[Mpls] Walker Library

[WizardMarks]

Dorie Rae Gallagher wrote:

>I say keep the Walker!  It would be nice to still have the old building and perhaps work with both. ... I do not believe this move is about the library.  I believe it is more about getting that piece of prime real estate. 
>
Got it in one.

The council, the mayor, and the CLIC committee have all been insisting 
that the library needs to cut. They have said so without the least 
understanding of how libraries work. The accepted notion seems to be 
that a city should have a monumental showplace for a downtown library. 
The board signaled so before the last election--they ran on a new 
downtown library with concomitant passage of a $140 million 
referendum--with only $30 million of that thrown as a bone to regional 
and community libraries and library functions. The library board would 
not have done that much for community libraries had not Mayor Sales 
Belton and council members not forcefully insisted.

The Walker is perhaps the best located library from the patrons point of 
view with several bus lines stopping within a stone's throw in the 
middle of a destination node.

The library, having been stripped of $4 million from a tiny $22 million 
budget, is forced into understanding that some libraries are, as far as 
the city is concerned, not as important as playing with the concept of a 
mixed use building.  (I believe Council Nijellik [sp.] tossed that into 
the hat.)

However, IMO, libraries, being an institution, are like city hall, the 
county building, or the federal building. You don't put housing above 
them, sandwich in a dress shop beside them, insert the office for 
getting one's driving license, or add a clinic.

The library has to raise money somewhere to keep from coming to a 
grinding halt. Next year, public outcry or not, I'm willing to bet some 
libraries will close. The library, board and staff, are only one quarter 
of the problem created by board, city, state, and voters.

What remedies does anyone suggest? if I'm not mistaken, the library can 
only divest itself of the old Walker if the buyer agrees not to mess 
with its historical integrity. Personally, I'd be grateful to anyone who 
has a way out of this mess, because our library system is being 
destroyed by the choices we have before us.

WizardMarks, Central

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