Quick Take:
Business owners and employees who work on the Santa Cruz Wharf don't yet know when they'll be able to get back on the job after the partial collapse of the wharf on Monday. City officials say they're working around the clock to assess damage but it's unclear when they'll know when the wharf can reopen.
The indefinite closure of the Santa Cruz Wharf following Monday’s partial collapse has left dozens of businesses and hundreds of their employees facing an uncertain future.
Some, like Vino by the Sea owner Ana Wold, are scrambling to figure out how to stay afloat if the wharf remains closed for a long time.
Wold estimates she could lose about $20,000 for a weeklong closure during this Christmas and New Year’s Eve season. She purchased the business in October 2020, during the pandemic, and has since weathered multiple wharf closures during years of COVID restrictions and past storms. Adding to the challenges, after buying a home in July 2020, the CZU fire burnt it down.
“It’s definitely been a rocky ride,” she said. “Hopefully we can continue to persevere.”
Wold’s Vino by the Sea is one of 20 businesses operating restaurants, retail stores and recreational outfits on the wharf that employ about 400 people. Tony Elliot, director of Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation, said the city’s staff, including the crew of 12 employees who regularly work on the wharf, are working through the holidays to assess damages to determine what repairs are needed to reopen the wharf and its businesses.
But there’s still no clear timeline for the assessment, repairs or reopening. Elliot said the city still doesn’t even know how long it will take to determine how long the wharf will be closed.
“Generally, we don’t have a timeline for the assessment of the wharf from a structural standpoint,” Elliot said Thursday. “In light of the holiday season, in light of the fact that the wharf is a critical part of our local economy and a critical part of people’s livelihoods who own businesses and work at those businesses, we want to move as efficiently as we can, but ultimately with the priorities of public safety.”
The city is still responding to the aftermath of Monday’s storm. Elliot said city officials are working with county agencies, engineers, the U.S. Coast Guard, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and others on debris cleanup.
The wharf had been under construction at the time a portion of it collapsed and Elliot said crews are still assessing what equipment was lost from the collapse. For example, a crane and a skid steer – construction equipment used for digging – fell into the ocean during the collapse.
“If things did sink to the sea floor, we want to avoid those items causing more problems or more risk to the wharf or to the general public,” Elliot said. “So we’re working really diligently with partners to identify debris, what types of debris, and then develop strategies very quickly to address that debris and get it cleaned up.”
He said it was too soon to know with any certainty when that work would be finished.
The uncertainty around the timeline to reopen the wharf is challenging for businesses like Vino by the Sea. Wold employs about five part-time workers, and depending on the day she’ll have two to three working.
Wold was visiting her daughter in Texas when she got the phone call about the wharf collapse Monday from a good friend and former employee. She couldn’t believe it.
“Obviously I was very worried, very scared and upset,” she said, adding that she received many supportive messages from community members who checked in with her.
With a flight scheduled to come back from Texas on Monday night, she went to visit her business Tuesday morning. She typically opens for Christmas Eve but because of the wharf’s closure, she wasn’t able to open that day.
Instead, she loaded up her truck with cases of wine that customers had purchased. She said three different parties were scheduled to take place at the bar this weekend and those customers had already purchased their wine.
Instead of hosting the parties at her business on the wharf, Wold delivered the wine to customers so they could have their celebrations elsewhere. Vino by the Sea was scheduled to host a New Year’s Eve party but Wold thinks she’ll have to find an alternative location for it.
Without knowing anything about the reopening date, Wold said she doesn’t know yet when her employees will be able to work again.
“I’m in the process of trying to figure that all out,” she said. “It’s definitely overwhelming.”
Wold, like the majority of the businesses on the wharf, is a tenant and pays rent to the City of Santa Cruz. She said during COVID, when sales were low, the city helped businesses by offering discounted rent. She hopes it will do the same for the current closure.
Elliot, the parks director, said the city is “communicating very closely with the businesses and tenants” about next steps.
Other businesses on the wharf aren’t seeing as much disruption.
David Johnston, owner of Venture Quest kayak rentals, said his losses are “pretty minimal” compared to the rest of the wharf.
He’s run his business there for 30 years. Because Venture Quest is dependent on safe, good weather, Johnston said its season typically runs from April through October. So being closed right now because of the wharf collapse, he said, has minimal financial impact.
“I’m not worried about taking a big financial hit from it, but I am worried about the rest of the businesses,” he said. “And what the wharf means to the community and access for visitors.”
But Johnston said, he’s worried about the longer-term effects of climate change on the wharf, citing storm damage in each of the past three years.
“It seems like it’s more and more of a problem, the whole climate change thing, and that’s kind of scary,” he said. “But mainly I’m just hopeful for the wharf to reopen.”
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