SIMI VALLEY : $27,000 OKd for Library Opening

The city of Simi Valley has agreed to pay $27,000 for extra police and street maintenance workers to help with security, traffic and parking during the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library on Nov. 4.

“We’re honored to host this kind of tribute to our president,” Mayor Greg Stratton said before the council voted Monday to waive the city’s service fees.

Stratton said it was of little consequence that the $60-million library complex off Madera Road is not exactly in Simi Valley but on a hilltop under the jurisdiction of the county.

“Just try getting there without going through the city,” he said.

President Bush and former Presidents Richard M. Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter are among the 4,000 people expected to attend the library’s opening. Several heads of state and other dignitaries are also expected.

Former White House officials who served in the Reagan Administration will gather at the library on Nov. 3. About 2,000 people have been invited to the event. City officials said 48 police officers and five maintenance workers will be used during both events.

Sections of Madera Road and Wood Ranch Parkway will be closed both days. Special trams provided by Universal Studios will be used to transport guests from designated parking areas to the library.

Presidential speeches, correspondence, videotapes and a host of memorabilia from Reagan’s years in the White House will be exhibited in the two-story, 153,000-square-foot library, among the largest presidential libraries in the country.