|
There was an army of two of us at Walker Library Monday
evening handing
out fliers about the week long library closures and the
options for Walker
library which were discussed at the August 20th Library Board
meeting.
The options are:
1. Library remains at existing location; completes
repairs
2. MPL retains ownership of Walker Library site; redevelops
site for
housing/retail options with Walker Library
as a component in a mixed use project
3. MPL sell site; Walker Library is relocated in Uptown either
as a separate facility or as
a component in a mixed-use
development...
A group (not identified) has been given the task to make a
recommendation regarding
Walker Library's fate in 60 days.
At least one of the needed repairs to Walker library (which
was completed in 1981) is a
$700,000 fix for the parking lot which is actually a part of
the semi-underground library's
roof.
The library's design has always been an issue, with plenty of
wasted "open" space
on the plaza by the large metal L I B R A R Y letters, and
more wasted space in
a sunken garden which is not used. Upon entering the library
you encounter an
empty hallway and either elevators or staircases leading
downward to the
library which has a cold utilitarian
design...
Even so, Walker library has been heavily
used by a diverse and vital community...
but somehow, has never seemed to have
reached it's true potential...and now
it's location's appeal to developers may endanger it's
survival...
Across the street from the "new" Walker library is the "old"
one...yet again being
renovated, this time as a spa, apparently free of the former
restraints that historic
designation imposed on it when the decision was made to build
the new Walker.
So...why were there only TWO of us shoving leaflets into the
hands of anyone that passed?
First, Walker Library lacks the powerful and effective
"Save Our Library" groups that have
been so successful at Hosmer, Pierre Bottineau and now at
Franklin. The activists at
Franklin even raised funds to open an interim location so that
library services would
still be provided to their community when the Franklin Library
closed for renovations
on August 22.
Second, my letter to the heads of each Minneapolis
library requesting their help
in finding volunteers for a "Keep Our Libraries Open" action
during this week when ALL
the libraries are closed, elicited responses of powerless
gratitude, silence or fear.
Apparently SOMEONE in the MPL administration considered any
demonstration of
public support for our libraries as
"counterproductive" or possibly insubordinate,
so the boss librarians told their
community librarians to "SHHHHH!"
They've been told to "keep quiet" and
accept the ridiculous spin that they
were all on vacation. Library staff with little vacation
time and the public
that can't use our libraries this week are NOT enjoying this
"vacation."
It may have been the best decision to save money, the public
also has
a right to show our support for our libraries and to work
together to
improve future budget allocations.
Even those librarians who have a group of supporters or who
have been
active in advocating for the
survival of their libraries in the past have been
told to do nothing --- and not just for this
week.
Is this a move to weaken and slowly kill certain community
libraries that need expensive
renovations at a time when libraries like Linden Hills and
Pierre Bottineau have already
used a percentage of the $140 million referendum and now
the New Central Library
could devour all that's left and more?
There's the Central Library's rent at the former Federal Bank
building of $150,000 a month
All the bricks and mortar cost which are bound to
have cost over-runs
The $750,000 in artwork to create for
an extravagant, palatial library that
most likely won't be open evenings or
weekends.
Will the services that this New Central
Palace offers to the ENTIRE downtown
community be comparable to the services
that the community libraries
whose hours are being cut, and staff and funding
reduced
will struggle to continue to provide to their
communities?
Anyone interested in becoming more informed with what's going
on
with the Minneapolis Public Libraries, read Michael
Metzger's
articles in the Southwest Journal and an article in last
month's
Pulse.
|
