The San Diego City Council’s decision to include construction of a new Downtown main library in the East Village Redevelopment Project was the right one.
Placing the $130 million library in the “bay-to-park” area of the redevelopment zone gives greater currency to a project which, rightly or wrongly, was beginning to be tainted with the appearance of corporate welfare for the Padres.
No longer can critics of the Downtown ballpark sneer that the “city can build a stadium for the Padres, but not a library for the residents.” The new library should open in the summer of 2004 within cheering distance of the new ballpark.
The chosen site will also provide easier access to the library. The current site of the main library, briefly considered for redevelopment itself, would provide no relief from the traffic snarls and parking limitations already existing there, and which often keep patrons away.
With the promise of 300 parking spaces reserved for library patrons, the new library site should draw far more users.
For those naysayers who criticize the idea of building a new public library with public funds, we just say this: It is the role of government to provide for the welfare of its people, including their artistic and intellectual well-being. The new library will be the spawning ground of tomorrow’s industrialists, physicians, researchers, authors and artists, and a comfort for all of us who simply love the act of learning.
The question now is whether the City Council, which will be changing much of its make up in the November elections, will follow through on its decision. The relocation of the main library has been debated for 20 years, and proposed sites have been repeatedly suggested, accepted and abandoned.
It’s time to make a stand for the Downtown library. We feel the site between 11th and 12th avenues and J and K streets, is just the right place to make it.
