Library supporters open on a good page

Newport Beach was among 13 jurisdictions statewide last week that

received state grant money for a joint-use project. The $3.2-million

grant will enable Newport residents and students to eventually use a

state-of-the-art library on the Mariners Elementary School site.

The project would not have been possible without the efforts of

about 600 donors who chipped in more than $1 million toward the

$5.1-million project. Among the donors were John and Donna Crean, who

ensured fund-raisers were successful by donating about half the total

sum.

In addition to the obvious generosity of the Creans, many others

spent countless hours getting the word out that money was needed to

provide Mariners students and nearby residents the opportunity to

boast a new one-story, 14,000-square-foot library.

After raising the money, city officials and residents could only

keep their fingers crossed that the state would slice them a piece of

a $130-million joint-use project pie. Of 60 entities that applied for

the money, Newport was among 13 that received it, which says

something for the city.

We’re not entirely sure what it says, but we’d like to think it

says what we think -- that Newport officials and residents did their

homework, listened and responded to criticisms, and put together a

very worthwhile project of which the community and state can be

proud.

Many residents complained over the spring that such a joint-use

effort between the elementary school and city could prove dangerous

for the children using it by allowing pedophiles in. Those concerns

may or may not have been legitimate, but city officials studied and

added various security precautions to the project. The added security

measures actually increased the library’s overall price tag, which

will now cost the city another $800,000.

But for the children and everyone involved, the price is worth it.

After all, reading -- we’d like to think -- is priceless. And so are

those who have made a new Mariners library possible.