For the first time, the park’s offering bonus incentives to all employees

Seasonal “team members” who work through Oct. 31 can earn up to an additional $500-$1,000 or more with a 10 percent bonus for wages earned from July through September and a 15 percent bonus for wages earned in October.

It’s “too early to tell” if the monetary bait works, said Taylor, adding that many employees are also paid from $1 to $3 an hour more than pre-COVID.

A Maryland transplant eight months into the  HR job in Vallejo and Hurricane Harbor in Concord, Taylor sits on the Workforce Development Board in Solano County and said filling positions easing out of the pandemic is shared by many.

“Everybody’s definitely expressed the challenges of not being able to maintain a staffing number,” Taylor said Friday by phone.

Six Flags needs to fill 350 “regular” jobs plus another 200 for Fright Fest that runs through October.

“When we have challenges filling shifts, we either close locations or stagger the times,” Taylor said.

Taylor said 1,300 Six Flags positions earmarked for year-round staffing.

“We’re open every weekend. We always need staff,” Taylor said.

Though the park has offered one-time bonuses before this year, “it’s never been done on this scale,” Taylor said.

“Once we’re close to the end of the month in August, when folks normally go back to school, it’s when the bonuses come into play so we’ll see if they hang on a couple more weekends,” Taylor said.

There are “a number of things” in play causing the work shortages, Taylor said.

“People’s motivation for work has changed” since COVID, Taylor said. “We have to figure out what motivates people to come to work. Is it money? Is it having a better life-balance? A lot of people were workaholics and now want to send more time with family so they cut back.”

“A pandemic certainly shifts a lot of things with people, for sure,” Taylor said.

The park still gets “a lot of 14, 15-year-olds” applying, though normally late teens and older apply for the food and beverage positions “and we’re not seeing that,” Taylor said, with “older folks” — older than 18 — usually applying for those jobs.

Taylor acknowledged that there is competition for food service jobs with a rush to hire when COVID-19 restrictions relaxed.

“The food service industry has been hiring nonstop since the pandemic” opened up, she said.

Over in Concord, Hurricane Harbor is fully staffed at roughly 600 positions, Taylor said.

In fact, she noted, “we’re over-staffed on lifeguards, which is unique for our industry. We’ve been aggressive in reaching out to people and we do many things that make them want to stay.”

The market “on that side of the bridge is just different” than Six Flags, said Taylor.

A criminal justice major at the University of Maryland, Taylor has been with Six Flags nearly 16 years. She worked in human resources at the Six Flags in Largo, M.D., before accepting the cross-country job in Vallejo.

When she started last December, “I felt like I went back in time a bit,” Taylor said. “Maryland was more open (pandemic-wise) then California. When I moved out here, there was a stay-at-home order.”

Obviously, Taylor hopes next summer is back to normal.

“I don’t think we’ll have the same challenges next year,” she said. “I think the employment market will stabilize.”

For more information, visit sixflags.com/discoverykingdom.

The national phenomenon of a sellers’ market has reached Vallejo — big-time. Homes are selling for significantly more than the asking price — great for the seller, not-so-great for the buyer, and a dogfight for roughly 400 real estate agents scrambling for the meager 44 single-family homes available in Vallejo.

“It’s just a hot, hot market,” says Todd Willis, real estate agent with Coldwell Banker/Solano Pacific in Benicia, where just seven single-family homes are up for grabs.

In the last 30 days, Willis has sold one Vallejo house for $25,000 over the asking price and another $20,000 over the asking price, plus a “little condo” for $5,000 over the asking price.

Willis compared the home-buying activity to the “toilet paper buying frenzy” at the start of COVID-19.

“I’ve never seen anything like this in Vallejo,” Willis said.

A non-pandemic year? Probably 100 homes typically for sale, said Pippin Dew, Realtor for Re/MAX Gold in Vallejo, adding that the average house on the market here is an “even more surprising” $545,000.

