Quote:
Originally Posted by roryn1
That’s fine that not everyone is like me - but as a taxpayer that owns a condo two blocks from the current downtown library I can see 60 Million going to better use - and a lot of people if not more agree with me, hence the shape of the current library. I’ve been there once and a fancy building with phone plugins and a coffee shop will not incentivize me nor my friends who are still students to hang out there when a library at the university (that’s also open to anyone) has areas that are busy to deafening quiet to read with a Starbucks - all 5 minutes away.
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Careful extrapolating the "shape of the current library" into the future to justify that nothing can change from how it is today so nothing should be done.
"I observe 'x' to be in current condition 'y', therefore I conclude that it will always be in condition 'y', so nothing should be done." -- People use this to argue against bike lanes, BRT, or improving the pedestrian experience on Idylwyld.
I think what many of us are saying is that the current central library is not living up to its potential, and a new one can better fulfill its role in a changing society. There is no crisis of usage at the library (you seem to ignore that the stats support that the library is well-used, despite your anecdotal observations to the contrary, and your one visit to it), but there definitely is a crisis of the library increasingly not being able to meet the needs and expectations of its modern day users. Hence the very sensible decision of our civic leadership to (finally) take a look at: what a new library could look like, what it might be able to offer to the community, and yes, what it might cost. I think the $60M figure has only been bandied about by you so far.