Quake-damaged Vallejo store gets creative

By Tony Burchyns

tburchyns@timesheraldonline.com @tonyburchyns on Twitter

As federal, state and local officials Wednesday continued to assess the damage from Sunday's earthquake, Chip Carter of North Bay Cabinets & Countertops in Vallejo found a way to laugh about his shattered store windows.

Though Carter has had to board up broken windows that he said will cost thousands of dollars to replace, the Vallejo resident has added humor to his plywood situation with hand-painted slogans such as "Voted Best Boarded Up Showroom", "Come In, Buy Something or Donate" and "Come in, Not Covered by Insurance".

"This is a bad time, all this stuff is damaged, so I might has well have fun with this stuff," Carter said Wednesday, adding he expected it would take him months to make repairs to his business at 1515 Solano Ave. "What's there to laugh about nowadays? We're all in trouble from that quake. So let's have some fun."

Part of the reason for his creativity was to ward off graffiti, he said. But he also wanted to use humor to draw attention to his store, which remains open for business.

"I was thinking, 'I ought to do something with the plywood because pretty soon it is going to get graffitied," Carter said. "Everyone's found it funny and what that does is bring in customers."

Meanwhile, Federal Emergency Management Agency personnel accompanied state and local officials Wednesday in inspecting buildings and infrastructure in Vallejo. FEMA is still in the process of determining whether to declare a federal emergency in Napa and Solano counties following Sunday's 6.0-magnitude earthquake the largest to hit the Bay Area in 25 years. On Tuesday, the Solano County Board of Supervisors and the Vallejo City Council officially confirmed their states of emergency.

As of Wednesday afternoon, 155 buildings in Vallejo had been yellow-tagged for partial use, city officials said. Eleven have been red-tagged as unsafe to occupy. Also, about 10 Mare Island businesses still hadn't yet returned to full operations.

On Mare Island, crews continued demolishing quake-damaged chimneys on historic officers' mansions on Walnut Avenue. Mare Island developer Lennar Mare Island, which owns the homes, has pledged to work with the city to address future plans for fixing the damaged structures.

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Quake-damaged Vallejo store gets creative