Dew’s latest sale — 1165 Azuar Drive on Mare Island — sold this week for $765,000, some $65,000 more than the asking price. Dew said she’s had one home sell for $150,000 over asking.

The past year has been the hottest for sales activity nationally in 14 years, according to Zillow Group Inc.

It’s basically a combination of mortgage rates dropping, new-home construction lagging behind demand, homeowners holding onto houses longer, millennials aging into prime-home buying years, and, thanks to the pandemic, many now working remotely seek more space, reported the New York Times. And many who delayed relocation because of COVID-19 post-vaccination feel safer to pack up and move.

Dew agreed with most of the assessments.

Because of the pandemic, “the broad acceptance of work from home with large employers has allowed people to be less bound by the physical location of their employer,” Dew said. “This has allowed people to begin considering areas farther away from their employer as places they may wish to live.”

Many families have had to create “classrooms” in their homes to accommodate distance learning and “between the need for classrooms and work from home office space, people are looking for larger homes with more bedrooms,” Dew continued, adding that “with the stay-at-home orders, many people decided they wanted their home to be a more pleasant place to be, which has increased demand for larger yards. Broadband connectivity with access to high-speed internet is a must.”

Vallejo is the No. 3 hottest real estate market in the country, said Tim Hiemstra of Napa River Realty based in downtown Vallejo.

“I’ve been a real estate broker and agent since 1998 and I’ve not experienced anything like it,” Hiemstra said, with the “bigger story” being the “overwhelming demand.”

Last Friday, Hiemstra put a house on the market for $700,000. Four days later, the house was in escrow without an appraisal contingency for $775,000. The same property sold less than five years ago for $506,000.

“Buyers are competing for limited inventory,” Hiemstra continued. “I’ve noticed many of the buyers are millennials moving from San Francisco and the Silicon Valley.”

Willis agreed, with the pandemic-caused you-can-now-work-from-home aspect allowing people to live anywhere.

For Sarah Rennison, that meant Fairfield after she decided to sell the 1915-built Azuar Drive home across from St. Peter’s Chapel

After Rennison’s mother, Jane, died in 2018, and her father, Douglas, died in 2019, it was “time to move on,” she said Thursday afternoon.

“As much as I loved this house, it was too emotional for me to stay,” Rennison said.

So she, her 10-year-old son and 9-year-old daughter moved to north Solano County.

“I’m excited,” Rennison said, grateful that, as Hiemstra and Dew point out with numerous other Vallejo homes, the sale wasn’t contingent on appraisals.

“It’s a beautiful house. It’s too unique to put a number on it.” Rennison said.

For married couple Harvey Gonzalez and Gina Berard of Vallejo, it was all about timing.

“It’s a good time to be on the selling side rather than buying,” Gonzalez said.

The couple’s home on the 600 block of Carolina Street was on the market less than a week when an offer for $820,000 — some $20,000 more than the asking price — arrived. The home, including two rental units, is in escrow.

Gonzalez said he’s not surprised at the value increase since the couple bought the house for $295,000 in August 2009.

“I’ve always been optimistic about Vallejo knowing how far it fell after the bankruptcy” when the global economy collapsed in 2008, Gonzalez said. “The only way to go was up. I’ve always believed in the potential of Vallejo.”

Gonzalez said it’s more nerve-wracking than thrilling to sell their home — huge profit or not.

“It’s not exciting. It’s daunting,” he said. “I’ve never done this before. There are a lot of unknowns. We’ll figure it out along the way and work through them, I guess.”

“We’re definitely not strong-arming anyone to buy the place,” he said.

Gonzalez said they want to be closer to his wife’s work in San Francisco and they plan on renting until it becomes closer to a buyer’s market than seller’s.

“It’s bittersweet,” said Berard. “I really love our house. It’s going to be sad.”

