Retail Rivalry Generates Heated Political Battle

Not that long ago, a big fight between two malls might have meant that somebody was having a 50%-off sale on towels.

And not that long ago, you would even hear city officials in Ventura and Oxnard talking about keeping economic battles to a friendly sort of rivalry.

But things have changed fast in the last few months.

Now, the fight between rival retailers has entered the political arena. This time the talk is about multimillion-dollar development deals and lucrative sales tax rebates--not white sales.

And with that has come a tense showdown between the two cities over their economic futures and the question of who will dominate the regional retail market in western Ventura County.

The first clash in what promises to be a prolonged battle comes on March 26 when Ventura voters decide the fate of Measure S, a proposal aimed at blocking the expansion of the Buenaventura Mall by banning sales tax rebates to developers--a restriction that would be the first of its kind in the state, according to the League of California Cities.

Measure S is being backed by the owners of The Esplanade mall in Oxnard, who have contributed $57,500 to a local campaign being orchestrated by top-notch lawyers and political consultants in San Francisco.

The outside talent includes the political consulting firm of Ambrosino & Muir, which worked on President Clinton’s run for the Democratic nomination, and Bagatelos & Fadem, a campaign and election law firm that wrote the California state lottery law.

Fighting the initiative measure is MCA Buenaventura Associates, the owner of the Buenaventura Mall, which has spent more than $102,000 in a rival campaign also choreographed by political pros outside the county.

Mall owners have recruited Marathon Communications Inc. of Los Angeles to run the campaign against Measure S. Marathon managed the successful campaign for an initiative to overhaul the Los Angeles Police Department in the wake of the 1992 riots.

Both camps have launched impassioned crusades for and against Measure S and a companion referendum drive now underway aimed at forcing a special election on the mall issue in July--a strategy adopted after the Ventura City Council approved the mall expansion in a move that effectively blunted the potential impact of Measure S on the mall.

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“These things may have gone on before, but it is nothing like it is now,” said Ventura Councilman Jim Friedman. “There is a lot at stake.”

What is at stake for Ventura is $1.1 million in the sales tax dollars now generated by the aging Buenaventura Mall--and nearly $2 million in sales taxes that could come with an expanded mall. Without improvements--namely new department stores--city officials fear that the mall will deteriorate, eventually shrinking Ventura’s tax base.

So last month, the City Council approved a $50-million expansion plan that would bring two new anchor stores and a second level of shops to the mall, making it the largest in Ventura County.

They have found ready tenants in Sears and Robinsons-May, who have agreed to leave The Esplanade in Oxnard for the renovated Ventura mall.

But that move, a mere 3 1/2 miles, would devastate The Esplanade by stripping it of its only department stores.

And that is precisely the reason The Esplanade’s San Francisco-based owners are funneling tens of thousands of dollars into the local campaign for Measure S.

“It is pretty simple,” said Craig Scheidt, speaking for the group of private investors who have owned The Esplanade for 19 years. “We are trying to protect our interests.”

The same could be said for the city of Oxnard.

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The Esplanade generates more than $700,000 in sales tax revenue annually for Oxnard, money that helps keep police on the streets and pays for other public services.

If the anchor stores leave, officials say, it will hurt the city’s economy and create blight in and around the mall.

For months, they have urged Ventura leaders to reconsider expansion plans. They have sent formal appeals and spoken before the City Council. But they have failed to sway Ventura leaders.

“Ventura has simply ignored the regional import of this project,” Oxnard Community Development Director Richard J. Maggio wrote in a letter to the city. Instead, he says, Ventura has “shifted the full and complete responsibility of addressing serious and long-term environmental effects to its neighbors.”

Ventura council members say they are not trying to damage Oxnard or The Esplanade. They are simply trying to secure tax money by salvaging an outdated mall.

“We are not out to hurt any other city,” Councilman Ray Di Guilio said. “But we need to protect the financial viability of our city.”

So does Oxnard. And that is why council members are now talking about suing their neighbor to halt the Buenaventura Mall expansion.

“The City Council is serious about it and feels there are regional impacts that have not been properly evaluated,” Oxnard City Atty. Gary Gillig said.

