Library Board Struggles with Future Locations Decision
The East Baton Rouge Parish Library's Board of Control remains firmly in control of where a proposed new $71.8 million main library will be located and it's looking more and more like downtown Baton Rouge will be the spot. That's in conflict with parish residents who would like to see the main library remain right where it is now, on Goodwood at Independence Park.
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The library board may or may not make some decisions about buying downtown property for several months, but if there's a piece of downtown property suitable for their preferred plan they want to acquire it now in anticipation of construction beginning in the next year or two.
What are your thoughts on the location of the a new branch of the East Baton Rouge library?
Click here to read the whole story.
The library board may or may not make some decisions about buying downtown property for several months, but if there's a piece of downtown property suitable for their preferred plan they want to acquire it now in anticipation of construction beginning in the next year or two.
What are your thoughts on the location of the a new branch of the East Baton Rouge library?
posted by Joe Rawley at 9:12 PM
20 Comments:
I think its political as usual in baton rouge there is not one pole that shows the people in baton rouge want a library downtown not even the one that the library board paid for the only people that ues the present one is people on jury duty so why are the trying to jam this down our throats everyone that i have spoken to says why not rebuild goodwood we already have the property i will not support or vote for a tax increase to pay for this library and will campaign against it on a final note people do not use the library very much these days because of the internet thanks.
While I love new things and shiney buildings, I do not think this is what Baton Rouge needs right now. Furthmore, Dan Reed says a new library is what Baton Rouge wants. Since when has Baton Rouge said this? I think we need to sit back and think about what would best benefit the library system and thus benefit Baton Rouge.
Why should this new building go in the downtown? Downtown does not have the parking necessary to accommodate such a large facility, though it is not out of reach to build a parking garage.
As to Mr. Anonymous' final note, lets not further the trend to simply look it up on the net instead of using the most reliable source to gather information - the library.
At this time the library does not have enough money to fully fund building a new branch downtown, and may ask for funds from the private sector. Would this also involve naming rights? Could we see the ExxonMobil Library or Coca-Cola Library because of corporate donations? Would the corporations have undue influence on what types of books, programs or services the library offers to the public? I'm worried that we are pushing ahead with plans without thinking them through, all for "progress." Atlanta, Austin, and Nashville didn't become wonderful New South models overnight, or even in a few years. Why are we pushing Baton Rouge to develop so quickly?
One needs on to spend a few minutes inside the current downtown branch to see how underused it is currently. It's basically a holding pen for jurors to the 19th district court during the week and not much else. The city and taxpayers will pay a fortune to some downtown land owner and then we'll have an underused Taj Mahal. The library board needs to listen to the people footing the bill. The existing location is great with easy access and ample parking. Keep the main branch there.
Why is the geneology section going to be moved? Most of the people doing research are retired and the materials we bring are usually in a suitcase on wheels. Now we won't have a place to park and will have to haul this material a long distance?
Why are they messing with a good thing. Instead of making more parking lot for the Goodwood library, why don't they just build a bigger one. That is where the most people use the library. It is always full. Do you think these people will go downtown? NO!!!
anonymous!!
Is this city really fighting about where to put a library? How sad when there are many more pressing issues going on in the world. It's time to embrace change. Ever heard of forward progress? It's usually a good thing. One blogger said no poll (which was spelled incorrectly) conducted shows that Baton Rougeans want a downtown library, but let's lay all of the facts out on the table. None of the polls conducted were scientific. Anyone against a downtown library was certainly capable of swaying the voting in their favor.
Fix up the Goodwood branch. No one lives downtown. As a board member of the Capital Heights Neighborhood Association, I get a lot of feedback from residents. The majority of them use the Goodwood branch. Residents in Old Goodwood, Tara, Broadmoor, and Sherwood Forest would also like to see Goodwood as the hub. A new library was built on Terrace less than 2 miles from downtown and it is hardly used.
As someone who has visited every branch of the libraries in the past several weeks, I think putting a new library downtown would be pretty absurd when the new Carver branch is within a few miles of downtown. They should put a little money into the current Main library on Goodwood and keep it at that. I agree with the post from above that said it is just a holding pen for jurors.
The problem is the taxpayers were required to vote yes or no on a tax increase to fund a new library. This became a political issue because people wanted to know WHERE the new library would be located before they voted. The Board decided to take a neutral position on the location at the time. The choice the voters had was to vote no and have no money for a new library or vote yes and trust that common sense would prevail and the Library would be put where it would be used by the most people -- at Goodwood. In other words, Baton Rouge voted yes on the tax and trusted the Library Board to do the right thing. With 20/20 hindsight, the voters should have voted no until they had a commitment about where the Library would be located. Maybe the Library Board will come to its senses and stop this ridiculous downtown extravagance, but it now appears that the Library Board was not completely candid with the voters when they wanted us to approve the money.
shirley said..
There is more than enough room to build a new library at the Independence Park site and use the old building for the library staff offices and for book processing. There is also enough money to accomplish this in the near future and not 6 or more years from now. This should be accomplished before any other libraries are build anywhere in the parish.It could be done it stages as the money becomes available.The main library needs to be accessable to the taxpayers who use it not as a "destination" for visitors. Every library needs meeting spaces, computer access, and plently of free and convenient parking for everyone. The younger members of the "downtown" group may be surprised as to the number of computer savy older adults. Unfortuantly, not everyone has the funds to have a home computer. The Goodwood library computers are used by students as well as the older population.
I find it amusing that the only other location that is okay with all the people that don't want to go downtown is Goodwood. I wonder what would happen if they decided to designate Bluebonnet, or Carver, or any other location that is not "in their neighborhood" as the main branch.
