NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

PALO ALTANS WILLING TO APPROVE $60 MILLION BOND
FOR IMPROVED AND RENOVATED LIBRARIES

PALO ALTO, October 17, 2001—Two-thirds of Palo Alto voters are willing to
vote for a $60 million bond measure to repair and renovate the Children’s
Library, Main Library and Mitchell Park Library, according to a recent
scientific poll of 400 Palo Alto voters.

When asked, “Shall the City of Palo Alto incur $60 million dollars of bonded
indebtedness for the renovation, expansion, and construction of certain
improvements to the Palo Alto Children’s Library, the Palo Alto Main Library
and the Mitchell Park Library,” 65% percent of respondents said that they
would approve such a measure if the election were held today.  Eleven
percent of the respondents were undecided.  Bond measures require approval
by a two-thirds majority.  The city is considering putting a library bond
measure on the November 2002 ballot.

Evans-McDonough Co., a public opinion polling firm in Berkeley, conducted
the telephone poll of likely November 2002 voters between October 9 and
October 12.  Friends of the Palo Alto Library and Libraries Now, a local
library advocacy group, sponsored the poll, which is statistically accurate
within 4.9%.

“We are very encouraged that two-thirds of the voters polled said that they
would vote for a library bond measure, “ said Shelby Valentine, president of
Friends of the Palo Alto Library.  “This is a strong showing for two
reasons:  1) these are uncertain times economically and otherwise, and 2)  a
focused public information campaign, which typically raises support for a
bond measure, has not yet begun.”

Support for libraries is high, with 97% of respondents agreeing with the
statement: “Maintaining quality libraries in Palo Alto is important to me.”
Nearly 90% agree that “The Palo Alto Library should be as modern and
inviting as libraries in neighboring cities.”  In recent years, Menlo Park,
Mountain View, Los Altos and Redwood City have built new libraries or
renovated existing libraries.

“This baseline polling data is a first step in our efforts to fund the
repairs and renovations to our libraries,” said Karen White, co-president of
Libraries Now.   “There is still a lot of work to be done, and we look
forward to working with the City to give Palo Altans the libraries that they
desire.”

The Palo Alto City Council-approved “New Library Plan”, developed by the
Library Advisory Commission, recommends repairing and renovating the city’s
three resource libraries: Main Library, Mitchell Park Library and Children’s
Library.  The library plan is currently funded for conceptual design and
cost estimates, but the City lacks funding for actual repairs or renovation
to these resource libraries.  The City has discussed the possibility of
funding improved libraries through a bond or tax measure.

Projects and programs that respondents wanted the potential library bond
funding to address included infrastructure repair such as plumbing and seismic
upgrading; as well as improved heating, ventilation, air conditioning,
lighting and Internet access; expanded space for additional books and
materials; expanded space to provide programs for children, teens and the
general community; and quiet rooms for study groups.

Palo Altans are regular library users, with 83% of respondents stating that
they have a Palo Alto Library card, and with 54% saying that they use the
Palo Alto Library regularly.


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For more information contact Karen White at (650) 494-7026, Karen Kang at
(650) 328-1121, or Shelby Valentine at (650) 494-2012.

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