Name in Haste, Repent at Leisure

No one questions that Los Angeles Mayor Richard Riordan cares deeply about books or that he has done much to help the city’s children learn to read. There’s no question also that the city’s libraries and literacy programs have benefited from Riordan’s personal interest and largess. But the Library Commission’s decision last week to name the Central Library after the outgoing mayor was a precipitous action that did no service to him.

Certainly there’s nothing unusual about naming a public building in honor of a public servant, witness the court building named after former Rep. Edward Roybal, the international air terminal named after the late Mayor Tom Bradley and county buildings named after various county supervisors, living and dead. But the way the Library Commission rammed through the decision to rename the historic Central Library--an edifice that holds more meaning to many Angelenos than the average faceless government building--is a lesson in how to undermine public support.

The five-member board, appointed by the mayor, acted at the urging of 16 civic leaders and philanthropists who suggested the name change in a letter to the panel late last month. The commission’s own policies call for “a meeting with the community for community input.” Members heard from a hastily assembled group of speakers, most of whom, like representatives of the city’s librarians and volunteer docents, are either strongly opposed to the name change or argued for meaningful community input beforehand. But the board went ahead anyway, voting 3 to 1, with one abstention, in favor of the change.

The board’s haste has caused it to stumble and overlook details it now is being called upon to explain. For example, Mayor Riordan has indeed funded more staff and longer hours at the city’s libraries in recent years. Yet in 1993 he suggested selling the cash-strapped Central Library to the Philip Morris tobacco company, which would then lease it back to the city. Public uproar caused the City Council to quickly kill that proposal.

A motion to nullify the commission’s decision could be taken up by the council in the coming week. It would be in the interest of both the city and those who want to honor the mayor to allow fuller public discussion before deciding whether renaming the Central Library is the best way to acknowledge Riordan’s contributions.