The Proposed New Sierra Madre Library

I recently had the opportunity to attend an "informational" meeting where three speakers made their presentation regarding the idea of "giving" the town a new library for its centennial, coming up in 2007.  After the meeting, I agreed to post the information on this website, so that the public could be informed regarding what is being proposed.  As new information is provided, it will be posted.

Here are some of the reasons given as to why a new library is necessary.  If you would like to read the entire white paper, which discusses the history of the Library and the proposed library, reasons for building new rather than adding on, financing, and the proposed ballot measure needed to make this new library happen, just click here.  You will need Adobe Acrobat reader, if you do not have it, download it for free by clicking on the Get Acrobat Reader button above.  Below the bullet point reasons for considering the new library are some renderings of the library as proposed. Click on the image to see it larger. It seems to me that the descriptions on some of the images are inaccurate, as renderings from both the front and rear of the building say "View from Sierra Madre Blvd. and Mariposa Ave.", and that would seem to be inaccurate.  So I've put my own take on it below the photo.  If I'm wrong, please let me know.

Some reasons given in the white paper as to why Sierra Madreans should consider building a new library:

• The original (1955) plumbing needs to be completely replaced
•  HVAC (heating and air conditioning) unit and ductwork needs to be replaced due to age and inefficient design
• There are not enough restroom facilities
• Interior lighting is not energy efficient and exterior lighting is inadequate for public safety
• Electrical power system needs to be replaced because of the increased demands on power of current and future technology as well as simply due to the age of the existing service and wiring
•  The current 8,762 square feet library was built 50 years ago and was designed to hold 25,000 books.  Our current collection is 56,000 volumes, which does not include periodicals, audio books, CD’s, and other materials.  The 1955 building is 21% undersized to house the existing contents.
• The existing building does not meet seismic standards.  Exterior shear walls would need to be rebuilt to meet current code requirements to resist lateral movement

Copyright © 1998 - 2011 by The Coburn Group, Sierra Madre. All logos, trademarks or product names mentioned or displayed herein are the property of their respective owners. All photographs and videos on this site Copyright 1998 - 2011, by Bill Coburn, Sierra Madre, CA unless otherwise noted.  Any reference to the City of Sierra Madre or Sierra Madre applies to the community of Sierra Madre and not the city government. The City of Sierra Madre, California government is not affiliated with Sierra Madre News.Net at this time. Any city government information provided herein has been previously published for public dissemination and is shown here as a public service of Sierra Madre News.Net without explicit permission of the government of the City of Sierra Madre.