Contrary to the impression given in today's article, all the library program fits easily on the North block in a 5 story building (sixth story would be the Planetarium/space center). The difficulty that the library board sees is that the current program plan for the first floor does not fit on that block--some things need to be moved to different floors.
I don't find this a reasonable concern: - The program plan was supervised by the Library Director who was just fired. If the board doesn't believe she can run the new library, why do they believe the program plan she put together is cast in stone? - The library management seems very inflexible --"This is the program plan we've developed over the last 10 years." - The library program will change over the years. It's changed a lot in the last 40 years. It will likely change a lot more. - From the few parts I've looked at, the program plan seems to look at how Libraries have worked in the past, now how they could work in the future. A few problems I've seen with the plan: 1. The original plan was to double the Internet terminals--this is by 2006--they need double the terminals now. 2. No increase to the number of adaptive technology facilities for people with sight problems--in a city with an aging population. 3. Only two automated self check-out lines. 4. No thought of creative library ideas like the "mixing area" that will be in the Seattle library. Further, the new Seattle library, the new Vancouver library, the new San Francisco library, the new Denver library (with very slight modifications), and the new Chicago library could each fit on the north block The north block is clearly the most visible of the two--bounded by Washington, Hennepin and Nicollet. The Gateway park to the north and the Marquette plaza green space to the east. It is clearly the "showcase" block in downtown. The south site could easily be surrounded by tall building. There are problems with the north block and benefits to the south block. If the housing market downtown goes sour in the next two years, we'll end up with an empty block between the Library and the core of downtown. A large block does make it easier to design the program. The south block is half the distance to the LRT station (one block vs. two blocks). The south block provides more options for design of the Planetarium. The idea of taking two weeks to further review the program and the north block makes sense. This is the most significant public building Minneapolis will build in the next 50 years. We should take the time to do it right. >.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.>.> sheldon mains seward neighborhood minneapolis [EMAIL PROTECTED] the shameless agitator in the electronic town square _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest option, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
