Mount Pleasant DC Forum

[admin]

By request:

MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 25, 2010
Kalorama Citizens Association MEMBERSHIP MEETING
Denis James, President, called the meeting to order at 7:28 pm. The minutes of the January meeting were approved.

Presentation on Mount Pleasant Library by DC Public Library Officials

Archie Williams, of the Intergovernmental Affairs Office of DC Public Libraries, and Chris Wright, Capital Projects Manager for DCPL, gave a presentation on the proposed changes to the Mount Pleasant Library. Mr.
Williams has been involved in the community engagement process and in selecting the design team for the expansion. Since Mt. Pleasant Library is a Carnegie Library, the work must be meticulous. He said there were at least 15 meetings held with the community. They have been examining what unique things the library does in order to convey this to the architects. The library, after the proposed changes, will have 22,000 square feet, with a 100-seat meeting room, and study room space. There will be an addition in the rear. There were and are still many technical issues to deal with.

Chris Wright is dealing with technical design issues. The current scheme is the latest of several. Much has been demanded from the architect since the goals of the library are very different now than in 1925 when it first opened. One goal is to have more space, including a 100 person meeting room, so an addition has been proposed in the rear yard. The location of the addition and entry plans has been changed a few times. The desire is to have a common entrance accessible to all. The current front entrance is a grand staircase with a ramp at the right leading down to a basement door for disabled users. The plan now has a very long ramp, starting on the side rear and leading to an entry in the back. A ramp attached to the existing main front entry was rejected because there were too many challenges. Putting the ramp on the side has solved some problems and created others. For example, there is an impact on other buildings. With the ramp on the right side of the building, the purported upside is that it takes advantage of the outside rear staircase on the building, which is beautiful and historic.

In response to a question about how it has been received by people in the immediate area, Chris said that even after many changes, there is still some opposition. The changes were made in response to the very great opposition which existed originally.

Fay Armstrong, president of Historic Mount Pleasant (HMP), said that the whole design had been planned by the time she knew about it. She is disappointed in the process and the design. HMP feels that DCPL has imposed its program on the library. HMP was successful in getting the “ice cube” (the first plan) changed from Lamont Street to behind the building, but she is disappointed in Fine Arts Commission and the DC Historic Preservation Review Board (although the HBRB got the location of the addition changed). The local neighborhood had wanted only to renovate the building. If there was a need for more space, they would have preferred to push it out at the basement level in back. The very long ramp is an issue, as is the proximity of the addition to other buildings. It takes light from them. Also, fire safety is an issue.

There was a question about why there seemed to be a need for meeting space. Fay said it was presented to them as a requirement for all libraries today. She suggested that the program the city was demanding was wrong for the library. Ann Hargrove noted that libraries all over have
many functions now, but this building is not suitable for these functions. Fay noted that HPRB was not interested in the uses, only in design. In response to a question, Fay said one thing she would seek is to get rid of the 100-person meeting room. Chris noted that it was not the 100-person meeting room that was driving the design. Archie noted that the design has been through many versions. Certain criteria are contained in the RFP. There is not a requirement that all libraries be the same, but there is a requirement that all libraries provide equity in services. That’s how we got to the meeting room, the study space, etc. that make up the program. He said the point was that we went through the correct process. He claimed that the design we have now is one that many people approve of.
Denis noted that an appropriate needs assessment does not seem to have been done, since there is unused space in the building that could have been used. Chris agreed that there is unused space, and that it will be used better in the new design. The unused space was not enough to meet the requirements, however.

Denis asked if the DCPL was imposing a program on the community. Chris said this was not true—the children’s section is not big enough to accommodate all the needs, e.g., for requested meeting space, and for study areas. There is an opportunity now to provide for those needs. Bob Ellsworth noted that there is a new school down the street from the library, and that their auditorium could be used for a meeting room. Archie said DCPL approached DCPS about that without success. Fay said that the neighborhood has made the point that not all space demands should be made on one site.

A member of the disability community said she wants the front steps preserved, even though they would not necessarily be used by everyone. This would be in addition to the common, dignified entrance (the new ramp) that could be used by all. She suggested that Archie has misrepresented what the disability community wants. There was some discussion about who originally suggested that the front steps be removed, an idea that was subsequently rejected.

Denis asked Chris to talk about the very long ramp. Chris said that a concern about the proposed ramped entrance into the lower level (subsequently rejected) was that it did not provide an equal caliber of experience to everyone. Also, it was a security challenge. There was no overall control point, which is a goal in all libraries. Two entrances on two levels are too hard to keep track of, even with a camera. Chris said that it would not be the longest ramp in the city, and many changes have been made to the plan. They insisted that, for various reasons, it has to be this long.

