in Fudge. Yum… we have traveled hours just to go there…. seems to me they also sell teas and other goodies of that nature.

More landscaping in town would be a nice help! I would also like to see the old fashioned covered walkways return to Miner Street. It would be a welcome in the winter as well as in the summer when it is warm.

It would be nice if there was a “store” that might have space available ongoing for things like the Farmer’s Market items. I never can figure out why they have the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday’s and only in the afternoon. Lots of working folks never get an opportunity to go. The old Black’s building could be sectioned off into booths and folks could sign up for one week a month, or whatever and sell their goodies, canned goods, whatever… maybe be open in the evenings at least one night a week. When I was a kid it was “standard” for downtown stores to be open on one night a week until 9:00 p.m. We always did most of our shopping on that evening. Went to town, had dinner and went shopping! My Dad was a farmer so it worked great timewise.

I also think if the merchants in the downtown area would either get together to share some of their expenses they all might prosper more. How about a website for Miner Street Merchants? We could “see” what is special that week, and they could supplement online sales. Offer specialized service (many already do, the Shoe Shop is usually very attentive when one goes in to look at shoes… the Book Store is also great) there are a number of us who remember that kind of service and will pay a little extra for it!

The existing merchants could begin right now… everyone could spruce up their stores, they could advertise as a group and share the expenses, offer incentives for locals and others to shop on Miner Street!

How about a pie shop! :) Or, a niche that caters to folks for really healthy meals… lots of veggies and wholesome (not sugary) desserts focusing on local growers.

I will be very interested to see what others might suggest! I hope you generate more comments!

All the things on that list I’d love to see, but does Yreka itself have the population (with the money to spend) to support that? Pretty much any thriving small town these days bases it’s success on outside money - tourism. Tim Holt of Dunsmuir wrote an interesting piece on this for the Sac Bee about 4 years back in which he discussed the “cappuchinoization” of western small towns, profiling Nevada City, Dunsmuir, & Mt. Shasta in particular.

The question is how to bring in some outside money without violating the local character. Mt. Shasta City, with the mountaineering/skiing/Lemurian-hunting, has kind of an easy gig as far as tourism income goes. Ashland has, with the Shakespeare festival, built itself quite an attraction. Jacksonville has Britt. Dunsmuir has done well with the river/fishing thing. McCloud is doing a fine job. What, however, can Yreka do?

Personally, I’d like to see some increased promotion of various outdoor recreation with Yreka as a hub. There was a thriving mt. biking community in the town in the early 90s. There’s plenty of rafting & fishing nearby on the Klamath. I think some aggressive community organization could go a long way in yielding some positive results on the outdoor rec. front.

And I definately second the non-Mexican (and non-Chinese) restaurant bid. I like my Casa Ramos, but seriously, we need some more options in that town. And it has NEVER made sense to me that in the middle of a cattle county, the county seat doesn’t have a quality steakhouse. What could be more *Yreka* than some beef?

Community ammenities I’d like to see when I move back (it will happen eventually):
- a sushi joint
- a “serious” gym (the Y is definately going for the family angle now, and the Fitness Center could use some remodeling)
- a brewery (in an ideal world, I would be the person responsible for making that happen)
- a higher-end grocer (I’ve been ruined by city life)

More thoughts…

Yreka has, historically, had a resourced-based economy. Initially, gold. Then logging. That died in the 70s and 80s (and that’s when the young families started leaving). There has been no resource to take it’s place. SO, unless some magical new resource is discovered, we can pretty much count out any possibility of a future resource-based economy.

I am, to some degree, weary of a tourism-based economy. Every time a small town goes that direction, it seems to me that it is prostituting itself… But what else is there? Bring in some industry? Water is only an option in south county, and as we have seen with the Nestle situation, not necessarily a good one. NorCal Products has a lock on the semi-skilled labor in town - if another industry came in, they might have to actually compete for employees (rather than just open their doors and watch them come begging for work) and then they might pay folk fairer wages (which could in turn help support all the cool stuff we want the town to have).

Here’s a wild-card… What if a university was built in the area? Yes, HIGHLY unlikely to ever happen, but that might be something I could live with. It’d provide jobs, bring in educated folk, provide increased education options for the locals. That wouldn’t be bad…

Here is another “wild” idea… out toward the Montague area where there are rolling hills and flat areas… a great racetrack could be carved! Think of Laguna Seca in Monterey (owned by the county…) it brings in oodles of people, venues, and $$$. They have better year round weather, but do have a lot of rain. Ours might be seasonal… but we have 3 seasons that it could run. It could not only sponsor first class races, but operate similar to the one out of Willows that allows folks to bring their own cars (for a fat fee) and race for a day or half-day. Quite a few car buffs in the county. However, it would take some major $ to get it off the ground.

I agree that tourism can’t be the basis for the economy, diversify! We need to find our little niche and go for it. Zac, you are right that the other little towns have found their niche… we just need to develop ours. We should be multi-focused! Great camping, hunting, fishing in the area, great opportunity for developing the aspects of a “gold rush town”, we have a first class museum. We have the potential for a great artist colony as well.

Lots of folks here, don’t want to bring in lots of change… worried that our quiet little town will become too hectic and all. The one thing I hope will never arrive is a prison! I lived in a town surrounded by 3 prisons and it totally ruined the community. It was horrible.

Wow! Some enthusiastic responses! So many points … So many possibilities. There is a “weirdness” about Yreka that everyone agrees exists, but no one really knows how to combat. Here’s an example of ‘Yreka Wierdness’. There was a retail business in town that recently closed. The hours were something like 9am-noon (but if you call the cell number posted on the sign they’d come down and open the store for you)??? and the owner parked their huge SUV type vehicle right in front of the little storefront in the best parking spot. And they went out of business!? Go figure!

‘Normal’ businesses are the exception here. If people would just operate a business in a normal, expected fashion they would be a lot more successful.

One Saturday I went downtown to our local office supply stores to shop for a printer with about a $500 budget, but of course they were both closed. I try sooo hard to shop locally and not at Walmart, but it is NOT easy.

After dinner on a hot summer evening I’d kill for an ice cream cone or sundae! Who wouldn’t?! But everyone that sells ice cream closes at 5pm. Whatever!??!!

Zac, I can’t wait to order pints at your brewery! I have every confidence you’d do it well being all ‘citified’ now:)

And Claudia, the race track idea is VERY creative! Probably a better idea than the golf course that didn’t make it and there are a lot of race fans here.

Isn’t if fun to dream:)