Gonzalez said he’ll miss Vallejo’s weather, the waterfront and the city’s character. hoping Vallejo is able to build a better reputation and image.

“It’s like the hot girl who doesn’t know how to dress,” Gonzalez said.

It was.

Two days after unpacking, the dream home became a nightmare. Apparently, the “landlord” renting the property wasn’t the landlord, bilking the family out of $2,000 in what’s believed to be the first Bitcoin-involved real estate crime in Vallejo.

“Scammers are getting smarter,” said Krystle Karimian, the property management company’s broker CEO.

The suspect posted the rental property on various sites. And the victims, says Karimian, found it on Facebook Marketplace.

The suspect basically said he has a place for rent “and here’s the code to get in. Just go ahead and pay me through Bitcoin,” said Karimian, tracing the suspected 35-year-old scammer to a Los Angeles address.

“We track renters and prospective renters and he acted like he was going in and viewing property,” Karimian said. “Instead of viewing it, he gave the ‘keys’ to a family and pretended he was the landlord.”

Karimian speculated that the suspect got the lockbox code “either from taking a tour of the home and stole it from a tenant or was given it, pretending to be a possible renter.”

Evidence indicates the suspect is believed to have shown the property four times, though it could have been virtually, Karimian said.

Something was obviously awry when the legitimate applicant drove to the property and noticed a family already moving in, said Krystle Properties leasing agent Renee McCrary, already aware that the property had been the object of a Facebook scam.

McCrary and a colleague knocked on the door and were greeted by a young man “who was confused when we informed him that they were the victims of a scam and that we needed to talk to his parents.”

“I think they were surprised and sad,” Karimian said. “The kids were so excited. They loved the house.”

A few days earlier, the family paid the $2,000 “move-in fee” via the requested Bitcoin at a local liquor store.

Asking for cryptocurrency “was an interesting method of payment,” said Karimian.

Not surprising, however, to Vallejo Bitcoin investor Beau Belisle, believing that Bitcoin ATMs like the one at Marathon gas station on Sonoma Boulevard will become prevalent.

It’s exchanging currency, said Belisle, liking it to exchanging Euros for dollars, except “you’re taking your ‘real dollars’ and changing them to ‘Bitcoin dollars’ on your cell phone’s ‘digital wallet.”

A Bitcoin payment would go to the scammer’s Bitcoin address, but, unlike Venmo, no bank account is involved.

“It leaves a digital paper trail but is not traceable to a person,” said Belisle.

“Needless to say, this family was devastated to find out that not only were they out of the $2,000, but now they had to move again,” McCrary said.

The duped family includes a 26-year-old wheelchair-bound son requiring a home with no stairs, “thus making the move even more difficult and devastating for this family to have to pack up after only 48 hours and look for another home,” said McCrary, who started a GoFundMe campaign with a $5,000 goal for the bewildered family.

A police report was filed, but Karimian doubts the suspect will be found. He has been blacklisted locally, she said, though adding “I’m sure he’ll go find another way” to scam others.

Vallejo Interim Deputy Chief Joe Kreins said that “although the chances of locating and identifying a suspect is slim, we will still make an effort to do so, and we will check other law enforcement jurisdictions with similar reported incidents.”

Kreins empathized with the victims.

“That is very sad indeed,” he said the fraud. “Unfortunately, these scam predators seem to find newer and more innovative ways to prey on unsuspecting people. I feel very bad for this family.”

McCrary concurred.

“These people are innocent victims who simply needed a place to live, and now they have to immediately move out of the ‘home’ they thought they were blessed to find,” McCrary said.

Karimian said local property managers typically alert each other of scams or potential scams.

“Scams are usually pretty obvious,” Karimian said. “But this guy out-smarted the family.”

Karimian said the $2,000 “move-in” fee is less than the monthly rent for the four bedroom home, adding that if there’s no credit or background check or required last month’s rent as a deposit, it’s probably a scam.

