The new $122.5-million Minneapolis downtown library was effectively given a green light by the city council’s ways and means committee April 14 when it voted 5–1 to give the excavation site bid to a local construction company. Approval by the full council was expected April 18.
Additional support for the downtown project came from the city’s planning commission, which approved the building’s site plan the same day, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reported April 15.
City leaders had recently questioned the affordability of a new building in the face of a budget shortfall, and some council panel members continued to express concerns about the project’s costs. Paul Zerby said he wants a system that’s financially solid and wants to know how that will happen. “Give us something besides hope,” he urged. "We need to pin that shining hope on a sound foundation.”
More good news for the project came from Friends Executive Director Colin Hamilton, who announced the library had received a $1-million donation from an unnamed corporation. Hamilton called the panel’s vote “the go-ahead to build the walls and not the ceiling,” noting that while fundraising was on track, there was still a long way to go. “It’s going to take a lot of time and a lot of commitment from the people to do it,” he said.
Posted April 21, 2003.