Early on, co-Chair Eddie Aldrete summed up the task facing the members of the Facilities and Community Initiatives committee this way: $500 million in requests, $61 million in 2012 bond money to go around. Someone has to go home empty-handed. However, the frustration expressed by fellow members tended to focus not on the size of the pot – predetermined by City staff – but on the amount that was tagged for deferred maintenance at branch libraries. The total came to almost $6 million for 18 libraries in eight Council districts. When they suggested at the second committee meeting that maybe bonds should be for big capital improvements and that upkeep should be included in the City's annual operating budget, Assistant City Manager Peter Zanoni said that would require a tradeoff: fewer books and librarians.
But sometime before the December 8 meeting, when the committee finalized the recommendations it will forward to Council next month, a deal was inked. The City promised to address maintenance in the regular budget over five years and leave the bond dollars for major projects.
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