SUNLAND-TUJUNGA : Residents Hopeful About Library Plan

Thursday’s groundbreaking for the $2.2 million renovation and expansion of the Sunland-Tujunga Library could mean that the city is taking note of this community, residents said.

“We’re obtaining our fair share, finally,” said Joan Slater, president of the Sunland-Tujunga Chamber of Commerce.

“We’ve gotten nothing, really, from the city, for many years,” she said.

The renovation project is being funded through bond money approved by voters in 1989 to rebuild and create city libraries. Under the construction, the 4,500-square-foot branch will double in size and will include room for community meetings, children’s story hours and other programs. Completion is expected in the summer of 1995.

The library, built in 1957, has long been in need of a renovation. It has been closed since October.

“Nothing can be more important to a community than a library,” Los Angeles City Councilman Joel Wachs said in Thursday’s ceremony to mark the beginning of the renovation project.

Wachs joined Los Angeles city library officials and community representatives in unveiling a drawing of what the library will look like upon completion of the project.

Sunland-Tujunga librarian Martha Houk said she was “exhilarated” that the day finally had come, even though she is now working in a bookmobile in the parking lot of the Sunland K mart with only 3,000 books of a 45,000-book collection. She said knowing that the new facility will have more space and a computer system linking the library to all other city libraries makes it easier to wait more than a year for the reopening.

“It’ll be worth the wait,” Houk said.

Members of the community said they hoped other help from the city would follow, such as more police officers.