San Fernando Council Vote

* Re “Deny a Community Bookstore, Deny a Culture’s Heart and Soul,” Valley Perspective, Aug. 6.

Thanks to Mary Helen Ponce for correctly chastising the San Fernando City Council for denying funds to Espresso Mi Cultura, a Latino-owned bookstore, coffee shop and literary center that wanted to expand its business into downtown San Fernando. In her eloquent article, Ponce explained the significance of a Latino bookstore in San Fernando, especially for promoting reading, cultural enrichment and fellowship. Bravo!

However, Ponce failed to acknowledge that the council was sharply divided over whether San Fernando should use development funds to bring Espresso Mi Cultura to the city. It was the majority of the council--Mayor Silverio Robledo and council members [Richard S.] Ramos and Beverly Di Tomaso--who voted against the proposal while approving free money to the Starbucks coffee conglomerate. Council members Cindy Montanez and I fought exhaustively to bring the bookstore to San Fernando, to no avail.

Espresso Mi Cultura is more than a business venture; it’s also about the establishment of a much-needed cultural mecca in the area for people who crave cultural refinement, for a sense of place and community and for democracy. These values are essential to any community and cannot be measured completely in dollars and cents.

JOSE HERNANDEZ

City Council

San Fernando

*

As one member of the city council who voted against the project, I feel it necessary to tell the other side of the story.

It is important to note that the cost of this project is $250,000. Also, there is total agreement by the city council that Espresso Mi Cultura is a wonderful cafe and bookstore and would be an asset to our city. Yes, we did approve a $125,000 assistance package to Starbucks. No, we did not deny funds to Espresso. We offered them the same assistance package as offered to Starbucks. But Espresso indicated that they could only make the deal work with $170,000 in grant funding with no strings attached, and they had to have it immediately. The $45,000 difference in additional funding was not justified by the proprietors from a business standpoint, and neither were they willing to discuss a middle ground. The $45,000 difference was essentially a gift of public funds.

The city of San Fernando was being placed in a position of becoming a partner in a business venture, whereby the city assumed all the risk. As guardians of the city’s coffers, this would not have been a prudent investment.

One city council member motioned for the $45,000 to be a low-interest loan in addition to the grant funding already requested as a part of the $125,000 package. The majority of the city council decided that assuming 70% of the risk for a new business venture that had only two years experience would not be fiscally responsible. It had nothing to do with ethnic culture, books or politics.

If Espresso Mi Cultura can find the funds necessary to fill the financial gap, I am sure the majority of the city council would welcome them and celebrate their decision.

BEVERLY DI TOMASO

City Council

San Fernando