 |
|
|
|
|
Measures O and P would put millions into parks and libraries
Formal opposition is almost nonexsistent
By Kate Carter
On Election Day, San Jose voters will have a chance to approve almost a half-billion dollars worth of bonds to benefit city parks and libraries.
A two-thirds majority vote in favor of Measures O and P on the citywide ballot will authorize two general obligation bonds to pay for improvements.
Measure O would authorize a nearly $212 million bond to repair and expand libraries and Measure P would authorize a $228 million bond to make improvements to city parks.
There is no organized opposition to either bond measure.
The Measures O and P bonds would be paid off over a 30-year period through property taxes at an average yearly rate of $18.22 and $19.60 per $100,000 of assessed property value. The average taxpayer would pay between $35 and $40 yearly for each bond, Mayoral Spokesman David Vossbrink said. A property's value is assessed when it is sold; accordingly, in today's housing market, properties purchased recently will have a much higher assessed value than properties purchased in years past.
This should benefit many long-time Willow Glen homeowners, Vossbrink said.
"It may or may not resemble the value of the house," he said.
He also said that the philosophy behind a bond is that it is paid for by those who benefit from the expenditure now, as well as in the future.
"It's spread out over time, instead of the current generation paying up front," he said.
A municipal bond is a loan that a city takes out with bond-holders in order to cover the costs of a large, long-term project it could not otherwise pay for through a tax or other funding method.
Measure O authorizes nearly $212 million for the implementation of a citywide plan to reconstruct or relocate all existing branch libraries, and to build six new branch libraries. The goal is to ease the burden of a growing population demanding increased services on their outdated branch libraries. None of the money generated by Measure O would be used for the new central library the city is building in a joint effort with San Jose State University.
The library plan was developed over two years and included the input of residents and professional library planners. They found that San Jose's branch libraries need more room for additional computers, chairs, books, and meeting and parking spaces. They also found that most residents use more than one branch library.
The plan includes expanding existing libraries, as well as building new branch libraries around the city to create more outlets for people to use. Improvements will be made on a timeline of 10 years, with work done on one library at time, within a library-user network, and are scheduled to be completed by 2010.
"We're just catching up with what's been happening in San Jose," said Willow Glen senior librarian Maurice Stevenson of what would happen if Measure O passes.
Willow Glen's Library was first built as a shared facility with the fire department in 1949. The fire department moved out in 1964, but no significant structural improvements have been made to the library since then.
If Measure O passes, a reconstructed Willow Glen Library would open on its existing site in about 2010 at an estimated cost of about $6 million. The larger plan for Willow Glen's nearby libraries includes the new Biblioteca Latinoamericana branch library that opened in 1999, relocations of the Rosegarden and Cambrian branches, and a new West Side branch library in between those to relieve the burdens on all the branch libraries. Once these improvements have been made, then the Willow Glen reconstruction will take place.
Stevenson said that at neighborhood meetings about the Willow Glen Library, residents said that they preferred to keep the branch at its current central location even though the small site would restrict its eventual size. He also said that residents wanted to keep the look and sense of the current library, which doesn't seem like a public building.
"This branch is pretty unique in comparison to every other branch," he said. "This one has a different kind of character."
The new library would be approximately 13,000 square feet, nearly two-thirds larger than the current size, and could accommodate as many as 15,000 more books, 20 additional computers, 60 more chairs, and 20 extra parking spaces. It would also include separate areas for group study and meetings.
Stevenson said that these changes would help relieve the high demand for the eight computers the branch now has available. It would also allow the library to offer more story times. The one weekly hour they now offer attracts up to 80 people, he said.
The number of people the library serves is increasing, he said, and they are asking for more services.
"If [Measure O] doesn't pass, given the constraints, it's going to be extremely difficult to meet those expectations," Stevenson said. "It's going to be impossible."
"This is theirs, that's where they want to see something happen," said Stevenson. "If Measure O passes, that's what they'll get."
Measure P would authorize $228 million to renovate neighborhood parks and community centers, improve restrooms and trails, and upgrade regional parks. In conjunction with money forecasted to come from 10 years of construction and conveyance taxes, the state park bond tax, and the Strong Neighborhood and Healthy Neighborhood initiatives, this 30-year bond would help pay for about half of the city's long-term plan to improve the public parks and recreation facilities over the next 20 years, said Jim Norman, deputy director of the parks division.
"This has a lot for everyone," Norman said. "We're responding to what people asked for."
Neighbors were also involved in the plan for the parks improvements. Norman said that residents identified park, trail, community center and restroom renovation as their priorities.
"We hope folks will understand that the only way we can get money is from a major mortgage," he said.
In Willow Glen, River Glen Park's Youth and Tot lots and restrooms are scheduled for renovation in 2002, Wallenberg Park's play area and restrooms are scheduled for renovation in 2004, and an expansion of Willow Center to a multiservice center is scheduled between 2005 and 2010, at a total cost for all three projects of nearly $10 million.
The Los Gatos Creek Trail is also scheduled to be extended from Lincoln Avenue to Auzerais Avenue and from Willow Street to Pedro Street. The Guadalupe River Trail will be extended from Interstate 280 south to Curtner Avenue.
Although there is no organized opposition, William Garbett, a frequent critic of city policies, has submitted statements against the measures in the sample ballot.
He argues that the measures would fund maintenance projects and that general obligation bonds cannot be used to cover maintenance costs. He also says that the bonds would be less, or would be unnecessary, if the city had taken park land dedication fees from developers, and hadn't made plans to build a new central library.
|
|
|
|
Willow Glen, California Since 1992
