SIMI VALLEY : Ground Broken for Boys & Girls Club

It was chilly and gray Wednesday afternoon as 10-year-old Oyinda Elias stood on a weed-covered Simi Valley lot and imagined a new Boys & Girls Club.

“It will be big and clean and bright and everyone will come,” she said, smiling.

“We can’t wait,” chimed in her best friend, Tracy Davis, also 10.

The two spend many afternoons in the city’s east end at a rundown building that once served as a school and now houses the club. Wednesday, the girls joined city leaders and dozens of other club members to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new club on Lemon Drive at Alamo Street.

With $3.3 million in city funds, a sleek concrete and glass, 25,000-square-foot club should be completed within a couple of years, Mayor Greg Stratton said.

“It seems like forever, but it’s only been three years since we approved the plans on this thing,” he said.

Speaking to the gathering of about 50 people, Stratton recalled helping open the city’s first Boys Club in an old trailer during the early 1970s.

“We knew at that time there was a need for additional services for youth,” he said. “We’ve come a long way since then.”

The project was initially set for construction in 1992, but was held up by a legal dispute with a neighboring property owner.

“This is a thrill,” said Tim Shannon, club president. “This is wonderful for the community and especially for the children of the community.”