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by Matt Leslie, from the Fullerton Rag
Homeless camp outside Hunt Branch; photo Fullerton Rag
The Fullerton City Council has voted to close the Hunt Branch library and begin the process of leasing the facility to Grace Ministries International for up to two years. The Council also accepted the Library Ad-Hoc Committee’s recommendation to explore ways to maximize the value of property on Bastanchury Road originally intended for a new library branch, and to sell the library’s bookmobile, already out of action for vehicular regulatory reasons.
Two years ago public outcry over the possible closure of the Hunt Branch helped lead to the formation of the Library Ad Hoc Committee, whose report, presented to the City Council on June 4, acknowledged that the prior reduction of the Hunt’s open hours to just two days a week had made its operation as a library untenable. The emergency closure of the Hunt earlier this year initiated the effective abandonment of the facility as a site for providing access to books and other library services to the public.
Although the preference of the Board of Trustees was to see the Hunt Branch adequately funded so it could resume its role as a full time branch library to serve Fullerton’s southwest residents, the Council, in a 3 to 1 vote (Mayor Whitaker dissenting, Council Member Sebourn absent), chose the fallback position of closing it entirely. They voted to authorize City Manager Joe Felz to commence formal negotiations with Grace Ministries to temporarily lease of the Hunt Branch, located adjacent to the church’s campus. The council also unanimously approved supporting an application by Fullerton Heritage to place the Hunt Branch building on the National Registry of Historic Places.
The Library Ad-Hoc Committee’s report includes recommendations by the Library’s Board of Trustees, who are very clear that, though there are suggested measures to improve the Hunt Branch as a library, the favored option is provide adequate funding to keep it open, not close it:…
It will be interesting to see if the church will have an issue with the homeless “hanging around”… has anyone of these so-called city officials figured out that the word “homeless” means — they don’t have a place to live? And since I am on the subject of the homeless…last week I was at the Long Beach VA Hospital…late night with hubby… and a homeless vet, who had obvious mental issues…came inside to complain that the Long Beach Police came by and woke him up, in his vehicle and told him he can’t sleep in his car…he is homeless!…when hubby and I left VA…the hospital parking lot was almost empty…plenty of room for homeless vets to sleep safely in their cars…is this how we treat out vets…when they return from doing the dirty work of our politicians/corporate elite???