A San Diego dream comes true

Finally, after 36 years, San Diego this weekend gets a visionary new downtown central library — and so much more. It is a library for the digital age and for the age of civic engagement.

You can get married in this library, on a top-floor perch with an incredible view. You can go to high school in this library. You can watch a political debate among candidates for mayor or attend myriad other civic functions. You can marvel at the art on the walls or the architectural charm and whimsy of the building itself, like the outdoor “stairway to somewhere” that leaves it to your own imagination just where it really leads. You can buy holiday gifts at this library or simply while away the time on a lazy day.

If you’re a follower of San Diego history, you can go outside and imagine yourself to be legendary city planner John Nolen, who in 1908 first envisioned a link from San Diego Bay all the way to Balboa Park. The library serves as a symbolic anchor for the bay end of the link.

And, of course, you can read. Pick any one or more of the 2.8 million books, government documents, research papers or other material on the library shelves. There are books with hard covers and soft, books on computer, e-reader or audio. If you’re of school age, you can get coaching on your homework, computer training or hang out in the teen center. There’s a separate library within the library just for younger kids.

With its centerpiece steel-and-glass dome, it is already a San Diego landmark, helping to forge a modern and vibrant image for San Diego.

Many thought it would never happen.

The old downtown central library, which opened in 1954, lasted just 23 years before consultants recommended a new one to serve as the hub for what is now a 35-branch system. Over the years, targeted sites jumped from downtown to Hillcrest and back to downtown. A noted architect, Rob Quigley, was selected 17 years ago. But political consensus was never strong enough to overcome the ever-present obstacle of how to pay for it. Finally, in 2000, a site was selected just east of what is now Petco Park. The state awarded a $20 million construction grant in 2003. The city’s redevelopment agency pledged $80 million in 2005. And, in 2010, the San Diego school district agreed to contribute $20 million in return for a long-term lease of two floors for a charter school.

But the $196 million final price tag was still out of reach. So San Diego did what no other community in America has done for a major public library project: It raised tens of millions from private donors — philanthropists Irwin and Joan Jacobs chief among them — to put the project over the top not just for the construction but for the initial five years of operating costs as well.

On Saturday, the new library will be officially dedicated in appropriately grand ceremonies. There’s a free concert there on Sunday, and special opening-day tours on Monday.

Finally.

Copyright © 2017, The San Diego Union-Tribune
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