Mold Remediation in Elk Grove, CA

Laguna Flowers, located at 5030 Laguna Blvd. in the Laguna Creek Town Center, is having a closing sale after more than two decades of business in Elk Grove.

Sohaila Murtaza, who has owned the business for 11 years of its 23 year existence, said she’s shutting down the floral boutique because of the financial struggles the business has endured.

“It’s time for us to move on,” said the semi-retiring Murtaza.

She’ll still work because she has to. But the floral business, she said, has taken many losses in a rough economy for small businesses.

“These are hard times as well financially as far as the economy and all. Our walk-in cooler broke and many things. We decided, ‘okay, that’s enough,’” Murtaza said. “Because of inflation there, as you know, the price has gone up. Customers are not buying as much as they used to. I mean, business is not as good as it used to be, especially after COVID-19. So, yeah, things are getting tough nowadays. And (there’s) rent.”

Murtaza said she sees her closure as part of a trend of other small businesses closing. She’s having an all-out, everything-must-go sale.

“I already gave our notice at the end of this month we’re going to close doors,” Murtaza said. “So I’m hoping that we can just get rid of things and be done.”

Shoppers like Alex Morton were trying to help Murtaza do just that.

Morton, an environmental educator with Sacramento Splash, made her first-ever visit to Laguna Flowers Thursday because she saw signs about the sale and wanted to see what she could find for her students.

“I was just coming by to get flowers for one of our field trip activities,” Morton said. “We do hands-on pollination activities. Also, you know, hands on bee demonstrations, agricultural stuff.”

Similar to Morton was first-time store visitor Alexis Limon, who grew up in Elk Grove and said she never had a reason to go into the flower store until Thursday.

“I’m planning for a wedding right now. And so this is super useful, because we’re DIY everything,” Limon said. “(It’s) November 9. I’m a teacher on a budget so we’re just trying to get creative.”

Laguna Flowers will close on October 31.

The city of Elk Grove has secured a site where they expect to operate a year-round homeless shelter. A decision to enter a negotiation with a site operator will go before city council members Wednesday evening.

This development follows the city’s June announcement that leaders wanted to identify a location for a permanent homeless shelter following the success of the shelter they piloted this past winter. The spot they’ve secured isn’t a permanent site, but will partially act as a shelter for the next three years until the city finds a site and space designated for unhoused persons.

Elk Grove public affairs manager Kristyn Laurence said that efforts to locate a permanent location are “already underway.”

In early September, the city entered into a lease with the Calvary Christian Center, located at 9499 E. Stockton Blvd., occupying the north portion of the building on the site through October 2028 with an optional one-year extension, a city staff report stated.

During Wednesday’s council meeting, the city is expected to approve a $4.5 million contract with The Gathering Inn to operate the new site. The Placer County-based nonprofit that provides housing and support services to the homeless population operated the city’s first ever enhanced winter sanctuary last year.

The former site was located just outside of Old Town Elk Grove near Waterman Road inside of a former Rite Aid building, planned to be the new site of a renovated public library. It was a 24/7 site that operated by referral only. In six months between November 2023 and April 2024, 62 individuals were housed and 20 of them went on to permanent housing destinations.

The intent is to continue efforts at decreasing homelessness in the area.

Elk Grove makes up 2.1% of the homeless population in Sacramento County, according to the 2024 Homeless Point-in-Time (PIT) Count. It’s one of the few cities under a 5% rate alongside Folsom (3.4%), Citrus Heights (1.6%) and Rancho Cordova (1.3%).

According to a National Community Survey that the city conducts annually, 51% of residents felt homelessness in Elk Grove has worsened since a year ago, and only 6% felt it had improved.

In late August, the city approved an amendment to a city ordinance to respond quicker to homeless encampment cleanups, shortening the window from 72 to 24 hours before temporarily seizing their property.

“The city’s planned opening of a new year-round shelter, coupled with the City’s new anti-camping ordinance, ensures a compassionate approach to cleaning up encampments and helping those experiencing homelessness receive the services and housing that they need,” Elk Grove Mayor Bobbi Singh Allen said ahead of the vote. “The city’s partnership with Calvary Christian Center, The Gathering Inn, and many other nonprofits and community groups is part of the City’s broader effort to address homelessness and keep our rate of homelessness the lowest in Sacramento County.”

According to a city report, the Calvary Christian Center would continue its operations in the southern building and the city would share the north building with a Spanish-language ministry that currently leases space from the church.

The shelter for the unhoused, if approved, is expected to open in November. In the meantime, the city was expected to begin evaluating vacant land options and existing buildings in search of a future site to be used as permanent shelter location.

This story was originally published September 24, 2024, 12:50 PM.

The Sacramento Bee

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Marcus D. Smith is The Sacramento Bee’s Elk Grove reporter. He joined The Bee in 2020, covering Black communities for the Equity Lab. Prior to The Bee, Smith covered high school sports at the Citrus Heights Sentinel. He received his journalism degree from Texas Southern University.