City Council Allocates $250,000 for Library

Los Angeles city officials are gearing up to begin the hard planning of a state-of-the-art library and environmental resource center in Lake View Terrace.

The City Council allocated $250,000 of Community Development Block Grant funds to the library department Tuesday, and agreed to accept a gift of architectural services from Henry Lenny Architects to put on paper what the community envisions for the center.

The city hopes to be able to create a facility that would encourage environmental and ecological awareness in the community--which is surrounded by environmentally sensitive areas, but has had to bear some burdens as well.

The effort grew out of concern about the now-closed Lopez Canyon Landfill nearby. Councilman Richard Alarcon has ushered through motions in the City Council to move the idea forward.

The $6-million center will be the first of its kind in the city, and is expected to include a full-service branch library with a 2,000-square-foot wing entirely devoted to environmental resource materials.

Also, a cultural history museum and exhibition hall and retail center are planned to be built next to the library building.

The facility will be built in a 1.5-acre site on Osborne Street near Hansen Dam Regional Park. The property had long been home to the Corral Bar and was used for television and film production.

City officials said they had hoped to salvage some of the building materials to construct the new library/resource center, but the bar was destroyed by fire last April.

Still, recycled and sustainable materials will be used in construction, in keeping with the environmental theme of the project.

In addition to the federal block grant money and funds from other sources, the center would be paid for with $2.5 million in Proposition K funds and $1 million from the Lopez Canyon Community Amenities trust fund.