South Houston moves closer to new library

South Houston moves closer to new library ganization told her that she didn’t ask for enough money. Harris County Community De¬ velopment then submitted a request to its board for $387,000. About two weeks ago, the Harris County Commissioners Court passed on a grant request of $100,000 for the new branch to the Texas State Lib¬ rary Board, Lippold said. The board has agreed to match that with $100,000 if the grant is approved. Lippold expects to have $587,000 by July 1 if all grants are approved. “When you ask for $350 (thousand) and they say you should have $387 (thousand), that kinda leads you to believe they are By SANDY WARREN Citizen Staff s Signs are favorable that funds for a new, bigger branch of the Harris County Library will be app¬ roved for South Houston by July 1. That’s what Pat Lippold, head librarian of the South Houston branch — Dallas St. Mayor Dennis Cordray and city council members this past week. The building, location to be de¬ termined, will have a minimum of 5,000 square feet whereas the cur¬ rent library is 900 to 1,000 square feet. currently located at 1013 — told South Houston “When we dig the hole (at the groundbreaking), j rate,” Lippold said. In the final stages of grant app¬ roval, Lippold explained why she is optimistic that the building will materialize. Lippold had requested $350,000 from Harris County Community Development, she said. After re¬ viewing the request, the or- n money,” she said. “Why would they offer you more, if they’re going to take it all away? But you never know.” Lippold lauded Harris County Community Development, South Houston City Secretary Young Lorfing, Cordray, City Engineer Ron Patrick, the South Houston Chamber of Commerce and the Pasadena Independent School Dist¬ rict. City officials are studying pos¬ sible sites for the new library, but will not confirm one until final app¬ roval of the grants, Cordray said. “We’ve really got our fingers crossed and our breath kinda held ,” he said. “We don’t know whether to scream and shout, Pat and I, when we talk about it. It sounds good, but do we have it? No, we don’t have it yet. “Everybody’s been positive. Nobody’s been negative to us.” The old library has been wor¬ king under a budget cut this year, Lippold noted, with the total bud¬ get for books and materials being $31,778. This, she said, is a big de¬ crease from last year. “The county is in a lot better shape than a lot of the governments and the library took a substantial budget cut,” Lippold said, “but it’s one we can live with. I mean, when you consider Houston Public closing branches and cutting hours and laying -off staff. If I have to buy a few less magazines, then it would be worth it.”