I don't want Salem's library to be moved into the ground floor of the Marion Parkade parking garage. But the City Council might give the go-ahead to plan for this at its next meeting on Monday, June 23.
Crazy? Yeah, of course it is. Mayor Anna Peterson and City Manager Linda Norris have the hots for a vastly overpriced police facility taj mahal at the Civic Center, a monument to... something or other.
Wasteful government spending and bureaucratic egotism, I guess.
Read on for a Call to Action from Salem Community Vision. Our Salem Public Library is on the chopping block.
Lovers of the library -- which includes Loucks Auditorium, a valuable venue that would likely become the new city council chambers and a courtroom if City officials aren't woken up from their police facility dream -- need to loudly say "Hands off our library!"
I've added a few photos to show what will be lost if Mayor Peterson, City Manager Norris, and city councilors move ahead with this insane plan. Also inserted some links to more info.
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Dear Concerned Salem Citizen:
The City Council will be discussing whether to fund a feasibility study to retrofit the main branch of the Salem Public Library into the new police facility at Monday's City Council meeting.
The current Salem Public Library and Loucks Auditorium.
Get ready to say goodbye to them if a plan to convert the building to a police facility moves forward on June 23.
Salem Community Vision urges you to attend the Salem City Council on Monday, June 23rd, at 6:30 pm in the Council Chamber at City Hall to make your opinion known on this matter.
You may come and sit in solidarity, or provide verbal testimony at the beginning of the council meeting under the section, Public Comment on agenda items. We do not have the item number yet, but if you want to speak you need to sign in on the sheet at the side of the room prior to the meeting and indicate the topic. This is not a public hearing. The staff report will be issued this Friday at http://www.cityofsalem.net/CouncilMeetingAgenda/default.aspx
Marion Parkade.
Imagine a library on the bottom with cars rumbling overhead on the parking levels.
The proposal as discussed at a Council work session earlier this year, was to convert the existing library building into the police station and to relocate the main library elsewhere. One suggestion from Councilor Warren Bednarz is to convert the first floor of the Marion Parkade parking garage into the new library. He stated at the May 21st Council work session that this might enable the City to close the West Salem Branch Library to save library-operating costs. Salem Community Vision is opposed to the feasibility study.
We will ask Council to stop spending money on this plan. Our position on this matter is unchanged. Salem needs to find an affordable location for the new police facility. Perhaps the location can be in the downtown area or elsewhere. Citizens have suggested at least a half dozen alternatives that could be considered. The City needs to convene a broad community-based task force to consider the alternatives and find the best one that the voters will agree to fund.
Mirror Pond green space.
Mayor and City Manager want to trash either this or the library for their Civic Center Police Facility Palace.
This latest library conversion study seems to be the result of the Mayor's insistence that the new police facility be located on the Civic Center campus. Because Salem Community Vision and others have raised strenuous objections to locating the new police facility on Mirror Pond, some Councilors want to explore using the library as an alternative.
SCV supports fiscal responsibility. This new study will cost several thousand dollars of the City's dwindling budget.
It is not clear we need a new library building. The one we have works just fine. The Salem Public Library Foundation is about to do a $300,000 renovation of the children's area with money they have raised from private sources. That plan should move forward.
Converting the library into a police facility and relocating the library coupled with the necessary seismic upgrades to City Hall has been estimated to cost $70 million or more - about the same as the cost of a new police facility on Mirror Pond and Civic Center seismic upgrades. A new library might cost an additional $30 million on top of that amount.
It would be foolish to ask voters to raise taxes for a new library AND a new police facility, just so the police facility can be located on the Civic Center campus.
Regardless of where the new police facility ends up, the City Council needs to move forward with seismic upgrades to the Library and City Hall buildings without further delay.
Please help us send a clear message to the City Council by attending the meeting on Monday, June 23rd at 6:30 pm. in the Council Chambers.
If you are unable to attend, please send a letter or e-mail to the Council at [email protected] I hope to see you there.
Susann Kaltwasser
Salem Community Vision, chairperson
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