Goodwood is NOT a great location, despite what the small group of protesters would have us all think. The traffic there is all the time, not just peak business hours. I'd much rather drive downtown, but of course I don't live in the goodwood area. I did vote for the tax, and was under the impression that the money would be spent on a new downtown location, not to refurbish or rebuild a library that has had its heyday. I think that the geneaology department should stay where it is..at the Bluebonnet branch. A place where one can find a parking spot, can get to easily via the interstate, and is a modern facility NOW.
The Board has not looked at other alternatives. They have been coerced by the DDD and the money crowd from the BTR Area Foundation to build a Monument downtown. I am offended by the Advocate and BTR Business Report saying to not listen to older people; we don't have progressive ideas. I am actively involved in three downtown organizations now; I am progressive and contributing to the revitalization downtown but this Monument is not necessary and would be a collossal waste of money. I spoke at the public meeting at Catholic Life Center and offered the following suggestion:
Develop a Cooperative Agreement/Partnership with the State Library to moderately expand the Library to meet additional needs for a Public Library downtown to replace the River Center Library. The EBR Library System would operate the Partnership for the days and hours needed for a downtown library. The State Museum across the lawn from the State Library could also become part of the partnership and host the shows and exhibits that the Library (DDD)sees in the future for their proposed Monument. There are already two new parking garages nearby Why is it mandatory to build another garage?
Hooray for Harvey, his comments are right on. I had the occasion to be downtown one evening this week and I promise you I would not consider going there at night to visit a downtown library. The same evening I came home to watch the news only to hear about the rash of robberies that were occurring along the levee etc. Goodwood library is an excellent location especially with BREC offering to work with the Library system. However, I would not be opposed to another location as long as it was well traveled and safe,neither description do I think would fit the downtown location.
Personally, I am SO tired of the "age issue" being beat to death. Sounds like more of a personal issue to me.
I'm in my late 60's, as are a number of people I know, and the majority of us think that the "looking forward" aspect is VERY important to Baton Rouge.
Politics as usual? Stagnation sounds more like it, which is what Baton Rouge has been known for, for YEARS, until a number of us decided to come out of a slumber state about 1/3 of a generation ago. Loss of control is a powerful motivator to some people.
The Downtown Mafia has stepped WAY overboard on this one.
Ridiculous to spend that much money on a showcase, empty White Elephant.
GoodWood is the best location overall, but many reasonable alternatives out there. Worst by far is Downtown.
Downtown-- no easy acces to get there, no parking, no families, and a soaring crime rate. Sounds like a recipe for a 100 million dolalr new library.
It will probably make a great holding tank for jury duty though.
First of all, Baton Rouge does need a new Main Library. The existing facility is totally inadequate as a Main Library. A city the size of Baton Rouge and a capital city to boot should certainly have a much larger and multi-use Main Library. Putting a new Main Library downtown would be a reckless and wasteful enterprise. Downtown is located at the extreme west side of EBR Parish. A Main Library for Baton Rouge should be more centrally located. The Goodwood location would be fine or other more central locations could be considered. Putting the Main Library downtown would be a disservice to the citizens of EBR Parish. The existing library downtown is more than adequate to serve the downtown population. I for one would suggest that the Library Board and the Library Director put service to the entire parish first and not give in to the DDD or others who want the Main Library in the downtown area. Yes, we do need a new Main Library but in a centrally located area where it will be accessible to all citizens.
Most of the comments posted here show Baton Rouge in its worst light. We need to move forward like other progressive cities; not backward or just maintain status quo. Most of the people against a new main library downtown are senior citizens. Fine. All of you stay at Goodwood. You won't be losing anything. In fact, you'll have a bigger, nicer library before the one downtown ever gets constructed. And the people who will flock to the new downtown library will be glad that you stayed right where you were.
Most of these comments show how ignorant the writers are. The Goodwood Library will be enlarged & enhanced BEFORE a downtown library is built. It will be a super regional library "in the park." A new downtown library will have an attached garage with free parking and fulltime security. It can be financed with a combination of private donations and public (primarily federal) funds. There's no way the millage tax can fund such a huge structure, so quit blustering about your taxes. No city anywhere has built a main library in the suburbs - to suggest this shows how backward thinking Goodwood proponents are. A library is for all citizens, not just those in a few white subdivisions. The state library downtown has a big genealogy collection and no one complains about that. Lots of senior citizens make their way downtown every day to go to those riverboat casinos. Nobody gets killed or mugged on the way. Relative to its size and small collection, the current downtown library is actually well-used. Just because you don't go there, don't assume no one else does. And by the way, the Carver Library on Terrace IS well-used! Look at aerial photos of Independence Park. There's NOT ENOUGH ROOM for a 200,000 sq. ft. structure PLUS a parking garage! You have no idea of the size needed for a new main library. Crime - hang out in the Goodwood Library parking lot after dark and see how safe you feel. Mall City is close by and there are plenty of thugs who have fun breaking into cars at GW. Access to downtown - at least 4 interstate ramps empty into downtown; none are near GW. Let's get to the real issue - racism. All those white people who left the heart of BR in the 60's because they were afraid their kids would go to school with little brown kids are still living in those ranch-style homes they built in Tara and they're now on Medicare and spending their time looking up their dead ancestors and fighting progress. They use code words like "high-crime" and "high-traffic" to cover up their real agenda. Plenty of people live safely near and in downtown and love it. If you want an issue to really be concerned about, start fighting the location of that new riverboat at the foot of Bluebonnet, or you'll never be able to get to the library there to do your genealogical research. Lastly, if you're going to mouth off, at least educate yourselves with real facst first instead of just believing the lies spoon-fed to you by the anti-downtown bigots!
Hooray for Mayor Holden for showing sensibility in the library issue. Proud of you, Mayor Holden!
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