Disposition of MLK Library proposed
Mayor Williams has inserted language into the Budget Support Act of 2007 that would allow the current home of the main DC Public Library to be leased to a private entity for 99 years. Councilmember Kathy Patterson has scheduled a “Town Hall Meeting” on the specific provisions of the Mayor’s legislation for Saturday, April 22 at 1:00 pm in the main hall of the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library.
A relocation of the main library is currently proposed somewhere on the Old Convention Center site some two blocks form the current building. The Mayor’s legislation goes on to grant the Mayor or his designee powers to negotiate both PILOTs (payments in lieu of taxes) and TIFs (taxes in lieu of financing) as well as issue bonds to finance the construction. All funds are directed to go into or come out of a Library Development Trust Fund that was established in a January 2006 law, the Library Enhancement, Assessment and Development Act (LEAD Act).
The Councilmember has scheduled this hearing during a Council recess in order to give the public a chance to comment on the proposal before the District budget is considered by the Council’s Committee of the Whole in early May. One hearing on the Budget Support Act was already held (Tuesday, April 11) and the Mayor brought in Directors from two library systems (Brooklyn and Salt Lake City) to testify. There was no testimony from the public at that time because the specifics of the Act had not been brought to the attention of Councilmember Patterson (Chair of the Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation), the Board of Library Trustees, or the Friends of the Library.
Whatever your personal opinion about the current home of the main library, I hope that you will consider speaking out at the town hall meeting this Saturday. The Council and the residents of the District of Columbia need to hear clearly that citizen involvement is not a hurdle but a tool for achieving real progress. If you would like to provide testimony at the hearing, please contact the Council Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation at 202-724-8195. I hope to see you at the Town Hall Meeting this Saturday, April 22, 2006 at 1:00 pm in the lobby of the MLK Library, 901 G Street, NW.
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