Earthquake: The Long Road Back : Fillmore Merchants Plan to Set Up Businesses in Park

The Fillmore City Council will allow merchants from Central Avenue knocked out of their shops by the earthquake to set up tents and trailers in Central Park to conduct their business.

Taking their cue from the cities of Watsonville and Santa Cruz, Fillmore city officials brought up the idea at a merchants meeting only a day after the earthquake. At a meeting Tuesday night, the City Council passed a measure to rent space in the park to shop owners for $1 a month, and businesses are already making preparations for the move.

“The city has been pretty fast about doing everything,” said David Erickson, a chiropractor whose office shares a wall with the condemned Fillmore Theater. Erickson, who is treating patients out of his living room, expects his trailer to be delivered soon. He is hoping to move the business out of his home within the next week.

The city will have a meeting with merchants Friday to decide where to locate the trailer and tents.

“Everyone will probably want to be near Central Avenue, so we will have to have a lottery to pick where the businesses go,” said Fillmore City Manager Roy Payne.

The biggest question for merchants at the meeting Tuesday night was how long they would have to stay in the temporary structures. In Watsonville and Santa Cruz, businesses were in the temporary sites for more than two years, Payne said.

City Council members said that with Fillmore’s quick response to the disaster, they might be able to shorten the time that businesses need to remain in the temporary shelters. While they did not think that rebuilding would be finished in six months, they say that businesses may be able to move back to their shops on Central within a year.

“I’ve always expected it would be a year,” said Erickson.

While some business owners seem eager to move to the sites in Central Park, others said that a trailer or a tent--even if only temporary--would not work for them.

“I don’t think a trailer, even if only temporary, would work for us,” said Vijay Alim, who owns and manages Central Computer. Alim said he plans to move his business to Moorpark.