Touching lives

Opinion The Pueblo Chieftain

Posted June 20, 2013

FOR PUEBLO native Justin Martinez, the new East Side branch library he helped design has been a matter of coming back home. Mr. Martinez grew up on the East Side and now is employed by OZ Architecture, a Colorado-based company. He attended Risley Middle School, which is just across the street from where the new library will be built at Seventh and Monument.

The graduate of the NewSchool of Architecture and Design in San Diego and has worked on the design of a 120,000 square foot building in Philadelphia, but this smaller project is closer to his heart. He finds this work is rewarding.

“That’s why I love working on libraries,” he said recently. “You’re touching lives.”

One exterior wall will have space for some public art, perhaps a mosaic and pieces fabricated from local steel.

City Councilwoman Eva Montoya, whose district is centered on the East Side, said people living in the area have been hoping for a branch library for many years. That desire is closer to being satisfied now that the building plan has been approved by the Pueblo Zoning and Planning Commission.