Commuter Traffic Thinning Out to L.A. : Economy: Fewer residents are driving to outside jobs, newly released census figures show. Most of the east county’s work force is now employed by Ventura County firms.

The percentage of residents of eastern Ventura County who commute to jobs in Los Angeles has dropped sharply in the last decade, a sign that the economy in the region has been built up significantly since its days as a largely undeveloped bedroom community.

New U.S. census figures show that most of the east county’s work force is now employed by Ventura County firms. Only Simi Valley has a slight majority of workers who still commute outside the county.

The 1990 census figures released last month show that the number of Simi Valley workers who drive to work in Los Angeles has dropped from 70% to 51.2% of the work force in the last decade. The percentage in Thousand Oaks dropped from 51% to 41.9%.

The new figures also show that 37.8% of the workers in Moorpark, the fastest-growing city in the county during the 1980s, now commute to Los Angeles County. Because Moorpark was not yet a city in 1980, there is no comparable figure.

While officials of the three east county cities have welcomed the new figures as proof of economic vitality in the area, they agreed last week that an increased effort is needed if the east county is to further emerge from its bedroom community roots.

One official of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce suggested that the goal for the region should be to cut the number of Los Angeles commuters to about 25% of the work force, a figure which would match the 1990 census statistics for Ventura County as a whole.

Such an effort, however, will not be easy, they said, because times have changed since the days when new companies came to eastern Ventura County simply because of its lure as an area immune to many of the urban ills of the Los Angeles metropolitan area.

Simi Valley, Thousand Oaks and Moorpark can no longer rely solely on their reputations for low crime rates, good schools and easy access to major markets in Los Angeles to attract commerce, officials said. In an increasingly competitive job market, quality of life is only one of many factors for companies to consider, they said.

“California relied on quality of life for years,” said Nancy Bender, executive director of the Simi Valley Chamber of Commerce. “It’s still a major attraction. But now you’ve got to have something else to go along with it.”

Bender said if the city wants to further reduce the number of workers commuting to Los Angeles County--presently 28,563 of the city’s 55,156 workers make the drive--it must take a more aggressive approach in seeking new jobs. That includes offering financial incentives to businesses, she said.

“Whatever we can do, we have to do,” Bender said of attracting new businesses.

To that end, the city recently offered a $175,000 cash bonus to entice a San Fernando Valley medical supplies manufacturer to move its corporate offices, plant and 470 jobs to the city. The money is less than half the $400,000 Guardian Products requested from the city’s redevelopment agency.

Barry Rosengrant, a relocation consultant hired by Guardian, said the company is still weighing offers from other cities and expects to make a final decision within the next two weeks. He said the company has received offers from as far away as Utah and Tennessee that include everything from tax rebates to cash allowances for every job created.

“It’s a drop in the bucket compared to what some states have offered,” Rosengrant said of Simi Valley’s proposal.

Still, Rosengrant said Guardian officials remain impressed with the Ventura County city.

“There is a strong sense of community,” Rosengrant said. “And business conditions are very good.”

Simi Valley Mayor Greg Stratton said financial incentives, like the one offered Guardian, have become a necessity in attracting new businesses. He noted that the city, once a magnet for companies fleeing the San Fernando Valley, is now faced with competitive land costs and leasing rates from its neighbor to the east.

Stratton, a manager at Teledyne Systems in Chatsworth, said the future economic development of his city is dependent on its ability to bring more businesses and jobs to the city.

“It’s an investment,” Stratton said of the money offered to Guardian. “Anyone who doesn’t see that is going to be left behind in the 1990s.”

Moorpark City Councilman Roy Talley said his city does not have money to offer businesses. But he said there are other things Moorpark can do to make itself more attractive and business-friendly.

For example, Talley said, the city is considering lowering permit fees, offering sales tax rebates and developing an aggressive marketing campaign. The city may also hire an economic development director whose sole job would be to solicit new businesses.

Talley said it has never been more critical to create new jobs within the city, which has suffered from a lack of revenue-generating businesses.

