Lake View Terrace : $500,000 Approved for New Library

The Los Angeles City Council on Friday approved allocation of $500,000 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds to help build a new library in the northeast San Fernando Valley.

The CDBG program is a several billion dollar pool of federal money dispensed to cities for a range of purposes, from buying firetrucks to encouraging economic development to building libraries.

Lake View Terrace does not have a public library branch, and the community has long been on the city library department’s priority list to receive one.

City library officials estimate the new library will cost between $3 million and $5 million. Already $1 million has been set aside from the Lopez Canyon Community Amenities Trust Fund, a $5-million trust fund created to benefit communities near the Lopez Canyon landfill.

The city’s Cultural Affairs Department also has contributed $40,000 toward a “cultural component” of the new library, bringing the total amount of funds designated for building the library to about $1.54 million.

An official from Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alarcon’s office said several possible library sites in Lake View Terrace are under consideration. Among them is a plot of vacant land along Foothill Boulevard, opposite the Hansen Dam Recreation Center, that is perhaps best known as the site where motorist Rodney King was beaten by police.