(Davenport, California) -- The Cemex cement plant helped build the Golden Gate Bridge and California’s Aqueduct. But the 104 year old plant will not re-open.
The crumbling economy means the end of an era and when the gates shut down for good on Friday it meant the end of 120 jobs for people all over the county.
And its impacts wont only be felt in the little town of Davenport, but also throughout Santa Cruz County.
“Now it’s gone, and it’s not coming back, it’s doubtful something is going to replace it,” said Eric Karo a former employee.
Silence has replaced the whurring drums, work trucks stand like frozen soldiers at attention, and transfer trains have become a taggers paradise at a plant that has been a fixture in Davenport for 100 years.
“We’re not used to being unemployed we’ve been getting busier every generation for like 3 generations…The oldest relative I have is in her late 80’s and her dad worked out here,” Karo remembers.
Karo was an electirician at Cemex and says for the employees left jobless, things will change.
“A lot of us are moving in with family and renting out our homes, or trying to start small businesses of our own,” explains Karo.
Taqueria El Jarro closed when the plant’s temporary shut down in March. Bakery Bar and Grill says in this tight-knit community, it worries about the those people without jobs more than business, “Business will survive off the tourism, but it’s more our local patrons who we’re employed by the plant and the question is to what their future holds for them,” said manager Miles Leland.
And now locals hope the ghost of a company past, won’t make a ghost town out of them.
“Davenport is going to have a lot of issues to resolve, we ran the sewer and water, so they are going to have to work out a lot of things…and the job market is really soft, we’re collecting unemployment and looking for work,” said Karo.
Source: http://www.todaysconcretetechnology.com/cement-plant-closes-for-good.html