LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

On behalf of the entire library board of trustees, we are writing to

express our strong concern about recent developments regarding the

Huntington Beach Playhouse and its relationship with the library.

We are extremely disappointed in the tone as well as the substance of

communications from playhouse representatives to members of council, the

local media and the general public. We find their messages to contain

inaccuracies and misconceptions, which seem to increase with each

telling.

Our community should not be misled in this manner, nor should

unfounded charges against the personal and professional integrity of the

library’s director be allowed to stand unchallenged. We wonder if

playhouse advocates have begun to confuse facts and figures with

theatrical performance and melodrama?

For the record, we wish to reaffirm support of the unanimous board

recommendation on April 17 for increased fiscal responsibility on the

part of the playhouse. This recommendation allows the playhouse an

opportunity to phase-in these changes over a period of three years, and

we believe the resulting payments more appropriately reflect the market

value of the library facilities to be leased.

At present, the library is heavily subsidizing playhouse use of the

theater and other rooms. These spaces would bring in considerably more

revenue, were they rented to other nonprofit groups, not to mention

for-profit enterprises. We would be remiss as a board if we had not

identified and sought to address the preferential status currently being

enjoyed by the playhouse. Our recommendation would bring the playhouse

closer to paying its fair share of costs (more than $100,000) associated

with the provision of these facilities.

The library board has reviewed the extensive documentation regarding

the library’s fiscal situation in relations to the playhouse. As you well

know, the city and library funding picture has darkened somewhat in

recent months because of mandatory 5% reductions and other fiscal

pressures on limited city funds. Given this newer financial information,

the board revised its initial October 2000 recommendation to the Council

with a more fiscally responsible measure in April. As a board, we regard

very seriously our charge to provide community oversight for library

matters. The fact that the library also must engage in enterprise funding

to defray a construction bond makes fiscal responsibility all the more

imperative.

We applaud the library director and his staff for their fine efforts

to provide high quality library services and materials to the citizens of

Huntington Beach. We also applaud the hundreds of volunteers who donate

more than 35,000 hours annually to allow the library to stretch its

resources even more effectively.

And many of these volunteers have shared with us how distressed they

are to hear the playhouse maligning the library; in effect, they believe

their efforts are being discounted as a result of the negative

statements. We believe the playhouse itself should embark on fund-raising

and/or volunteer efforts, and we expect such efforts would serve to

enhance their funding situation as well as their public relations.

The board remains unanimous in its conviction that we have made a most

appropriate recommendation to the council. We believe we have proposed a

solution that is fair and fiscally sound, and we trust that our

involvement thus far has been constructive in the process of moving the

lease agreement beyond the current impasse and on to resolution.

RUTH M. SIEGRIST

Chair

PATRICIA L. BRIL

Past-chair

Library Board of Trustees

You have published letters from supporters of the Huntington Beach

Playhouse. I challenge the criticisms of the library director and I

encourage anyone to look at the facts.

First and foremost, the library is funded through our city taxes. The

playhouse is a volunteer organization. The library director is held

responsible for the funds allotted to the library.

The playhouse uses the Library Theater. The library has bonds to pay

back to the city for the 1994 construction of the wing that includes the

theater.

In 1994, the playhouse entered a contractual agreement with the

library, which stated they were to give intent to renew their contract in

June 1999. They did not do this, nor did they notify the library director

by letter by the December 1999 deadline.

The playhouse, therefore, has been leasing on a month-to-month basis.

In the fall of 2000, the library board passed a recommendation, which was

submitted to the City Council.

The recommendation was to give the playhouse a three-year lease with

no rent increase, and the playhouse was to submit an annual financial

statement and a business plan. The playhouse people lobbied to prevent

the City Council from acting on this recommendation. This was their big

mistake.

Since that time, the city has undergone serious fiscal changes. Each

department has been asked to reduce its budget by 5%. For the library

this means a decrease of $234,000, of which $110,000 is for acquiring

books. Faced with this shortfall, the library can no longer afford to

subsidize the playhouse.

Not many know the cost of the playhouse to the library. The favored

status they have over the rental rooms, including the theater and

auxiliary rooms, results in a loss of income. In addition, other meeting

rooms cannot be used except for quiet venues during plays and dress

rehearsals. Quiet venues do not include wedding receptions, parties or

fund-raising events.

With the budget deficit and other rising costs, the library board has

recently recommended that the playhouse pay an amount closer to the fair

market value.

As a member of one of the library support groups, I can attest to the

fact that we work very hard to raise funds needed to purchase items that

are not in the Children’s Library budget. We have purchased puppets and

storybooks for story times and have provided support for children’s

programs at Oak View Branch Library.

If the playhouse raised money they could pay an amount commensurate

with their usage of the facilities. The group has a natural venue to

raise funds. If they can’t do it through the plays, then perhaps added

fund-raisers could be used.

