Needles Economic Development Consultant Offers Brave Face But No Results

San Bernardino Sentinel

NEEDLES — City council members in Needles, San Bernardino County’s smallest incorporated city, on April 22 heard a report from the economic development consultant hired by city manager Rick Daniels that was long on hopeful projection. But two months after the only grocery store in town gave indication it was going to pack up and leave, the effort to interest other retailers in establishing operations in the city located on the western bank of the Colorado River has fallen flat.

Needles, which at the turn of the 19th to the 20th Century was San Bernardino County’s third largest city, is today the least populous of the county’s 24 incorporated municipalities. Once its population exceeded 10,000. Today, it boasts fewer than 5,000 residents.

The town faces numerous economic obstacles and disadvantages. One is its remoteness. Driving distance from Needles to Barstow is 144 miles one way. The trip from Needles to San Bernardino is 212 miles. Much of the local population has an income that puts it below the poverty level. Because sales tax is lower just across the river in Arizona and slightly further north in Nevada, local residents simply take the bridge to patronized out-of- state stores and gas stations. This has deprived the local area of tax revenue for more than a generation, and has perpetuated a resultant deterioration in public facilities, infrastructure and institutions.

Last year, the city council gambled on hiring Rick Daniels as city manager. A former trash company executive whose first major public administration job was as the city manager of Desert Hot Springs, Daniels convinced the Needles City Council that he had multiple contacts within the private sector that could be utilized to facilitate the attraction of businesses to Needles.

To land Daniels, the city council offered him an initial salary of $197,000 per year with annual increases of $10,000, which was almost double what it was paying to interim city manager Dave Brownlee.

Sparking the economic transformation of Needles he confidently predicted he could effectuate proved a tougher job than Daniels anticipated and he subsequently convinced the city council that it should retain Michael Bracken as an economic development consultant.

For Bracken, however, the task has proven equally daunting. In late March, the city was given an unmistakable signal of the further deterioration of its economy, when it received word that Bashas’, the city’s only grocery store, will close on May 9.

On April 22 Bracken provided a report to the council on his efforts. He said he has coordinated with Amtrak in its effort to interest a commercial broker in managing the El Garces intermodal transportation facility and leasing it to various tenants. Bracken indicated he has dialogued with Stater Brothers, WalMart, Dollar General, Family Dollar, In-N-Out Burger, Five Guys Burgers, Rio Ranch Market, AutoZone, Circle K, Jersey Mike’s, Del Taco, 99 Cents Only, Farmer Boys Restaurants, Smart and Final Markets, Panda Express Restaurants, Dunkin Donuts and El Pollo Loco.

There is also a report that an Indian tribe is interested in developing a casino at the corner of River Road and Broadway.

So far, according to Bracken, none of these prospects has panned out, but he said the city will continue its efforts to interest corporations and businesses, large and small, local and national, in setting up shop in Needles.

Portion of El Garces restoration to move forward

El Garces Hotel in 2009 (Wikimedia Commons)

By JENNIFER DENEVAN
Needles Desert Star

NEEDLES — The transportation element of the El Garces restoration project will be getting underway as soon as possible based on Needles City Council’s decision March 13 to move forward with using federal grant money the city has for that portion of the project.

Allan Affeldt, of El Garces LLC, gave an update to the council at the March 13 meeting. He gave a brief background of the project and how the project hasn’t progressed in the last two years. He said the company and the city had been trying for a joint development agreement to allow for a transfer of the title of the building to El Garces LLC. That has been in the works for nearly two years.

Affeldt said there’s finally been a response to the letter regarding the JDA. The FTA stated they couldn’t see why the city couldn’t move forward with the project for the transportation part, such as parking and a visitors center, but indicated they weren’t likely to approve the JDA.

He said what that means is it’s highly unlikely any private investor will help with the project. It doesn’t matter how much time or money the private investor spends, they will have no security in that investment, which means no bank will back the project, he continued.

There was a conference call about a week prior to the city council meeting to see what should happen next, Affeldt said. There is still about $5 million in grant funding available, which is substantial; the catch is the city can’t spend it on anything such as restaurant or hotel. The city can spend that money on basic infrastructure and the shell of the building, he continued.

An additional challenge is Congressman Jerry Lewis is retiring at the end of the year, Affeldt said. All the funding for the project is federal and Lewis has been a big supporter. It is possible the city could lose that support once he retires, he continued.

“My advice to you as an elected official is to spend the money before you lose it,” he said. There is no expiration date on that funding, but given the economy, there is a good chance the grant money will disappear, he added.

The recommendation is to spend the money and get as far as the city can and somewhere along the line perhaps a third party will want to participate, Affeldt said. About 80 percent of the architectural engineering has been done for the building and there’s already been a process for a construction manager. It is believed the city could go to bid with all those documents within a couple of months, he added.

It’s estimated that the entire building could be completed within a year’s time since the scope of work has been reduced, Affeldt said. There isn’t any reason the city couldn’t have all the money spent within a year’s time, he continued.

Dan Lutzick, of El Garces LLC, said it is important for the city to be sure to place the proper electrical and utilities so they can expand in the future. If done correctly, they won’t have to reconfigure anything in order to expand at a later time, he added.

Tony Frazier, council member, said he wanted to thank Affeldt and Lutzick for all their time on the project. “I think that for at least a long time, Allan’s dream, Dan’s dream, was our dream,” Frazier said. They helped us along as far as they could, he added.

Celebration of 125 years of Needles history

By CAROLE BACON
News West

NEEDLES - The Rotary Club of Needles would like to invite the community out for a day of historical education, food, music and fun on from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

The event is being held at the roadside rest on Front Street to celebrate Needles' railroad history during Homecoming week.

“There will be retired railroad workers speaking about the history of the trains and railroad,” said Terri Anderson. For more information contact Dr. Ruth Ross 760-326-6544.

According to the Needles' library archives, the city was founded in 1883 as a result of the construction of the railroad, which crosses the Colorado River. But the Southern Pacific in those days was not a friendly railroad. Drastic measures were taken to prevent the Atlantic & Pacific from entering California and the California Southern from crossing its tracks at Colton, in order to reach San Bernardino. After much litigation, the California Southern won the right to cross and San Bernardino was entered triumphantly by a passenger train on Sept. 13, 1883.

The most startling event occurred when the Southern Pacific hastily built a railway fro m Mojave across the desert to Needles and got there before the Atlantic & Pacific reached the Colorado River. The latter was temporarily stopped and so was the California Southern. The arrival of the railroad at the Colorado River in 1883 actually caused the founding of the town on the banks of the river.

The first bridge to cross the Colorado River was built in the area. It was a wooden structure and was eventually replaced by the Red Rock steel cantilever bridge in 1890. The new settlement was named “The Needles,” taken from the sharp peaks at the southern end of the valley.

In the late 1850s, Lt. Edward F. Beale recommended that a fort be established in the area for protection of travelers from Indians. Fort Mojave was built in 1859 and was soon a route along the old Mojave Road, traveled extensively by the military, emigrants to the gold fields of California and adventurers. Once the railroad came to the Needles area, it became a regular stop for the Santa Fe.

Tragedy struck the railroad station in 1906 when the original wooden railway station and Harvey House burned to the ground causing some loss of life.

The station was replaced by a concrete structure, named El Garces, which served as a Harvey House and railway station.

The historic site still stands along the railroad tracks in Needles, and efforts are under way to restore the site.