I am a library patron. I have been for about 39 years. My wife and our
three children are also library patrons, true patrons, not occasional
users, but regular, two three times a week trip the library patrons.
Users of the library know how important a strong central library is. We
need a library more now when TV, interactive, digital, electronic
communication re-create our culture daily in their image. A library is
more than a collection of books, it is a vendor of dreams.
Imagine a place where a five year-old can walk in with only a library
card in his pocket, peruse the offerings and walk out an hour later with
enough adventures to last until the middle of the week when he trots
back there again a fills up again on excitement. Libraries offer this to
every patron for no charge!
A new downtown library has the potential to benefit all the residents of
the metro area. Many will never benefit from a world class library in
Minneapolis, but they also are not harmed by the degradation of our
existing resource because they rarely use the library. We have been
lulled into complacency by the investments in libraries made by our
ancestors. I may not agree with all the things they did but folks like
Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Carnegie, James Jerome Hill and others made
certain, that never again will learning be lost by being as centralized
as it was in Alexandria. This does not mean we do not need a strong
central library in Minneapolis.
John Ferman said, among other things:
> So I say no free lunch downtown, too and will vote No on the library referendum.
>Let the downtown interests pay
for their new library. The downtown library is hard to get to, there is
no parking to speak of, so it can't be said to be of much benefit to the
people in the neighborhoods.
>END QUOTE
Not only is this not true, it is incredibly shortsighted. It is not
THEIR new library, it is our library. Right now, books from the Downtown
Library circulate to every part of Minneapolis and beyond. The Downtown
Library is a great and easy treat for our family when we drive or ride
the bus there. We have never had a probelm parking in the lot right
outside the Hennepin Avenue entrance. It provides us --people in the
neighborhoods-- with one the greatest benefits of all, books.
List members have discussed in detail the letter from Wally Swan of the
Board of Estimate and Taxation expressing his opinion of the Library
Referendum. On this issue, I agree with R.T. when he said, "the real
question we have to ask is: Should the library have to pay for the
questionable financing schemes for other types of projects?" R.T. went
on to explain how we must stop and think about what a library represents
to our community.
When libraries fade, learning and exploration fade with them. Can our
sense of wonder and amazement be far behind?
--
In cooperation,
Erik Riese
Seward 9-1
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