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Public Library at Grape Day Park

censpkrs2151Attorney Steve Nelson and architects Brad Burke and Ken Erickson presented a program on the New Public Library at Grape Day Park: People to the Park, an organization to revitalize Grape Day Park to be a place for the community to daily gather.

In 1894 the Central Library opened and in 1905 a library was built at 3rd and Kalmia with a grant from the Carnegie Foundation. The first Grape Day Festival at the Park was in 1913. The current library was built in 1980. The park is currently overshadowed by the California Center for the Arts and City Hall, so in 2005 an idea was born and a committee formed. The reasons to expand our historic park are:

  1. Open Space,
  2. Pride in Place,
  3. Elevate the quality of Life, and
  4. Economic development:
    1. real property values positively affected,
    2. municipal revenues increased,
    3. affluent retirees attracted and retained,
    4. “knowledge” workers and talent attracted to live and work,
    5. homebuyers attracted to purchase homes and
    6. the area around the park begins to attract small businesses.

They showed a map of the park with the library at the corner of Washington and North Escondido Blvd. and a community pool and gym at the corner of Washington and Broadway. There will be some public housing and a five story parking structure to replace the current parking lot to make room for the new construction.

The City Manager will make a presentation of the plan to the City Council on October 19, 2016. Groundbreaking will be in 2017.