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New Main Library Location?


richyb83

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The controversy has been brewing for over a year or more now on where?? the New Main Library will be located? Currently the Main Library is located at Independence Park on Goodwood Blvd. The plan is to upgrade this library to a "Super Regional" library. And move the New Main Library to Downtown where there are many potential future sites. Currently the Downtown Library is a smaller "branch" library. The Main Library moved way back in 1968 from Downtown on Laurel Street to the current Goodwood site.

Many Goodwood area residents/and others are upset at this possibility, wanting to keep the Main Library at it's current location. But many feel the New Main Library needs to go back to Downtown where it belongs; near Arts & Cultural District. There are many issues like transportation and location. Goodwood/Independence Park is basically the geographic center of the city. Downtown is on the western edge near the river, but it's closer to LSU, Southern Univ, and BRCC. And has much better Interstate access. Many cities have recently enjoyed sucess of a new downtown location for their main library.

There is an important Library Board meeting on November 7th.

Supporters of a putting the main branch of the EBR system Downtown have launched a new website to promote the benefits of relocating the building. This site is also accepting submissions. The website was made to combat "misinformation" about the situation being put forth by people who want to keep the Main Library at Goodwood.

http://www.downtownlibrary.org/

What's yall's opinion on where the New Main Library location should be ??

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The new Main Library should be built in Downtown. and the Mid City residents would get an updated and improved branch facility.

I read somewhere that BREC is offering (cost?) the area next to their (way too expensive) new HQ's on Florida as a site for a new Mid City branch. Any thoughts on this?

Sorry but I have a RANT below V:

PS... BREC needs better digs but $7M to update an old Sears store is way way too much when they constantly cry about not having enough money to fund needed parks and cry for tax increases. While I DO believe that BREC is one of the premier Rec departments in the nation, administrative expenses are simply not the way to spend our hard earned bucks!

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I'd have to say somewhere near where the current library is located would be best. The Bluebonnet library is my favorite. There needs to be another one near LSU- in the Burbank/Lee/Perkins corridor- but downtown is a waste.

I am not against a downtown branch....but the new Carver library like only two or three blocks from downtown anyways, and it sees very little traffic. I have been there once, and I was the only one in there....considering that it was mid-term week, that is pretty sad. I won't go back because I worry too much about the neighborhood.

I am against it moving downtown. Libraries are like parks and grocery stores- you should have them where the people live. Downtown is turning into more of an entertainment area anyways. Our priorities are F-ed up in BR. Put the Casino downtown and the Library in the residential area....but no...we have to get it bass ackwards.

I wouldn't be against a large library going downtown if they kept the Goodwood branch (and it's content) intact and open. That way when the downtown branch sees little to no traffic, I can say "I told you so". The land down there is crazy expensive and I think Libraries should spend more on content than location.

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Yes, Baton Rouge is backwards.

The entertainment venues, like the new casino, should probably be at or near Downtown (where the other casinos are). The Library should be near the Universities and the residences.

Sad that the Library is going downtown and the casinos are going all the way down bluebonnet, a solid 15 minutes from the interstate through a residential neighborhood.

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Yes, Baton Rouge is backwards.

The entertainment venues, like the new casino, should probably be at or near Downtown (where the other casinos are). The Library should be near the Universities and the residences.

Sad that the Library is going downtown and the casinos are going all the way down bluebonnet, a solid 15 minutes from the interstate through a residential neighborhood.

I agree that the entertainment venues should be downtown. It only makes sense, when cities are trying to revitalize their downtowns and entice visitors down there, that they would locate such venues and businesses downtown. The city should be trying hard to lure the casino to downtown.

Bossier City built its CenturyTel Center on its riverfront, but quite a few miles south of downtown. Sure there's a direct parkway to get to it, but it certainly wasn't the best location. It would fit so perfectly near the Boardwalk, and the roads could be widened to accomodate it. Afterall, they spent millions extending their parkway and other roads for the arena, so widening the roads in downtown Bossier wouldn't have been a huge problem.

So... I understand! :)

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Thanks Brian for the imput. I like the parkway up in SBC, the Century Tel Center would go great near the Boardwalk with a nice hotel too. We sure have some brilliant minds and ideas on UP. :thumbsup:

Wampold owned(s) the 35-acre property Pinnacle signed on to. Wampold also owns the run-down Nicholson shopping center property less than a 1/2 mile south of the I-10 Miss. River Bridge. Not far from the Municipal Dock. That area is talked about being developed I will try to contact them ASAP and suggest a "Plan B" after the current proposed location is rejected by City-Parish officials way down below LSU .

