Last week, I renewed my library card and thought I'd share a little about the Temecula Library. I was there on Opening Day and actually wrote the follow article for a local paper The Bugle [published Dec. 2006]. Since the anniversary is upon us, I thought I'd share that momentous event with you now.

"Good things happen to those who wait." No words could have been more truer for Temecula and its new public library. Hundreds of people, the faces a sea of who’s who of this valley, joined together for the dedication and culmination of a decade long project on the afternoon of December 14th.

The Temecula Public Library, perched high upon Pauba Road, overlooking the City, is a 35,000 square foot artistic beauty. It is extremely obvious that a great deal of dreaming, devotion, sweat and love went into its creation. Its need recognized the day the first library opened, in 1992, and was deemed too small from the beginning.

City Manager, Shawn Nelson, presented the audience with all the invaluable players on the team that made it all happen. The list was a mighty one and as I sat there, I was acutely aware of the love these people all had for the library. It was an infectious, powerful love. Ron Roberts, Mayor and City Councilman, was one of the most passionate. His relentless pursuit of state funding was attributed to the key factors that brought the library to fruition.
Richard Hall, Library Bond Act Manager, from the State Office of Library Construction in Sacramento, praised Temecula and its success in financing this dream. He said, "Library funding is highly competitive. Only one third get funding. It was not luck but hard work. Ron and his team did a state wide, class job in this application. They spent the money extremely well and made us proud." I was incredibly proud, myself, at the huge task that was accomplished.

No library was built on State funding alone. Grace Mellman, President of the Friends of the Temecula Library, is a name I have known since I moved here in 1993. Her devoted group of volunteers raised $500, 000 to guarantee the valley would have enough reference materials, information, children programs and services that reach more people that any other public service, besides the post office, reach. This was an incredible feat and through various speeches that mentioned Grace Mellman and all she has done, I found myself in deep admiration of her devotion. I discovered that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way, as 3rd District Supervisor of Riverside County Jeff Stone announced his recommendation that the first library be renamed for Grace Mellman. A standing ovation made it obvious that the community agreed.
After all the speeches and after the sun lowered from view, the enamored, eager library fans were given the opportunity to finally see inside. Needless-to-say, no one was disappointed. It was a powerful experience. I had never seen anything like this. There were components for every need to be met. A children’s room for the youth of today. A Genealogy room for those who wanted to know where they came from and dozens of internet terminals to see where we can go.

As a citizen, I had no idea what was involved in the completion of a library of this magnitude. Actually, until that ceremony, I hadn’t been able to articulate the importance of a library of this caliber. Charlotte Fox, Community Services Commissioner, really reinforced what a library is, "...a hospital to the soul… a monument to civility...a beacon over the valley, welcoming all."

We were shuttled back to our cars, parked below. It was dark, with little moonlight. Before entering my car, I glanced up to the new Temecula Public Library. Its sea of windows illuminated in the black sky, perched on the edge of the cliff. Truly a beacon. I hope you follow that beacon soon. A treasure awaits you.