Group revives library project

Deirdre Newman

A small group of bibliophiles has revived an effort to get new

library space for the city that they hope will reflect Costa Mesa’s

growing population and its status as “City of the Arts.”

At this point, the coalition is divided over whether a new library

should replace the current three -- there is one downtown, one in

Mesa Verde and a technical library on Bristol Street -- or enhance

the current three, said Tom Egan, a leading force in the movement and

a Newport-Mesa Unified School District board member.

Because so many previous efforts have failed, the group is taking

a slow, cautious approach this time, Egan said.

“The idea is a handful of people aren’t going to make anything

happen, so the notion is to start small and to invite some authors on

book tours to come by and have book signings to get people thinking

about books,” Egan said. “It’s going to take hundreds of people who

want better libraries.”

The city’s libraries -- like many in Orange County -- are on city

property but run by the county.

The group pushing for a new library includes members of the

Friends of the Costa Mesa Libraries, a support group for the three

libraries in town; the Costa Mesa Library Foundation, which was set

up in 1998 to get a new library; and other book lovers not affiliated

with either group.

The part of the group that wants a brand new library is buoyed by

a potential site on the corner of Harbor Boulevard and Fair Drive,

Egan said.

“There’s a 10-acre parcel that the state apparently is going to

declare as surplus again,” Egan said. “And so people who have been

caring about libraries for years and have been lusting after finding

property that we can build a decent library on, the fact that the

state has apparently decided to declare it surplus, got people’s

juices flowing again.”

If desire for a new library takes off, the group is hoping to use

the foundation for fundraising, since it is already set up for that

purpose, Mesa Verde resident Dan Worthington said. At that point, the

coalition would create a major fundraising event that could be done

on an annual basis even after the library is built, Worthington

added.

“We hope the [fundraising event] will be as grand as the one the

city of Oakland has to underwrite its museum, that started out in

1959,” Worthington said. “At that time, the city discovered, ‘we need

a replacement museum,’ and a group of people that is now up to 600

volunteers are involved in a once-a-year project that brings in a

million dollars each year to underwrite the museum and keep it

second-to-none in the San Francisco Bay Area.”

Worthington said Costa Mesa’s population, which is a little more

than 110,000, warrants more square footage of library space.

Currently, it has 13,000 square feet between the two main libraries,

Worthington said.

Worthington, who is from the Bay Area, has done a lot of research

of libraries in that part of the state, visiting cities which have

populations similar to Costa Mesa’s.

“I toured about 10 libraries in northern California that were of a

size like this city to see exactly what they’ve been able to create

that we can’t seem to,” Worthington said.

For example, the city of Santa Clara has 7,000 fewer people than

Costa Mesa and it just opened a library in April that’s about 35,000

square feet, Worthington said.

Many of those reviving the idea of a new library said the Mesa

Verde library is past its prime and not very accessible for the

handicapped.

“I think we need to recognize our Mesa Verde library is in sad

condition,” former Mayor and foundation member Linda Dixon said. “And

libraries draw all members of the community and can be used for such

an array of different things and different uses that I think we could

be the cultural center of the coast.”

Another new library fan, Mary Ellen Goddard, a longtime volunteer

with the city’s historical society, is thinking big, since both the

library in Mesa Verde and the library downtown were shrunk from their

original plans, she said.

“We’ve got to think more ahead and think about the future and make

libraries that are the size we need for the community and the kinds

of needs we have,” Goddard said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers Costa Mesa. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.