We ask the City to honor its 2019 zoning for 6650 Montezuma Road that allowed only a 125- room hotel and NO residential dwellings.  This property holds the driveway the city built for the library and most of its parking.  It is required by a joint-use agreement to remain accessible to the public.

If the City fails to honor its own zoning agreements, why should it expect developers or landowners to respect the municipal zoning code?  The City should be leading by example and enforcing its own zoning laws.

If the requested dense hotel/residential development is granted, the City, at the minimum, needs to secure protections for library parking such as an easement.  The 6650 Montezuma property owner is seeking a zoning waiver and access across the library property and the City wants a permanent parking easement for the Library.  This provides a basis for negotiations that could resolve the Library parking problem.  The City needs to take a leadership role to enable this compromise.

The College-Rolando Library serves the 6^th largest population (53,000 patrons) and is one of the busiest branches in San Diego.

Libraries are a necessary community resource.  The City professes to seek equity for our overlooked older neighborhoods.  Past City actions affecting our library are a reinforcement of existing structural inequities.  Our needs are being ignored.

• We have the 4^th lowest median household income ($51,567) among San Diego Branch Libraries.  Our median income is a full $30,000 below that of the city as a whole.

• We are a diverse community in terms of race/ethnicity.  Our library serves more than 60% minority populations – less than 40% of our population is White.

The Library is crippled without parking. In 2017, the Library lived with only 28 parking spaces and no access from Montezuma.   Circulation was halved, the community room sat empty and program attendance dropped dramatically.

While the City fails to protect our parking, it is spending over $4 million to add 80 parking spaces to Scripps Ranch, doubling the parking there.  Its new Mission Hills library enjoys 3 levels of very expensive underground parking.  We are not getting equitable treatment.

There are 7 residential developments under construction in this area totaling more than 1,000 units.  The pressure on this community for additional resources is huge. We need more parking, not less.

The older communities served by the College-Rolando Library have few other community resources or amenities.   The increase in residential density will only make this situation worse.  Now is the time to show us the City cares.  It is the least the City can do to address the lack of resources in our communities of the College Area, Rolando, El Cerrito, Rolando Park, Colina and parts of Talmadge.

Make your voice heard.  Email Mayor Gloria MayorToddGloria@sandiego.gov  and councilmember SeanEloRivera@sandiego.gov

Friends of the College-Rolando Library  crlibraryfriends@gmail.com                                         

Check out what the library offers  www.CollegeRolandoLibrary.org