Street Name Change May Warrant Survey

People who would be affected if Tapo Street were renamed may get a chance to voice their opinions on the matter via a survey.

Simi Valley City Councilwoman Sandi Webb proposed the name change over the summer, noting the confusion out-of-towners and newcomers have distinguishing Tapo Street from nearby Tapo Canyon Road, also a major north-south boulevard. And the idea just happened to dovetail with an effort to improve the image of the ailing street, now the focus of a revitalization effort.

The city staff has estimated that changing the street’s name could cost between $49,760 and $119,760 for map and city database revisions.

Because police tracking and dispatch databases are complex, it may be hard to find a program that could simply plug in the new name. If such a program exists, the lower estimate applies. If the name change had to be done manually, the higher number would be correct, according to a staff report prepared by Assistant City Manager Don Penman.

That doesn’t begin to calculate the possible costs to merchants in the ailing business district now being revitalized. They would bear the cost of changing phone book advertising, letterheads and business cards.

So the City Council must decide on Monday if the city should survey the business owners in the district about the proposed name change or drop the idea.

Were a survey to be approved, it would ask business owners if the city should leave the Tapo Street name alone; change the name to Santa Susana Boulevard; or leave the street name unchanged while creating a bigger Santa Susana Shopping District, which would include Tapo Street and surrounding areas.

The survey idea has already been endorsed by the committee charged with revitalizing Tapo Street. Such a survey would run about $200, city staffers estimate.