The dog of an idea that won't die (sign the petition)

I had an informal meeting with a government official a couple weeks ago and I was shocked--this was a let your hair down kind of an event--with how "unimpressed" this person was with both the baseball stadium project and the proposal for a new Central Library.

Our consensus view is that an organic district won't develop around the stadium--although my position is just to go to the Lerners and cut them in on the deal and build something right, rather than the crappy parking. I hate cutting in rich people to make more money, but the demands of making a great place demand it.

We didn't have any a solution for the library issue. The proposed new library by the Williams administration has many many many flaws--just like the baseball stadium. (If you don't believe me, check out the documents available here: Mayor's Task Force on the Future of the DC Public Library System.)

And the current Central Library, the Martin Luther King Library, as a library, stinks. I love books and information and libraries, and it's got to be the worst library I've ever used, bar none. I hardly use it, except for Washingtoniana. Otherwise I use the Library of Congress and college libraries. It is a pathetic place.

Is that because the City of Washington runs it--underfunding, undermaintaining, and underdeveloping--or because it's a modern building where the design focuses on the materials and style rather than the use, for which there is no question that the design is ill-suited?

Who said this is an either-or question? Maybe it's both.

And the public engagement process contracted for the Library "Planning" initiative was an abomination, an embarrassment to democracy and participation and civic engagement.

(The only thing good out of it is that I now have an excellent concept for a journal article about why government contracted civic engagement processes are often constrained and flawed. It will be a contribution perhaps as significant as the classic piece, "A Ladder of Citizen Participation" from the Journal of the American Institute of Planners, published in 1969, if I do say so myself, immodestly. I add to this argument by using the work of John Friedmann.)

Librarians--because I have been arguing that the best thing to do is to satisfice and try to make the current facility a lot better--think I am a traitor to knowledge and learning. That I should know better than to advocate for that dog of a building.

No one who really loves libraries loves the MLK building or the quality of the programs within.

But Mayor Williams thinks the library plan is great and that it is his legacy. Why couldn't his legacy be great instead of something that is likely to need to be reconstructed again in 30 years! (Just like Waterside Mall in Southwest DC, and most of the urban renewal projects around, just like the Stadium will need to be redesigned or something, in about 20 years, etc.)

So he is trying to keep the library project alive, by introducing a new emergency legislation. (Shades of Vincent Orange and the Florida Market bill.) But if you have to resort to such measures, it's an indicator that the project is flawed.

I don't think there is anyone in the city who doesn't desire the greatest public library possible for all citizens and residents.

The Post, being part of the Growth Machine, of course editorializes in favor of the new dog of a central library. See "A New Library," subtitled "District readers deserve better." I agree with the Post, District readers deserve better. But the current proposal for a new library isn't giving us better.

And like I hate being in the same camp as say hard rock conservatives vis-a-vis eminent domain issues (why did the City of New London, Connecticut put us in that position) or with some nativist types on growth issues in terms of the Comprehensive Plan), I hate having to be in the position of being in the same camp with people who don't believe that the government can do great things!

There is no reason DC couldn't build a great library, but we don't have a plan to build a great library. Why do we rarely achieve the great expectations that a "world class" city ought to be able to attain?

Anyway, many people sent me this:

RENOVATE MLK!

Dear MLK Supporters:Mayor Williams intends to pursue "emergency" legislation to lease the MLK Jr. Memorial Library for 99 years and construct a new central library for $275 million. It will be introduced before the City Council on Tuesday, Dec. 19. It can be passed on one reading. Time is of the essence.

Please sign the "Preserve MLK Petition" to show your support of fiscal stewardship and historic preservation. Please forward this message as well.

It stinks when government puts you in a no win situation, with no good options.

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