No longterm lease of our library to the County!

The Laguna Beach Public Library is 50 years old and showing signs of wear and tear. It has been run by the Orange County library system and left virtually unchanged since it opened. Now we have the opportunity to gain control of it, and reimagine something great. But not if we allow our City Council to give the County another 25 yaar lease, as is currently the plan. A lease that pays them $2.8 million a year at an operating cost of just $800,000. That's $2 million of our taxpayer dollars going to our wealthy neighboring city libraries. $50 million in 25 years.

Shouldn't we give the County a shorter lease to continuing operating it while we investigate the best path forward, including continuing with them, or perhaps taking it independent and running it ourselves, like Newport Beach has done. They have built a modern, state-of-the-art learning center with huge digital libraries, media labs, a cafe and lecture series. This is a once in a generation opportunity to create a learning legacy for our future. 

Please ask City Council to slow down, and consider all options to make our library great again. No longterm lease to the County. Please sign this petition and share.