Litton Industries, the city’s second-largest employer, recently announced it had canceled plans to expand its operations and instead will move its 600-employee Aero Products Division to Canoga Park.

The task of bringing new jobs to Moorpark has been made more difficult by the fact that Moorpark has become the richest city in the county, with a median household income of $60,368, Talley said. Also, the city’s median home value is $276,800, compared with $245,300 countywide.

To cut down on the number of residents commuting to work outside the county--4,999 of the Moorpark’s 13,213-member work force--the city must attract high-paying jobs, Talley said.

“We’re too expensive, which makes it very difficult to attract business,” the councilman said. “Unless we decide to create a Rodeo Drive or something.”

Talley, who manages an electronics firm in Hollywood, said the city must commit itself to building more low-cost housing if it wants to attract large manufacturers and retailers.

“If we can get our housing costs down where the workers of different companies can live in town, we can bring the number (of commuters) down,” he said. “Until we get ahold of that it will be difficult to compete with other cities.”

There is some good news, Talley and other east county officials said.

Bugle Boy Industries, the Simi Valley-based clothing manufacturer, recently proposed building a factory outlet mall in Moorpark that could employ up to 700 people and generate about $150,000 a year in sales tax revenue.

While the number of Los Angeles businesses moving to eastern Ventura County has slowed considerably in the last 18 months, interest is starting to pick up, said Cathy Condon, an office leasing agent with Grubb & Ellis.

“We’re seeing a little bit of interest in the Conejo Valley from downtown Los Angeles tenants,” Condon said. “The interest is mostly from small tenants who want out of downtown because of the recent unrest.”

Condon said businesses wishing to relocate usually consider the east county first, even though land and office space are slightly cheaper in the west county.

“There’s a mental perception that the Conejo Grade is a geographical barrier,” she said.

Thousand Oaks Mayor Robert E. Lewis said his city has no plans to offer financial incentives to attract businesses.

“We have never offered money, and I doubt we ever will,” Lewis said. “I don’t think it’s good business. I think it has a negative connotation to it.”

However, Lewis said Thousand Oaks is interested in luring new business. To that end, the city has cut in half the time it takes to get a major project through the planning process, which in turn saves developers money.

The reduction in red tape recently proved to be a key factor in persuading an Illinois-based medical manufacturer into building a laboratory in the city, Lewis said.

Lewis said the city approved development plans for the Baxter Health Care laboratory within five months, a process that would normally take a year. The lab is expected to create 600 new jobs.

The mayor said the new lab and expansion plans at Amgen, the country’s largest biotechnology company with 1,300 workers, will help offset the loss of jobs caused by the closure of the Northrop Corp.’s Newbury Park plant last year.

The city is taking other steps to make itself more attractive to businesses. Philip Gatch, director of planning, said the city has hired a consultant to lead seminars aimed at improving customer relations in every city department, but especially in building services.

“We’ve even sent people to telephone seminars, to teach them how to answer the phone properly,” Gatch said. “We’re trying to create a more cooperative attitude and a better understanding of businesses in this economic climate.”

A new ombudsman position has also been created to help everyone from homeowners to major developers sort out planning problems.

Lewis said such actions will keep the city competitive in attracting new employers.

“In time, you will see a revision” in the number of commuters, said Lewis, a business attorney who drives three times a week to his Los Angeles office. Presently, 23,729 of the city’s 56,574 workers commute to Los Angeles.

Other cities in the county are also struggling to attract new businesses and retain existing ones.

Abex Aerospace of Oxnard recently notified its 630 workers of mass layoffs and possible closure of its plant. But workers have offered to go without pay raises for a year, and then take only a 1% pay raise each year after that for the next three years in order to keep the company operating.

Earlier this month, county government and business leaders gathered at the first Ventura County Summit on Economic Vitality, where they exchanged ideas on how to improve the region’s business climate.

The summit’s keynote speaker was Peter V. Ueberroth, chairman of the Council on California Competitiveness, a blue-ribbon panel charged by the governor with attracting and retaining jobs to meet demands from the state’s growing population.

Among other things, Ueberroth advocated offering economic incentives to encourage companies to stay and expand and to attract new businesses.