Dec 13, 2006

Library system revamp is OK'd

Mitchell Park facility may be tripled in size

By Kristina Peterson / Daily News Staff Writer

The Palo Alto City Council has approved plans to revamp the city's libraries and conduct a poll to gauge the community's interest.

Though council members initially split over whether to poll residents on the issue, they voted unanimously to approve the tenets of a colleagues' memo brought forward by council members John Barton and Larry Klein on Monday. The memo approved proposed improvements at all of the recommended libraries, including the expansion of Mitchell Park.

"We should not underestimate this victory," said Sanford Forte, vice chair of the Library Advisory Commission, which drafted the recommendations. "Until now, no process has been seen as inclusive or valid. There has always been argument about what we should do."

The council approved the highest tier of the commission's recommendations, which include rebuilding the Mitchell Park branch at triple its current size and upgrading three other libraries. An option to construct an addition to the Mitchell Park facility was rejected by council, which instead favored combining the library with a community center at a projected cost of between $31.5 million and $44 million.

"It was a wonderful show of support from the City Council," said Library Director Diane Jennings. "There's a lot of work left to do to find a funding mechanism. ... The poll is a good first step."

The council diverged over whether to poll the public now or after a more detailed project has been planned.

"The people being polled really don't know a lot about the issue yet. ..." Klein said, calling it a "waste of money."

Council Member Jack Morton joined him in opposing any immediate poll.

"Until we have a project, it doesn't make any sense," Morton said.

But others on the council felt that polling would be crucial to tailoring a potential June 2008 bond measure that would require two-thirds of the city's approval to pass.

Barton argued that polls could help shape the strategy of a proposal that the community would accept, especially if combined with plans to build a new public safety building. Barton called getting to the two-thirds approval "a daunting task." In 2002, a bond effort to rebuild the libraries narrowly failed.

"We wouldn't be having this conversation about 50 percent plus one," Barton said.

After speaking earlier with a polling firm, Assistant City Manager Emily Harrison estimated that the suggested two rounds of polling would cost $40,000. A preliminary poll would be followed by another round of public input further into the project's development. Both the poll's questions and results would be made public.

Results of the first round are expected to arrive in early March.

In other news, the council voted to create a task force to investigate whether Palo Alto police should be equipped with Taser stun guns.

E-mail Kristina Peterson at kpeterson@dailynewsgroup.com.