Sign the Petition

Help! Save Hayward's 21st Century Library and Heritage Plaza

Dear Friends,

We ask you to please sign this petition to show your support for Hayward's 21st Century Library and Heritage Plaza Arboretum. This much-needed and long hoped-for project is under attack, and we need your help to save it!

CLICK HERE TO SIGN THE PETITION

Many people in Hayward have worked very hard over nearly 20 years to make this groundbreaking project a reality, including Friends of Hayward Library, Hayward City Council, and thousands of community-minded volunteers and neighbors like you.

Thanks to Hayward voters who in 2014 overwhelmingly approved Measure C by a 2-to-1 margin, the project is fully funded and we are poised to break ground on a beautiful, modern, environmentally sustainable new 21st Century Library and Heritage Plaza Arboretum for the entire Hayward community to enjoy for generations to come.

But now a small group of people have decided that they want the City Council to change the project at the last minute, essentially to cast aside and disregard the work done by thousands of Hayward residents who participated in the many public design workshops and surveys that were held over the past seven years.

These latecomers want to eliminate the Heritage Plaza Arboretum from the project. Not only would this deprive Hayward of its historic central plaza for all time, but it would actually increase the overall cost to taxpayers by up to $8 million. They also want to eliminate the rainwater storage system and throw away the chance to save 400,000 gallons of rainwater each year, during the worst drought in decades.

Why do they want to do this? Because they want the City Council to give them the old, deteriorating library building for free – a building which needs an estimated $4 million to $8 million in repairs, and which costs Hayward taxpayers over $200,000 per year for upkeep alone – so this small group of people can use it for their own special interests.

Please help us save the project that so many people worked so hard over so many years to create. Ask the City Council not to throw away the input of thousands of Hayward residents who contributed their time and energy to this design. Ask the City Council to approve the project with no last-minute changes pushed by a small group of special interests. You can help by signing our petition, which we will present to the Hayward City Council on September 15, 2015.

FRIENDS OF HAYWARD LIBRARY