The suspect also never asked for credit information. Also, the victims had a dog and it’s unlikely dogs were permitted in the legitimate agreement, Karimian said.

Also, noted Karimian, it’s unlikely any landlord would rent property without meeting potential renters face-to-face.

“If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is,” she said.

Karimian hopes the GoFundMe effort helps the victims quickly find somewhere to live.

“We’re trying to get them into another home,” Karimian said.

For the GoFundMe page, visit: gf.me/u/zkahxw

The Times-Herald received an email late Thursday from a citizen claiming that Six Flags is “eventually going to move out of its present location to Fresno” presumably because the park was dissatisfied with the alleged slow progress of Mare Island and the Solano County Fairgrounds’ 360 Project.

Vallejo City Manager Greg Nyhoff put his thumb down on any Vallejo-to-Fresno move.

“I have heard this baseless rumor about the park leaving Vallejo, and according to park officials, it sounds as if there is absolutely no truth to this report, and the source reporting this is incorrect,” Nyhoff said. “Councilmember (Pippin) Dew and Mayor (Robert) McConnell both spoke with the park manager about this rumor. The park manager informed them that she had spoken directly to the corporate office inquiring about the rumor, and they verified that there was absolutely no truth to this story.”

“It is a false statement,”  Dew said.

With Six Flags owning the 135 acres its on — with an agreement to split parking revenue — “I wouldn’t imagine they’d be going anywhere. It’s a big investment,” Dew said.

McConnell confirmed seeing the same “report” two weeks ago of the Six Flags-to-Fresno rumor, and and he said that park management had also heard the rumor from a “trusted source.”

McConnell said he was told that the report “had no validity to it.  At this point we understand that there is no move. There is no move planned.”

Six Flags spokesman Marc-Angelo Merino said it’s the park’s policy “that we don’t comment on rumors.”

Neither does Visit Vallejo, the city’s tourist arm, but “I can clarify that Visit Vallejo has not heard anything about Six Flags Discovery Kingdom moving to Fresno,” said Visit Valljo president and CEO Michael Browne. “It is our understanding that they are happy here in Vallejo and look forward to making Vallejo their home for many years to come.

Six Flags is the No. 2 employer in Vallejo during non-pandemic summer seasons “and a welcome member of this community,” Browne said. “It delivers significant tourism and economic development in the form of the Transient Occupancy Tax (TOT) to the City’s general fund and the Vallejo Tourism Business Improvement District (VTBID) assessment by the lodging community.”

Dew said Six Flags has been an important outlet for Vallejoans as much as tourists during COVID-19.

After a March pandemic shutdown, Six Flags re-invented itself, reverting to its animal showcase days in offering “The Marine World Experience” and adding a drive-up Holiday in the Park.

“I will say that I worked hard with the park and the county to get them open. It was all about being able to do it safely and give people that ability to go somewhere and experience something good for that mental well-being,” Dew said.

“I think it really is a beacon of hope for the community and we will be able to get out to experience the rides at some point. We’ll have the animals in the meantime and still do the drive-through experience and provide that outlet for people,” Dew said. “It breaks them from the daily grind of being stuck in the house.”

The originally-called Marine World Africa U.S.A. and its 500 animals outgrew its 62-acre home in Redwood City in 1985 after 17 years, choosing Vallejo over Mountain View and Oakland.

The Redwood Shores location is now the world headquarters of Oracle Corporation.

Solano County Supervisor Erin Hannigan was told by County Environmental Health on Friday that “they received word from the (Chevy’s) general manager in December that Chevy’s will not follow the order.”

The restaurant “has been referred to the state and we are following up with the state on next steps,” Hannigan said, adding that Chevy’s is under investigation by the California Dept. of Alcoholic Beverage Control.

The only other Solano County Chevy’s in Fairfield also remains open for outdoor dining, as does the Chevy’s in Santa Rosa.

