Williams Pushes Forward With Library Plan
D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams testified before the City Council's Committee on Education, Libraries and Recreation today in favor of his proposal to build a brand new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library at the site of the old convention center, a few blocks from its current site. We've debated this issue before at DCist. But we thought it might be fun to do a little point/counterpoint with the Post's Benjamin Forgey, writing today in response to Williams' plan. First up, Mayor Williams:
"Approval of this bill will enable the District to fulfill the true legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. by providing a new set of modern and effective tools to combat our education crisis … low levels of literacy, the digital divide, the poor high school graduation rate of our children."Way to play on our sympathies, Mr. Mayor. Regardless of whether you believe it's appropriate to just remove the MLK Jr. memorial plaque from the current library and attach it elsewhere, of course no one disagrees that the main D.C. library needs drastic improvement that should be oriented toward educational goals. Forgey's response?
The idea that the 1972 Mies building cannot be renovated into a first-class 21st-century library is absurd. (It's also predictable. It was advanced in a consultant's report for the city that -- surprise, surprise -- agreed with the wishes of its client.)
Forgey continues:
Yes, the building has suffered from years of poor maintenance. All its internal systems -- heating, ventilation, plumbing, electricity and such -- are in need of immediate, thoroughgoing attention. Yet as architect Arthur Cotton Moore pointed out recently in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post, the building (unlike, say, a 19th-century stone pile) was constructed in a way that would make infrastructure replacement a relative snap.Well, we're not entirely sure that's true, because no one, as far we know, has actually drafted a complete plan to renovate the Mies building. It sure would be nice to have one to compare with the Mayor's plan. More from Williams:
"This bill is not about a downtown real estate transaction. The bill clearly lays out that a long-term lease of the 901 G Street property, together with a payment in lieu of taxes, could help pay for a new central library at the Old Convention Center site. It is a new and exciting central library for all District residents that is at the core of this bill."The lease he mentions is a 99-year lease, though no entity is in place who actually has any interest in renting the Mies building. We have trouble imagining what kind of private organization would find the current MLK Jr. Memorial Library an ideal property. Forgey?
The city's idea of selling the Mies building to help pay for its new toy is shameful. There is simply no other way to put it. It is to treat a significant work of architecture as if it were a trifling leftover.Well, technically the city isn't selling the library, though a 99-year lease comes awfully close. Besides, Mayor Williams thinks architectural significance isn't the issue:
"I have become increasingly concerned that some have gone off track with a debate exclusively over architecture. While the physical investment is the construction of a new library, let me be clear. This is a social issue. Our educational aspirations and social goals must be the driving principles behind the building of any library. Form must follow function."We dare say there isn't a single D.C. resident who doesn't want to see a functioning, even flourishing main public library. But we also think that the architecturally significant Mies shouldn't be abandoned as a public building. Forgey proposes what is perhaps the only appropriate plan, but one which, because of costs, is probably the least likely to happen:
There is, of course, another idea. Why not renovate the Mies building and have a new library? The building was designed to be -- and is -- a proud public structure. That is its essence. It would take vision, and more money, to find another innovative public issue for this great pavilion. But then, vision is what great planning is all about.Ok commenters -- do your worst.
Picture snapped by Muckraker
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