TITLE
Recommendation to adopt Plans and Specifications No. R-6695 for the MacArthur Park Branch Library; and authorize City Manager to award the contract to Swinerton Builders, Inc., in an estimated amount of $8,218,000 and execute all necessary documents related to the contract. (District 6)
DISCUSSION
The Department of Library Services' Strategic Plan identified two communities in Long Beach that are greatly underserved because of the constraints of the existing library buildings (North and Central Long Beach). In the case of Central Long Beach, the Mark Twain Library, which occupies a portion of the Parks and Recreation facility at MacArthur Park, serves a population of 57,433 within a 2,130-square foot area. The Central area is the most racially and culturally diverse section of the city and is home to the largest Cambodian population in California.
The City's 2010 Strategic Plan states that "Long Beach will be a community of neighborhoods focused on youth and education." The City's goal is "to create a city where children and youth of diverse backgrounds live in safe and nurturing communities, with access to comprehensive, culturally sensitive programs and services that make them healthy, happy and well-educated, preparing them to become successful, responsible, and contributing members of the community."
The California Reading and Literacy Improvement and Public Library Construction and Renovation Bond Act of 2000 made available $350 million of state grants to cities, counties and library districts on a 65 percent state to 35 percent local matching fund basis. The City of Long Beach, Department of Library Services, completed an application for funding for a new 16,000-square foot library facility to replace the current Mark Twain Neighborhood Library under the Library Bond Act of 2000.
On March 18, 2003, the City Council voted unanimously to support this application. On October 28, 2003, the California Public Library Construction and Renovation Board...
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