“These are very difficult times. People have lost jobs. People are sick. People are on the brink of losing their shelter. But it doesn’t make it right,” Hannigan said of Chevy’s “blatant defiance.”

Nicole Hodge, owner of Provisions cafe downtown, fumed in a Facebook posting Thursday and in a Friday morning phone interview.

“If it’s OK for Chevy’s, why isn’t OK for all these small restaurants to open?” said Hodge by phone Friday. “I feel like Chevy’s should be closed and should be fined.”

Though Hodge added that she “doesn’t see anything wrong with outdoor dining, the rules are the rules.”

Ken Ingersoll, owner of Gracie’s restaurant, initially said he “doesn’t know what to think” about Chevy’s stance to remain open.

“I’m following the rules,” Ingersoll said Friday. “I’m not a big corporation that can fight the government. But you’re putting people in desperate situations. They’re in survival mode.”

The City only Thursday became aware that Chevy’s “was and is operating outside the current regional health order requiring all outdoor dining to remain closed,” said Annette Taylor, senior community development analyst.

“We are going to work quickly to rectify this issue because the health and safety of our community is our number one priority,” continued Taylor, adding that the City “is currently reaching out to Solano County Public Health, who is the guiding authority in regards to the enforcement of the Health Order.”

Interim Deputy City Manager Gillian Hayes said a letter is being sent to Chevy’s “stating our position and referring to the state guidelines and county health department.”

There were 10 sit-down diners at the outdoor tented section at Chevy’s around noon Friday. The manager on duty, who declined to be identified, said the decision to remain open was from district manager.

Management and employees at Chevy’s are under instructions from General Manager Rachael Kruse to answer COVID-19 inquiries with the following statement: “We are aware of the current order issued by the state. There is some conflicting direction between the state, county and city levels as far as what restrictions to follow. Along with some restrictions being lifted in several California counties by overseeing judges. We take the safety of our guests and team very seriously. We are following the safety and sanitation guidelines. We believe our decision to remain open is what is best for our team so they may be able to work and continue to provide for their families. All work that provides support to your family is essential to that family.”

Hannigan has been aware of the Chevy’s controversy since Dec. 27 when she received a text that the Vallejo restaurant remained open for indoor dining as well as outdoors.

“I called them and asked if I could get a table for two and whoever answered the phone said, ‘inside or out?’” said Hannigan, eventually telling a manager that she wanted the restaurant “compliant like other businesses.”

“He said ‘It’s not me that makes the decision,’” said Hannigan, given a phone number of the regional manager in Seattle.

Hannigan said she explained the state protocols “and he thanked me for letting him know and I didn’t think anything else of it.”

When Hannigan saw Hodge’s Facebook post, she concluded that Chevy’s management shined her on.

“It infuriates me that this guy in Seattle thinks he can get way with it,” Hannigan said, agreeing with Hodge “100 percent” that if “mom and pop” restaurants have to close, corporate restaurants should as well.

It’s not that Hannigan doesn’t believe outdoor dining should be allowed.

“I get the indoor thing,” she said. “The outdoor thing? I don’t understand.”

Hannigan cited data indicating indoor family gatherings at home and not outdoor dining is the culprit of the recent COVID-19 spikes.

Still, she emphasized, if one restaurant has to abide by state orders, they all should.

Ingersoll agreed with Hannigan that there’s no data linking the recent COVID-19 spike to outdoor dining.

“Again, I’m just a little restaurant. My family depends on me to make the right decisions,” Ingersoll said, taking a swipe at Gov. Gavin Newsom opening up the Sacramento region earlier this week, including outdoor dining.

“I guess two plus two equals a goat and a fish,” Ingersoll said.

Chevy’s “was aware of the risk” in remaining open, said Ishmael Palacio, owner of Bambino’s downtown.

“Good for them. I wish more businesses had the balls to open up,” Palacio said, upset that “the state has never given us any data” justifying the ban on outdoor dining.

