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Endorsement
San Jose needs to invest in its parks and libraries
Voters should support Measures O and P
Few things play as great a role in creating a sense of community than parks and libraries. Both typically make up a small part of a city's total budget, but they play a large part in making our cities better places by enriching the residents that they serve.
This year, San Jose residents will have a unique chance to make a major investment in the city's aging libraries and parks.
If approved, Measure O would put $212 million into the city's library system to build six sit new branch libraries and double the size of existing ones. Measure P would pour $228 million into upgrading existing parks, improving trails and expanding community centers.
Investments like these are a great opportunity to make much needed improvements in our communities that will benefit residents for decades to come. They would each cost the average homeowner in the city less than $40 per year.
If these measures do not pass, our parks and libraries will not be able to help themselves. Money for important capital improvements will be budgeted piecemeal, with council members fighting for a few dollars here, a few there. That's not the way it should be done. As it is, Mayor Ron Gonzales and all 10 city council members have endorsed Measures O and P.
Maintaining the status quo is not an option. San Jose residents are currently underserved by the existing parks and libraries.
Measure O supporters point out that there are 750 seats in all branch libraries and an average of 10 computers per branch. That means children sometimes must study on the floor in the stacks after school. What's more, lines to use the Internet can be one, two or three dozen deep at peak times. Measure O would triple the number of seats and computers.
The thing we like most about Measure O is that it would implement the library system's Branch Facilities Master Plan, which is a document produced over two years and involving the collective input of thousands of people. The document, which was shaped by the library commission and an advisory committee, means that voters will not be approving a giant blank check for the libraries to spend. Rather, the Master Plan outlines the detailed needs of each of the city's branch libraries and includes recommendations for facility service, policies for facilities improvements for each branch as well as fundraising alternatives.
Space is the library system's biggest problem. For every new book that is added to the library collections, another book must be taken out of circulation--and those books can't even be stored.
Measure O wouldn't be a cure-all, but it would help fix those problems.
In Willow Glen, the library would be more than doubled in size from 5,300 to 13,000 square feet. The existing Willow Glen branch was built in 1949 and it hasn't been upgraded since the fire department moved out in 1964. An expanded branch, costing $6 million, could open as early as 2010.
Measure P is really only the first step in a long-range plan for shoring up San Jose's public parks, trails, sporting fields and community centers that have been neglected for far too long.
The bond would cover about a 20 percent of the city's long-term plan (called the Greenprint) for improving parks and community facilities. The rest of the funding would come from a mix of construction taxes, state parks bonds and other city sources.
A nearly two-year study garnered input from hundreds of parks users concluded that these public facilities were falling into disrepair.
Bathrooms, jungle gyms, creekside trails and community programming all need improvements if San Joseans are going to continue to use them. The Department of Parks, Recreation and Neighborhood Services would like to do many things to make the city's parks and services as good as they can be. But they are settling for a preliminary plan of taking care of the greatest needs first with the bond that we think voters should approve Nov. 7.
About $10 million would be pumped into improvements in Willow Glen. Specifically, it would fund a renovation of the youth and tot lots and restrooms at River Glen Park, a renovation of Wallenberg Park's playground and restrooms and a major expansion at The Willows that would become a multiservice center.
The Los Gatos Creek Trail and Guadalupe River Trail would also be extended.
In other parts of the city, the bonds would be used to build a new eight-field softball complex and a six-field soccer complex. Both would have lights.
All San Jose residents deserve the quality recreation space and community facilities that Measure P would provide for decades to come.
Both measures are good for the city and its residents--which is probably why they don't have any organized opposition.
The Willow Glen Resident recommends a yes vote on Measures O and P.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
