The sad story of the decades-long civic neglect of the Prince George Public Library added a new chapter this week, with news that senior city staff want to kick the library's long-overdue $2.5 million exterior makeover and internal renovation off the 2015 capital plan.
"Because the project could not be completed before the 2015 Canada Winter Games and because capital expenditure reserve funds are required for high-priority 2015 projects, the library entrance project has been shifted in the [capital expenditure plan] to a 2017 unfunded project," said a staff report from corporate services director Kathleen Soltis.
The report doesn't mention how the library has had these plans in place for years and were suggesting the work be completed at the same time as the Civic Centre Plaza refit currently under construction, just in time for the Canada Winter Games.
The downtown branch of the library hasn't been waiting for years for a proper front entrance to a building that resembles either an off-shore oil derrick or a beehive on stilts, depending on your perspective, it's been waiting for decades. When it was built in 1981, the second phase was supposed to feature a proper front entrance, instead of the ridiculous climb from the parking lot up four flights of stairs through a concrete bunker that houses the elevator shaft to actually get into the building.
Sure, there are stairs outside leading up from the Civic Centre Plaza to the front entrance, but those steps are treacherous in the wintertime and ugly and unwelcoming 12 months of the year.
It's not just the entrance to a building the City of Prince George, not the library, owns that's the problem. Tucked into that $2.5 million is a new children's information desk to replace the 20-year-old one and $20,000 for new computer servers, since the old ones are "well beyond their recommended useful life," according to the library.
Meanwhile, the library's municipal budget has been frozen since 2011, except for a $50,000 increase in funds from the Regional District of Fraser Fort George in 2012. Staff have borne the brunt as well, with no raises in 2012 and again this year, and 1.5 per cent in 2013, which was only made possible because of fewer staff positions.
The library's two branches see 1,101 visitors per day on average or 365,532 visits during the 332 days one or both branches are open to public. The pools, the arenas, the sports fields, the Civic Centre and Masich Place stadium come nowhere near that level of activity. In fact, the only civic facility that draws those kinds of numbers is the Prince George Airport, which saw 426,709 passengers in 2013.
Sadly, it appears city council will side with staff and kick the library can down the road again. Both Coun. Murry Krause and Mayor Shari Green want $500,000 for a new track at Masich Place kept on the capital spending plan. That's a silly spending priority for a facility covered in snow half of the year and even in the warm months, except for a handful of special events each year (Relay For Life, school track meets), has nowhere near the foot traffic the library enjoys.
Who are those 1,101 daily library visitors? They are young parents taking their babies and preschool children to story time and seniors learning how to use computers, social media and e-readers. The library is also a community centre for aspiring writers, reading clubs, LGBTQ teens and their families, "gender creative" children and their families, movie buffs, gamers, crafters, hobbyists, meet and greet events for singles, lectures, historical and artistic exhibits, author readings and "ask the expert" talks.
Some people come for the books, magazines and newspapers, too.
The self-checkout machines at the main branch allow residents to borrow material on sensitive topics like substance abuse, domestic abuse, sexuality and so on without having to face a clerk behind the counter and without taking their chances on online "advice."
City council has some tough choices to make on capital spending for 2015, no question, but the library has proven itself as a facility that residents strongly support with their visits and is deserving of a long-overdue investment of municipal tax dollars.
