CITY HALL — On the heels of residential protests, the City Council this week took the Casa Verdugo and Chevy Chase branch libraries off the budget chopping block as council members continue to grapple with a projected $18-million budget gap.
Closing the Casa Verdugo branch and converting the Chevy Chase Library to a community center that would host fee-based programs and maintain a “minimal” library presence was part of a nearly $500,000 proposed cut to the library budget.
When the proposal became public, residents in both areas began gathering signatures and peppering City Council members with emails of opposition.
With the residents continuing to mobilize against the proposal, the City Council on Wednesday said they would not approve the Casa Verdugo closure or the Chevy Chase conversion — which made up roughly half the value of the proposed cuts.
“I don’t know what we’re going to do or how we’re going to go about doing it, but we need to keep these branches open,” Councilman Frank Quintero said at a special budget meeting. “They’re being used by young people, seniors, college kids, high school kids.”