Mayor Backs Mall to Raise City Revenue

Painting a rosy picture of the city, Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said Friday it’s time to start building for the future, and the future means a shopping mall.

Stratton reiterated that desire during the annual State of the City address attended by more than 120 business leaders.

The long-sought mall would generate taxes from sales that would put the city in a comfortable position to plan for growth.

According to Stratton, Simi Valley’s future rests on the continued development and expansion of city services, such as the Police Department. Tax money generated from a mall would help to offset those costs.

“It’s part of a well-rounded community and we want people to stay in town to shop,” Stratton said. “We need shopping for our own convenience and also because we are reliant on sales taxes for revenue.”

For emphasis, Stratton compared Thousand Oaks and Simi Valley and said he would like to “equalize” their disparity in sales tax revenues.

Because of Thousand Oaks’ extensive shopping facilities, the city was able to pump more than $16 million into its coffers. Meanwhile, Simi Valley generated just under $8 million from sales taxes, which, according to Stratton, isn’t enough to prepare for the future.

A shopping mall, he said, would help bridge the gap and give Simi Valley the resources to remain a pleasant and successful community.

“A 1-million-square-foot mall would bring us about $2 [million] to $3 million in extra revenue,” Stratton said. “That . . . would pay a lot of police officers and pave a lot of streets.”

A mall, however, is still a long way off. The city has contracted with Forest City Development to build it, but the developer is still marketing the proposed mall to find an anchor tenant. Construction isn’t expected to begin for three to five years.

In addition to stating his desire for a new shopping complex, Stratton applauded city agencies and residents for Simi Valley’s prosperity and remarkable comeback from the devastating 1994 Northridge earthquake.

He handed out special praise to the Police Department for the dramatic drops in the city’s crime rate. Serious felonies such as murder, rape, robbery and assault with a deadly weapon dropped by 16% last year and burglary rates plummeted by 30%.

Business leaders who attended Friday’s address were mostly pleased with the mayor’s remarks, but some said they would have liked more details about plans like the mall.

“It [the address] was very informative and very encouraging,” said Michael Voyles, an executive at the county’s Workforce Development Division. “I think he’s on the right track, but I’d like to see some more information.”