The Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, city council approved a downtown site for a new $3-million public library, with the library foundation’s assurances that it will raise the money so that tax dollars are not used for construction. In return, the city will donate the land to the library.
The library’s location has been controversial: In 1997 voters rejected a plan to build it on McEuen Field, a popular play area that residents fought to protect, according to the August 16 Spokane (Wash.) Spokesman-Review. Some residents opposed the downtown location because they wanted a more central location for the library.
But a spokesman for the library foundation, Pepper Smock, said about half of the population, 15,000 residents, live within one mile of the proposed site. He also told the council that the other three suggested sites were privately owned and would have added $1 million to the cost of the project if the foundation had to purchase the properties. “It would make the foundation’s effort of building a library nearly insurmountable,” he said.
Posted August 21, 2000.