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Library and park bonds sail to easy approval
Voters also approve BART/transit tax
By Jeff Kearns
Watching the results on Measure O trickle in on election night, San Jose Library Director Jane Light said she was relieved not to have to go to a back-up plan to expand the city's library system.
She didn't have one.
Backed by Mayor Ron Gonzales and three former mayors, San Jose's measures O and P passed with well over the two-thirds majority they needed for approval.
After midnight on election night, Measures O and P was headed for approval. With 595 of 602 precincts reporting, Measure O had won a solid 75 percent of the votes. Measure P looked like it would be approved by an even wider margin--more than 78 percent in favor.
Measure O will put $212 million into expanding city library buildings and building new branches.
Said Light: "We'll be ready for the next generations of readers. Now we can start the process of building all these buildings. It's pretty complicated. We have to set up a project team and start looking for sites and start our library building programs."
Light added that if the measure hadn't passed, it would have been almost impossible to make the necessary changes. "Over the last 15 years we've done about three branches, and at that rate it would have been about 100 years before we could have gotten around to all 20," she said.
Now, she says the city will start planning how it will implement the expansion plan.
Measure P, another big bond on the ballot, puts $228 million into city parks and recreational facilities.
James Fogarty, field coordinator for the Yes on O and P campaign, thanked co-chairs Gonzales and former mayors Susan Hammer, Tom McEnery and Janet Gray Hayes for helping the campaign raise about $250,000, which was spent mostly on mailings.
Fogarty also thanked the San Jose Silicon Valley Chamber of Commerce, which offered office space to the campaign.
"We're all pretty much elated here," Fogarty said while watching the results come in at campaign headquarters. "It was an argument that didn't really need to be made and people heard that and understood that and voted yes."
Voters also approved Measure A, the half-cent sales tax extension to fund BART and other transit projects, by a wide margin.
With 1328 of 1341 precincts reporting, the transit tax had 70.4 percent of the vote. It needed a two-thirds approval.
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Willow Glen, California Since 1992