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Thanks Brian for the imput. I like the parkway up in SBC, the Century Tel Center would go great near the Boardwalk with a nice hotel too. We sure have some brilliant minds and ideas on UP. :thumbsup:

Wampold owned(s) the 35-acre property Pinnacle signed on to. Wampold also owns the run-down Nicholson shopping center property less than a 1/2 mile south of the I-10 Miss. River Bridge. Not far from the Municipal Dock. That area is talked about being developed I will try to contact them ASAP and suggest a "Plan B" after the current proposed location is rejected by City-Parish officials way down below LSU .

Does the wampold property on Nicholson front river road?

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Does the wampold property on Nicholson front river road?

I doubt it, but the Nicholson property should be in close enough proximity to the River Rd/Municipal Dock area to acquire. I will have to check-out a Mapquest or Google aerial and see.

Either take Plan B; go to the WBR riverfront; or just forget about it completely, Louisiana has (plenty)enough casino's as of now anyway.

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I doubt it, but the Nicholson property should be in close enough proximity to the River Rd/Municipal Dock area to acquire. I will have to check-out a Mapquest or Google aerial and see.

Either take Plan B; go to the WBR riverfront; or just forget about it completely, Louisiana has (plenty)enough casino's as of now anyway.

I agree about going with Plan B, but I disagree about Louisiana having enough casinos. The truth is, Louisiana has too few casinos and too many restrictions (including the limited number of casinos allowed.) If Louisiana were to lower their taxes on the gambling industry and cut the limits, we could see exponential growth in our casino markets overnight. We would finally be in direct competition with Mississippi. As it stands, our casinos are limited to being riverboats with no more than 30,000 sq. ft. of gambling space (with the exceptions being the racetrack casinos and Harrah's New Orleans.) In addition, our casinos are HEAVILY overtaxed and are also restricted by the number of competing casinos. Louisiana's government has always been anti-casino, and the industry was only allowed in a desperate attempt to help the state's troubled economy at the time. Because of this reluctance, the industry has suffered greatly in Louisiana and will never be able to reach its maximum potential.

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My bad My ADHD has been really kicking in lately....this is has turned into a casino thread instead the Main Library thread :lol:

Yeah Baton Rouge had taken some positive strides in the right direction lately, more than the past... finally; but it's hard to shed it's backwards ways and that can be very frustrating too.

I'm in favor of the Goodwood Library expanding into a better than ever Super Regional Library with probably more, what's there now is not that impressive. And a new state-of-the-art Main Library in downtown near the other attractions like the Old State Capitol Museum; Shaw Arts Center; La. Arts & Science Museum and Pennington Planetarium,etc. My bet is it will be located at the old EBR Arts & Technology School that recently shut down in MAY next to the proposed new 9-10 story Courthouse in the Municipal Bldg. parking lot. That's were it's going, though it hasn't been announced. Plenty of parking, low crime, easy access,etc. It's gonna be great!

Also there will be a new Southdowns branch library to start sometime in 07 or 08' on Perkins just east of College Drive at new TND Village development on the 120-acre Ford Pasture. JTS is involved, so it will be nice. They developed CitiPlace and also currently developing Perkins Rowe urban village. :thumbsup:

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  • 2 weeks later...

:whistling:

The struggle continues on the location of the New Main Library. The voters had their say and approved the library tax, but there are people that can't seem to let it go.

This is a decent article to read

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5688228

The Main Library at Goodwood is not very nice at all and bursting at the seams...it will be upgraded much better than what is currently there. So the improvement doesn't seem to matter ??

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:whistling:

The struggle continues on the location of the New Main Library. The voters had their say and approved the library tax, but there are people that can't seem to let it go.

This is a decent article to read

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5688228

The Main Library at Goodwood is not very nice at all and bursting at the seams...it will be upgraded much better than what is currently there. So the improvement doesn't seem to matter ??

It just seems like libraries should be in the population center of the city, not necessarily the business center of the city... Just my thought, and I know this has been rehashed over and over again.

Also, DT Nashville isn't a very good model for BR to follow, IMO. That seemed to be a basis for the decision to locate the library downtown. DT Nashville is a ghost-town at night with a worker/resident ratio of 9:1.

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Hey Rardy...Memphis being a river city like BR and downtown being on the west-edge seems to hurt downtowns. Atlanta, Houston, Birmingham, Dallas, etc. have their CBD's in the geographical center, this seems like an advantage for them? Currently the Main Library at Goodwood is at the geograhical center of BR.

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Hey Rardy...Memphis being a river city like BR and downtown being on the west-edge seems to hurt downtowns. Atlanta, Houston, Birmingham, Dallas, etc. have their CBD's in the geographical center, this seems like an advantage for them? Currently the Main Library at Goodwood is at the geograhical center of BR.

I wouldn't say that being on the river hurts downtowns, although it definitely leads to interesting traffic patterns! Memphis actually has a highly populated DT (as far as downtowns go), but it has suffered in office development. On the whole, though, it's very vibrant. BR is just as viable IMO.

