Why on earth is St. Albert city council revisiting the library?
Did voters not make their opinion known on their plebiscite ballots on election day? Was it not in favour of discontinuing pointless discussions of the past library dream as presented? Were the results not clear? Just having some logical thoughts, if they are revisiting the same library issue, the city should redo the election and we can be presented with the same candidates and the same questions on the ballot. The result, I can bet voter turnout would be similar, the library would still be a no go but the choices made for the elected leadership would be very different (even after a few short months)! Why was it presented on the ballot if city council was just going to continue as if the vote didn’t exist?
Here’s some new and forward thinking thoughts, the current City Hall should remain the political hub where it is currently at and the library should be modernized/refreshed to reflect the way information is gathered and used by the people that actually use the library.
Can we not store the books (The City of St. Albert I am sure has storage space somewhere other than at the library) that have not been touched in years and allow people who might require them to request them online and pull them a couple of times a week and have them brought to the library? Can we not use the current space better? Surely we can. Here’s some more ideas, how about a good clean-out of reference books and take them to storage, reorganize the current space, new fixtures and furnishing to complement the ones already in use, more tables and plug-ins and the restructuring of space for library programs (FYI, there was a waiting list for the free library programs 21 years ago because after all they have always been free with a library card).
Now what would free up some space for more offices and unpredictable parking issues. How about relocating City Council’s public meeting space to the current and more easily accessible theatre at the front of City Hall and then using the old space for offices or whatever. How about relocating the current theatre to an industrial/commercial park with ample parking (we do have some industrial parks and people typically pay good money for concerts and events). Even better now instead of Servus Place hosting concerts and events it could be used for sports only or maybe re-utilized.
Francine Coleman, St. Albert
