The announcement from Farmers Insurance yesterday that they were packing up their employees and leaving town came as a surprise to many. Farmers Insurance occupies Simi Valley’s key landmark building in the center of town and was the largest employer. The loss of this company is a sad occasion and one especially for my family.

My father was in his early 40s when he went out and secured Farmers Insurance commitment to build their Western Regional Headquarters in Simi Valley in what would be probably the biggest moment in any real estate broker’s career. My family has had great pride in the developments they brought to Simi Valley, most notably at the Sycamore and Cochran business district, but the course of city government over the last decade has put this business district in severe jeopardy of becoming a blighted area of town.

The Mervyn’s store is not the fault of Simi Valley as the company failed, which caused it to close that location.  Farmers Insurance decision to bail out on Simi Valley has a lot of interesting components which if turn out to be true, will mean that the city of Simi Valley could have taken some fairly simple steps to keep it’s largest employer from moving out of town.

Looming in the future is the opening of the brand-new Target Superstore at the corner of Los Angeles Ave. and Madera. While some believe Target will continually operate two stores in Simi Valley; the possibility of  the older store on Cochran closing it’s doors in the future cannot be ignored.

Our city has a very big task in front of itself to deal with their current local business conditions. The health of our local businesses and the attitude of our local employers will impact the desirability for people who want to move to and live in Simi Valley.

I try not to talk on this blog about politics, but this is an election season where we have two City Council seats up for vote and the Mayor’s seat up for vote. This issue facing our city is the most important. If we cannot stabilize the business climate and the economic vitality of Simi Valley, than all the other projects and programs will mean nothing.

It’s time now for the citizens to become involved, voice their opinion and not just assume our elected officials are looking after our best interest. The changes we are seeing in the business community and Simi Valley are not all economically related. With the advent of the Internet impacting shopping habits, the changing dynamics of small business operations, the unfriendly business climate across the state of California towards large employers, Simi Valley cannot afford any more miscues with our local businesses.

I still believe in Simi Valley, I love living in Simi Valley and Simi Valley has been a great place to raise my family. This may be the most difficult time this city will go through in it’s history, but I know many of the talented and great people who live here who can help us rebuild Simi Valley into a greater place.  I urge all my friends and fellow Simi Valley citizens to get out and vote this November and carefully consider the candidates for City Council and Mayor as it will take extraordinary ideas and extraordinary people to help move us forward.

I want to ask a big favor of all my friends and fellow citizens of Simi Valley; the loss of the employment base at the corner of Sycamore and Cochran will have a significant effect at the local businesses there.  Today I had lunch at Sharky’s and by 12:15 the restaurant was packed with Farmers employees.  When the move out is complete, the businesses in the area will see significant declines in revenues and any support you can give by visiting those retailers is a way we can band together and help keep the remaining businesses strong.

Thank you for your consideration and readership