Volunteers Spruce Up Downtown Buildings

A group of eight volunteers got together on Saturday to give some much needed T.L.C. to some empty buildings on Main Street.

The group consisted of City Councilmember Mike Segala, business owners in the downtown area, and Suisun City residents.

“I live here and I have a business here and we frequent downtown, we walk there every day,” said volunteer Susan Mueller.  “It just seemed like something needed to be done.”

Mueller said she has walked the marina with her husband and another couple every morning for the last three years. As they would travel down Main Street they would enjoy the view of the waterfront, but thought there should be something done to improve the look of abandoned buildings and trash on the west side of the street.

“My husband and I and the people that we walked with used to take brooms and dust pans and just clean the abandoned buildings in the front,” Mueller said.

Fast forward to this year, when a conversation sparked at a meeting at about what could be done about the buildings, specifically those that were on the 700 block of Main Street, directly across from Harbor Square.

Mueller and Segala began working together to see what could be done. Mueller said Segala was a great help in getting the green light from the city to do the work, as well as downtown Business Imporvement District members to support their efforts.

“Mike went to the City Manager and did everything and got the lift so we could get up and paint the tall parts of the building and Mike got volunteers and did all of that,” she said.

Altogether, the group worked on three buildings, including 711 Main Street, scraping old paint off windows, taking down boards that covered doorways and painting over the exterior. Mueller and Segala bought painting supplies, while Golden West Electric donated a lift. Subway on Main Street also donated sandwiches and donated water for the group to be able to eat lunch. Both Mueller and Segala hope there will be more projects in the future, as well as more volunteers stepping forward to help.

“This is the kind of thing I think we should be able to do anytime we see something that needs to be done in Suisun city,” said Segala. “Volunteerism is not dead, it is very, very strong it's just a matter of figuring out a project to do.”