Books

Downey again rejects library renovation bids

WAVE NEWSPAPERS — Renovation of the City Library, expected to take 15 months, has been delayed as the City Council May 14 again rejected all bids for the job. New bids are due June 11, Assistant City Manager John Oskoui said.

Published

6 years ago

May 24, 2019

Arnold Adler

By Arnold Adler

DOWNEY — Renovation of the City Library, expected to take 15 months, has been delayed as the City Council May 14 again rejected all bids for the job.

New bids are due June 11, Assistant City Manager John Oskoui said.

Oskoui said the apparent lowest of nine bidders, TELACU Construction Management, which bid the project at $4.94 million, was challenged by the second lowest, AWI Builders, which bid $4.99 million.

AWI, the apparent lowest of 11 bidders, at the March 26 council meeting, was challenged by Cal-City Construction.

The library is slated for extensive interior renovation as well as exterior remodeling and will be closed for 15 months.

During the closure, some library services and programs will be conducted at other locations, including a temporary fire station at Bellflower Boulevard and Washburn Avenue; Downey City Hall, 11111 Brookshire Ave.; and the First Baptist Church of Downey, 8333 Second St.

In a second major project May 14, the council approved plans and directed city staff to seek bids for two projects at Wilderness Park, 10999 Little Lake Road.

The project, estimated at $875,000, includes removal of water and sludge from two ponds and relocation of wildlife, Oskoui said in a written report to the council.

Oskoui said prior to upgrading the park, 2.5 acres of wetlands and animal habitat at the ponds must be drained of water, cleaned and the native wildlife must be protected and relocated.

The drainage project calls for removal and disposal of about one million gallons of water and one million gallons of sludge — plant and animal waste. The contractor must work with a wildlife relocation specialist to ensure animals, fish and bird safety, Oskoui said. He estimated the cost of the project at $800,000.

The second part calls for working with wildlife, bird and turtle rescue organizations to either adopt or release them, possibly to turtle and bird sanctuaries. The ponds must be aerated to ensure fish safety as the water levels drop. Food must be provided for the water foul. Estimated cost is $75,000.

Work on the two projects, financed by a $1.6 million grant from the San Gabriel Rivers and Mountains Conservatory, is expected to start in August and be completed in October, Oskoui said.

Once those projects are completed, work can start to upgrade the park, including the replacement of invasive plant species with native plants, installing a naturalized hardened shoreline plus a new aeration system to improve water quality and return animal wildlife including migratory birds, he said in the report.

The upgrade includes access to the 28-mile San Gabriel River Trail, running along the park, and educational signs for wetland and native habitat awareness, he added.

Funding of the upgrade will come from the 1% sales tax hike approved by Downey voters in November 2016.

That tax will raise about $7.5 million annually. Of that amount, $4.5 million a year has been leveraged to sell and pay off $50 million dollars in bonds to upgrade city buildings and parks.

Bond funds are being used to upgrade and expand all four fire stations, a number of parks and other municipal buildings including the library.

Arnold Adler

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Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 13 – 19, 2024

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November 16, 2024

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of November 6 – 12, 2024

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Book Reviews

Book Review: Groundbreaking Magic: A Black Woman’s Journey Through the Happiest Place on Earth

Your dream job is still a job. You still must be there on time, look presentable and be ready to go. You can love the work and dislike your coworkers, embrace the challenge but hate the drudge, enjoy the process but dread the politics. The book, “Groundbreaking Magic” by Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day, shows us how we can relish our unique employment situations, downsides and all — and still represent.

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2 weeks ago

November 6, 2024

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Cover of Groundbreaking Magic. Courtesy of Disney Editions

Authors: Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day

c.2024, Disney Editions

$25.99

By Terri Schlichenmeyer

Your dream job is still a job.

You still must be there on time, look presentable and be ready to go. You can love the work and dislike your coworkers, embrace the challenge but hate the drudge, enjoy the process but dread the politics.

The book, “Groundbreaking Magic” by Martha Blanding with Tim O’Day, shows us how we can relish our unique employment situations, downsides and all — and still represent.

On the day she retired from a job she’d had for half a century Martha Blanding took a tour of her workplace as she took stock of the years.

Her parents, who’d lived under Jim Crow in their younger days, wouldn’t have believed the changes Blanding helped make.

Born in 1950, she’d watched Disney programming on television; living in South Central Los Angeles, she had been aware of the construction of Disneyland nearby. She visited the park for the first time when she was seven years old.

Needing money for college in the early 1970s, Blanding applied for a job at Disneyland and was told that they had no employment available – even though she’d seen postings for job openings. Some weeks later, her roommate encouraged Blanding to re-apply.

Reluctantly, she did. And that time, she was hired to work in the kitchen but before her first day on the job, Blanding was tapped as a tour guide and given training at “Disney University.” Due to her stellar work ethic, she was later promoted to VIP guide; over the years, she moved up the ladder to a series of positions that made use of her managerial and promotional skills.

As time passed and the Civil Rights Movement made strides in America, so did Blanding at Disney. She became a gentle activist, so that other minority workers had opportunities to be Cast Members, office staff, and management.

Oftentimes, she said, “… I was the only Black girl there” and “there was no hiding.”

None, in fact; instead, she used it to everyone’s advantage.

When you first start “Groundbreaking Magic,” you know right away that you’re in for a sweet, charming story from a hidden-until-now trailblazer.

You may or may not continue to feel that way.

In this biography, Blanding (with Tim O’Day) writes about creating equality in one small corner of an iconic business, and the story’s told from a POV that’s unique, engaging, and interesting. Fans of Disney will truly enjoy backstage peeks and insider info that takes readers through the decades and to various Disney locales.

What’s not so interesting is that the authors seem to mention every-single-one they worked with, including everyday people who are long gone or that you’ll probably never meet. That isn’t initially the distraction it becomes later but as the number of names increase, your attention is like to lag.

If you’re business-minded, then, and want to read about a corporation changing with the times, you may eventually be disappointed in “Groundbreaking Magic.”

Read it for the personal parts though, especially if you’re a Disney fan. It’s a dream story.