The playhouse has made the ridiculous suggestion that the library

raise funds to offset the playhouse’s expenses, such as additional

parking meters in the parking lot and charging residents for library

cards. Why should I, a resident, pay to use the public library twice --

once in my taxes and again from my pocket? How can we expect students,

senior citizens, and volunteers to pay extra for library services?

The citizens of Huntington Beach could make the choice: books or

plays. It would be nice to have both. It is time for the playhouse to

wake up to reality. If the plays are not paying for their expenditures

they should either cut back on expenditures or raise money some other

way. Let the playhouse pay the rent they should for the use of the city’s

facilities.

LYN SCOTT

President

Friends of the Children’s Library

We would like to make clear our position on the Huntington Beach

Playhouse dispute. The Friends of the Library are aware of the issues

between the Huntington Beach Library and the Huntington Beach Playhouse.

We donated more than $250,000 toward the construction of the

children’s wing that includes the new lower level and is comprised of

various rental rooms and the theater. The money was raised by volunteers

who devoted thousands of hours of their time to sort used books for

sale, to stage fund-raisers and to operate the Friends Gift Shop.

The Friends of the Library were never aware that the Library Theater

should be used exclusively by the Huntington Beach Playhouse. When funds

were raised for the project, it was to serve the needs of the entire

community and would be maintained through rental fees.

The main problem is the lack of adequate compensation made by the

playhouse. They do not show us annual profit and loss statements, they

refuse to increase fees for performances and they will not conduct

fund-raisers. The rising costs of janitorial services, replacement of

theater equipment and soaring electricity prices have become prohibitive

to the library budget.

We are not opposed to having the playhouse use the library facilities,

but we do ask that they sign a lease based on fees that would not drain

library funds. As it stands now, other community and nonprofit groups are

limited to theater use due to scenery left on stage and over use of the

facility by the playhouse.

It is time for something be done to make the Huntington Beach

Playhouse accountable for its own expenses and responsible to the

community and organizations that give it support.

The Huntington Beach Friends of the Library

ETHEL WATTS, Friends of the Library, corresponding secretary, and BEA

HANSER, Friends of the Library president

It is time to put the Huntington Beach Playhouse lease in the proper

light. As a member of the library board of trustees, I feel that issue of

the playhouse lease has been blown out of proportion by members of the

playhouse board.When the playhouse first came to the library board, it

came to us a year ago with a proposal to reduce their lease from the

$28,000 annual rent to a token $1-a-year rent. At that time the library

director presented a staff report showing that the playhouse lease would

cost the city in excess of $100,000. The board passed a recommendation

on to the city council that would allow the playhouse to pay a slight

increase (paying 33% of the cost), the city would pay 33% and the library

would absorb a loss to its annual budget for the other 33%. Was it

fair?The playhouse chairperson was so pleased that she sent each member

of the library board a thank you note and offered free season passes to

all the upcoming year’s plays. How generous! Those passes would have

cost the Huntington Beach taxpayers about $1,000. I had decided not to

take the bait.

At the City Council, Councilman Peter Green decided to form a

committee to review the status of nonprofit organizations with the hope

that he could get the playhouse its $1-a-year lease. Green has long been

a supporter of the playhouse. In fact his wife sits on its board of

directors.

In April, the library board of trustees, after a second staff review,

sent a recommendation to the City Council of a graduated increase in cost

sharing for the playhouse. The playhouse would remain at its present rent

this year and increase the annual rent in steps over the next three

years. This would finally bring the rent to parity. The recommendation

has been reviewed by Green’s committee and is awaiting council action.

End of story? I think not.Over the past year, we have endured the slings

and arrows of the endless supporters of the playhouse. They show up at

the City Council meetings to bury the library director, not to praise

him. Well I am here to say that Ron Hayden is the best library director

that money can’t buy. He has remained agentleman throughout these

negotiations. He is a consummate professional, and I know that I speak

for all the trustees when I say that we are proud to be associated with

this honest man.Let’s put some real numbers on the table. More than one

million people visit the library every year. Yes, several repeat users

in that number and that is a good thing. More than 72% of the Huntington

Beach community has a library card and that means that the community

utilizes this open source of education and information. The playhouse

speakers suggest that the library charge parking fees and book fees to

subsidize the playhouse. That would be double taxation since taxes pay

for library services.Let’s look at the numbers that the playhouse

spokesmen use. They have 28,000 paid seats for about eight plays a year.

Most of these are regular attendees and season ticket holders. That

breaks down to about 3,500 patrons per play, and I would be willing to

bet that all those patrons are library-card holders and use the library

without needing the incentive of a community theater nearby. The fact is

that the Huntington Beach Playhouse players and all of their patrons

represent less than 3% of the library patronage.

The fact is, that the playhouse lacks talent in playing of the numbers

game. Maybe they should take their show on the road.

RICHARD MCGRATH

Member

Huntington Beach Library Board of Trustees