Stuart Farb, owner of Farb’s, a liquor store and check-cashing business on Broadway, said he’s no longer stocking groceries. With many residents still displaced by Hurricane Ike, he’s seen his customers all but disappear.
GALVESTON — In the months after Hurricane Ike, cleanup and rebuilding booms helped fill restaurants and hotels and put buyers in stores, shielding the island’s economy from a population plunge and a national recession.
But the hordes of out-of-town contractors have gone home, insurance money is drying up, the first wave of rebuilding is done, promised federal funding earmarked for repairing homes has yet to arrive and the recession persists.
Businesses big and small, whether they cater to the rich or poor, still are waiting for their customers to return.
The pre-Ike population of 57,000 is down by 20 percent, possibly more, by some city estimates.
“If anybody on this island says they’re doing good, they’re fibbing,” said Stuart Farb, who owns Farb’s, a 63-year-old liquor store and check-cashing business.
A significant number of people who once walked through Farb’s doors at 4302 Broadway came from nearby Palm Terrace, a public housing development damaged by the September 2008 storm and since demolished.
Ike destroyed all four of Galveston Housing Authority’s developments, taking 569 units of affordable housing off the market.
Housing Debate
Farb wants those units rebuilt. But debate rages about a city council decision to use $25 million in federal disaster recovery money to rebuild taxpayer-subsidized housing.
Opponents question the wisdom of luring the poor back to a city where jobs are scarce.
Farb said he disagreed with assertions that none of the public housing tenants were productive members of society. Many had jobs, cashed their paycheck and bought groceries at his store, he said.
After the storm, his customers traveled from the mainland to his store. But as the months passed, they stopped coming, he said.
“They were trying to move back, but a lot of them couldn’t find places to live,” Farb said.
“The rentals were too high.”
‘Money Dried Up’
After Hurricane Ike, demand for groceries at his store dropped so much Farb stopped carrying them.
Contractors helped keep business going for a while, but their numbers have dwindled, he said. Check-cashing on Fridays, typically paydays, is down by 40 percent, Farb said.
“After the storm, business wasn’t good, but it was OK,” Farb said. “But around July, it went dead. The contractors and the workers cleaning up the city left, and the insurance money dried up.”
‘It’s Very Scary’
Business is slow for downtown restaurant Bistro LeCroy, owner Tommie LeCroy said. LeCroy reopened the eatery, 2021 The Strand, in August after making hurricane repairs.
“We truly don’t know if we’re going to make it,” LeCroy said. The national recession is a big part of the problem, LeCroy said. But the loss of locals since the storm is hurting, too, he said. “It’s very scary.”
Even more affluent customers are curbing spending, visiting local eateries less often, LeCroy said. The loss of middle-income residents, not public housing tenants, is hurting his restaurant, he said.
“The people from the projects never set foot in my restaurant,” he said. LeCroy is all for rebuilding public housing for the elderly or disabled. But he doesn’t miss the crime and drug-dealing associated with the projects, he said.
‘We Need People To Come Back’
LeCroy, who plans to offer less expensive meals to lure budget-minded consumers, and other business owners met last week to talk about strategies to attract middle-income residents to the island. Some are frustrated by what they say is a lack of vision and any concerted campaign by city leaders to attract middle-income residents, he said.
“We need people to come back,” LeCroy said. Putting up signs at the causeway promoting downtown living is a “cute” idea, but that isn’t going to get the job done, he said.
Hope For Economy
Some economic development officials are pinning hope on the rebuilding of hundreds of damaged homes, which was made possible by $267 million in Community Development Block Grants, administered by the The Texas Department of Rural Affairs.
Of the $267 million, about $104 million will go directly to repairing and elevating 1,180 damaged houses. The program would pump money into the economy, particularly if the money were spent on island contractors and services and at area stores, Jeff Sjostrom, president of the Galveston Economic Development Corp., said.
But so far, only a few hundred of the property owners who did not have flood insurance when the storm struck have applied for the money.
More should begin signing up now that the city has hired Massachusetts-based Camp, Dresser and McKee to manage and inform people about the program, Sjostrom said.
Still, the flow of federal dollars, including from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, has been excruciatingly slow, Sjostrom said.
“It’s unacceptable, if not immoral,” Sjostrom said.
24 No More
With contractors mostly gone and tourist season over, Walgreens, 2501 61st St., has noticed a difference, assistant manager Gerald Vimont said.
“We used to get a lot of contractors from 6 a.m. to 8 a.m., but that died down,” Vimont said. “We don’t have a lot of tourism going on right now, so there’s been a real change.”
Because of the island’s diminished population, Walgreens and CVS have not resumed 24-hour pharmacy service.
People needing late-night prescriptions filled must drive to Texas City.
Prospective Residents
Some business owners are encouraged by rehiring at the University of Texas Medical Branch, the island’s largest employer.
A year ago, the University of Texas System Board of Regents authorized the medical branch to lay off about 3,000 of its nearly 8,000 island employees. Ultimately, 2,450 people got pink slips.
After a long fight, state lawmakers and the board of regents agreed to help the medical branch rebuild on the island. The medical branch so far has filled 961 positions and continues to hire more as it recovers. As of Friday, 6,912 people were employed on the island campus, officials said.
The post-Ike return of Shriners Hospital for Children and its employees also is promising, island Realtor V.J. Tramonte said. Although many medical branch employees live on the mainland, they visit restaurants and use island services. Realtors have been busy showing properties to newly hired or potential medical branch employees, Tramonte said.
“With UTMB rehiring, we’re driving more prospective faculty around the island, hoping to keep them on the island,” Tramonte said.
‘Miss Them All’
Meanwhile, island businesses continue to wait for their old customers to return.
“It’s much better than I thought it would be, but there’s a definite decline in business,” John Ford, who owns John Ford Jewelers, said.
The 2114 61st St. business completed hurricane repairs and returned in May.
Customers have been loyal and many have returned, Ford said.
“But there’s definitely people that are missing and have not returned to the island,” he said. “We miss them all.”
