Webb to Take Bottle Village Aid Fight to D.C.

Simi Valley Councilwoman Sandi Webb said Monday she plans to take the city’s battle against earthquake repair funds for Bottle Village to Washington, D.C., this weekend.

Webb said she will present Federal Emergency Management Agency officials with a petition bearing the signatures of nearly 2,000 people who agree with her stance that it is “better to bulldoze Bottle Village than waste $436,500 to rebuild it.”

Webb and hundreds of other Simi Valley residents oppose FEMA’s decision to grant nearly half a million dollars in repair money to Bottle Village, the junk-art monument that the late Tressa “Grandma” Prisbrey built in eastern Simi Valley out of cement, beer bottles, TVs, doll heads and other found objects.

The City Council has endorsed a bill introduced by Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Simi Valley) to rescind the FEMA funding. FEMA has since frozen the Bottle Village reconstruction funds until it can investigate whether the expense is warranted.

Webb said she will also protest FEMA’s decision last year to bill some Simi Valley earthquake victims for the return of aid money that originally was given to them in the form of grants.

As Simi Valley’s sole delegate this year to the National League of Cities conference beginning Saturday, Webb said she will try to squeeze the FEMA visit in between other official city business.

She said she has no plans to give FEMA officials the gesture she gave at last year’s conference, when Webb responded to pro-gun control comments by U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) by waving her middle finger at the senator and stalking out.

“I’ve had a few people tell me I should go give the Feinstein salute to FEMA,” Webb said, chuckling. “But I’ll keep it civil, I promise.”