For the love of libros: Trio envisions bilingual library at shuttered site

By Roger Phillips, The Record

STOCKTON – Sofia Colon remembers clearly her daily after-school routine as a little girl growing up on the south side of Stockton.

When young Sofia’s school day ended, her mother still had several hours of work remaining. So Sofia would go up the block and spend her afternoons at the Fair Oaks Library.

Fair Oaks Library opened in 1983, and Colon’s memories of those afternoons date back to the facility’s early days. But in 2010, the library closed as Stockton grappled with the financial turmoil that resulted in bankruptcy two years later.

Now, the building on Main Street west of Highway 99 is among 41 properties the city has put up for sale as it pays down its bankruptcy costs. The city has projected the sales could net Stockton from $4 million to $7 million. City spokeswoman Connie Cochran said Stockton is negotiating with a potential buyer for Fair Oaks.

But Colon, a mother of four who still lives in the neighborhood, has a different idea. Somehow, some way, she would like to reopen the Fair Oaks building as a bilingual library and Latino cultural museum.

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