FLAGSTAFF—Arizona Collectibles and Firearms will return to the Coconino County Fairgrounds at Ft. Tuthill for two gun shows on May 17th & 18th and September 6th & 7th. The shows feature firearms, parts, ammo, knifes, militaria and much more.
The shows will run from 9 am to 5 pm on Saturday and 9 am to 4 pm on Sunday.
To reserve a space or for more information, contact Dennis Champagne at (928) 310-8544 or by email at dennis.champagne@aol.com
WILLIAMS – Businesses are re-opening or starting up throughout Williams for the current season. One of those is Goldie’s Route 66 Diner.
Jeff and the crew are back providing breakfast and lunch from 7 am to 2 pm, currently. Plans are to expand to dinner in a couple of weeks.
Goldie’s Route 66 Diner provides standard breakfast and lunch fare and is one of the more popular restaurants in town. They also carry a small assortment of souvenirs and bumper stickers.
Treats and Treasures ice cream, soda and candy store opened about a month ago. Maria’s Taco Shop opened on Fourth street about the same time. The Saddlebag Sandwich Shop downtown next to Western Outfitters also re-opened after a brief hiatus.
On April 4, the Route 66 Boutique opens next to the new Briar Patch flower shop.
WILLIAMS – While high winds are possible Saturday, the weekend will be sunny and warm for your exploration of the businesses which re-opened this week.
The Zip Line ride will begin operation starting tomorrow. Eventually one of the seats will come down to be shipped to Vermont.
It was reported earlier this week that Maria’s Taco Shop on Fourth street opened. Ivo’s restaurant downtown next to the Addicted to Deals route 66 store has re-opened, as well.
Treats and Treasures at 309 West Route 66 has re-opened with new product. Along with their selection of cane sugar sodas and candy they have added a new Teriyaki Beef soda. They also carry some different souvenirs and collectible coins.
And, of course, there is Bearizona open through out the week.
Saturday is expected to be sunny, with a high near 56. Breezy, with a north wind 8 to 13 mph increasing to 18 to 23 mph in the afternoon. Winds could gust as high as 33 mph. Overnight will be clear, with a low around 27. Blustery, with a northeast wind 16 to 23 mph, with gusts as high as 33 mph.
On Sunday the forecast is for sunny, with a high near 61. Northeast wind 11 to 16 mph, with gusts as high as 23 mph. Clear, with a low around 28. North wind 5 to 8 mph becoming calm in the evening.
The rest of the week looks mostly clear with highs just below sixty and lows in the lower thirties over night.
WILLIAMS –Maria’s Taco Shop Mexican restaurant is having a “soft opening” today and through the weekend. The new restaurant invites you to come in and try their food at 401 W. Route 66. Their hours are not quite set as of yet.
OPINION
At the council meeting on February 27th, various business issues concerning Williams were raised.
One was the issue of sales tax. Sean Casey noted that Williams is among the highest in the country. The Williams city council voted to remove sales tax on the sale of groceries which was a tremendous step. The point was raised that more attractions had the potential to keep sales taxes down.
There used to be a bowling alley in the building behind Goldie’s Laundry, which was used by Rosa’s Cantina. A few years ago long-time Williams resident Marv Mason attempted a movie theater, but was denied by the council. The city also attempted an outdoor ice skating rink which failed due to weather conditions.
Another attraction that is probably not marketed as well is the new Veteran’s Memorial at the Memorial park on the west end of town near Family Dollar. In that same area, the city allowed a swap meet for years to support the scholarship efforts of the Kiwanis Club. Last year they made the decision not to allow people to stay over night near their set up which caused most of the people to avoid the swap meet. Rumor has it that the city will rescind that order.
The city also had a big attraction with Rendezvous Days which brought in thousands of people over the Memorial Day weekend. It included a parade which is no longer held. Over time it was brought down. Some of that was due to weather conditions which moved the Rendezvous to the Bob Dean Rodeo grounds. In the mid-90s, they used to close off up to four blocks of downtown for vendors which attracted a lot of foot traffic. The original owner of the Grand Canyon Coffee and Cafe complained that food vendors would hurt his business before one of the Rendezvous Days events. About midway through the event he had to close because he ran out of food.
The repeated noise complaints brought to light that there is no noise ordinance in Williams. The Canyon Club and Sultana routinely turn their jute boxes up to full volume. Adjacent businesses have complained that the noise has actually diverted customers away. The Canyon Club left its outside speakers on all night on one occasion disturbing customers at the Red Garter Bed and Breakfast. Recently they seem to have lowered the volume on the outdoor speakers. The Canyon Club also has Karaoke, the volume of which affects the Grand Canyon Hotel and other residents in the area. Pancho’s and the Italian Bistro have competing outdoor speakers.
The Williams city council, of course, is in the precarious position of having to balance between business concerns, the codes intended to maintain the Historic District, and the voter.
WILLIAMS — The fate of the Zipline, located in the Central Business District of Williams, moves to the Williams City Council to decide their fate (PDF notice). The Planning and Zoning Committee recommended approved the special use permit for the attraction with an added stipulation. Planning and Zoning recommended a bond in the event that the Zip Line fails.
BACKGROUND
When the Zip Line was initially approved, Logan Checketts took the matter to the City Council bypassing the Historic Committee and P&Z.
In April of 2013, the Williams City Council approved 4-3 to approve the signing of a one-year lease with Soaring Eagles Zip Line at their current location.
