GuelphToday received the following Letter to the Editor from former city councillor Maggie Laidlaw about the need for a new main library
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When I first threw my hat in the ring for a position on Guelph City Council, the year was 1997, and the need for a larger and more accessible main library was already a topic of discussion. In the year 2000, it was in the platform I presented to voters in my successful run to become one of Ward Three’s city councillors, and it was included in every platform I presented since then.
We came ever so close to acquiring the old post office, for the princely sum of $1, during the 2003 to 2006 term of council, and renovations to that building to provide a new main library would have been a fraction of the estimated cost for the current library, but only councillors Downer, Burcher and I voted in favour; the old guard of council, along with then Mayor Kate Quarrie, voted it down and we lost a golden opportunity.
Fast forward 25 years and we are still waiting for the proverbial shovel to go in the ground, notwithstanding the current preparations at the former Baker Street parking lot.
Every city around us has a more modern, better equipped and more accessible main library than we do. The beautiful Cambridge library was built in 2009 as part of a $90-million expansion. The enhanced Kitchener library was re-opened in 2014. Elora’s main library was reopened in 2009, and it meets the highest level of green building standards, something that could certainly not be said about our poor main library.
The lack of logical thinking in the recent letter by Bob Coole is preposterous, but not unexpected coming from the president of the Conservative riding association. Most of the councillors who voted against the acquisition of the old post office were also of the conservative ilk, in thought if not political stripe. Coole should know better than to compare a long-term care facility with a much needed main library, since one is entirely the purview of the provincial government while the other is funded primarily by the local community, and our citizens and Friends of the Guelph Public Library have done a stellar job in raising both the issue and funds for this much-needed project.
The former Guelph chief librarian (1977-2009), Mr. MacLeod, used to joke that he would be in a wheel-chair by the time a new library was built. I laughed then, but I am not laughing now, as I feel that it will be my state of health by the time Guelph has its new main library.
Maggie Laidlaw
Former city councillor (2000-2014)
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