It's Our City is a project that uses TV, Radio and Web
to promote civic engagement in the Philadelphia region.POLL: Should Philly go forward with Central Library Branch Expansion?
Wednesday, December 10th, 2008 at 3:37 pm - by Stephanie Marudas. Filed under: Budget.
Here’s the million dollar question. In the long run, do you think Philadelphians would benefit from an 
expanded central library branch and 43 branches, or keeping open 54 branches and having no expanded central library at all? To answer this question and several others, take our poll below and we’ll pass on the results to city and library officials.
The $175 million central branch expansion project has been a long time coming. But with the latest economic problems and the library system having to close 11 branches at the end of this month, the Philadelphia Free Library Foundation is putting off plans to break ground on the project, which was supposed to happen this month. (Click here to read about the amenities the expansion promises to offer). The foundation, instead, will re-examine the possibility of starting construction each quarter. So far, $105 million has been raised for the expansion. That funding includes a 50/50 breakdown between private and public dollars. The city’s contribution for the expanded facility, which will be city-owned, stems from a $30 million bond issuance authorized by City Council in 2004.
Granted city and private dollars are already committed for the project, we’re wondering what will happen if the current economic conditions persist and get worse over the next several years? What will that mean for the timeline of the project ? If things do get worse and continue to stall the expansion, then a giant pool of money will have just been sitting there, when maybe it could have been used to bolster the library system in other ways.
Under the current city budget crisis, Mayor Michael Nutter has made an unpopular decision to close 11 libraries as part of a larger effort to help plug a spending hole over the next five years that’s worth more than $1 billion. While city residents understand the financial constraints strangling the city right now, many remain upset about the removal of local branches from the community.
We’d like your input on this issue, and have posted 2 poll questions below for you to answer. We’re planning to submit the poll results to city and library officials. So please pass on the poll to anyone you think might want to weigh in on this issue.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:53 pm
Dec 10, 2008 3:47pm ET
The libraries should get a big piece of the pie from Obama’s infrastructure plan, especially since 50% of the public schools do not have libraries. If closing branches really is good for the system, then it should be part of a thought-out plan supported by the community, not as a make-do effort. But I think FLP should also expand branches into the public schools because that expansion would strengthen the city’s infrastructure. Did FLP attempt that in the past and it ended badly? That sounds familiar. But even if such an effort failed in the past, it should be attempted again. I think FLP should manage school libraries because they have the technology and the know-how. School libraries and public libraries are essential resources for the excellent education that every school should provide to every student. Libraries are worthy public works projects and providing libraries in every school would keep a lot of people busy in very productive ways. It’s useless for the city to create more unemployment in Philadelphia. So weather the storm and make no damaging decisions until after Obama reveals the stimulus package–inauguration is only a few weeks away. But if the situation remains as-is, FLP cannot justify the new building in these dire times.
December 10th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
If libraries are so often used during normal business hours by retirees and older residents, how would it work to have them in the schools? Of course the schools could let the libraries be open to the surrounding community, but with so many students using them on free periods, during lunch and after school, I can’t imagine too many older people would be jumping at the prospect of going back to school to use the library.