In 1998, Seattle voters approved a $196 million bond measure called "Libraries For All", for the upgrade and construction of neighborhood branches, and for a new $119 million central library to be designed by superstar architect Rem Koolhaas. The central library is due to be finished later this year at a final cost of $165 million.
This week, the entire Seattle Public Library system is shut down due to a budget shortfall. Instead of "Libraries For All" this week, we have "Libraries for None". This is the third such one-week closure in 2 years. There are two dozen or so library branches around the city, you would think it would be possible to maintain a basic level of service while saving money through staggered closures, reduced hours and staff cuts. But no, the Library Board chose to punish its patrons with the most drastic and dramatic inconvenience it could think of, presumably designed to produce enough public outrage to lead to a budget increase.
The entire Library Board should be replaced over this.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at August 27, 2003 04:15 PMThere is another choice the City could have made. Seattle has a law that rakes off "one percent for art" from the construction cost of new municipal facilities. An unelected Board distributes the largesse to favored artistes (not neccessarily Seattlites) to put tailfins on rocks along Lake City Way, or to erect grotesque windup toys like the Hammering Man.
So Seattle does not lack the money. In the case of this Library, construction cost is about $160 million, not counting possible (hell, inevitable) overruns. That means that $1,600,000 is designated for artists as part of this bond issue. Who is to say that the propagation of knowledge by library employees is not a finer art than creating some horizon-defiling object that obstructs pedestrian traffic?
Posted by: Insufficiently Sensitive on August 27, 2003 08:56 PMThis shouldn't surprise us in any way. It happens EVERY time.
School districts, fire districts and damn near every other junior taxing district do the same thing - cut the band/football/drill team/emergency services - in order to get the public screaming about A, B and C so the bond/levies pass.
God forbid actually cutting some lame-ass staffer's position instead.
Posted by: jimg on August 28, 2003 09:37 AMAny institution that becomes obsessed with erecting fancy buildings is an institution which is probably failing in its primary mission. This is true of local governments, universities, corporations, and many others.
Posted by: David Foster on August 30, 2003 03:08 PM