We hear that architect Miller Caldwell will be making a proposal to the City and the Friends of the Library to move the proposed new downtown library away from its current Gregory Street location and the African-American community to near the proposed Technology Park, Aragon, IHMC and the Civic Center on Ninth Avenue. He and his supporters will argue that they can nearly double the size of the building if they also make a business research/study center and get state funds.
The obvious concern is we are moving the library away from the community that needs it most. We also may be circumventing the RFQ process giving Caldwell an exclusive on the design. And we may have to buy land instead of using land the City already owns.
Stay tuned.
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It seems the architect has stepped beyond the traditional role of his profession. Was he hired for city planning and funding distribution – or was he hired to design a building? Why, for gosh sakes, is the architect saying put the public library at such and such a place for the benefit of the technology park and business community.
This is a community library, it’s purpose is to serve the citizens in the community-school children, pre-schoolers, families, reading groups, students, parents, teachers. The technology park and business community need to build their own library, with their own funds, that meets the needs of their own clientele. And throw in Mr.,er, uh, Caldwell. They can have Mr. Caldwell, too.
C.J.:
I agree with you on the library.
What was your supporting documentation for “the state won’t let its money be spent in a storm surge zone”?
I do know that the park is being built at a grade higher than Hurricane Ivan’s storm surge. Nearby BDI building survived that storm with minimal damage.
BTW: Studer Group and UWF are renting the classrooms and conference center at fair market value. No giveaway there.
Right now the council plans to use city money to build UWF and The Studer Group a combined executive education classroom/conference center complex at the Maritime Park. This city is paying because the state won’t let its money be spent in a storm surge zone. Our council is a bit less concerned with pesky issues like “risk management” and is willing to pay the FEMA-deductible when the next storm hits.
Combining the classroom/conference center with the “business research/study center” being proposed by Caldwell makes a lot of sense at this new location. In addition to the future Technology Park, UWF has their Small Business Development Center nearby as well as their affiliated IHMC. This seems like an ideal location and executives will be able to walk rather than drive to the classrooms and conference center. City taxpayers benefit because they get out of the classroom/conference center business and state money is used for all of it. That’s the “switcheroo” I’d propose as a counter-offer to Caldwell’s switcheroo. But the downtown city library needs to stay “downtown” where it belongs.
Checkout desk at the new downtown library, Miller Caldwell style:
http://www.framesbydesignltd.co.uk/Images/Projects/Private%20Library.jpg
The existing site is too small for a first class downtown library, which we definitely NEED.
[...] Rick Outzen: “Downtown Library switcheroo” [...]
I think it’s an excellent idea. The west side library gets a lot of use. I agree with Joe.
I’d object to the change of location — IF the library hadn’t opened its “west side” branch only about a mile away from the main branch. But since they did, I think anything further east would be a better distribution of library resources in the community. For one thing, it would be more accessible to the Old East Hill neighborhood, which isn’t exactly wealthy.
Just hope the Aragon residents don’t mind the influx of homeless folks. :)