I couldn’t help but notice the good news about a week ago for an affluent neighborhood of San Diego — Pacific Highlands Ranch — as it was about to get a brand new all-electric library.
Set to open this fall, construction on the new library began in 2022 and is now nearing completion. Fox5News reported:
The 18,000 square-foot library will be all-electric when it is completed and will be a LEED Silver-certified green building in an effort to help meet the city’s Climate Action Plan goals, the city said.
Along with the all-electric features, the new library branch will also have reading areas for adults, children and teens, four study/conference rooms, a computer area, community meeting room, a catering kitchen, “Friends of the Library” Room, and patio reading areas.
The parking lot will have 64 parking spots, with four ADA spots, and three EV charging stations, the city said.
Artwork from San Diego artist Janelle Iglesias will be on display at the new library branch. …
The City of San Diego reports the project cost $27.6 million.
I thought that’s great for them — that community — and wondered, gee, are they a particularly large community? I looked it up, and not really. Pacific Highlands Ranch is a neighborhood in San Diego, California with a population of 13,312.
Gee, I said to myself, PHR is smaller population-wise than Ocean Beach, which has about 31,000 residents. So, now I’m wondering why that community got their library “all new electric” as it is and OB hasn’t had our expansion yet. Then I read this:
The demographics of Pacific Highlands Ranch reflect its status as an affluent and desirable neighborhood. The median household income in the area is around $170,000 …
Ahah! Their median household income is $170K. What’s OB’s? It’s $101K. Does $69K really matter that much?
Anyhow, the jest of my thoughts are that Ocean Beach has been struggling to get our old library expanded (plans have been drawn up years ago, town hall meetings have been held, the frustrated members of the Friends of the OB Library have been biting their nails for a while now) – but no expansion yet.
In July of 2022 the Rag reported that “the OB Library expansion and renovation is just a step closer because of the $4.5 million in the state’s new budget for it. The library’s plans are estimated to cost $8.5 million.”
OB has been waiting for over a decade now — wait, it’s more than that. When I was chair of the OB Planning Board waaaay back in 2001, we were shown 3D mock-ups of the future OB library — so OB is actually approaching a quarter of a century – the length of time the City has been promising us a new or at least expanded library.
Of course, there’s been a lot of water under the bridge between now and then (budget crisis – Mayor Sanders wanted to close all libraries but we stopped him, COVID, etc) — but the City has come up with a multitude of problems of why they haven’t built the new library. (I forget what the current ones are.)
So, come on OB. Let’s get our library. It doesn’t even have to be “all-electric”.
Not exactly apples to apples. This neighborhood had no library prior. I looked online though and this place looks massive. It will be more than double ours even after the proposed expansion.
The funding sources are likely different also. Our only local funds come from DIF fees, which are paltry for the new construction we get, most of which is exempt from DIF now.
Yup. FBA “Facilities Benefit Assessments” from the growing neighborhoods around it are financing the entire thing. Something existing neighborhoods will never see. We also get shafted now on DIF too, because were are in a Neighborhood Not Of Concern. (ie too white)
https://www.sandiego.gov/sites/default/files/fy22ab_v3library.pdf
While an FBA is the funding source for the library, why isn’t the City leveraging this property and building housing above it? Gloria and the rest of the council keep telling us there is need for more affordable housing and yet they pass up opportunities to do something meaningful.
If they cannot make affordable housing pencil with essentially no land cost then they never will.
Maybe they’ll have some low cost “housing” in the bushes surrounding it like we do in OB. Great family friendly environment.
Personally I think there should be standard plans for Library, Police, Fire and any other Public building. THAT would be equality. The city leaders don’t practice what they preach!
I hate to say it…..”When pigs fly”.
Look at the recreation facilities in new neighborhoods. Impressive! And ya, old neighborhoods lose their meager parking for new bike lanes.
All-electric??? … as opposed to what? Half natural gas/propane? Part candle-light?
All electric as in no natural gas for heating because the solar and wind lobby has successfully made natural gas…that comes from the earth…..a fossil fuel you know.
What that has done is make heating the new library prohibitively expensive, but who cares because that is other people’s money, aka: taxes.
oh yeah, thanks. On a day like today, heating is far, far from my thinking. All I have is a 19th century natural gas floor furnace, which I never use. I just bundle up in winter and sit in the sunniest of my south-facing rooms.
“All electric” is a nothing burger for a library.
Cost of running a heat pump is on par with running a gas furnace. It will probably have some little electric resistance water heater in it to run 4 bathroom sinks. Nothing high tech or extraordinary about it.
I’m sure all the bulldozers and skidsteers and rollaway trucks will be running on diesel.
But they are a cool zone during heat waves……..unless there’s a power outage?
