[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Calvinist

Why?

Very simple. The "flagship" library should be in the "flagship" part of the city. You wouldn't put the Civic out in central Omaha, or the QWest Center, and now the stadium is moving downtown as well, so why would the main library be any different?

A lot of people don't want to go downtown to go there. It's a hassle. It would be nice to have a more centralized location.

Too bad for them. Sorry to be blunt about it, but we need to be doing everything in our power to STOP the suburban sprawl, not encourage it.

[Calvinist]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Very simple. The "flagship" library should be in the "flagship" part of the city. You wouldn't put the Civic out in central Omaha, or the QWest Center, and now the stadium is moving downtown as well, so why would the main library be any different?

Too bad for them. Sorry to be blunt about it, but we need to be doing everything in our power to STOP the suburban sprawl, not encourage it.

And it's so horrible to put the FLAGSHIP library in a centralized location where people would actually use it?

Honestly...all this nonsense about rebuilding an already crowded downtown that is a hassle to get to just doesn't make sense. It's the same with that stupid stadium they built...what is so bad about having something with easy access to it?

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Calvinist

And it's so horrible to put the FLAGSHIP library in a centralized location where people would actually use it?

Honestly...all this nonsense about rebuilding an already crowded downtown that is a hassle to get to just doesn't make sense. It's the same with that stupid stadium they built...what is so bad about having something with easy access to it?

I'm not surprised you would hold this viewpoint. You are, after all, a self admitted suburbanite. While I'm sure your intentions were innocent enough, ways of thinking likes your brought us the current evolution of cities like Detroit, Jacksonville and St. Louis, which are hardly examples of thriving urban cities. Personally, I would rather see Omaha go down the much more prosperous roads of cities like Denver, Boston, Seattle and Portland, all of which have made substantial investment in their urban cores.

And I'd like to know where all the griping about accessing downtown comes from. My mom worked in downtown for 15 years and there was never any trouble accessing it, especially with the grid system actually intact there. Also there many main arteries going to downtown from the north (Highway 75), south (I-80/480) with Dodge St running right down the middle.

[harshbarj]

Actually I found out it is simply a suggestion at this point. One I strongly disagree with. The main library should be in the CBD. Every major city in the world knows this. There is nothing wrong with branch libraries out on the edges of the city, but a city needs it's primary civic services at it's heart, or else it will die!

[billiefan2000]

Originally Posted by jessep28

The only problem I see with closing the downtown location is that the area hobos will lose a warm place to go in the winter and clean restrooms.

actually the downtown library is used for Central High kids to skip school during the day and play world of warcraft online or listening to rap music

[Calvinist]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

I'm not surprised you would hold this viewpoint. You are, after all, a self admitted suburbanite. While I'm sure your intentions were innocent enough, ways of thinking likes your brought us the current evolution of cities like Detroit, Jacksonville and St. Louis, which are hardly examples of thriving urban cities. Personally, I would rather see Omaha go down the much more prosperous roads of cities like Denver, Boston, Seattle and Portland, all of which have made substantial investment in their urban cores.

And I'd like to know where all the griping about accessing downtown comes from. My mom worked in downtown for 15 years and there was never any trouble accessing it, especially with the grid system actually intact there. Also there many main arteries going to downtown from the north (Highway 75), south (I-80/480) with Dodge St running right down the middle.

I've driven downtown to go to the courthouse for jury duty, concerts at the civic, and other things. Honestly, I'd rather have a more centralized location. The drive is a hassle, as is trying to find parking, and security for my vehicle. I don't see a problem with serving ALL of Omaha instead of just downtown.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Calvinist

I've driven downtown to go to the courthouse for jury duty, concerts at the civic, and other things. Honestly, I'd rather have a more centralized location. The drive is a hassle, as is trying to find parking, and security for my vehicle. I don't see a problem with serving ALL of Omaha instead of just downtown.

Then use one of the other smaller libraries in your part of town. Not real hard to do there.

[jessep28]

Originally Posted by Calvinist

And it's so horrible to put the FLAGSHIP library in a centralized location where people would actually use it?

Honestly...all this nonsense about rebuilding an already crowded downtown that is a hassle to get to just doesn't make sense. It's the same with that stupid stadium they built...what is so bad about having something with easy access to it?

They should build the main branch in Dundee. The neighborhood's already ruined with that huge, expansive Wal-Mart sized parking lot taking up half the neighborhood for that big white, suburban style CVS. Might as well build a library. (sarcasm)

[Calvinist]

Originally Posted by Bosco55David

Then use one of the other smaller libraries in your part of town. Not real hard to do there.

Or, we can put the main branch in a centralized location and the people downtown can use a downtown branch.

[McBain II]

Originally Posted by Calvinist

Or, we can put the main branch in a centralized location and the people downtown can use a downtown branch.

We could, but we won't, thanks to the fact that we still have some decent minded urban planners running around Omaha.