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Naming Effort Dogs Library Planner

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By KENNETH KNIGHT

kknight@tampatrib.com

Published: December 10, 2008

TAMPA - A volunteer lobbying to expand the New Tampa Regional Library considers the effort to change its name a major distraction.

"We have so many fundamental issues we have to deal with; this was an unwelcome headache," said Said Iravani, who heads the Friends of the New Tampa Regional Library committee campaigning to expand the 25,000-square-foot facility.

The committee has spent the past two years working with the library planning group to move up its priority list for unfunded capital improvements.

Iravani said he was shocked last summer when he learned the names of two New Tampa civic activists had been submitted to replace the moniker on the library at 10001 Cross Creek Blvd.

The New Tampa Community Council asked the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library Board to consider naming the library for Carol Poland, the longtime Hunter's Green crime watch leader. The Tampa City Council suggested naming the library for the late Jeri Zelinski, who spearheaded efforts to get it built. She died in 2002.

Iravani, an engineer who lives in Heritage Isles, said he was aware of Zelinski's contributions. The meeting room at the New Tampa library is named in her honor.

He was less familiar with Poland.

"I had never met her before," Iravani said.

He expressed concern that the time and energy focused on the renaming campaign has hampered the committee's efforts.

Last week, the Tampa-Hillsborough County Library Board accepted the recommendation of its bylaws and policies committee to not change the name of the library. However, the Hillsborough County Commission will have the final say Dec. 17.

The Friends of the Library of Tampa-Hillsborough County Inc. has been a vocal critic of renaming the library. Iravani is a member of the Friends of the Library board.

Bernadette Storck, president of Friends of the Library of Tampa-Hillsborough County Inc., said an individual worthy of having a library named in his or her honor should be someone who has made an impact on the countywide library system.

"We do not feel that either of the two individuals recommended for this honor at New Tampa have had that kind of impact," Storck said in a letter to library board chairman James Martin.

Iravani said making an addition or change to the name also does not fit the Friends of the New Tampa Library's ambitious expansion plan for the library.

According to Iravani, the library board has been down this road before, when it decided to name the library's large meeting room for Zelinski.

"They went through the criteria and found it wasn't significant enough to name the entire library for her," Iravani said.

Iravani and Storck have said Poland's supporters, the Hunter's Green community and New Tampa Community Council should honor her in an appropriate way.

"I have no doubt she is a wonderful person," Iravani said. "What I haven't heard them say is what contributions she has brought to the library."

Mary Ann Yaney, a Poland supporter, said her friend is worthy of the honor. Poland's friends would like the civic activist's name added to the library's existing moniker, she said.

Yaney asked members of the bylaws and policies committee Thursday to consider making an exception to its guidelines on Poland's behalf.

"She is someone who should be looked up to and emulated," Yaney said during an interview.

Yaney said she wasn't ready to give up the fight.

"I can't be upset right now," Yaney said. "If for some reason the county commission votes to turn down the name change, we as a community need to recognize what she has done."

Iravani said the naming rights for the library should come with a price tag. He is seeking a donor interested in helping to finance the expansion project.

"Naming the library for any individual would hurt the community group's effort to market the New Tampa library," Iravani said.

Iravani meets regularly with library director Joe Stines, county architects and other county officials to discuss expanding the New Tampa library. He is pushing to double its size.

"We have plans to turn the New Tampa library into a community center," Iravani said.

Plans for the expansion include a 15,000-square-foot addition on the ground floor, a 10,000-square-foot second story, a 250-seat auditorium and a visual arts exhibition hall.

Iravani said the Friends of the New Tampa library would like furniture purchased for a 5,000-square-foot exterior space overlooking a lake behind the library.

The group also wants the county to permit a tenant such as a coffee or doughnut shop to open a store at the entryway.

Iravani, 42, said his passion for the community project stems from his childhood. "My father was a teacher," he said. "I grew up in a family where education and science were highly valued."

Iravani, a New Tampa resident since 2000, said there is a great deal of community pride in the library's name.

"This was the first thing named for New Tampa," Iravani said. "That's why it's so important."

Reporter Kenneth Knight can be reached at (813) 865-4842.

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