Brooking (Cont)
When the announcement was made that Ray’s was going to close and 35 employees would be out of a job there was a shared disappointment among many residents. But, City Manager, Gary Milliman is much more optimistic than that: “We could immediately replace those 35 lost jobs with the opening of the Emergency Department at Curry Medical Center. Construction is complete. State authorization to open the ED is approved. What is needed is about $1.5 million in operating capital to enable Curry Health Network to hire the employees and sustain the new operation until it starts generating revenue. More jobs could be added by developing and marketing the Brookings Airport and adjacent industriallyzoned property. The City is poised to pursue this aggressively. We have offered to purchase the Airport from the County. The City and USEDA have invested over $2.7 million in providing water and sewer service to the Airport and adjacent lands. The owners of the Lone Ranch development are poised for initial construction of the first phase of housing. This would not only create housing construction jobs, but would help address the housing shortage in the Brookings area. Funding is needed to complete sewer system improvements.
Retail businesses go through cycles of ups and downs but most economists believe the down on one business may be a result of changing demographics and cultural expectations that arrives with the entrance of new businesses.
Southern Oregon Business Journal
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