Could a new public library open in Fresno’s Tower District? Here’s what’s being proposed

A group of Fresno residents is trying to bring a Fresno County Public Library branch to the Tower District.

The vibrant neighborhood that’s home to more than 30,000 people hasn’t had a library branch since 1975. The closest public library — the Gillis branch — is an hour walk from West Olive Avenue and inaccessible by public transportation.

So in May, Tower District resident Brooke Payton launched a Change.org petition calling for a library in the neighborhood. It had garnered 615 signatures as of Tuesday.

“Having a library located within the Tower District,” Payton said, “would give people access to computers, to Wi-Fi, to resources that would better our economic foothold.”

Here’s everything you need to know about what it would take to open a public library in the Tower District.

Tower District had a library for decades

The Fresno County Public Library’s Gillis branch was originally located in the Tower District.

Gillis had four different addresses on Olive Avenue between 1940 and 1975, according to “A Century of Service from Dewey Decimal to Digital,” a book published by and about the Fresno County Public Library.

But by the mid 1970s, the library needed to relocate again: Its Olive Avenue location was “hazardous” and the ceiling was “treacherously likely to fall,” according to a March 20, 1973 Fresno Bee article quoted in the book.

The library then moved to the southwest corner of Fruit and Dakota avenues in 1975, where Gillis remains now.

Payton said the move didn’t benefit the Tower District.

“There is no public transportation that takes you directly to that location,” she said.

Campaign proposes two locations for new library branch

So far, Payton said, the Tower District Library Project is considering two options:

• Move the Gillis branch somewhere closer to the Tower District that could serve both the neighbors around Fruit and Dakota avenues and those closer to Olive Avenue.

• Open a micro-branch at Ted C. Wills Community Center, a few blocks south of Olive Avenue.

Both options present challenges, she said. Moving Gillis would require finding a new location and funding to do so. Opening a micro-branch at the Ted C. Willis Community Center, meanwhile, would require an agreement between city and county administrations.

This type of county-city contract for library purposes has happened before, said county Supervisor Sal Quintero.

“When I served on the city council, we were able to open up the library at Mosqueda (Community Center),” Quintero said. “I worked with the county to get that one open.”

The Mosqueda Branch opened in 1976 at the community center, according to the county library system. It was a fairly quick opening, Quintero said, because it wasn’t a “big, elaborate” library and the city already owned the building.

What would it take to open a library in Fresno’s Tower District?

Quintero said the county is working on opening three library branches – Reedley, Clovis and Highway City – and a couple have taken a decade or more to complete.

Quintero said he supports the opening of a new library branch, but said the other three branches in the works are the county’s priority. He couldn’t say how long it would take to open a library branch in or near the Tower District, even if it was at a community center.

Fresno City Council vice president Annalisa Perea also voiced her support for the proposal.

“My goal for the Tower District is to make it more family-friendly,” Perea said. “I think bringing a library to the Tower would really complement a lot of the existing amenities,” she said.

Perea said the challenge ahead is finding a location for a library branch. Once a location is selected, she said her office will be working with the county and its Economic Development Corporation division to see what it would take to move or establish a library there.

“So, we wanted to do a lot of that legwork initially beforehand,” Perea said, “to make sure that we were picking the right location.”

Payton acknowledges that bringing a library to the Tower District could be a lengthy process.

“I’m not expecting any of this to happen this year or next year or the year after that,” she said.

She recognizes she’ll have to work with current and future county and city elected officials.

“Successors need to play a part in it. This is going to be a very long, drawn-out campaign,” she said. “So I want to talk to those who are empowered now to get that ball rolling.”

Payton is hosting a community meeting about the Tower District Library Project on Sept. 26 from 5:45-8 p.m. at Root Access, 1476 N. Van Ness Ave.