August 4, 1999

Stand aside! The skids are greased, the logs are rolling

125 years ago, give or take 25 years, they used to take logs out of the lush, pristine Redwood forests of San Mateo County on skids. The logs were pulled along on top of plank roadways by teams of oxen. To make it easier, they greased the skids with tallow, which they got from the oxen who had gotten too old to pull their weight.

Today the skids are being greased in Pacifica. We have two libraries, one serving the central and northern parts of town from Sharp Park, the other Linda Mar and Park Pacifica from the Park Mall area. Safeway has gone from 1681 stores to 1680 with the closure of the Park Mall store. Now, to serve you better, as the saying goes, it's suggested we destroy both libraries, perhaps using the land to build condos, and use the money from the sales to build a new library within walking distance of almost nobody except the shade-loving people who live in the cul de sac of Vallemar. It's more than a two mile walk to Terra Nova High School, (perhaps four miles via Linda Mar Blvd.), almost that far to Oceana.

The demand for this change comes from a convergence of forces. Those who want to build a new police station want to make it more palatable and affordable by combining it with a new library. Whether it's really a good idea is a concept on which intelligent and rational library lovers can disagree. There are some good arguments for a Vallemar library. The building would be larger, on level land, parking ample, electronic connections state of the art.

There's another argument, one not spoken in public by those in a position of great power and influence in this matter. Pacifica, they quietly tell each other, does not deserve two libraries when no other city of the 11 served by the county system has more than one.

This is the argument that's forcing both Pacifica branches to operate on only one budget for hours and leadership.

The 11 cities are Foster City, pop. 30,350, area 3,8 sq. miles, San Carlos, 28,550, 5.6 sq. m., East Palo Alto, 25,450, 2.5 sq. m., Belmont, 25,000, 4.5 sq. m, Millbrae, 21,800, 3.2 sq. m., Pacifica, 20,200 for each library, 6.3 square miles served by each library. Seventh on the list is Half Moon Bay, 11,100, 6.5 sq. m.. Atherton is eighth, with 7475 people, and 4.9 sq. m.followed by Woodside, 5625, 11.7 sq. m., and Brisbane 3310, 3.3 sq. m. With two libraries, each Pacifica branch serves 20,200 people and 6.3 square miles. That puts each of our two branches fourth in area served. Woodside, Portola Valley, and Half Moon Bay each serve a larger area, but the total population served by all three totals only 21, 275, barely 1000 more than the population served by the Sanchez Library alone.

As I've said before, for library purposes, we should split into two cities, Northern Pacifica and Sanchez City. As it is, with our new Vallemar Library, Pacifica will be number one. We will be the largest city in the county system, with a population of 40,400, and the largest city in area within that system at 12.6 square miles. That will compare to an average population served by the other 10 branches of 16,000, and average area served by those other ten of 5.5 square miles. On both counts, in my opinion, Pacifica deserves to keep the two branches it has had for the past 30 or 35 years. Fiscal conservatives should appreciate the fact that using existing buildings is cheaper than building new ones.