Mariners Library gets two large donations

-- June Casagrande

Newport Beach officials and residents hopeful they will be able to

raise $1 million to build a joint school-public Mariners Library got a

boost this week from two large donations.

The Newport Beach Public Library Foundation has donated $40,000; the

Helen Russell Estate has donated $60,000.

“We’re a 10th of the way there,” said Melissa Adams, spokeswoman for

the city’s library.

The proposed Mariners Branch Library is designed to take advantage of

state Proposition 14 funds available for joint projects. The grants

require that more than one-third of the cost of the project be paid

through donations, leaving city officials scrambling to come up with its

$1-million share of the $3-million project in time for the grant

application deadline in June.

Adams said a few private donations have also come in.

“One resident walked into the library and wrote a $25 check -- that’s

nice to see,” she said.

The library, a cooperative effort of the city and the school board,

would be on the Mariners Elementary School campus and would replace the

aging Mariners Branch Library now near the site. It would serve the

students as their school library, as well as operate as a branch of the

city’s public library system. Adams said that if fund-raising falls

short, all donations will be returned.