Honestly I haven't been following the BR library debate. It just seems like libraries should be easily accessible from all parts of towns.

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The way I see it if Goodwood is getting their library souped up than what's the problem? It's not like it's being skipped over or shut down. Personally I think it has in part to do with the title of "Main Library". They probably think that because it lost it's title as "Main Library" that it won't be as nice when refurbished. And just because it's in the center doesn't mean everyone uses it. I've only been there once. I figure that the people on the west side of town will use it because it's close and all the rest of town will probably use it because it's big and new. Some people just need to be happy and sit down.

That's my two cents on the matter. :D

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Hey Dan I was thinking the same thing! It doesn't make much sense to me because these people are stopping the library from going downtown when the parish, as a whole, voted to for it to go there. I really believe that this is a fight over a title, and if this is true then it shows what some people's priorities are. I mean there are more problems that the people of Baton Rouge should be fighting for than where the main library should be located. Maybe they should argue about the traffic situation, increase in the homeless, or why EBR Parish prison should be expanded. These issues seem more important then where to build a library. I think that those who oppose, should just be quiet and wait and see what becomes of the Goodwood site.

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The struggle continues on the location of the New Main Library. The voters had their say and approved the library tax, but there are people that can't seem to let it go.

This is a decent article to read

http://www.wafb.com/Global/story.asp?S=5688228

The Main Library at Goodwood is not very nice at all and bursting at the seams...it will be upgraded much better than what is currently there. So the improvement doesn't seem to matter ??

That's what I have been saying. The Goodwood residents have been acting ridiculous, and don't see the great opportunities. The EBR Library System is actually very nice and a +positive for BR. They did a great job with the two regional Libraries on Bluebonnet and Greenwell Springs.

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Well, if you are downtown and in need of a library, then just walk, drive, or take the bus to the Carver branch. It's new. It's nice.

For those who don't know where this is:

720 Terrace Street, Baton Rouge, LA

That would be an astounding 2 minute ride from downtown!

No. The library downtown is stupid. That system deserse no more tax dollers from me. I am voting against every proposal that would help the library system. They have proven to me that they will just use it on something stupid like a huge library a stones throw away from a brand new $2 million dollar branch that was built last year.

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I think BR, needs a basic library to call Central or the main branch. A downtown library that's fancy and expensive will not make people come in to check out or read books. One article I read kept talking about Seattle's Central Library, I don't think a city like BR can handle the expense.

I would like to see a modernized library downtown and a better one on Goodwood, but the architecture of the building would make no difference.

BR should take a look at Portland

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  • 3 months later...

Library Offers New Plan

The new plan for the Main Library is a scaled down proposal of the original due to Katrina cost, it would still be nearly double the size(2-stories,80,000sq.ft) of the current useable space. The library would be moved nearby to the BREC Theatre. The entrance would be changed to the northern side of the park and wind thru the Botanical Gardens; part of BREC's make over for Independence Park. The Main Library was built back in 1967 after moving from Downtown.

http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/6455887.html

* Something special will probably still happen for Downtown's outdated library. No plan as of yet.

Today's libraries have different uses than the old 50's style libraries our grandparents used.

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the locacation isnt necessary, I don't know what the big deal is, but an updated library at both branches downtown and Independence Park would be nice.

:whistling:sometimes I hate this foolish style of development in my hometown

:offtopic: Seattle's new public library cost the city of Seattle and taxpayers almost 200 million dollars to construct. A few companies donated big bucks to help out, but when companies down here donate, they want to put a name on the actual project they are helping build. People in BR won't approve any taxes to help the city out, road construction and transit, but quick to complain that the city is in terrible condition. This has been the case for many years, but way too often it's pushed under the table until it's too late.

Microsoft and Starbucks donated a lot, but the name on the project is still Seattle Central. Starbucks have a kiosk inside and you can drink beverages as long as it has a lid on it. Microsoft has an auditorium named in its honor, which is acceptable. If donates happen here, and I could be 100% wrong about this, but if the new main downtown library is heavily donated to, it could be named something like the ExxonMobil Baton Rouge Main Downtown Library.

Both of downtown Baton Rouge main library branches were small. The old one on the corner of Laurel and 7th, which I believe was the 1st main branch is still there, but was too small to be renovated into a modern library. United Way is in it now, the branch at the RiverCenter, I see nothing wrong with it, it can be closed and go through a major renovation. That location is central enough, right next to the courthouses and walking to plenty of offices. So far the library is being used by people on Jury duty & a few random downtown workers.

I don't know what the problem here is in Baton Rouge, but they seem like if it's not brand new they refuse to use it. The city should get off of the eye candy and location trip. :offtopic:

Portland's Main

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Seattle's Main

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Old Baton Rouge Main

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