<\/p>\n
The El Cerrito Library was built in 1948.<\/p>\n
Jessica Christian\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n
Dusk was gathering when Gina\u00a0Brusatori and two friends piled into their Honda SUV and began snaking through the hills of El Cerrito<\/a>. They planned to knock on 70 doors.\u00a0<\/p>\n Brusatori had the script down: Ring the bell. Smile. Leave a wide berth to avoid crowding anyone\u2019s space. Introduce yourself as a lover of books, periodicals, children, public access computers and all the warm fuzzy things associated with libraries. But not this library. Not the one they believed would cost homeowners a few hundred dollars a year in perpetuity.<\/p>\n Some residents spoke to the group through their screens and nodded obligingly. A few got angry and slammed doors. Clearly, this single issue had set a small city aflame, tearing apart people who used to dog-sit for one another or meet for lunch at the local Fat Apple\u2019s.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Susan Obayashi, Gina Brusatori and Susanne Stoffel knock on doors in an El Cerrito neighborhood for the No on Measure C campaign.<\/p>\n Jessica Christian\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n Supporters of Measure C, the parcel tax of up to 17 cents a square foot to build a new sanctuary for books, are just as frustrated.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a library, said Tess Taylor, El Cerrito\u2019s 2024 Poet Laureate. \u2018It\u2019s not an ICE detention center.\u2019<\/p>\n San Francisco Chronicle Logo<\/p>\n Make us a Preferred Source to get more of our news when you search.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Add Preferred Source<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n The measure\u2019s author, Greg Lyman, deemed the tax a modest ask for something that could be a great community asset.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n \u201cYou would think we were trying to open a strip mine in town,\u201d Lyman lamented. Like Brusatori, he is a former El Cerrito mayor.<\/p>\n Opponents of Measure C say they are being swindled.<\/p>\n Chris\u00a0Maack and Charles Taylor table \u00a0for the Yes on Measure C campaign\u00a0outside of Trader Joe\u2019s in El Cerrito. The debate over Measure C has touched on issues of affordability, taxes and the price of Bay Area real estate.<\/p>\n Jessica Christian\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019re going to pay all this money, we should have the Taj Mahal of libraries,\u201d said Wally Nowinski, spokesperson for the \u201cno\u201d campaign. \u201cBut we know it\u2019s going to be the Starbucks storefront of libraries.\u201d<\/p>\n Every so often, a proposal as mom-and-apple pie as a new library becomes a litmus test for people\u2019s values. There are those who consider such projects an unimpeachable civic good, and those who generally like the idea but aren\u2019t willing to pay for it out of pocket, especially in this Bay Area real estate market. And then questions swirl about the city\u2019s priorities, about what other tax measures will appear on the ballot, about whether every last grant has been applied for. (No grants will be available without a designated site and voter authorization, Lyman said.) Are libraries worth the investment, some wonder, in an era when everyone can stream the catalogue from their cell phones?<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n El\u00a0Cerrito voters are weighing Measure C on the June ballot for a parcel tax that would increase over time to construct a modern library facility, replacing the structure on Stockton Street.<\/p>\n Jessica Christian\/S.F. Chronicle<\/p>\n What\u2019s strange is that El\u00a0Cerrito residents are starting from a place of broad agreement: that El\u00a0Cerrito\u2019s current library, a one-story slab on Stockton Avenue, does not seem sufficient for a growing population of middle class families. Built in 1948, the structure is seismically unsafe and so cramped that it can\u2019t accommodate much more than toddler storytimes. A larger, more modern venue could serve as a hub for film screenings and author events, a \u201cthird space\u201d for kids to go after school and a cooling station in the worst summer heat waves. With the right amenities, it might even raise property values nearby.\u00a0<\/p>\n But that\u2019s where the consensus ends. When city leaders polled the library concept last year, it still seemed like a distant mirage. Developers have slotted space for a new 20,000 square foot facility on the ground floor of a massive housing complex at El Cerrito Plaza BART Station, though not everyone likes that location. Some are eyeing the plaza\u2019s former Barnes & Noble bookstore, or various lots on San Pablo Avenue. Others insist the city could just renovate the Stockton Avenue library, a notion that perplexes Taylor, the poet laureate.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat library is exactly like it was in the 1980s, when I was borrowing Nancy Drew and Ramona Quimby books,\u201d she said. \u201cEven then, I hungered for a better library. I started taking BART to libraries in other parts of the bay.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n