With a number of our public officials warming to the notion of keeping Main Library open until real, actual plans can be made for its demise, famed science fiction author Ray Bradbury made what could have been a funereal appearance this afternoon at the bunker–er, building–in question.

“Any time you need me, you can call on me,” the 88-year-old writer told a capacity crowd in Main Library’s auditorium that included fans, library supporters, two Long Beach City Council members–and retired 30-year councilman and former Mayor, Dr. Thomas Clark and his daughter.

(Clark was Mayor when the Burton W. Chace Civic Center first opened to the public, on our nation’s bicentennial.)

Bradbury stayed seated to deliver his remarks, though his voice rose as he got into it. He sounded something like a superhero–Book Man, perhaps–when he said things like “I’ll be back to help you the next time you need me.”

Born poor, the world-famous creator of works like Fahrenheit 451–the book about burning books–offered himself as a compelling example of libraries’ transformative power.

“A library is more important than any college or university because you’re going to find yourself,” the author said, noting that most of his education–and the typing of Fahrenheit 451–came about in libraries. “You go to a library to find yourself. Diplomas don’t count for anything. You are what counts.”

Bradbury’s remarks could have amounted to a funeral oration. But with news that the city’s Budget Oversight Commission voted unanimously yesterday to recommend keeping Main Library open–albeit with the possibility of truncated hours, budget cuts and as many as 14 layoffs–his address sounded more like a rallying cry.

“The sense I’m getting is, the downtown library will stay open,” Fourth District Councilman Patrick O’Donnell said as he passed through Civic Center before Bradbury’s arrival. “That’s a move I support.”

But members of the Long Beach Public Library Foundation said their battle to keep the second-largest library in Los Angeles County open is far from finished.

“It’s still not over. This is Round One,” said the Foundation’s Barbara Egyud. “The mayor could use his line-item veto.”

Yes, the line-item veto.

There’s still the possibility that Mayor Bob Foster could use his veto to override the city council if it votes to keep the library open.

(You’ll recall that the Mayor joined City Manager Pat West on Aug. 1 to advocate closing Main Library as a way to save $1.8 million in the city’s proposed budget.)

Would he really do that?

“They’re determined this library be wiped off the map,” said Carol Collins, director of the Friends of the Long Beach Public Library’s Blanche Collins Forum (no relation). The Forum hosted Bradbury today, as it has former astronaut Sally Ride, author Carolyn See, and radio talk show host Larry Mantle in the past.

In the house this afternoon, First District Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal wasn’t sure Foster would veto the library, pointing out that the Mayor is a library donor.

“I think Mayor Foster is a supporter of libraries, and he has clearly recognized that there are many people impacted by a potential closure,” said the councilwoman, who was first to recommend at Tuesday night’s city council meeting what the Budget Oversight Committee reaffirmed Friday–that the library closure be removed from the proposed Fiscal Year 2008-2009 budget.

Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, who also attended Bradbury’s speech, wasn’t so sure. Reyes Uranga said she expects we will see the Mayor’s line-item veto at some point, as the council votes to adopt a budget by Sept. 15.

“I think he will,” Reyes Uranga said afterwards. “I don’t know about the library, but I think he will [use his veto] on several other things. But it’s not a popular thing, and he’s very strategic, politically.”

The city’s eventual plan is still to close Main Library some day and build a new one–once a satellite Main Library replacement facility is up and running.

But, as library supporters have pointed out, if the city puts a date on closing Main Library now, it will move forward with only about $8 million of a new Main Library’s total estimated $26 million cost accounted for.

The rest of the money–at least $18 million of it–could come from Foster’s $571 million infrastructure bond, on the Nov. 4 ballot, though that’s not a certainty either.

“There’s nothing in the proposed ordinance,” Chief Assistant Attorney Heather Mahood told Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske at Tuesday night’s city council meeting, when Schipske asked exactly how $18 million could be precisely earmarked for a new Main Library in the Mayor’s infrastructure bond.

“It’s just one of the eligible uses.”

Tags: $571 million infrastructure bond, Barbara Egyud, Blanche Collins Forum, Budget Oversight Committee, Burton W. Chace Civic Center, California, Carol Collins, Carolyn See, Chief Assistant Attorney Heather Mahood, City Manager Pat West, Dr. Thomas Clark, Fahrenheit 451, Fifth District Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, First District Councilwoman Bonnie Lowenthal, Fourth District Councilman Patrick O'Donnell, Friends of the Long Beach Public Library, Larry Mantle, line-item veto, Long Beach, Long Beach City Council, Long Beach Public Library Foundation, Main Library closure, Mayor Bob Foster, ray bradbury, Sally Ride, Seventh District Councilwoman Tonia Reyes Uranga, Southern California, The District Weekly, Theo Douglas