The Sunnyvale Sun

Letters & Opinions

Our good old library has become too small

Like almost every other community in Silicon Valley, the public library in Sunnyvale is one of the most well-used facilities in the city. Visitor counts and circulation figures continue to rise and Sunnyvale has the right to brag that its library is one of the busiest in the state.

But, Sunnyvale's library is old and too small to meet the needs of residents today and in the future. Does Sunnyvale need a new library? Yes.

On Nov. 6, Sunnyvale voters will be asked to approve a $108 million library bond. Should they? Again, the answer is yes.

Some opponents to the bond measure are challenging the assumption that Sunnyvale needs a new library. One has only to go into the library to see how cramped and outdated it is. Others claim the city doesn't need a 116,000-square-foot library building, which would be larger than public libraries in every other city in Santa Clara County with the exception of the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library in San Jose. Santa Clara's new library, which serves a population slightly smaller than Sunnyvale's, is 87,770 square feet.

People go to the library for a lot of reasons. It may be counterintuitive, but the Internet actually brings more people into the library for computer access and help in finding their way along the information superhighway. Families choose to use the library as a place to spend time together, and that's a good thing.

Building a library means having all the new Internet technologies and space for classes and community events that other new libraries have provided in recent years and which people have come to expect. Professional consultants on the Sunnyvale library project told city officials that a 143,000-square-foot library would be ideal in meeting the projected community need for library services into the coming decades. After extensive study, the city opted for a smaller building that was less costly but still provided the space and services needed.

With the passage of Measure B, property owners will pay an average of $19.52 a year per $100,000 of assessed value, or about $74 for the average home. The bond's cost could be much higher, or lower, depending at what interest rate the bonds are sold.

There is no exemption under Measure B for senior homeowners. But, they are demographically the No. 2 user of library services in Sunnyvale.

City officials acknowledge they will have to find a way to fund the $2.2 million a year that will be needed to pay for the additional operating costs for a library of that size. But Sunnyvale, a city that has been renowned for its long-term budget planning, has time to consider possibilities. One that's talked about is increased sales tax revenues that are expected when the new Sunnyvale downtown project is completed.

Bond measures require a two-thirds vote for approval--always a difficult task. And, whenever there is a direct hit to someone's wallet, government officials need to carefully study the impact it will have. The city has done that and come up with a good plan for building a library for the 21st century.

We encourage voters to pass Measure B.