In the spirit of April Fools...

Posted by Magda
In 2005, the city gave up the chance to buy the old post office on Wyndham Street to house the new main library. Soon after, Wellington County bought the building, now home to its social services division.

Last week, it turned out the city is trying to get main-street frontage for the new library, now planned for Baker Street, by buying up property on Wyndham just north of the old post office. In light of that, and with a nod to April Fools, I hope they’'ll consider my suggestion.

Instead of buying up the Family Thrift Store or Wyndham Arts --– kicking out an established city business and the corresponding upper-floor apartments is a messy job --– they should simply buy the old post office. At least that expropriation would mean investing taxpayer dollars into another municipality, rather than a private businessman. And it would put an end to those smug reminders that council missed out on a great opportunity by not buying the building.

Heck, if the post office really can’t hold the weight of all those books, as some have suggested, they could tear it down and build anew.

Happy April Fools.

Comments

[David Graham]

Mmm... I was thinking we could abandon Baker St. and expropriate a big hunk of Stone Road Mall's parking lot for a new library. ;)

[Roger]

I don't get the need for Main Street frontage for a library.
Is the idea that people will walk down the road, see the library and think, "Oh, there's a library here. Let's go read a book"?
If someone wants to borrow a book/video/CD, isn't it logical to think they would be able to find the place without walking around downtown aimlessly?
I hear the branch buried in the West End Rec Centre does just fine, and it's certainly not fronting a major street.
I grew up in a town that had a library on a downtown sidestreet. Even we rural folks managed to find it just fine.

[grunt]

Roger;Me too,to the out-of-the-way main library.Interesting that the Council-of-the-day that approved the removal of the beautiful,heritage-fronted,main library for the current gauche edifice,did so with the proviso that any expansion would be done on the current site(some of those individuals are still"pulling strings"around this matter.

[Brian Holstein]

Ah, the stupidity of the last council's Reign of Error! It rejected the Post Office for $1+ million, then had to pay much more than that as their share of the county's renovation yet they were still not be able to use the facility. This was one of many really tunnel-visioned and mean decisions made during those three years.

Mean spirited? I firmly believe that the thumbs down on the Post Office had more to do with the fact that it had been a Farbridge priority before the 2003 election, and with the new group of leaderless city leaders, that meant it was as doomed as the healthy trees in Royal City park, the Mitchell farmhouse, or the viability of a vibrant downtown Guelph.

Should the city approach the county about buying the property? Yes - but they will have to withstand the whinnying, wailing and grandstanding of those who allowed it to slip away in the first place.

[Leonard]

What Holstein fails to say is that if the city purchased the post office they would have spent millions renovating it - for temporary use, and then many millions more to make it into a library. Mean sprited is Holstein's vision

And the trees in Royal City park - they were anything but healthy and could have fallen at any time, with any wind storm. I think the city had 2 reports on these trees and both concluded they were dangerous, not just deteriorating, they were dangerous. Of course, there was a report commissioned by Holstein's beloved civic league that claimed otherwise, much like his phoney claims now. Does anyone remember the child not far from her who was killed because a tree in park fell on him?

And no, the city shouldn't purchase the post office. They are already spending like, well like the socialists they are!