Except ours was not open on Sunday, 9/8, the hottest day of the year.
Interesting from the city website, During periods of extreme heat, the City designates certain recreation centers, libraries and other public buildings as places for San Diegans to seek relief from warmer weather.
Why not an all electric library for OB too!
Forget about a lowly expansion.
Let’s us their plans and funding sources.
The city draws pretty pictures all the time. The library, Robb Field, Dusty Rhodes Park and dare I sat it the new OB Pier. All have beautiful plans.
All cost millions to dream up and sit for funds.
It’s like the city wants us to dream. Blondie once said dreamin’ is free…..well not quite it seems.
What would OB do if it weren’t for elders like me who remember OB 20 years ago? I — along with the rest of the OB Planning Board (now also elders) — sat there a quarter of a century ago and listened to a presentation by city staff of the new OB Library with white, three-dimensional models before us.
This was either in 2000 or 2001. Incredible! That we allowed the city to simply lull us to sleep for this long with empty promises and empty claims of this or that money available for a library. This is not to fault the dear Friends of the OB Library — for they more than anyone else has “kept the dream alive.”
But in the end, this is just shameful that OB has sat quietly letting multiple city administrations go by without enacting these promises. Where’s the city councilmembers who have represented OB over these 2 decades plus? Can you feel my frustrations? I hope so.
As I was typing obrag into my browser, I thought that this site really should be called obrage. Not that it’s not warranted…
Why get worked up over not getting a fair share of a temple to outdated technology? In 20 years libraries as we know them will be gone.
OB’s average income is almost $40,000 over the national average. That’s not affluent?
Is it fair to call it household income when 4 roommates with full time jobs a sharing a place, including sleeping in the garage, to afford it?
It’s not so much an issue of being too white of a neighborhood as it is not having enough money/political clout. Diverse Mira Mesa with the largest neighborhood in the city suffers the same treatment.
Whatever it is, 70 to 80 % of OB residents are renters. Let that sink in.
You said it sister! The city counsel treats Mira Mesa like a red headed step child! As a long time Mira Mesa resident, I have experienced this first hand. I have sent many emails to our counsel member and mayor, which are responded to with platitudes, or an acknowledgement of the issue without committing to resolve the issue.
Y’all in OB, one of our coolest neighborhoods, seems to always on the last of the list,
i could quote the renovation of the lifeguard tower from the seventies,
You ask, no answer, but they keep trying to build massive LG towers, “party towers”, in Pacific Beach….even LJ on native people remains…
Go figure…
I figure they figure yur history,
Just awaiting for the big one to wipe you out so they can, if anything left, redevelop
Developers dont care about “after”, that’s the insurance company problems,
Thats why The City should not engage in the “midway sinking” development,
Looks like another 101Asbestos Ave…
But good call: Highlands
High Lands
Midway Sinking!
And PS, naysayers,
Librairies ,whether paper or digital will always be here as institutions of higher learning for anyone who wishes, a safe haven of the better stuff…
As long as we have a free country….
Micporte – thank you. Good to hear from you — it’s been a while.
Why does a funky beach town need a new library? Then OB isn’t a funky beach town any more. It becomes LaJolla, with rising rents and property values. Libraries are not as important as they used to be anyway, because of the Internet. A coffee shop with WiFi is practically a library anyway. And people are allowed to talk to each other!
“Oh hang Smiley and his afflicted cow, I good naturedly muttered…….” That book is on the Internet or is it Google. Is Google the Internet? Will Kamala and the Donald change the “debate”to a love-in? Wouldn’t be surprised. You got Cheney going Democrat and Kennedy going Republican. I knew legalizing pot would start to unify the world. Now all that is left is to make sure all of us can live in an OK apartment like Jerry and Elaine, separately, of course
At times, you’re funny. “You got Cheney going Democrat and Kennedy going Republican.” That’s choice.
The best part of legalizing pot was that it legalized bong hits
I think you need a good number of people in the community who actually read books to build the sort of political leverage for new library funding. OB doesn’t even have a bookstore let alone a nice library. It would be useful for young families & street dwellers to charge their phones, but in terms of circulation I would wager that OB is towards the bottom; I’ve always been discouraged by the general lack of interest in reading that I’ve witnessed here.
OB did have a book store over on Voltaire – now it’s part of the La Playa bookstore on Rosecrans.
I think there’s still lots of interest in having a library — and yes, Carl, they’ll still be around in the future. The residents of OB saved the library from being closed — we had at least 2 rallies in front – and then Mayor Sanders pulled his plan to close all of the city’s libraries to save $$ and conceded that the people’s response in OB was what convinced him.
The problem with this oped is that it ignores thebfacility benefit assessment the city slapped on every new home built since about 1990. I. PhR probably in excess of 20k.