“There hasn’t been any action taken,” he said. But the council is expected to take up the issue Feb. 27. “I think at that time they will make a final decision.”

Oxnard officials have until Feb. 29 to file a lawsuit opposing the mall’s environmental impact report, one aspect of the proposal approved by the Ventura City Council last month.

The same tight timeline applies to a local committee trying to qualify a referendum aimed at overturning the council’s decision.

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Citizens Against the Sales Tax Giveaway, the Esplanade-backed committee that successfully placed Measure S on the March ballot, must collect 6,026 valid signatures by Feb. 29 to qualify a referendum.

The group is pursuing a referendum because Measure S--even if passed by Ventura voters March 26--cannot apply to the mall expansion because of the City Council’s decision to approve the project prior to the election.

A referendum, however, would suspend the council’s approval of the project and force a July special election in which the fate of the mall would be put to a citywide vote.

The July special election--if held--would cost about $85,000. Attempts at referendums have been launched before, but City Clerk Barbara Kam said no referendum drive has made it to the ballot in the last 20 years.

Because of the possibility of another mall vote in July, the March 26 vote on Measure S is a sort of tuneup fight for the rival mall forces.

If approved, Measure S would single out Ventura as the only California city unable to offer tax rebates--a common incentive used by cities statewide to lure or secure businesses.

“This is the first time I have ever heard of that,” said Dwight Stenbakken, legislative director for the League of California Cities in Sacramento for the last 16 years.

“I know we have had criticism of [tax rebates], but I have never heard of anything developing to this point,” he said of Measure S. “[Ventura] would definitely be put at a competitive disadvantage.”

Although the owners of The Esplanade have bankrolled the campaign against the mall expansion, the most visible local group fighting for Measure S has been Citizens Against the Sales Tax Giveaway.

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The group is a committee of Ventura residents and self-styled taxpayer advocates that initially got its start with the help of Thousand Oaks resident Jere Robings and his group, Alliance for the Taxpayers. Its members say they are not soldiers for The Esplanade. Instead, they say, they are simply opposed to the City Council’s approval of the mall tax rebate.

“I believe that they are mortgaging the future of Ventura,” said Lary Reid, a Ventura businessman and treasurer of the committee.

Under the mall’s financing plan, the developers have agreed to pay $12.6 million in public improvements to be reimbursed by the city’s share of increased sales tax revenue over 20 years. With interest, the city’s payback would total $32.3 million at the end of 20 years.

If the city’s share of tax revenue did not exceed its current $1.1-million base, however, Ventura would not have to pay the developer back.

City leaders say the arrangement is risk-free and a smart investment. “We guarantee our current sales tax base and we risk no money up front,” Councilman Steve Bennett said.

But supporters of Measure S and the referendum say it is a questionable deal that deserves consideration by the city’s voters.

“Why not let the Ventura residents vote on it?” asked The Esplanade’s Scheidt. “I think that is more than fair.”

But city officials argue that the mall project--including its tax-sharing arrangement--has been subject to one of the most extensive public review processes ever carried out for a private development in Ventura.

The expansion is supported by a wide cross-section of city residents, including environmentalists, the Chamber of Commerce, police, firefighters, shoppers and mall neighbors.

“The expansion of the mall will work for everybody,” said Rudy Contreras, a Ventura firefighter stationed in front of Target last weekend to campaign against Measure S.

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After months of high-powered negotiations, this is where the mall debate has ended up: on the streets where opponents and supporters are engaging in a bare-knuckled fight over votes.

“I happen to think we are on the side with the white hats,” declared Measure S campaign manager Eric Lambert, standing in front of Kmart last weekend with a petition in hand.

Wearing T-shirts that read, “Don’t be a sucker,” Lambert and Ventura resident Richard Chittenden handed out specialty Measure S lollipops to those who stopped to sign their referendum petitions.

A few feet away, Chamber of Commerce President John Walters and his 11-year-old daughter, Jessica, handed out “Vote No on Measure S” fliers and encouraged passersby not to sign the petitions.

“We’re telling them . . . don’t listen to the sound bites,” Walters said. “We’re just trying to give them the facts.”

Times staff writer Kenneth R. Weiss contributed to this story.