FeedLocal: Guest poster says to build new main branch in north Peoria
February 28, 2008 in Local
I received this via e-mail, and I thought I’d post it anonymously. I disagree with most of it:
The Himmel and Wilson Strategic Plan looks like the consultants told the Library Board what they wanted to hear and sell the public, not what they needed to hear. There is certainly nothing close to cutting edge in this pablum of a report. There are lots of pretty pictures and rehashing of history, but nothing beyond endorsement of stale ideas that have floated around the area for years.
Points for consideration:
1. Why does the main branch have to be downtown? Who are we kidding that it is a “downtown destination?” The report tells us what we already know, that most of the existing users and potential users are not downtown, they are in the residential areas of the City. Yes, the City is pushing for more residents downtown, but that is a pipe dream based on hopes from an Ozzie and Harriet era, not reality.
2. The “flagship” needs to be where the users are, and in a convenient location with access to public transportation and lots of free, safe, open parking. It has to be someplace any father would not worry about his high school daughter going to work on an assignment after school, knowing it may be dark when she leaves to go home for supper. Do you want your daughter walking out of the main library at 5:30 in December when it is dark outside to her car at some metered spot, or to a bus stop? Maybe that doesn’t bother you. Maybe it should.
3. The availability of the former “big box” stores in the Pioneer Park area gives the Library a chance to go past the meager remodeling of the main library. Instead, it can configure the inside of a building to meet today’s needs without concrete impediments to change in five years, ten years, or twenty years. With complete respect for their civic dedication, I doubt the Library Board can see what the needs will be in ten years as the electronic revolution in information availability continues unabated at warp speed. Will the next generation of Internet-technology challenge the library establishment as the existing Internet has? Certainly! Does there need to be a flexible plan to address that aggressively and progressively? Yes.
4. Could this public facility link up with a private entity to provide the relaxing environment of commercial bookstores? Food, beverage, and a place to relax combined with library services seems to be a natural fit. The facilities in the Pioneer Park area may the the space for such a mutual-benefit partnership.
5. The guts of the service the library needs to provide to the City of Peoria public may be roughly divided into these areas:
a. The “south end”
b. The west and center bluff
c. The east bluff and areas below the bluff north of Spaulding
d. The area north of Forest Hill and south of Northmoor
e. The area north of Northmoor and east of Allen Road
f. The area west of Allen Road.These areas are arbitrary for the purpose of discussion. How does the library system serve them now, and how will it serve them better with a northern branch? Where does the main library fit into these areas? It doesn’t. Get rid of it and serve the areas where the need is. Radical? Yes. Practical? Possibly. If downtown Peoria is to be the growing hub the some say it is, the peddling that building to get funds to put the services where they are needed should not be too difficult.
February 28th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
Billy,
You were right… we do not have a choice in where the new library is going to go. It seems they have predetermined K’s Merchandise.
February 28th, 2008 at 9:09 pm
I love how people move out next to Dunlap and then complain about how inconvenient everything is, and how we need to move everything closer to them. Priceless. Lots of opportunities to move closer to the main library branch, anonymous writer. We’ll try not to scare you or your daughter.
February 29th, 2008 at 12:43 am
About Downtown…. As long as I can recall,
the Main Branch library has been in Downtown Peoria. EVERY, true, city has a central or main branch library in It’s downtown! Now, ANOTHER (Downtown) hater wants It moved out North like virtually Everything else.
Although some businesses, residents, and even
churches have abandoned the inner-city for the chic North side…. Downtown Peoria and the, older, neighborhoods will NOT ONLY survive but thrive… ” Thanks be to God! ”
Here is Wisdom… WE, who truly love Peoria, need to prevent Those like the ” anonymous ” e-mailer from sabotaging the rest of Peoria
for Their, hidden, agendas!
Be aware, unsuspecting readers, that Many of These ” anonymous ” e-mailers AND Others like Such are opponents with a, vested, interest in fringe and suburban development. They cannot and don’t want to compete with Downtown and (older) neighborhood development, so They attempt to sabotage It by ANY means possible (ex: bad-mouthing, scaremongering, urban tales and legends, anonymous e-mails, etc.)
Ridiculous? Preposterous? Think about It… If, prospective, homebuyers flock to Downtown and the older neighborhoods, Who do You think MOST stands to lose!
This ” Anonymous ” e-mailer’s, shameless, attempt to steer the Main Branch designation north is, simply, another (veiled) attempt to secure the prosperity to an, already, prosperous part of town of which ” Anonymous ” possesses property.
I’m ALL for a (North Peoria) branch library…. NOT, HOWEVER, AT THE EXPENSE OF THE REST OF THE CITY! A, new, (North Peoria) library along with the other amenities raises (North Peoria) property values AND worth…. MUCH faster than could be achieved in an, expensive and regulated, central business district or decaying neighborhoods.
Well the rest of Peoria, will WE let the, shadowy, ” Anonymous ” e-mailer rule Our city?
February 29th, 2008 at 3:48 am
If they move the main branch out there, they need to take a big chunk of section 8 housing with it. I wouldn’t want to deprive those living way out north another one of those benefits we so enjoy here in the Heart of Peoria.
February 29th, 2008 at 9:50 am
I personally don’t have an issue with another library “up north”. But do we really need all the branches? We get by with two post offices (but maybe that is why the lines are always out the door). I have to agree with the poster that how long will it be until libraries in their current form become obsolete. I can see where there always be a need for a person who wants to find a good book to read. But with the vast resources of the internet always expanding and technology increasing, how long before libraries are just a catalouge of DVDs and informational CDs that will replace the information & technical portions of the library? I wonder how long it will be before you will be able to pay a small fee to download this type of information to your iPod?
February 29th, 2008 at 1:04 pm
I submitted this commentary, and did not submit it anonymously. That was the decision of the site owner. I have no real estate interest in North Peoria. This is truly of a case of “we have always done it that way,” or “every true city has a central library,” which is another wayof saying we have always done it that way.
I am not a “downtown-hater.” I seldom have any reason to go downtown, although I have pleasant memories of the big department stores, the large theaters, etc. Times change, and there is no going back.
It sometimes seems there are more folks with animosity towards the north end than those with animosity towards downtown.
February 29th, 2008 at 3:26 pm
And yet others think we ARE going back:
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/subprime
And, please, feeling unsafe downtown at 5:30 p.m.? After 9 p.m., okay, but not at 5:30. Even in December.