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I was sitting here this evening watching "Ken
Burns: The Civil War" and they had a picture of the Capital as it was being
constructed. On top the dome of the building is a statue of a
woman. The statue is called "Statue of Freedom" and she was placed there
in 1863 during the height of the Civil War. When she was placed on the top
of the capital building, a salute was fired from the forts surrounding the
Capital, which had been almost overrun by Confederate troops just a year or so
earlier. The architect meant her to symbolize "Freedom Triumphant in War
and Peace" and at a time when the nation was in the midst of a war more bloody
and tragic than anyone could imagine, she was placed there, on top of the
Capital as a symbol for what the country was striving for.
I was also thinking about the Roosevelt Library
proposal and how there is a proposal to make it part of a mixed use
development. How the Library would sit there, next to the laundry mat
and maybe a McDonald's and someone's groceries waiting to go up to their
apartment. And how this really cheapened the meaning of what a
library is. The Library isn't simply a Barnes and Noble, another store to
meet your daily needs, a warehouse of books. A Library is a place where
democracy happens. A Library is a place where everyone is equal, everyone
is welcome, a place that provides knowledge and support for everyone. It
is a tie from our past to our future, a place of permanence and
strength in our community. It reflects our values. It is a place
that defines who we are and who we will be.
I would offer the following quote:
"We have all but entirely broken away from the
Renaissance concept of an architecture standing for permanence and political
power, an architecture of stone celebrating an unchangeable political and
religious order. The notion of building a symbol for posterity - much less
a symbol for the ages - is not longer taken seriously.
In hard times (which eventually come to every
community no matter what its size or wealth) what makes survival possible and
desirable is not its archeological identity but its ability to continue, and it
continues because some structures, some institutions and facilities provide
continuity. These are the landmarks, [and they] stand for continuity,
community identity, for links with the past and the future. In the
contemporary American community, these roles are what counteract our mobility
and fragmentation and forgetfulness of its history.
JB Jackson
"Stone and its Substitutes" 1994 A library in a mixed use development will never be
a landmark, will never provide identity, and ultimately cheapens what a library
should be for our community. I would hope the Library Board and the City
would consider building a landmark rather than a retail outlet for the Roosevelt
Library and I would hope the community accepts nothing less.
Carol Becker
Longfellow
For more information on the "Statue of
Freedom": http://www.aoc.gov/cc/art/freedom.htm
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