Mayor urges demolition of mall after latest fire
Sunday blaze shows long-closed shopping center a safety hazard, Valdivia says
The Carousel Mall in downtown San Bernardino must be demolished immediately in light of Sunday evening’s fire there, Mayor John Valdivia said by phone Monday.
The weekend blaze, which crews knocked down around 9 p.m., was the latest to require emergency attention.
“The Carousel Mall is a hazard now,” Valdivia said. “We need to demolish it ASAP.”
Investigators determined the fire was human-caused but did not have any suspect information or a possible motive, San Bernardino police Sgt. Equino Thomas said Monday. No surveillance video from inside the mall was available, Thomas said.
Police arrested a man at the mall Sunday evening, Thomas said. The man was wanted for an outstanding warrant and was not involved in the fire.
In recent months, San Bernardino County fire crews have responded to two to three small fires a week at the shuttered shopping center, city spokesman Jeff Kraus said last month.
Enough is enough, Valdivia said Monday.
“I have been steadfast and focused to make sure the mall gets demolished,” he said. “Today, I’m more concerned than ever that this is now a health and safety hazard for the community.
“The City Council must move forward expeditiously and quickly to demolish the Carousel Mall.”
Entrances at the Carousel Mall have been boarded up for five years, but vandals and transients have repeatedly found ways in.
At Valdivia’s behest, San Bernardino leaders past and present weighed demolishing the place back in October 2020 and came to the conclusion that doing so would make the 43-acre downtown property more attractive to and “shovel ready” for developers.
Demolition was priced at more than $10 million, City Manager Rob Field said at the time, with whatever the city incurred in costs to be recouped through the sale of property.
But the plan was halted early last year as a new City Council considered two proposals to redevelop the site.
A county fire report on Sunday’s blaze is expected at Wednesday’s City Council meeting, Valdivia said.
Monday, Valdivia urged his council colleagues to propose and pass an emergency ordinance permitting the city manager to begin the process of demolishing the mall. He added that he will exhaust all legal opportunities to level the shopping center.
“The bottom line is the city needs to demolish,” Valdivia added. “The city needs to move on this.”