NEWPORT BEACH : Donations for New Library Still Needed

With more than $600,000 in pledges and donations in the past year, the Newport Beach Public Library Foundation is nearing its goal of raising $1.5 million for the city’s new main branch library.

Although officials are optimistic about reaching the goal before the City Council solicits construction bids this fall, they said they remain faced with the problem of getting out word of the need for more donations for the $13-million project.

“We’ve had to let people know we’re building a library and then we have to ask them for money,” said Elizabeth Stahr, co-chair of the foundation, which the City Council created last year to raise money for the planned 52,000-square-foot building.

The foundation has collected more than $600,000 in pledges and donations from the Harry and Grace Steele Foundation, which has pledged up to $500,000 in matching funds; the George Hoag Family Foundation, which has pledged $50,000; and the Friends of the Newport Beach Public Library, which has pledged $55,000.

To attract more supporters, the foundation on Sunday brought in comedian Steve Allen to entertain the library’s top 300 patrons at the Pacific Mutual Atrium at Newport Center Fashion Island.

Stahr called the event a “friend-maker” that the foundation hopes will lead to donations later. “We’re doing this as a promotional event--trying to let the public know we’re doing this project,” she said.

Last year, the city donated $6 million to the project, which will replace the cramped 14,000-square-foot main branch at 856 San Clemente Drive. The new facility, to be constructed at MacArthur Boulevard and East Coast Highway, will feature a public meeting room, a bookstore, a children’s room, a young adult section and computers for public use.

Construction could begin as soon as this fall and may be completed by the summer of 1993.