This Isn’t About Options. It’s About Trust.

We’re being told there are multiple paths forward. Retrofit. Remodel. Rebuild.

But those “options” are a distraction.

The City’s own strategic plan already points to a new library at El Cerrito Plaza. That was the direction from the start. Early materials reflected that site before the rebrand.

Now we’re being asked to vote first…
and trust that the real decisions will come later.

At the same time, the numbers raise a fundamental question.

The City has indicated the existing library could be refurbished for about $10.3 million. Yet the tax is being structured around a $37 million project.

That’s not a small difference. That’s a $26.7 million gap.

And here’s what matters most:

So even if a lower-cost approach is ultimately chosen, there is no reduction in the tax.

Once the tax is in place, it stays.

That means residents are being asked to approve funding at the highest projected cost
without a binding commitment to that scope
and without any guarantee of savings being returned if the project costs less.

We’ve seen this before.

Time and again, residents were told funds would be used for one purpose
only to watch those dollars redirected, reinterpreted, or quietly absorbed into broader spending.

So this vote isn’t just about a library.

It’s about whether the City has earned the trust to set the price first
and make the decisions later.

And based on past taxes and how those funds were handled, that trust isn’t a given.