Comments on: A green library

By: Ed

Ed — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 16:59:33 +0000

Library? The building with that sign on the building that looks like a homeless shelter for men every morning? I wouldn’t go in there, much less let my child go there .

By: RumorControl

RumorControl — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 14:02:04 +0000

Mr. Elebash:

Your concerns about the costs of the new library vs the CMP are touching, but the library has been in bad shape since I moved here in 1997, yet I don’t recall hearing you expressing any concerns about it prior to now. Anything to defeat the CMP, eh ?

I think that says more about your character than it does the community’s

By: A Nonymous

A Nonymous — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 23:26:16 +0000

Joe, of course the location on Nine Mile Rd. is central geographically, but since when does that count? I say, let them move all the county administration to Nine Mile Rd and let’s use 221 Palafox Place for the library!

By: Joe

Joe — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 19:54:09 +0000

Well, I guess the idea is it’d be more central to the county as a whole, for administrative and distribution purposes. (The county, last I heard, is still planning to take over the system one of these days.) The downtown branch would remain the ‘showcase’ branch.

By: Frank

Frank — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 16:44:46 +0000

The library may very well be in poor condition because the city owns it and doesn’t maintain the property it owns.

Fire stations with mold, esp building still damaged in 2004, and the historic building on Palafox and Cervantes that the state issued a letter as the city was practicing demolition by neglect.

Thankfully the city sold the building and it has been restored .

By: A Nonymous

A Nonymous — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 06:29:11 +0000

Excellent plan! Except for the part about preserving the current building; if it was cheap to fix we woudn’t have the discussion about a new building, would we? May I suggest that Mr. Johnson arranges for a visit inside the library to see the state it’s in? Perhaps he should take the other Council members with him, too.

Re: Joe@17:59, I keep hearing about moving the library headquarters to a “central” location, and I can’t understand what is central about Nine Mile Rd. All cities I’ve ever been to have the library HQs in downtown — that’s the center of governmental activity, financial activity, entertainment activity, and, more on point, *cultural* activity. I can’t fathom where they’ve got the idea of putting the main library not only outside the downtown area, but outside the city limits!

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:59:44 +0000

The proposed new downtown library will not be the “main library.” It will be a branch. A new main library will be built in a central location. (I’ve heard Nine Mile Road bandied about, but can’t recall the projected construction cost offhand.) And let’s not forget the construction of the new Tryon branch library on Langley.

If you want to talk about the cost of a “first class public library system,” you should include each of these capital projects, plus the annual operating expenses. Apples to apples, professor.

By: C. C. Elebash

C. C. Elebash — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 23:18:29 +0000

Misplaced priorities

Pensacola plans to spend $6 million dollars to build a new main library and $15-20 million on a baseball stadium.

That says something about the character of our community. We will not pay for a first class public library system, but we will provide financial support for a privately owned baseball team.

By: C J Lewis

C J Lewis — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 21:31:41 +0000

Don’t sweat the Friends of the Library crowd. They’ll all be thrilled to have new talent on the Council who read books and think libraries are important. Get the University of West Florida’s Construction Program involved and learn from their BEST (Build*Educate*Sustain*Technology) House demonstration project. One thought – who says we can only build a measly $6 million library? We may not be able to afford a megabucks Robert Stern-designed 300,000 square foot library like they have in Jacksonville but we deserve better than a downtown “branch” library. The CRA can issue a bond for up to $40 million. Let the Pelicans build their own ballpark and UWF their own Executive Office Space/Conference Center (over near the Technology Park). Put some real money into the library to make it the best in Northwest Florida.

By: Joe

Joe — Wed, 14 Jan 2009 18:55:17 +0000

Sounds like a terrific plan, and I’m glad Councilman Johnson is so on-the-ball with this. He better shore up his support with the Friends of the Library quick.