Fulton County library bond: Vote no
October 16, 2008 at 7:28 pm by Scott Henry in NewsCould Fulton County have chosen a worse time to propose $275 million in new spending?
On the plus side, it’s for a worthy cause: the $275 million, in the form of bonds, would pay for eight new library branches, expand two existing branches and spruce up 24 others. As for minuses, there’s the lousy economy that’s already put the squeeze on local homeowners and the fact that at least $85 million of the bond money would go toward replacing the Central Library.
The Central Library part of the plan was a last-minute add-on and is accordingly half-baked, calling vaguely for the library system to find a new downtown site, sell the old building and build a spectacular new edifice. Bond funds would cover only half the estimated cost of the new facility; the difference would somehow be made up with private donations, according to County Commissioner Robb Pitts, the idea’s main proponent. Given the current state of the economy and the large number of competing civic projects — civil rights museum, symphony hall, Beltline, etc. — tapping into huge amounts of private money seems a pipe dream.
Atlanta taxpayers should also be aware that six of the proposed new branches would be located in the far north and south ends of the county. Fulton hasn’t had a library bond for more than 20 years, so it’s especially regrettable that mission creep was allowed to bloat this referendum to more than a quarter of a billion dollars. If the referendum’s rejected, perhaps next time the county will come back with a more reasonable proposal.
Check out CL’s 2008 Voter’s Guide and add your comments to races you care about. It continues to be updated. On Oct. 21, come back to find a handy cheat-sheet to your voting both.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:17 am
Libraries are free and accessible to all the cities residents. If you have visited the library recently you would know that they are widely used by a wide group of citizens and could need an update for the amount of traffic they get. Let the private money be searched for by the civil rights museum, symphony hall and the Beltline all of which will cost a fee to enter, public money should be invested in the libraries which are free and open to all.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:51 am
I agree! Yes on library bond, no on amendment 2.
October 17th, 2008 at 2:17 am
wat the hell is this? you bet no on spending money on this. i thought we were in a depression.
October 17th, 2008 at 9:32 am
thanks! as a frequent library user i was up in the air about this one.
since i am pretty much voting in complete opposition to all of cl’s endorsements anyway, i have now decided this referendum will indeed get my yes vote!
October 17th, 2008 at 9:43 am
I agree that the bond should not be passed. While public libraries are obviously a worthy cause, the fact that $85 million would be allocated for a new central library makes this impossible to support.
While perhaps out of style at present, the 1980 brutalist central library, designed by world-renowned architect Marcel Breuer, is one of the most significant examples of modern architecture in the city. It’s time for Atlanta to stop demolishing its history and appreciate what we have.
The central library also recently underwent a major renovation. This is poor planning and judgment at its worst.
October 17th, 2008 at 1:06 pm
[...] gotta agree with Creative Loafing on this one. Vote no on the Fulton County library bond. We love books. We collect books like [...]
October 17th, 2008 at 2:49 pm
It should be noted that as the economy gets worse, more and more people will need the free services of a library. Many of the communities don’t have a library close, or they one they have is outdated. Passing this bond would fix that. At what price? If your home is valued at $300,000, you would only pay about $3 a month. A $200,000 home would only be about $2 a month. Worth it, I think!
October 22nd, 2008 at 11:21 am
My family uses the library once a week, so we have a vested interest in seeing it supported appropriately.
That said, I’m voting NO because of the $85 million addition to the Central Library.
In case Fulton didn’t get the memo, these are lean times and we need to set fiscal priorities. A brand-new downtown library is not one of them.
October 30th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
$275 million sounds like a lot of money (and it is for the county as a whole), but there are some important aspects that should be examined. Like the fact that it will mean only $18.96 in additional taxes PER YEAR on a house that costs $150,000, and $37.92 for a $300,000 home. That seems pretty insignificant. I don’t use the libraries very frequently and honestly, I still value that resource at more than $2-$3 per month.
And the full extent of the referendum will be 8 brand new libraries, 2 expansions and 23 (much needed) renovations. Hopefully, when they’re done, they’ll be able to offer regular ESL and GED classes in more than just the central library.
Really, though, the reason why I’m voting for this bond referendum has more to do with the fact that there are FAR worse things to spend public money on than libraries.
November 2nd, 2008 at 12:20 pm
Voting NO makes the most sense. Not enough people live downtown to use the central library the way community branches are used. If you do intend to vote yes, just spend 10 minutes at the Bill Gates donated computer center at the Central Library and you’ll see mismanagement at its best. Junkies and homeless people monopolize the pcs to look at music videos, p0rn and play games, while the occasional job searcher or student waits their turn to get information. Also, tourists don’t go to libraries citizens do. City of Atl. doesn’t need $85 million more to do the same in a new building. Plus if the same politicians wouldn’t have razed the old Carnegie library, they wouldn’t have to build a better looking one. Vote out Rob Pitts next time he’s up for ruining this amendment.
November 4th, 2008 at 11:55 am
275 million – VOTE NO.
I am for books, but come up with an alternative plan less than 1/4 billion dollars.
This is govenment at work!
November 5th, 2008 at 12:01 pm
I am glad to see that your eforts to defeat this referendum failed.
October 7th, 2009 at 2:07 pm
[...] who also designed the similar Whitney Museum in Manhattan. Last fall, Fulton voters approved a $275 million bond referendum that included funds dedicated to relocating the central library to another site. The Breuer [...]