Mariners Library to break ground today

Deirdre Newman

Volunteers who worked arduously to raise money for a new Mariners

Library will rejoice today when the groundbreaking occurs, but their

fundraising efforts continue.

The project is still $300,000 short since the price of steel has

gone up.

Fundraising efforts began in February of 2002 for what became the

Donna and John Crean Mariners Branch Library in June of 2002, when

the Creans gave the project a $500,000 boost. The 15,000-square-foot

library will replace the aging Mariners branch library and serve as

the school library for Mariners Elementary School. The joint-use

nature of the project was required for it to qualify for state money

earmarked for such joint projects.

Theresa Chase, who was the co-chair of the Committee to Build the

New Mariners Library, said the fundraising effort felt like a

whirlwind that warped the sense of time.

“It feels like it’s been a long time, but really it seems like

just yesterday that we started -- like when you look at other

people’s kids that you haven’t seen in a long time,” Chase said.

“It’s amazing it all happened and happened as fast as it did.”

The current Mariners Library needed to be upgraded, and at the end

of 2000, the Newport Beach City Council put the project on a fast

track by approving a contract with an architectural firm to design

the library. A year later, city officials formed a fundraising group

to take advantage of an opportunity created by Proposition 14, which

sets aside funds for the construction and renovation of public

library facilities, to get matching funds from the state. The group

had about four months to come up with $1 million to qualify for the

matching funds. Group members rapidly began fanning out through the

community to garner support and meet the deadline, Chase said.

“We had coffee and dessert parties at neighbors’ houses, we went

to schools and every organization we could think of in the area to

let them know it was happening,” Chase said.

While touting the myriad benefits of a new library, the

fundraisers had to contend with concerns from a small group of

Mariners Elementary School parents because the library would be

shared by the public and the school. They ended up raising $1.1

million thanks to hefty donations from the Creans, the Newport Beach

Public Library Foundation and the Helen Russell Estate. The state

ended up giving $3 million for the library, said Linda Katsouleas,

Newport Beach Public library services director.

At the suggestion of Councilman Don Webb, the city created an ad

hoc committee to oversee the construction of the library. Webb is the

chairman, and Chase is the vice-chairwoman of the committee.

The groundbreaking will be especially sweet for Webb since he

lives across the street from the library, and his kids went to

Mariners Elementary School.

“This is part of the job that’s really great -- to be able to put

together projects you can really see the community enjoy and use,”

Webb said. “We live in a great city.”