Irvine is moving forward with a badly needed new library branch at the Great Park. But is a single $220 million project the best way forward?
Irvine loves libraries and needs more. But $220 million for a single building?
The big item on Tuesday night’s city council is a new, much needed library branch at the Great Park. This is Mayor Choi‘s baby and is consistent Lennar’s marketing plans, so I assume it will sail through.
Still, it’s worth discussing. As a result of deals struck when Irvine was forming, Irvine pays more than for many shared county services including libraries and protection the older OC cities. Renegotiating these long term contracts has been bipartisan rallying point for years, which has slowly produced results. For example, in 2012:
The City entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with the County of Orange that creates a set-aside account for new branches/services in Irvine and requires Irvine to remain in OCPL for 10 years, FY 2021-22. The MOU recognizes the City’s contributions to its public library system and projected population growth that will result in a need for expanded library services in Irvine. Conservative estimates forecast that approximately $18 million will be available at the end of the contract.
So that’s $18 million for a new library branch. Yay! Irvine desperately needs more library space, as anyone who has been University Park or Heritage Park branches on a weekday afternoon knows.
But apparently grandiose Great Park delusions haven’t passed with the passing of the Great Park Team. The tonight’s proposal is for a $212 million, 220,00 square foot facility. That’s massive! Irvine’s three current branches are only 43,661 square feet (SF) combined.
This is a very odd way to move forward. What makes Irvine’s library vital and vibrant is they are integrated into their respective “villages.” The University Park branch is essentially the “study hall” for South Irvine. The Heritage Park library is a central Irvine’s community space, and Katie Wheeler is as much a museum as a library (in a good way). A massive, remote facility will make for great campaign mailers, but what Irvine needs is more libraries in our neighborhoods, not a book-laden “Taj Choi” sepulcher on the edge of town.
Irvine has “villages?”
GUARDS! Take him away and educate him in THE MASTER PLAN!
Does every village have an idiot?
Consult the City Charter. (Hint: they must be beige.)
Yes. The original plan for Irvine called for the develop of socially unified “villages.”
College Park, University Park, Turtle Rock, and the original Northwood are early examples.
and then came the Village of Woodbridge, which succeeding spectacularly. We were large (30,000+ residents) and cohesive enough to regularly challenge city hall.
oops
Word got out, and since then no city in Orange county has approved that large of a “village” again.
Useful, serious, factual answers are absolutely NOT in the spirit of things, but thank you for providing one anyway.
*As everyone knows….Newport Beach was the founder of the Village Concept. Balboa Island, Lido Island, Dover Shores, Harbor Ridge, Newport Coast, Corona del Mar, Balboa Peninsula, Cannary Village, West Newport, Harbor View, Balboa Peninsula and Pier, Newport Beach Pier……..it just goes on and on and on. What is interesting is that we still don’t have underground utilities throughout our Village concepts. Maybe they call it Divide and Conquer Villages……that why no unified theory can ever come to resolution. So, you look at the City of Irvine. How in the world did they put their City Hall on the Border of two other cities? Sort of like, why did Costa Mesa put their City Hall, by the OC Fairgrounds? Libraries? Newport Beach is the poster boy for Library Expansions. We must say that all our little Village Libraries are still around and we are pround as punch of that – but we have the Grand Poo Bah Library which sits at the foot of our brand new $147 million dollar Civic Center which has millions of square feet and empty air space. Eventually, we can make it a Space Museum for all those great rockets they have at Cape Kennedy/Canaveral….when they get tired of storing them in FLA. Government waste is sort of a built in escape valve…..for Government Huberus. Look at those huge concret structures with all the old City Council Members names at the entry of Huntington Beach Pier. At Main Street and PCH. What is that all about? Heck $212 Million dollars for a big library at the Great Dog Bark? Sounds OK to us. Whatever those wonderful folks want for “the Land that Agran forgot……” What did Joe Friday say? “This is the City…..” Too bad JWA didn’t just move their General Aviation over there to make it a nice small Executive Jet Airport. Too bad that it will take 33 years to clean up the toxic Marine Corps fuel plumes leftover. Too bad they aren’t going to make that area into a Professional Sports Complex, complete with a new Pro Football Stadium. Ah, but what the hay? What did Johnny Burnett say: “Dreamin….I’m always Dreamin, hoping someday to find, someone, someone to love me, some one to need me….but until then…..I’m goin keep on Dreamin till my Dreamin comes true!”
