Thursday, March 5, 2009

Community Lacks Info on Library Expansion


By BRYAN KOENIG
Comm 320 Contributing Writer

Washington-There is not enough information to decide the future of Ward 1’s Mount Pleasant Library, was the common consensus at the Mount Pleasant Advisory Neighborhood Commission meeting Tuesday.

Facilitated by D.C. Councilmember Jim Graham, (D-Ward 1) concerned Ward citizens and representatives of numerous local organizations attended the open to the public meeting at La Casa community center on Mount Pleasant Street to discuss the library’s future. Scheduled for expansion, Graham recently asked for a 30 day pause in the planning process after significant concern was raised among the community, Mount Pleasant Chief Librarian Jenny Cooper agreed. This was the first in what will likely be several meetings during what Graham described as ‘the pause.’ Ultimately, those in attendance were not the decision makers, Graham said.

“The Mount Pleasant community has come together in a fairly solidified way…to say we don’t want to rush forward with this (the expansion) right now,” Graham said.

The expansion plan dates back to 2000, said ANC Commissioner Gregg Edwards. With an $8.5 million total construction budget, current designs call for extending the library on both sides and enlarging the bathrooms to meet code requirements.

Graham outlined the issues earlier meetings had identified as central to concern over the library’s future. “Does this community embrace the expansion?” he said. If the answer to that question is yes, then in what ways do people want to see the library expand? If the answer is no, if people feel that the library’s current configuration is sufficient, then how much would it cost to rehabilitate the library’s current configuration so that it is up to modern code and is able to suit the community’s needs? Once those questions have been answered, Graham hoped the community would determine if it makes sense “to have library resources elsewhere in Ward One?”

Only about half the attendees raised their hands when Graham asked for a show of who had made their mind up on the issues concerning the library.

Graham hoped to use the meeting to raise “some very basic issues,” he said. He’d noticed in previous meetings that there was a need to cover the issues in order to make an informed decision.

The Mount Pleasant Library Planning commission has taken a “top down approach,” Edwards said, complaining that the community has been left out of the loop in planning the library’s future. Edwards argued that a survey used to ascertain public opinion had asked questions that made many assumptions contrary to common perceptions of libraries and that research conducted by the commission into the expansion was contrary to standard, smart procedure.

Graham said he was uncomfortable with the lack of analysis on what was actually needed in terms of library expansion and what services should be provided and what kind of facilities would be required to provide them where they were needed most. “We just don’t know enough about what future concerns are,” he said.

Edwards argued that an outside group needs to be found to perform a needs analysis on the library’s expansion and “get the facts for us,” he said. “We don’t have credible information about what our needs are.”

The ANC is opposed to expansion only “in this way,” Edwards said. Edwards argued that the construction budget could be better used in helping people throughout Ward One, that the necessary expansion could be accomplished with only part of the budget while the rest could be employed to expand library services throughout the ward.
Mount Pleasant ANC member Jack McKay saw the pause as a potential opportunity, one where the needs of Ward One residents might be better served. People in the Mount Pleasant area don’t need key library services as badly as in other areas of Ward One, particularly in the east, he said.

At this point, the public library is performing only 20 percent of services needed, Edwards said. He has heard from many who complain to the ANC that “they don’t see the programs that they need,” he said.

There was some speculation among those gathered that space the library currently has might be better used, limiting the need for expansion and new facilities. While there is unused space, a library representative in attendance explained that some 20,000 people use the library each month, numbers it is not equipped to handle. During peak hours, “we don’t have a space for everyone to sit in the library,” he said.

Amos Tevelow of the Mount Pleasant Condominium Association was among the meeting’s most vocal advocates against expansion as is. Mount Pleasant Condominiums is the library’s direct next door neighbor. According to Tevelow, the designs call for the library to almost completely breach the gap between the two buildings, eliminating a driveway that is currently there, potentially inhibiting fire egress. Tevelow also claimed that the library in its planned form would obstruct condominium windows, lowering the quality of life for residents and damaging property values. Not opposed to the idea of the expansion in general, just the current design, “we’re open to a lot of creative solutions,” Tevelow said.

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