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Cutting the red ribbon to make the new Artesia library official was Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn accompanied by (l-r): Artesia Mayor Pro-Tem Tony Lima, Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia, State Senator Tony Mendoza,former Supervisor Don Knabe, ABCUSD Board VP Letty Mendoza, and Mayor Ali Taj, accompanied by local children ready to make use of the new library resources.
By Larry Caballero
Social Editor
Artesia Planning Commission Chair Michele Diaz remembers the day several years ago when she received a call from Mayor Pro-Tem Sally Flowers asking questions about the City’s library.
They both agreed that the library was in need of some important changes and improvements. A few Friends of the Artesia Library fundraisers later, and the tremendous support of former Los Angeles County Supervisor Don Knabe, who was able to provide more than twelve million dollars in funding, a new library has been built.
Supervisor Janice Hahn was pleased to welcome hundreds of residents and supporters to the Grand Opening of the new Artesia Library Dec. 8 where she thanked Knabe for bringing this project to completion.
“It seems like for my first year in office, I spend a lot of my time going to these kinds of events, where Don did all of the work to ensure that these projects are completed, and my job is to cut the red ribbon.”
Hahn commented that the completion of the library “was a long time coming, but I am so excited that today, Artesia gets a brand new library! It’s more than double the size of the old building, and you are not only getting a new building and place to check out books—you are getting so much more than that.
This library is a one-stop shop for learning, and no matter your age, there is something new for you to learn. All you have to do is come in and take advantage of everything the library has to offer. Artesia, welcome to your new library!”
Artesia Mayor Ali Taj thanked Hahn for her determination that the library should be built as soon as possible. “I know,” said Taj, “that these projects can take several years to complete, but under Supervisor Hahn’s leadership, she was able to build the new library in only two years.”
The Grand Opening event included library card sign-ups and giveaways, arts & craft activities and even a few jugglers and clowns to entertain the children in the new100-seat community meeting room with a state of the art audiovisual system.
The new 10,850 square foot Artesia library features outdoor patio with direct connection to the Community Meeting Room; two group study rooms with audiovisual capabilities; separate Adult, Teen, and Children reading areas; and eight adult computers, three teen computers, four Homework Center computers, and two early learning computers.
