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"Angel" helps fund Boulder libraries
By George Merritt, Denver Post
December 27, 2004
Boulder — Bodyguard. Fairy godmother. Angel. Those are the words Library Commission chair Ann Aber uses to describe the woman who raised about $16,000 for the branch libraries.
Doris Haas, 84, managed to fund at least part of the library budget in less than a week.
Thanks to Haas, Aber told the City Council, people can spend more time "talking about Jane Austen, debating world affairs ... and doing the thousand-and-one other invaluable things that turn (Boulder) from 100,000 or so people to a community."
The need for rescue came earlier this month when the council approved a 2005 budget in the face of a difficult financial climate.
Boulder has lost about 20 percent of its sales tax revenue due in large part to the demolition of Crossroads Mall. After cutting $11 million from the 2004 budget, city officials found themselves again looking for places to shave funds — $2.2 million from the $36 million general fund in 2005.
Libraries took the most visible hit.
The council approved closing each of the two branch libraries one day a week to save about $60,000. To save another $16,000, council approved closing the branches an hour earlier.
That didn't sit well with Haas.
"I was annoyed because I didn't have a place to hold a meeting," said Haas, a longtime community activist who still lives in the house she and her husband designed and built in 1960.
She said most meetings at the library start at about 7 p.m. Getting done by 8 p.m. isn't practical.
"No meeting in Boulder has ever been done in 45 minutes," Haas said.
So she picked up the phone.
"I really didn't have time for $10 and $25 donations," Haas said of her fundraising. "So I told people, 'I want $500 or $1,000.'"
Aided by several Samaritans and a matching offer from Boulder-based pharmaceutical company Corden Pharma Colorado Corp., Haas raised enough money to keep the branch libraries open for normal hours. They will still be closed one day a week.
"Doris called us, and we just saw an opportunity to step up to the plate," said John Tayer, a spokesman for Corden Pharma. "(Doris) is a special lady."
Haas said she got a kick out of raising the money.
"It made it seem like Boulder in the '60s again," she said. "Just like back when you could walk along Pearl Street Mall and say hello to everyone you passed."
Staff writer George Merritt can be reached at 303-247-9948 or gmerritt@denverpost.com.