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A question arises with the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory decision not to move to Alameda Point: What's next?

The city council need not look too far afi eld. Alameda has a jewel that needs some polish right across the street from city hall. The Carnegie Library has languished long enough and it's time to dust off the plans to refurbish the building.

The city has already spent money on consultants who have offered their ideas.

In October 2009 Andrew Thomas, the city's planning services manager, offered three plans to refurbish the building the least expensive, at the time, would have cost some $1.8 million. Thomas told the city council that this plan would refurbish the main fl oor for offi ces, museums, and galleries. He proposed using the building's two other fl oors for offi ces and using the basement for storage.

"It looks like a great plan, but the Carnegie building may lay dormant for the next three years," said then-Vice Mayor Doug de- Haan when Thomas presented his department's ideas.

Well, three years will be up in October. It's time to dust off this plan, retrofi t the building, rent the offi ce space out to give the city some needed revenue and, instead of storing "things" in the basement, give it back to the Alameda Museum, which once made its home there.

Dennis Evanosky is the copublisher of the Alameda Sun.