In November, John Holst of the Red Garter Bed & Bakery—located across from the attraction—at a Council meeting commented that the owners did not follow appropriate protocol bypassing the Historic Commission and P&Z. Checketts admitted at the meeting that the ride did not meet his expectations because of weather conditions that left the ride dormant much of the season. July and August is when Williams generally gets the most rain and thunderstorms which renders the ride inoperable. Mr. Checketts also stated that he could have done more marketing for the ride. The Council declined to renew the contract by a vote of 4-2.
Logan renewed efforts to retain the event by submitting a special use permit following the procedures.
At the February 11 Historic Committee meeting, the committee voted 5-0 to not allow the Zip Line to continue despite support for the attraction.
PLANNING AND ZONING
The support at the P&Z meeting on February 20th came mostly from business owners with one resident speaking for the project. There was one resident against the project because of the noise and John Holst tried to argue some technical matters.
Owner Logan Checketts spoke first concerning the background of the Zip Line. Last year, he explained, he went directly to the council to get approval. When he went this year to get permission, they council denied that permission recommending he go through the Historic Commission and Planning and Zoning.
As for the code, he claims that 12-17.06 of the City Code allows for the permit. (a) 1 of that code states, “Any use permitted by the existing zones over which historic district zoning is superimposed shall be allowed.”
He went on to say, “From the business perspective of it, and from the neighboring businesses, I’ve personally taken an interest in going out and visiting with many of the next door neighbors” to see how the structure has impacted their businesses after a year. He said that all of them except one were in favor of the ride. He added that if it was a simple majority, the city would probably vote for it, but he was grateful that the code was clear on the subject.
Checketts explained that Soaring Eagles Zip Line pays a percentage of the gross to the city for rental which came to around $30,000 last year. He pointed out that it also provided employment for about fifteen young adults over the summer.
He also pointed out the great expense that they put into giving the Zip Line a route 66 theme. At his other locations they have not themed their Zip Lines according to the area.
P&Z Chairman “Buck” Williams then opened the floor for questions after pointing out that he was in possession of seven letters—six of which were in favor of the attraction.
Williams resident Fred Reese asked if the project was making any profits. Checketts said yes and in response to further questioning said that the agreement is to pay 18% of gross plus a 3% sales tax making it 21% of gross going to the city.
Patty Williams said that it was her understanding that the ride was to come all the way to the ground so that it would be handicap accessible, but there are steps to climb to get to the ride. Logan admitted that it was not handicap accessible.
John Holst, the owner of Red Garter, said that the special use permit was supposed to have a narrative which explains the special use and the time period. He argued that without a time period it is no longer a special use.
City Building Inspector Tim Pettit interrupted to ask where he got this information and Holst replied that he obtained it from the City of Williams web site. Pettit admitted that it was on the web site, but not written in the code. According to Pettit, the code does not specify a time period for a special use permit, so theoretically a special use permit could be good for five-, ten- or even twenty-years if approved.
They went on to argue over whether or not the ride is a permanent or temporary structure. Pettit claims it is temporary.
Resident Jerry Anthony spoke in favor of the Zip Line asking more about the financial end and asking if the company would consider upping the percentage to Williams to as much as 35% of the gross since the initial install costs were already made.
Checketts explained that the total install cost was around $600,000.
Thomas Ross of I-40 Fleet Rentals and Sean Casey of Bearizona spoke in favor of the attraction. Mr. Ross mentioned other attractions such as Cadallac Ranch and the World’s Largest Ball of Twine, but these items are privately owned attractions.
The Zip Line issue will be settled by the Williams City Council this Thursday.
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Crafts-Store Chain Says It May Have Been Victim of Attack
By Andrew Dowell, Wall Street Journal
Michaels Stores Inc. said it may have been the victim of an attack on its data security, making it the third major chain in a rash of assaults aimed at U.S. retailers.
In a statement on its website, the arts-and-crafts retailer said it had recently learned of possible fraudulent activity involving credit or debit cards that had been used at Michaels. The company said it hasn’t determined that a breach occurred, but said it is working with federal law-enforcement authorities and computer-security experts to determine what happened.
The disclosure echoed recent acknowledgments by Target Corp. and Neiman Marcus Group that they had suffered data breaches that compromised customers’ card information. Target said 40 million debit and credit card accounts had been affected, and Neiman said last week that 1.1 million accounts had potentially been exposed. In those cases, software was slipped into the retailers’ systems to quietly scrape card data.
Michaels, like those two retailers, made its comments following inquiries from security researcher and blogger Brian Krebs. In the statement, Michaels Chief Executive Chuck Rubin said the retailer was disclosing the issue to alert customers so they could take steps to protect themselves.
Read more at the Wall Street Journal
Facebook’s growth will eventually come to a quick end, much like an infectious disease that spreads rapidly and suddenly dies, say Princeton researchers who are using diseases to model the life cycles of social media.
Disease models can be used to understand the mass adoption and subsequent flight from online social networks, researchers at Princeton’s Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering say in a study released Jan. 17. The study has not been peer-reviewed.
See more at Time
WILLIAMS—Just in time to get those Valentine’s Day gifts and flowers reserved (guys!), Carl and Mariah Funderburg opens the Briar Patch today. The Briar Patch Florist and Gift Shop is located at 226 W. Route 66, next to Circle K.
The shop will provide flowers, plants, balloons, cards and gifts for a variety of occasions. They plan to deliver to Ash Fork, the Grand Canyon and to Flagstaff. The phone number to the store is (928)635-5366.
In addition they offer custom woodwork, restoring and building custom furniture and even refinishing rifle stocks.
