June 1, 2010: Dear Friends,

Over the past sev­eral months I have tes­ti­fied at the Dis­trict Council’s over­sight hear­ing for DCPL, the 2011 DCPL Bud­get Hear­ing, and the May 26th DCPL Board of Trustees meet­ing; and I wanted to report on the chal­lenges for the West End Library, as well as to ask for your help.

It is now appar­ent that the 2011 oper­at­ing bud­get for our libraries has been sub­stan­tially reduced and that cap­i­tal fund­ing to improve the library branches has been elim­i­nated for next year and most prob­a­bly for years to come.

As a result, the like­li­hood of the Coun­cil approv­ing fund­ing for any remodel to the pub­lic build­ings on Square 37 (site of the library) and Square 50 (the fire sta­tion) are non-existent. There­fore, pub­lic approval of a sur­plus land dis­po­si­tion res­o­lu­tion and endorse­ment of the selected devel­oper (East­banc) becomes impor­tant because this will start the devel­op­ment process which will lead to a new library and fire sta­tion in our community.

On June 9th at 6:00 p.m., at the Library, the Deputy Mayor will hold a pub­lic meet­ing to hear from you as to whether or not our com­mu­nity is ready to move for­ward with a devel­op­ment by declar­ing the unused air over and around the library and fire sta­tion, and the entire police sta­tion site, is to be clas­si­fied as sur­plus land. This will ensure that this prop­erty can then be rede­vel­oped with new mixed use facilities.

On June 16th at 3:00 p.m., at the Wil­son Build­ing, the Dis­trict Coun­cil will con­duct a hear­ing in which you may affirm that the com­mu­nity is ready to move for­ward with the above ref­er­enced sur­plus land dis­po­si­tion res­o­lu­tion; that there has been a full, open, and pub­lic process lead­ing up to the selec­tion of a devel­oper; and that the com­mu­nity through the var­i­ous civic orga­ni­za­tions (ANC, FBA, WECA, and WELF) has endorsed the devel­oper selected by the Dis­trict. I rec­om­mend you stress that time is of the essence because a new library, new fire sta­tion, afford­able hous­ing fit­ting two dif­fer­ent income pro­files is a com­mu­nity priority.

Re: The Pub­lic Meet­ing will be held at the West End Library on June 9th,
and at the Wil­son Build­ing on June 16th, 2010

Please mark your cal­en­dar and plan to par­tic­i­pate in these Pub­lic Meetings