Safaí Pushes For Ocean View Library On Controversial Parcel

District 11 Supervisor Ahsha Safaí is ensuring the city builds a new Ocean View Branch Library at 100 Orizba Ave. through proposed legislation that would also not allow the spending of city funds to explore or plan the construction of a new library at an alternative location.

The Board of Supervisors Rules Committee heard Safaí’s proposed legislation Monday with City Librarian Michael Lambert opposing the legislation. 

“I do not support the legislation on the principle that it's not good government to limit options It's antithetical to good government principles,” Lambert said.

Earlier this year, Safaí sponsored similar legislation that was amended to only prioritize a new library at 100 Orizaba Ave. The supervisors approved it. However, library officials, Safaí and the mayor’s office have gone back and forth about the 100 Orizaba Ave. site and the possibility of the library sharing space with Pilgrim Community Church and IT Bookman Community Center at 446 Randolph St.

“I'm curious why there's still this push to look at 446 Randolph when the community previously said that we wanted to prioritize 100 Orizaba,” Safaí asked Lambert.

Lambert said that the shared-space option will no longer be available as a Bay Area regional housing measure was pulled from the upcoming November ballot as it could have funded the project.

Lambert said the library continues to adhere to the previous legislation passed by supervisors on prioritizing moving the Ocean View Branch Library to 100 Orizaba Ave.

“We did commission some community meetings this spring, and we affirm the community's aspirations for the new library," Lambert said. "We also requested the Department of Public Works commission a fresh cost estimate from a professional cost estimator. We shared that information with the Library Commission in July.”

Cost estimates from the library in July showed that constructing a new 20,000-square-foot library at 100 Orizaba Ave. could cost from $65 million to $94 million. The library has set aside $42.1 million for the project.

Safaí questioned when the library would “aggressively begin” plans and construction documents. The supervisor noted that the library can begin those plans even without all the funds in hand.

Lambert said that the library is following the Planning Department’s recommendations, which included major traffic studies that are currently underway as 100 Orizaba Ave. is on the city’s high injury network. Lambert added it would be premature to work on detailed designs “if there's fluidity in the actual parcel of land that we have to work with.”

Another recommendation from the Planning Department is to have joint-use partnerships at the city to provide the community with more amenities. In terms of the recommendation of joint partnerships, Safaí said that did not need to be adhered to and grew frustrated with the length of time it has taken the library to draw up plans.

“This is something that was ready to go two years ago, and the community has just been waiting and waiting and waiting and waiting," Safaí said. "Money is there. We've been wasting people's time.”

Big Plans For Ocean View’s Little Library That Could

The 119-year-old Ocean View Branch Library, the fifteenth established by the city, has moved five times. Plans are in the works for its sixth.

The Ingleside LightLisa Dunseth

Renard Monroe, head of Youth 1st, a community center for youth, said they bring kids to the Ocean View Library every Wednesday but have to bring the kids in separate groups as the library is not big enough for all the kids at one time.

“I'm just in here to support making sure that we get a new library. I don't know why we keep going back and forth making this political, because the what's losing out is the community,” Monroe said.

Safaí’s legislation will sit in the committee for an additional week as the supervisor made an amendment to the legislation to allow the city to expand the existing site of the library at 345 Randolph St. if any adjacent parcels become available.