If I am reading this correctly this article seems to support the building of a new library. I would suggest that you take a long look at a calendar, its 2015 not 1955. There’s this amazing creation that makes not only a new library unnecessary but actually makes the libraries already in Irvine as obsolete as eight track tapes. I know you’ve heard of it, little thing called the Internet. Anyone with a smart phone, iPad or laptop can access any type of information immediately by just typing a phrase and hitting enter. Not only do I oppose spending over 200 million dollars on a library, the other libraries in Irvine should be closed and be repurposed into something more relevant and needed; day care center, walk in clinic, senior center, adult education, or even office space is a better use than an institution that no longer belongs in today’s world. I’ve been to the Library at Heritage Park a few times to cast my vote in general elections and an inspection of the site renders not one thing that is needed, it is a total waste of money and space. 200 million dollars for a new library in Irvine? Please, there has to be a better use for this money than a meaningless building that will be leveled or empty in a decade.
Considering library attendance, use, and circulation are all up, I don’t think the data supports your point.
Considering that the commenter apparently thinks that libraries these days are still overwhelmingly focused on books, I’m not sure that he has a point to support.
That said: $200 million? Really?
D.L., one thing is for sure……not everyone likes Sushi. However, doing away with Sushi Restaurant might raise the eire of a whole bunch of folks. Let’s do some investigative reporting here: (1) When is the last time you got a Library Card? (2) If it was your last day of High School we will have to totally disregard your comments. (3) If it was over 10 years ago – you should really get on down to our mega-book experience right here in Newport Beach for starters. (4) When is the last time you rented a new release Movie for $1 buck? (5) When is the last time you needed to do research which required footnotes? At any rate, we should remind you that many high school, college and university students plus independent researcher find the library a wonderful place to jog their memory blanks. They walk into a part of the facility and look up things like astrophysics, hydroponic vegetables and other areas. Oh sure, Google does the same thing….but what Google and Amazon doesn’t do is remind you of the greats in history that can offer a broader view than our wonderful myopic Internet. Heck, haven’t you ever wanted to walk through a used car lot and just kick the tires? Haven’t you wanted to hands on and test drive one of those old wonders you remember from high school? That’s the Library and for Lawyers, Law Students, Medical Students, Indian Chiefs and more….it can be a wonderfully mentally expanding experience. Heck, $200 million dollars for 75 thousand square feet sounds like a bargain. The biggest thing a Library does is offer folks a place to drop off all those books they buy and load up in their houses or take to storage. How many books do you have right now that you could easily drop off at your local library and become a local legend? Sure, Libraries are changing their spots. They are becoming areas of Author’s to introduce their new offerings – Politicians the chance to offer their concepts on various issues – Experts that drop by for events in the evening to tell you how to raise children or chicken in the back yard. Come on D.L. – get with it….do your commununity service and go down and re-up your Library Card. Heck, its free and it is good for a year or two even if you don’t use it.
“Nobody reads anymore. I watch TV.”
—Chauncey Gardiner in Being There
“Time spent reading for personal interest and playing games or using a computer for leisure varied greatly by age. Individuals age 75 and over averaged 1.0 hour of reading per weekend day and 20 minutes playing games or using a computer for leisure. Conversely, individuals ages 15 to 19 read for an average of 4 minutes per weekend day and spent 52 minutes playing games or using a computer for leisure” (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2014).