At least one Morgan Hill resident is unhappy with the direction
the City Council is heading with a new library and she intends to
do something about it.
At least one Morgan Hill resident is unhappy with the direction the City Council is heading with a new library and she intends to do something about it.
Marie Lamb, who has lived in town for 30 years, is circulating a petition asking the city to put the issue to the voters on the November ballot if they are not willing to choose the Civic Center site.
At its Wednesday meeting the council appeared to be leaning toward the downtown Third Street site and away from a site behind City Hall and the current library on the basis of a report written by a library subcommittee.
The Civic Center site is described by proponents as safe, quiet and comfortable with room to grow and, potentially, ample parking. Some, but not all, of the Civic Center fans live in the neighborhood.
The downtown site would put the library out where more people can see and use it and would benefit from foot traffic from nearby restaurants, businesses, the farmers market, community center, the new courthouse and transit sites, also according to backers, some of whom – but not all – are downtown residents and business owners. Parking would be shared with downtown businesses, though library parking would be dedicated during the hours the library is open.
The report backed up its opinion with findings from nationwide library policy and the results of many other cities locating their libraries in busy spots.
Lamb, who lives near the current library site, disagrees.
“It is my strong opinion that mixing businesses and a library would be a negative step back in time,” Lamb said. “This previous arrangement involved shared library and business parking. During busy times of the day sharing a parking lot with other businesses was highly frustrating and inconvenient.”
Thirty years ago the library was located in the old Morgan Hill shopping center on West Main. Before that it was always in a building downtown on Monterey Road.
Rosy Bergin has been collecting signatures for the downtown site by placing a petition and the architect’s plans on the walls of the restrooms at her restaurant, Rosy’s at the Beach, at 17320 Monterey Road. As of Monday she had collected one full page and about eight more signatures each from the men’s and women’s restrooms.
“It generates discussion,” Bergin said, “but I wish I had thought of putting them up earlier.”
Bergin said several other downtown businesses have also collected lots of signatures on petitions available to customers.
Dan Craig, director of the Downtown Association also is collecting signatures.
The council will discuss the library site again on Wednesday, July 21.
Voters interested in Lamb’s petition can contact her at Ma********@*ol.com or 779-7592.
