“If you want to have the state involved … there’s a lot of projects that are in front of it,” Delegate Chris Jones R-76 said. “You have to get in line, and it has to be a priority.”
via Legislators discuss library | The Suffolk News-Herald.
Last year, I worked with the Suffolk Chapter of the Hampton Roads Tea Party, and we got the city to postpone the library project, a replacement of Morgan Memorial Library, a perfectly fine library near the heart of downtown. They had planned to spend 1.5 million dollars buying up the land, for a library they were not projecting to build until sometime after 2019. It seemed a ridiculous waste of money considering they were already planning to raise taxes, and did NOT have the full 9 million extra the school system was requesting. So City Council was forced to defer the project.
This year, they’ve partnered with Paul De Camp Community College for 2 reasons. First, to try to get grant money from the state to fund the project. Second, to make the Tea Party types shut up about it, because how could we possibly be against education? /eyeroll
The new library will be on the corner of Lee & West Washington, where there are several houses & business right now, so that land would have to bought and taken off the tax rolls. Also, it will cost $22 MILLION dollars! That’s twice the cost of the new city hall!
Our illustrious mayor, Ms. Linda Johnson, has said in the past that she really wants this library project to go forward. She honestly believes that if we have a spiffy new library across from our spiffy new City Hall, that people will just love to hang out there. Because, oh yes – when I think of where I want to go hang out and relax, I think City Hall. /eyeroll No, I am not joking. She actually said that. You’d have to go through the archives of the City Council meeting discussing the project, but it’s there.
So the Council really wants this project, but they know they will face resistance again. They joined up with PDCCC to try to circumvent the resistance by getting state money. However, state legislators are telling them that the money won’t come from the state anytime soon. LOL!
Dear citizens of Suffolk, be prepared, and start fighting this NOW! Go to council meetings and speak up during the Non-Agenda Speakers time! Start telling the council NOW that this project needs to stop, the city does not have the money, and the legislators have made it clear that the money won’t be coming from the state anytime soon.