Poll says no site, parking concerned library voters

October 10, 2008 02:51 am

— The notion that the lack of a specific site and a multi-level parking garage could have doomed May's vote on a new library was surprising when supporters suggested it this past summer.
But it appears voter sentiment against a parking garage and no specific site ran strong. A post-election poll of registered voters paid for by the Partnership for Norman's Progress indicated only 13 percent of Norman's voters thought a parking garage was important or extremely important.
The poll results, released during this week's future of library services discussion at Roosevelt Elementary School, put an interesting spin on the issue.
Eighty-eight percent of the more than 1,000 voters surveyed said libraries are important or extremely important to overall quality of life. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed support or strongly support building new library facilities.
Sixty-five percent of the voters surveyed want to know the specific site of new facilities. Nearly half of those surveyed feel it is important or extremely important to have an improved or enlarged central downtown facility.
Just under a third of those surveyed see east and west side branches as important or extremely important, yet that option is being pursued. Twenty-nine percent of the voters surveyed say a North Base site to achieve more surface parking would be important or extremely important.