Among the $313 million cut from Florida’s $49-billion state budget by Governor Jeb Bush May 27 was a $700,000 appropriation for the Broward County Library’s African-American Research Library and Cultural Center.
“We’ll regroup,” Broward Public Library Foundation Executive Kay Harper told the May 28 Fort Lauderdale Sun-Sentinel. “We were really down to the final phase.” The library system has already raised millions from the private sector for the 52,000-square-foot facility, scheduled to open in late 2000, the newspaper reported May 27. Officials still need to raise $630,000 by March 2000 to match a $500,000 Kresge Foundation Challenge Grant.
“I didn’t expect it,” said Library Director Samuel Morrison. “People have their hands out all the time. There are a lot of needs in this community.”
The Sun-Sentinel reported that Bush had said months ago that he would not tolerate “turkeys”—special-interest projects benefiting only one lawmaker’s district and that have not been reviewed by a state agency.
Posted May 31, 1999.