City Council Approves New Library for Watts

The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday approved a $1.5-million proposal to triple the size of the Watts library--a move that community activists say will bring much-needed educational resources to one of the city’s poorest neighborhoods.

The council’s unanimous vote came after years of perseverance by the Friends of the Watts Library to establish a significant learning resource center in a neighborhood where many adults are deficient in reading skills.

“I am intoxicated with happiness,” said Alma Reaves Woods, president of the library support group. “It will mean an opportunity for students to do research, for senior citizens to read newspapers and periodicals they can’t afford on fixed incomes, and a haven for cultural enrichment.”

Councilwoman Joan Milke-Flores, who represents Watts, said the Community Redevelopment Agency will provide most of the money needed to build the 10,500-square-foot library less than a block from the tiny one built in 1961 on Compton Avenue between 102nd and 103rd streets.

Under the proposal approved by the council, the CRA will swap a portion of a vacant lot it owns for the existing Watts branch of the Los Angeles Public Library--the smallest in the city.

The CRA has yet to decide what to do with the existing building, which will remain open until the new facility is completed in 1993.

Milke-Flores said the library will be part of a proposed commercial development at the 1.3-acre site that will also include an 18,500-square-foot office complex, a restaurant and 70 parking spaces.

“We feel this is a perfect project for the CRA,” Milke-Flores said, “because it has to do with business, development and adequacy of educational materials in a part of Los Angeles that has been too long without advantages.”

Roy Willis, director of operations for the CRA, said, “this project is extremely important because it marks a new direction for Watts.”

There are no Latino reference materials, nor room for an adequate black history section in the existing library.

“We need space for reading labs, computer labs and for quiet reading in a cozy setting,” Woods said. “We also need a place to exhibit the art of various cultures so that people will be able to understand and appreciate their neighbors.”