Civic board supports library expansion
To the editor:
The Board of Directors of the Fort Myers Beach Civic Association heartily supports the Beach Library’s expansion.
We hope our elected library board continues moving forward into the final steps of its seven years of hard work at planning and putting aside the necessary money to give our island this great addition. It can truly be a source of pride to our community and a tribute to good government long-range planning.
Thousands of people a year in our small community will benefit dearly from the vision our library board and Director Dr. Leroy Hommerding have demonstrated in moving this project to completion early in 2011.
To the few folks currently engaged in a letter writing campaign denouncing the good people who have planned this expansion we can only say “where have you been?” The Town Council of our island unanimously approved the library’s proposed expansion in June of 2008.
But even before then, the library was setting aside money for years from its property tax income and is also now closing in on nearly a half-million dollars in cash donations from this community to bring us this wonderful addition. Think about that. Nearly $500,000 in private donations from the residents of this community will have been raised by time the expansion breaks ground. What other institution in our community can claim a more profound showing of support than that?
The new space will allow our adults and children to meet, learn and enjoy all of the things a great library offers, including the latest in communication technology. The two million dollar loan the library made in this $7.8 million expansion will be paid off by the end of next year.
To the few who claim they had no idea this was happening and want it stopped, we remind you that all of the years of work on this project was done in public meetings.
The library board has assured us they don’t intend to stop now. That’s good. It means these folks aren’t intimidated by a few people who seem to want to accuse the board of all sorts of bogus claims.
Frankly, we wish more of our governments would do the kind of long range planning and fund raising the library board has done. It seems to us they have set a wonderful example for our island’s other public agencies to follow.
The Board of Directors of The Fort Myers Beach Civic Association:
Dennis Boback, Sandi Suter, Pat Smith, Dean Southworth, Lorrie Wolfe, Frank Schilling, Betty Simpson, Lee Melsek and Tom Cameron.
NOTE: Civic Board member Lorrie Wolfe is also on the board of the beach library