Settling for less
By: Anne Peiffer 07/01/2010
I was at a public meeting about Webber Park Library some months ago. At that time, I learned that the people who owned the property on that corner did not wish to sell it. Yes, they had it on the market at another time, but they changed their minds. In my time, I have decided that a course I was taking was not what I really wanted and I was better off with what I had. I think that kind of choice is wise.
At that same meeting, Hennepin County Commissioner Mike Opat stated his opinion that having the library anywhere but right on the parkway was ‘settling.' Well, we settled for having our library shuttered instead of losing it entirely, and we settle for having it open with fewer hours instead of not having it open at all. Now we have to settle for waiting until the commissioners get their way and possibly entirely losing our library in the process.
There is plenty of space to build a fine library on the land that Hennepin County has acquired. I do not understand why the Kowalski's site is so undesirable in the eyes of the county. I think the issue of the location of the library has more to do with the wishes of a few commissioners, not the best interests of Camden.
Anne Peiffer
Victory Neighborhood