ELECTIONS / THOUSAND OAKS COUNCIL : Candidates Suggest Ways to Bolster Economy

At age 30, the city of Thousand Oaks looks a bit like a game of Monopoly in its late stages.

The players have already lined the game board with all the green houses and red hotels. And from Park Place to St. James Avenue, the most treasured properties have been bought and sold.

After three decades of phenomenal growth that changed the Conejo Valley from a farming town and vacation getaway for Angelenos to a thriving city of 112,600, Thousand Oaks is approaching build-out.

Expected sometime after 2005, build-out will mean the end of new development and the beginning of a different stage of life for Thousand Oaks. Without the constant influx of new residents and developments to boost its economy, the city will have to look elsewhere for revenue.

“It’s an excellent time to get creative,” said Bob Biery, Thousand Oaks’ financial director.

The six candidates running for the empty seat on the Thousand Oaks City Council are doing just that, tossing out ideas to strengthen the local economy, ranging from sweeping reforms to minor changes.

How the city continues to grow has emerged as the single most important issue of the campaign. The four members now on the council typically split on this issue, with two members considered supportive of development and two favoring a slow-growth approach.

Thus, the fifth member, who will be chosen in the June 6 special election, could break the deadlock and help set the direction for the city.

The candidates, though, have tried to avoid siding with either camp--calling themselves independent thinkers.

Real estate broker and engineer John Ellis stresses cutting fat in city government, firing some staff members and retraining others. Attorney Trudi Loh would consider ways to increase the city’s profits from the new Performing Arts Center. Compton homicide Detective Mike Markey would hire a full-time economic liaison to attract new businesses.

Office equipment salesman Ekbal Quidwai thinks an independent audit of the city’s finances is needed before decisions about increasing revenue can be made. Ramaul Rush, a juvenile court dependency counselor, suggests holding street fairs and taking a more proactive approach to stimulating local business. And mobile carwash owner Lance Winslow would push the “Buy Local” program and try to attract movie makers to the community to boost revenues.

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Thousand Oaks gets the largest portion--about 40%--of its annual general fund budget from sales tax revenue, Biery said. Last year sales from the Thousand Oaks Auto Mall, The Oaks mall and small businesses contributed $13 million to the city’s general fund.

Additional revenue comes from permit and licensing fees--about $2 million last year--motor vehicle fees and a portion of property taxes paid by homeowners. But Thousand Oaks only gets 3% of property tax revenues back from the state, a strikingly small portion compared to a city such as Los Angeles, which gets 38% back from the state, according to City Manager Grant Brimhall.

Biery said the cost of providing services--from roads to libraries--continues to rise, while the amount of revenue coming in remains stagnant.

Although he believes the city won’t reach its build-out population figure of 135,000 for another 15 to 20 years, Biery said the decrease in development will make a difference in the way the city works.

“Once you get to a point where you are strictly a maintenance operation and you are no longer having new development coming in, it does change how you operate and how your resources are received and allocated,” Biery said.

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As the game shifts into different gear for Thousand Oaks, some candidates urge immediate attention to the local economy.

“Build-out is coming,” Loh said. “Whether it’s 10 years or 15 years away we don’t want to wait until then to deal with the problem. The larger projects will be history, and the smaller projects that will be in-fill will not generate the same kinds of fees.”

Markey said the key lies in stimulating local business.

“I think we are going into a maintenance mode,” he said. “And that is why it is critical that we support our local businesses. If business doesn’t survive, the community suffers.”

Others take a more laid-back approach, such as Ellis, who said he doesn’t understand dire predictions calling for change.

“I’m constantly hearing that if we don’t do something that the city will sink into a primeval swamp,” Ellis said. “I don’t think so.”

But Ellis said he does think the city’s attention will turn to redevelopment--revamping aging buildings and malls around the city and generating more construction and retail jobs. Helping push those kinds of vital projects along would be part of his goals as a councilman, he said.

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He said the city government should be run more like a business, with training courses to make staff members more efficient. He acknowledges those kinds of efforts would cost money initially, but said the number of staffers could be cut to compensate.

Quidwai is also distrustful of city staff, saying he believes the city’s financial future looks rosy from a superficial viewpoint, but that as a council member he would want to know more about the $400 million the city has in investments.

“Nobody can really make a definitive statement about the city’s finances because they have made so many interagency transfers,” Quidwai said. “We need an independent audit of these funds.”

Loh proposes turning the city’s new Citizens’ Budget Task Force into a regular commission.

“I think that these financial issues are going to be at the forefront from now on,” Loh said. The commission would focus on revenue-generating ideas as well as budget review. She would also like to see a 10-year projection of the costs the city is facing in terms of building upkeep and maintenance.

She favors starting a film or jazz festival to attract attention--and income--to the city. And the Performing Arts Center may be a way to bring in more money.

“Most people in Thousand Oaks don’t realize that the $102 they are paying for Barry Manilow tickets don’t go to the city,” she said. “Almost all of it goes to the promoter. We clearly want to keep the Civic Arts Plaza viable and a part of our community.

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“It doesn’t necessarily mean anything drastic,” she added. “It may be something as simple as setting up a nonprofit production company. But we need to have more long-term vision for the facility.”

Loh said she wants to see more of an effort on the city’s part to attract businesses to the Conejo Valley. Ideally the city manager’s office would take on that task, she said.

Markey sees it differently. He wants to hire a full-time economic liaison.

“We want someone who can try to save those that are leaving and to encourage new businesses to come to Thousand Oaks,” Markey said. “I’m talking about someone whose specialty is going out and doing this. Staff members have other things to do.”

He would also like to see a joint venture between the city and the business community to sponsor a job training center specializing in high-technology fields.

Supporting business is the key to surviving the slowdown that comes as the city grows to capacity, he said.

“If business doesn’t survive, the community suffers,” Markey said. “I’m concerned just in the sense that developers’ fees are going to dwindle. When that happens we are going to have to make sure our tax dollars are going back into the community. If we as a council shut out business, we aren’t going to survive.”

Rush also advocates stronger city links with the business community.

“We need to have a communication link with them so they won’t be turned off and go elsewhere,” Rush said.

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But he doesn’t want any more committees created to cope with the problem, saying the Mayor’s Business Roundtable and Chamber of Commerce are already doing a good job.

“I think we have some good agencies and committees in place and we should just continue to build on that,” he said.

Rush also thinks the city should concentrate more on revenue boosters such as street fairs and fund-raising events featuring professional athletes.

Meanwhile, Winslow thinks the city should cast its attention toward Hollywood for new revenue sources.

“We need to market Thousand Oaks,” Winslow said. “We have beautiful places to film. We have neat stuff in this town.”

Another opportunity to market the city can be found at the Civic Arts Plaza, he said.

“I watched these people come out of the Civic Arts Plaza the other night,” Winslow said. “I watched them get right on the freeway at midnight, driving toward L.A. Why didn’t they stop for gas? For food? For a cocktail? Because we are not marketing Thousand Oaks and we should be.”

He proposes putting a kiosk near the Civic Arts Plaza, to function almost like an automatic teller machine, delivering information about restaurants and maps of the city on command.