April 17, 2006

Spring Showers Wash Away Paychecks

By Allyse Heartwell
Special to the Neighborhood Newswire

Non-stop March and April showers washed away more than hillsides and San Franciscans’ normally sunny dispositions. For many business owners and workers the record rains resulted in lower revenues and lost paychecks.

Ismael Morales, who sells jewelry at the Powell and Market Street Cable Car turn-around, huddled under a makeshift plastic shelter in mid-April and watched the rain-bundled people hurry by. The constant wet has drained away half his business. While Morales sells mostly to tourists and is accustomed to lower winter sales, he usually makes it through the season through sales to locals. For the past couple of months, however, few are eager to pause long enough to peruse his table of bangle bracelets and dangly earrings. “I have two kids,” Morales, who has run his business for 13 years, says. “Luckily my wife works too, so we work it out somehow.”

Some people can’t make do with plastic shelters. Darryl, who owns Let’s Get Busy Contractors in the Bayview, says he’s been having trouble getting busy lately. “What happens is you’ve got yourself a soft soil situation,” he said. Soft, muddy soil means that crucial steps in a construction project have to be delayed. “And that slows down overall productivity,” he said.

Landscapers and gardeners face similar problems. “At a certain point you’ve got things like Bobcats flipping over in the mud, and that makes it dangerous,” said landscape architect Johan Kahlstrom, of Avant Gardener in the Mission. Kahlstrom hasn’t been able to complete existing jobs and has experienced a decline in new contracts. “Maybe people are afraid that if they put something in now it’ll get washed away,” he speculated.

Even inside work has slowed down. “We’ve definitely seen a drop in business,” says Roger Hilyard, owner of Farley’s Café in Potrero Hill. Fewer people come out for coffee during the storms, and those who do linger for a longer time.”

March saw 8.74 inches of rain in San Francisco. According to Jim Ashby of the Climate Center, it was the second highest – by less than a half an inch -- March rainfall in a quarter-century. In terms of the total number of rainy days, however, March 2006 takes home the prize. According to the National Weather Service, 26 out of 31 days saw some degree of rain, compared with the 93-year average of 10 out of 31. As this article was being written in April the rain continued, with more than 4 inches by the middle of the month.

For tree trimmers and roofers, bad weather can often mean windfalls – both literally and figuratively – but this year is something else entirely. Martin Kutches, of Kutches Tree Company in the Excelsior, said that for him storms usually mean profit. His company has picked up some business from fallen branches and storm-damaged trees, but that’s been more than offset by reduced demand for other services, such as pesticide spraying, which have been put on hold. Kutches says his business is down by as much as a fifth.

Kim Chung, owner of CC Roofing in the Sunset, said that she plans on one month of nonstop rainy weather, but this year it’s been more than two. “Wait for sunny days, that’s all you can do,” she said. CC Roofing usually has 4 to 5 employees and tries to maintain a long-term relationship with them. Although Chung’s workers also have to wait for the weather to clear up, Chung doesn’t worry about losing them. “They can’t work for anybody else in this business now either,” she said.

Steve Tucker, business agent for the 400-member Roofers and Waterproofers Union, confirmed that most employers are able to keep their long-term workforce. “You don’t have to let people go if you’re not paying them,” he said. During bad weather periods some roofers find work in other industries while others claim unemployment insurance. “The state allows construction workers unemployment if it’s a matter of Mother Nature,” said Tucker. However he added that it takes at least a week for an applicant to see any money. “Most don’t bother and just ride it out,” he said. “Guys understand that you’re not going to be working part of the year.”

You won’t catch Steve, who manages Tower Car Wash and Detailing on Mission Street, acting surprised about the slow-down in business. He’s had to suspend operations for days at a time and has modified his employees’ schedules accordingly. Some workers haven’t been heard from as a result of the reduced hours. “But you have to recognize that it comes with the territory,” he said. “I mean this is San Francisco.”
Kahlstrom, who specializes in drought-resistant plants, believes the wet weather is an aberration. “What we’re probably going to see is actually more dryness in the summers and less predictability generally,” he says.

For farmers, such unpredictability can be devastating. At the Heart of the City Farmers Market on UN Plaza, Glenn Tanimoto worked in the rain, packing his many remaining boxes of kiwis onto a truck. “Farming profits are so marginal, that even a 10% crop loss hurts,” he said. He doesn’t yet know what the impact on his tree crops will be, but he’s sure that this year’s yields will be lower. The rain also hurts demand for his products, as fewer people show up at the outdoor farmers markets that account for most of his business. “I’m just coming in from Gridley, though,” Tanimoto said. He pointed across the plaza to a family loading up crates of unsold Chinese broccoli. “Those people have to go even further. What with fuel costs, I bet they lost money coming out here today. It’s just really hard for people to do that.”