INGLEWOOD – Inglewood Assemblymember Tina McKinnor announced the Inglewood Main Library received a $2.7 million grant to improve the facility during Library Week which ran the last week of April.
“Happy Library Week! The $489 million Building Forward Library Facilities Improvement grants from @CAStateLibrary is the largest single investment ever made by the state in CA network of 1,127 local public libraries,” said McKinnor.
McKinnor represents Assembly District 61 where several local libraries received grant funding, with the largest portion going to Inglewood. The funds were made available from the State of California Budget Act of 2021 under Senate Bill 129.
“Our libraries are among the most important public resources available to communities across California,” said McKinnor.
Under the terms of SB 129 the City is required to match funds under the project.
The Inglewood city council accepted the approval of the grant award during the May 2 regular city council meeting.
District 1 Councilmember Gloria Gray asked for more specifics on the overall renovation of the Inglewood Main Library which includes seismic retrofitting.
“This is a very big project and I would like to ask about the total estimated budget, and where will the remaining funds come from to complete the project, what is the timeline for completion and how much will be used from the [Clippers] $100 million Community Benefit [Agreement] funds to pay for the renovations,” asked Gray.
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. took time to explain as he was directly involved in the negotiations of benefits package with Murphy’s Bowl LLC.
“The total project is $40 million with $6 million coming from the CBA and a Building Forward Grant of $2.7 million with the remainder being covered with bond funds totaling $31 million,” said Butts. “There’s three phases of construction: pre-design which will take six months and start in June 2023, pre-construction starts in January 2024 and expected to last fifteen months and the construction period starts April 2025 and will last fourteen months.”
The Library opened in 1974 and at the time was the most modern library in the County of Los Angeles and with time it needs renovation to the interior but also the cataloging systems will be updated and automated.
“It will again be a premier library for our children, residents and seniors,” added Butts.
The council then voted unanimously to receive the grant funds.
Emilie St. John is a contributing writer for 2UrbanGirls.com and the Los Angeles Wave newspaper