“It’s just ridiculous,” Palacio said. “We have employees unable to work. If they showed some data that this (COVID-19 spike) is because of outdoor dining, I’d be content. They need to show some numbers.”

Again, said Palacio, Chevy’s is aware of the risks and potential fines.

As a small business, “I don’t have the resources” to defy orders, Palacio said.

The order to cease anything but take-out “is killing us,”  said Hodge, contemplating an immediate solution.

“I’m thinking about hanging up a Chevy’s sign,” she said. “I can make some chips.”

Both, though, were thrilled that Paramount TV brought the Selena Gomez-produced “13 Reasons Why” to downtown Vallejo this week.

Around 50 extras were hired for Tuesday’s first day of filming the 13-episode Netflix series documenting the true story of teenage girl who commits suicide, but before doing it she records her suicide note on cassette tapes, and then sends the tapes to 13 people who she deemed responsible for her death.

The cameras started rolling late-morning inside made-for-the-movie Monet’s Cafe, the one-time City Lights restaurant on the 400 block of Virginia St. Across the street in front of the Times-Herald building, Barlow and Burckin waited patiently, hoping for the call.

Barlow, a long-time Vallejoan, has been cast in numerous commercials and several films as an extra. Burckin, a Benician and full-time clinical nurse, wanted to give this film-thing a try after years of being tossed on stage as a parent for her daughter’s performances with Benicia Ballet despite “being introverted as a kid.”

“When this came up, I thought, ‘I could do this,'” Burckin said. “My husband (Hale) said, ‘Give it a try’ so I’m testing the water.”

Granted, the “role” may be sitting in the cafe. Or walking behind the “real actors.” No matter.

“I may never make it” into the film, “but I still get $104,” Burckin said. “So far, it’s been a lot of sitting.”

With the minimal stage experience she’s had, Burckin said acting is very much like nursing.

“You walk into the room and it’s whatever the patient needs in that moment,” Burckin said.

Barlow, meanwhile, is “always on the lookout” for extras work. Though usually hired via casting agencies, this shoot was an “open call,” which means anyone in the public with a head shot and resume can go for it.

“I love it,” Barlow said.

Though Barlow never read the book, she was attracted to the plot, recalling a teenage friend who committed suicide.

“It was something I wanted to do,” she said of the extras job. “If this film helps in any way, it would be nice to be part of it.”

No matter.

“The fun thing about acting is you get to do something you always wanted to do, but you don’t have to keep doing it,” Barlow said.

Based on the 2007 New York Times bestselling book by Jay Asher, “13 Reasons Why” will film in Vallejo through Thursday, then head to Sebastopol and San Rafael before returning to Vallejo.

When the film crew heads home, Monet’s will likely remain Monet’s, said Robert Litwin, property manager for building owner Buck Kamphausen.

“Why not leave it that way and turn it into what it is,” Litwin said. “That’s something that’s on the plate. Why wouldn’t you keep what Paramount built for you?”

It was serendipitous that much of the Bay Area enjoyed clear skies and 80 degrees Tuesday, it was overcast in 70 in Vallejo.

In other words, just like the Pacific Northwest — ideal for the film.

“Paramount is that big,” Litwin said, suggesting production and distribution company influenced Mother Nature.

Litwin said four of Kamphausen’s buildings, plus four parking lots, are utilized by the film company, with the USA World Classics Events Center on Sonoma Boulevard headquarters for lunch and dinners for the film company personnel.

Hosting a Netflix TV series “will help put Vallejo on the map,” Litwin said. “This is what we need down here. I think it’s fantastic.”

Litwin joked that there was no interest by the motion picture people to cast him in the film.

“I think they cast me aside,” he said grinning. —— (c)2016 Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.) Visit Times-Herald (Vallejo, Calif.) at www.timesheraldonline.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC. AMX-2016-06-08T02:00:00-04:00