City of Readers Honors Its Mayor

Re “Council Fails to Veto Renaming of Library for Mayor,” May 2: To an outsider, Los Angeles is defined by Hollywood and the entertainment industry. Glitz is equated with superficiality. But as I have discovered during the past seven months, Los Angeles has as many dimensions as it has centers. Last weekend’s Times Festival of Books at UCLA shows that Los Angeles is also a city of readers.

As California State Librarian Kevin Starr has remarked, public literacy continues to make the greatest contribution to civilization, growth and prosperity, and public libraries are still the service most used by its citizens, young and old, rich and poor. Los Angeles has done a great deal to restore and invest in its public library system, one of its great, if not well-publicized, assets.

I do not know Mayor Richard Riordan well, but every time we meet he asks me, “What are you reading?” and then launches into an erudite discussion of what he has just read. Like the city he represents, one would not describe him as superficial (or glitzy). It says as much about the City of Angels as it does about its retiring mayor that it chose to honor his public service by renaming its superb Central Library after him.

Colin Robertson

Consul General of Canada

Los Angeles

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In 1993, I was aghast and heartsick when I read about the plan to sell the Central Library [to a Philip Morris subsidiary and lease it back]. At that time, I wrote to the City Council members, begging them not to allow that to happen. Fortunately, it did not.

Recently, I learned about adding Mayor Riordan’s name to that library. I am now beyond words. If he wants his name on something, let’s put it on all the parks he was instrumental in redoing. But “Central Library” is a fine name and should not be embellished. As you know, there are many, many people who love books and libraries and many who do volunteer work at libraries. They may not have Riordan’s money to give, but they give of themselves.

Lee Soskin

Los Angeles

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Billionaire Eli Broad spearheaded the motion to rename the Central Library for Riordan. The Library Commission renamed the library. Broad heard rumblings about the City Council overturning the commission’s vote. He went to the mayor’s aides for tips on wooing council members. The City Council didn’t overturn the vote to rename the library. And now we learn that Broad is a big-bucks backer of Antonio Villaraigosa for mayor (‘Big Donors Gave to Party to Help Villaraigosa,” May 2). What’s next? Always good to know who’s really running city government.

Damiana Chavez

Los Angeles

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As a frequent user of the Central Library, I can only comment that giving a politician’s name to a repository of literary works curdles my literary juices. If a library must be named after a person, pick someone whose published works adorn the shelves and who has inspired millions of readers to visit libraries. Call it the Ray Bradbury Library.

Richard M. Ruby

Woodland Hills