San Diego Politicians Float
New Library Funding Plans
Following the stunning March 2 defeat of the $423-million Proposition L, candidates for San Diego’s 2000 mayoral race are pitching alternate schemes for funding the refurbishment of San Diego Public Library’s 34 branches. The SDPL system comprises almost half the 79-branch county library system targeted by Proposition L.
According to a March 11 San Diego Daily Transcript story, council member Barbara Warden is floating a proposal she’s dubbed the Branch Library Comprehensive Master Plan, which would allocate $100 million from sources such as federal block grants, the tobacco-lawsuit settlement, and city coffers over a 12-year span. Meantime, Deputy Mayor Byron Wear has called for the creation of a Branch Library Trust Fund that would match $60 million from the private sector with state money and hoped-for leftover funds after building a $130-million new main in five years.
Both plans are slated to be reviewed March 24 by the city council’s Public Safety and Neighborhood Services Committee.
Posted March 15, 1999.
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