Quote:
Originally Posted by Northcrossed
Where there's smoke there's fire. Somebody seems to think it matters:
"Mayor Will Wynn and council member Lee Leffingwell have requested that city staff prepare a presentation regarding the effect the ongoing national financial crisis could have on the city’s operations and planning. Specifically, the presentation is expected to address
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- the city’s bond rating and ongoing debt service capability
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City staffers have been asked to provide their perspective on options for minimizing the potential effects of the economic downturn, and to reassess the city’s financial picture for bond sales by taking into account the future municipal bond marketplace".
http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin...6/daily65.html
Since I've only attracted fringe arguments and nobody cares to discuss my main point --- the city's eagerness to buy/build new things when we already own perfectly good equivalent things --- there's no reason to continue this thread. But it would have been nice to discuss adaptive reuse, and not wasting non-Capitol-view-restricted lots on low-rise city buildings. |
Northcross, I am trying to stay on topic as much as possible, so...
I totally agree with you about wasting city blocks on low rise city buildings. I definitely think the federal courthouse and especially the library should be relocated. But that doesn't change the fact that we need a new library. The fact of the matter is that it is woefully inadequate right now. The only reason I see that we wouldn't need a new one is that there is an incredible one north of the current one. Frankly though, if you take into account UT's library, the only reason for Austin to have a library is for Austin residents to get a library card and then participate in TexShare. If you want to make that arguement, then I would actually agree with you. I frankly have no idea why people use Austin's libraries when you could use the 8th largest library in the country.
But if that argument doesn't work for you (why should a city be reliant on an outside institution for something as basic as its library), then the current library has lived out its usefulness. Both it and the police headquarters were built when Austin were less than 1/2 of it's current size. And it is not like these buildings are going to just disappear. The current library will be used for the Austin History Center. These also need a new building because they too are quickly running out of space. Adaptive reuse is already used in Austin. But that doesn't change the fact that Austin has grown very quickly and much of its old infustructure was not designed to cope with today's populations.
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