Construction underway on welcome sign
By Kyle Jorrey kjorrey@theacorn.com

Simi Valley is about to get its welcome mat back.

This Monday, construction workers from Simibased GTS Construction began work on an access road to the isolated site on Rocky Peak where the city's original "Welcome to Simi Valley" sign once stood, the first step in a process that's expected to last until May.

That sign burned down during the 2005 Topanga fire. New plans call for the sign to be 15.5-by-52 feet in size and made mostly from fireproof stone.

The new and improved sign is the result of a joint effort between the three Simi Rotary clubs and the city- which in March 2006 dedicated $100,000 from the city budget's Developmental Agreement Fund toward the project.

Longtime Rotarian Jim Lowry has been involved in the process since Rotary designated the sign as its centennial project, part of Rotary International's 100year anniversary celebration in 2005.

"It's really quite exciting, the idea that we're going to have a beautiful sign welcoming people to Simi Valley," said Lowry, who's acting as the liaison between Rotary and the contractor. "It's been a long, long struggle, and it's been a lot of cooperative work between a lot of individuals. But the final product is going to be gorgeous."

Councilmember Michelle Foster, herself a member of Rotary, announced that construction had begun on the sign during Monday's council meeting, thanking those who had fought so hard to see the sign rebuilt.

"This would not have happened if not for the dedication of a few key people who just wouldn't give up and kept plugging," Foster told the Acorn.

An unveiling ceremony for the new sign is yet to be planned and may be difficult because of the location of the site, Lowry said.