Pearland, Texas - Nancy Furst uncovered Pearland has no Library on West Side

Nancy Furst

Plenty of books, but no library for west Pearland

By KRISTI NIX

Updated: 03.24.10

Pearland City Council approved a tiny step forward for west Pearland residents hoping for a library Monday. Plans are now underway to establish a small office in the Westside Events Center where people can pick up and drop off library books ordered via the Internet or by phone.

The library pick up station is a result of ongoing meetings between city and county officials in recent months.

Councilman Scott Sherman, a member of the committee has been a vocal advocate for the construction of a full west Pearland library facility. It’s a goal he said he is still working to realize, though a shortage of funding from Brazoria County has been an obstacle.

“This is an interim solution and one quite honestly that doesn’t excite me all that much,” Sherman said. “Over the months our committee met, financial realities hit us in the face. It comes down to where we are right now is that this is a feasible solution.”

“It’s not perfect. You don’t get story time. You don’t get play time for kids. You don’t get programs for seniors,” he said. “What you do get is the ability for our residents on the west side and center part of town to get library books and drop off their library books. That’s a step. Is it a full step? I don’t think so.”

“The good news is it doesn’t stop here,” Sherman added.

One obstacle to the city’s hopes has been reaching an agreement with Brazoria County officials.

“Brazoria County has a policy of having only one library per city,” Mayor Tom Reid said. “Obviously when that was put in place we had one library for less than 30,000 people. We’re at 136,000 people now (within the ETJ) and it would seem that this one library per city doesn’t fit anymore.”

Given Pearland’s growth in population over the years, the county’s policy would seem to give smaller cities an advantage when it comes to library services.

Several council members expressed frustration that Pearland does not receive a fair share of county funding in relation to the number of people who visit the library. In fact, many west Pearland residents complain they must drive to the library in Manvel to check out books and materials.

“The ratio is not making a whole of sense to me, in terms of the way the policy of one library per city rolls itself out,” Councilman Steve Saboe said. “The allocation of dollars to the library on a per capita basis the ratio for the north county is way too low. The allocation of dollars on a funding county tax dollar basis is way too low.”

“When it comes right down to it, I, as a citizen of Brazoria County don’t feel that I’m getting my fair share of the dollars that are being spent for the library budget,” Saboe said. “And, yes that means somebody else has to give that dollar up. That isn’t an issue of fairness, that’s just an issue of that’s how things have been going.”

Support from the Pearland community continues to grow. Friends of the Westside Library, a group formed by residents hoping to raise awareness of the need for a west Pearland library, attended committee meetings and have committed to raising funds to help offset costs.

“A year ago when I wasn’t sitting up here, it was easy for me to say I wanted a library now,” Sherman said. “Financial reality is that it’s not easy as saying you want a library. And that’s a hard lesson that I’ve had to learn. And unfortunately it’s a hard lesson that a lot of citizens are going to have to learn after they find out what this solution is. My hope is we move from this point and set some hard timelines for establishing the next step.”

The costs for the Westside Events Center library substation are approximately $50,000. The City of Pearland has agreed to contribute roughly $35,000. The county is being asked to pay the remaining $15,000.

The library pick up/drop off office will be staffed with one part time employee who will be there during the week to assist people. A locked drop box will be available for returns outside the facility. An official opening date has not been set, officials said.

“What’s going to be important is that when this interim solution opens up, we need people to use it. We need to see that people are actually interested in this solution,” Sherman said. “My hope is that on day one we have 10,000 books sitting in the hallway. And then we’re hard pressed to find a new solution quickly.”

Nancy@CallNancyFurst.com

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