“Our community is dispensable.”

That’s the message handed down to the community in November at the Planning Commission Workshop to discuss the Update to the College Area Community Plan. Maybe we shouldn’t have been surprised. But library patrons were. We naively thought we were special.

The College-Rolando Library was one of the first new branch libraries out of the gate identified in the 2002 Library Building Plan. We were important. Hooray!

And look at how glowingly our library is described by the city today. It’s “…one of the busiest…”

College-Rolando Library

Serving the communities of College Area, Rolando Village, Rolando Park, Darnall and Redwood Village.

When the College-Rolando Branch Library opened in September 2005, it replaced the outdated College Heights Library which was built in 1955 and located on College Avenue. Today, the College-Rolando Library is one of the busiest in San Diego with modern amenities to serve a diverse population and patrons of all ages. The astronomy-themed library building offers visitors a sense of privacy with separate reading areas and a computer lab, a multi-purpose community room with a kitchen and an outdoor patio.

The November Commission Workshop was a rude awakening.

Our library’s future was disregarded, while libraries in other communities are highly regarded by the city. The new Mission Hills Library has expensive underground parking. The city is spending upwards of $4 million to double the amount of parking at the Scripps Ranch Library. What is at play here?

Many seasoned community advocates aren’t surprised that the city is abandoning our library parking. Failure to solve problems is “business as usual” in the older city. The College Area community has made do without parks for its entire existence. And we have no fire station. No community center.

And then came the bigger blow.

The city needs to solve its challenge of where to put growth; and how to address the demands of climate action. Where do they turn – concentrate it right here in the College Area, big time, creating more than four times the buildout capacity for housing than the 2020 baseline. What?

It doesn’t matter if our library has no parking. It doesn’t matter if we don’t have a fire station. It doesn’t matter if we are sorely lacking in public spaces and parks. It doesn’t matter that the city can’t provide the infrastructure for that unbelievable increase in density. We, somehow, are dispensable, while other communities get supported!

Well, it does matter to our library patrons. And the sustainability of our community does matter to all those who have invested time, energy and love here. We do not intend to be quietly thrown under the bus.

Let’s remind the mayor and our councilmember of their commitment to equity and stand up for our community. Contact MayorToddGloria@sandiego.gov and seanelorivera@sandiego.gov.

– This opinion piece was written by Jan Hintzman, president of the Friends of the College-Rolando Library.