by John Glidden | glid24@protonmail.com | February 14, 2025
VALLEJO – On Wednesday, members of the city’s Economic Development Commission received confirmation of rumored bad news that had been circulating the city for days: Vallejo’s two Walgreens locations are closing this month, while the Safeway grocery store on Admiral Callaghan will shutter in April.
Assistant City Manager Gillian Haen (formerly Hayes) delivered the news, stating that the Walgreens at 2647 Springs Road will close on Feb. 24, and the other store at 1050 Redwood will close its doors the next day on Feb. 25. The Safeway at 774 Admiral Callaghan Lane is scheduled to close on April 11.
Haen said the city’s economic development department was reaching out to both corporate entities to seek answers, including on why the stores are closing and to ask if the city could have done something different to prevent the closures.
Haen said she had received an email from Safeway’s corporate offices stating that the decision was based on falling sales “and they also cited crime as an issue.”
The decision to close that Safeway location comes almost five years after the corporate office filed a lawsuit alleging the city of Vallejo violated the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) regarding the construction of a new 152,000 square foot Costco store, a 30-pump gas station, over 20,000 square feet of retail space and more than 170 single-family homes along Admiral Callaghan Land and Turner Parkway. The project is located a block from the Safeway location.
CEQA is a state law requiring government agencies to review potential environmental impacts on a proposed development to prevent environmental damage.
Safeway and Costco reached a settlement in October 2022.
Commissioner Calvin Harrell expressed concern with the closures and what happens to the surrounding areas, stating that they are going to become economic deserts.
“Has there been any thought given because (on what happens next because) that’s going to create a vacuum in the real (estate) property values for commercial square footage,” he told the commission and Haen.
In her response, Haen said the city is currently researching what happens next with those three locations.
Haen serving as interim economic development director
During her report to the commission, Haen said she is the interim economic development director following the departure of Michael Nimon in January. Nimon accepted a similar position with the city of Walnut Creek.
Haen said the city has hired consultant Amalia Cunningham to help with certain economic development projects. Cunningham previously served as economic development manager with the city of Benicia. Haen said restrictions with the CalPERS retirement system prevented the city from carrying out its original idea of Cunningham serving as the interim economic development director.
Cunningham will be tasked with doing an assessment on the economic development department, and provide staff training, Haen said. She most recently served as an interim with the city of Tracy.
According to her consultant and professional services agreement, Cunningham’s responsibilities include working with city staff on Vallejo’s Economic Development Strategic Plan, “and other business recruitment, and retention efforts.”
Cunningham’s initial term with the city is set between Feb. 10 and July 31, 2025 with an option to extend the arrangement, the agreement reads. Cunningham will work no more than 24 hours per week with her hourly rate set at $185. The agreement caps Cunningham’s pay up to $75,000.
Haen said the city will conduct a nation-wide search for a new economic development director, which is expected to take between 4 to 5 months.
Council liaison provides report on the city’s budget
Newly elected District 1 Councilman Alexander Matias, a former member of the commission, addressed commissioners, bringing up the city’s unfavorable budget conditions.
City staff reported during a mid-year budget hearing before the Vallejo City Council this week, that Vallejo’s revenues are down by almost $1 million, while spending has increased by more than $3 million, as reported by the Vallejo Sun.
The Sun further reported that the revenue decline includes the loss of $206,000 in property tax revenue and $477,000 drop in sales tax revenue.
Matias brought up the decrease in tax revenue, stressing that the city needs to encourage people to spend more inside Vallejo to manage the revenue gap. He cited community events like August Summer Nights as an example.
“Those sort of multiplying efforts have an effect on our revenue,” he told the commission.
He also addressed the embarrassing discovery that the city made about $1 million in payouts to the Vallejo Convention and Visitors Bureau following the expiration of a contact between the two groups. The oversight was discovered when the city began looking for quarterly financial reports on how the bureau spent the money.
Vallejo’s Finance Director Rekha Nayar explained the error, as reported by the Vallejo Sun:
“When we started asking those questions we realized, ‘Oh, the contract has already expired, and that’s why there’s no reports.’ As soon as we came to know, we did stop the payment, and we did not make any further payments knowing that there’s no contract. So yes, it was an error on part of the city that we did not realize the contract had expired.”
Commissioner Calvin Harrell told Matias that the news was “an alarming condition.”
“But what’s more alarming to me is the disconnect that it appears Visit Vallejo has with the city governance,” Harrell added, stating that Visit Vallejo didn’t show up to commission meetings to give a report on what the agency was spending the money on.
Matias agreed.
“We’ve got to make sure we got controls in place, we are being transparent with the public, and telling folks where dollars are going to,” he said. “And (that) we are also asking the questions so that these dollars are going to the things that they are supposed to be going to.”
NOTES:
The start of the meeting was delayed by 30 minutes due to a lack of quorum. The seven-person commission has one vacancy.
Attendance report:
Nicole Loufas (Chair): Present
Dwight Monroe Jr. (Vice Chair): Present
Thomas Barbeiro: Absent
Mai-Ling Garcia: Present via remote
Calvin Harrell: Present
Roberto Hernandez: Absent
Editor’s note: This article was updated on Wednesday, February 19, 2025 to include a copy of Amalia Cunningham’s consulting agreement with the city of Vallejo.
JohnGlidden.com 
As a long time Vallejo resident I think that it is a terrible blow to me and my fellow senior citizens that rely on Walgreens as our neighborhood Pharmacy. Also, why does Costco need to move, seems like they are already in an ideal spot for shoppers. Not to mention there is no traffic problems at the current location, but will exist with them moving to Admiral Callahan Lane. Also, everyone doesn’t grocery shop at Costco, so there won’t be a neighborhood store in the area. How sad is this for me and my neighbors. Who came up with these horrible decisions??
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