I would never neuter a bike that has a working FD setup, but starting from scratch I don't think it's a bad idea, really... the FD is pretty robust so I think it's spurious to remove it while leaving the RD out back if simplicity is the goal. FD maintenance and tweaking is pretty easy.

Building up a new bike with a 1x9 would give a good range I think, I used my commuter as a 1x9 for a long time and it was adequate.