Editorial Page staff
The Seattle Times
The questions on the ballot in Issaquah Nov. 5 are twofold:
Should the community build a new, state-of-the-art library and should a capital district
be formed to finance the library and fill it with 150,000 books?
The answer from voters to both questions should be ``yes.''
In a proposal similar to the successful Redmond library vote in September, formation of a Library Capital Facility Area is needed to fund a new library building in downtown Issaquah. For residents of the area, the bond issue would total $8.1 million, or roughly $15 per $100,000 assessed value on their property.
Proposition 1 on the ballot authorizes building a new library; Proposition 2 grants authority to create the
library district, a relatively new vehicle in Washington state to tax for library funding.
Issaquah is growing faster than dandelions and the need for library space is obvious. The old library fits an Issaquah that is no more. The library district would be slightly larger than the the boundaries of Issaquah but, not without reason, almost the same size as the school district.
In return for voter approval, the Issaquah Library 2000 project would build a new facility of 15,000 square feet,
nearly double the current library. Advocates also promise all the necessary equipment to tap into the information age _ computers, CD-ROM and the World Wide Web.
A new site has not been chosen, but the library board is committed to anchoring the facility near the town center. The old library, adjacent to a pleasant park, will remain city property and be converted to a senior center.
Library 2000 is a good deal for Issaquah, the region and the twin purposes of education and leisure browsing. As in Bellevue, Kirkland and the new library in Redmond, the civic nature of libraries is entering a Renaissance as bursts of information become available in modern facilities that double as community meeting halls.
