GuelphToday received the following letter from Guelph resident Patrick Sheridan concerning the new main library
This week city council revisits the main library branch question…again. The Holy Grail for Guelph's main library Branch Davidians. This time the anointed crusaders at the municipal round table battle for the very soul of Guelph, in their quest to build a great woke cathedral to deliver the city to progressive enlightenment, whilst handing the peasant rate payers the bill. This is a very, very, very old story. The hubris is frankly astonishing.
For months we’ve been hearing that the new branch will cost residents just the price of a cup of coffee a day. Well I’m already figuratively paying for gallons of municipal coffee every day that get’s cold and poured down the drain. I’m not a fan of municipal coffee. I like to make my own choices in my morning cup a joe and purchase it at one of the very fine coffee houses Guelph offers.
Another favourite is that the new library will actually make money! The wokesters proclaim that for every $1 rate payers ‘invest’ in a library, a magical $7 in economic activity will be generated. Well now we’re talking! I’d be more than happy to be forced into an ‘investment’ that returned 7 to 1. Why only $62 Million then? Why not a $62 billion or $62 trillion library and we never have to pay property taxes again? I can hardly wait for those library dividend cheques to start rolling in. Imagine a municipalities entire revenue needs covered by building an enormous gold plated ‘library’. The nuclear fusion of municipal finance. Socialist math is entertaining….well until you’re covering the cheque.
Beyond the hyperbole and hysteria though is the actual plan that has been put forward, and I would highly encourage residents to take a close look at the proposed library floor plan. It’s quite something. The new ‘library’ has a huge roof top terrace, an auditorium that’s surrounded by a veranda, a full classroom, a recording studio, wood shop, conference centre with separate entrance from the library and I think some books somewhere. Is this a library or a community college? Guelph already has a community college.
The average cost/sq ft for this, as councilor James Gordon says, “…project that offers amazing social and fiscal returns.” “…providing the best value for our tax contributions towards the overall well-being of our community,” is $705.
How much would a 2,500 sq ft house cost to build at this price/sq ft? $1.8M. That is what’s being proposed. There’s no best value in this plan and this plan will certainly not bring Guelph's library costs inline with the provincial average. As vouncilor Gibson recently pointed out, Guelph has the second highest per capita library costs in the province, do we really want to be first? Councillor Gordon apparently does. Forget roads and parks budgets. Let's have it all go to the money back guaranteed library!
I support a new library but what is being proposed isn’t a library. The current library design should be reduced in size by at least 35 per cent and all the services that can, should and are provided by other businesses in town should be removed from the library plan. Let’s make the most of the site opportunities and deliver an appropriate, fiscally responsible plan for residents.
Patrick Sheridan