Mary Belcher asked about the sudden availability of money in a cash-strapped city. Why spend all this money on an imposed project when you could just put a guard at the downstairs door. Archie talked about capital funds and operating funds. It was suggested that since “equity
project if the neighborhood does not feel that it is getting an equitable service.

Ann Hargrove said that the urban renewal plan calls for a library in Adams Morgan, in the Marie Reed area, and that idea should be resurrected. She said just the building should be renovated, and suggested that the nearby St. Stephen’s Church had found a creative ramp solution. Also, there should be an alley between all the buildings, in order to get fire trucks in.

ANC- 1C-02 Commissioner Chris Otten said that the Adams Morgan and Mt. Pleasant ANC’s are contracting with a design company to review the plan. He noted that if there is a ramp and a main entrance, they might have to close the main entrance so that everyone would be able to use the same entrance (read new ramp).

But Chris Otten said many want to keep the current ramp, which works well with the elevator just inside the basement door. He noted that the public did not get to see the first several iterations of this plan.
(At this point Secretary Linda Ingram left the meeting. Treasurer Bill O’Field kindly agreed to take the remainder of the minutes.)

Denis stated that only 150 Ward One residents participated in the Aviles Survey which was essentially community outreach on what folks wanted for the library. In response, Archie said there were four structured Ward One meetings that expanded to 15 meetings, plus information was on the DCPL Web site. Denis presented a resolution asking DCPL to ren0engage with the community to come up with a plan that better suits the building and community needs. After discussion and amendments the resolution was approved.

[Harry]

I'm confused. Is this relevant? These are the minutes from a January KCA meeting? Isn't the library closing in a matter of days to break ground on the renovations? I can see why the Kalorama folks would want to hijack the library closer to them but I hope this is no longer up for debate. The Library renovation is the first good news Mount Pleasant has had in years.

[GinaG]

It was a February meeting and our library is a public library utilized by many of our neighbors in Adams Morgan. I don't see anywhere in this article that implies any hijacking.

[jack]

[jack]

Speaking of the expansion -- which is the critical issue, vs. the renovation -- here's a column from the most recent Northwest Current, by Robin Diener, director of the DC Library Renaissance Project:


Leave the library, and the discussion, open

On Saturday, the D.C. Public Library will close the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library for a long-anticipated renovation, as well as ... an expansion that nobody asked for.

The library system’s rationale for the addition is to provide a large meeting room — even though a needs analysis of available Ward 1 meeting space was never done. Indeed, the need for another library in the sole ward with only one library was ignored.

The basement level of the library, site of countless meetings over the years, goes unused most of the day. Nonetheless, the D.C. Public Library plans to reconfigure it for flexibility and an increase in usable space. Neighbors think a modernized meeting room on that level would be adequate.

To make the expansion accessible, D.C. Public Library has designed a huge ramp off one side leading to the back. The proposed ramp — 120 feet long and 7 feet high — is far too long and tall to be comfortable for handicapped and senior library users, whose experience it is supposedly intended to enhance.

Most importantly, the design forecloses the possibility of using a sliver of public library land to create an alley that would improve fire and emergency access to the rear of buildings on Mount Pleasant and 16th streets. Residents there remember well the catastrophic Deauville fire two years ago, and they want the D.C. Public Library to wait until joint public discussions with the Office of Planning, the D.C. Department of Transportation and the Fire and Emergency Medical Services Department can take place.

Unfortunately, the library system has refused.

In the face of this stonewalling, the Mount Pleasant and Adams Morgan advisory neighborhood commissions have commissioned independent studies of the fire and accessibility questions. Coincidentally, those studies are expected before the end of this week.

The Mount Pleasant library sits on a small site, like a hidden jewel. The proposed expansion would overwhelm it, and requires demolishing a charming sunroom.

Mount Pleasant advisory neighborhood commission chair Gregg Edwards, whose single-member district is home to the library, says the design will make the library “a hunchback.”

The two other historic Carnegie libraries in the District have been made over by the D.C. Public Library in the last three years without suffering unwanted additions.

Whatever one’s opinion of the planned design (dclibrary.org/constructionupdates/mtpleasant), it will, indisputably, block the light and air of surrounding apartments and create a view of a blank wall and a roof of mechanical equipment.

The Mount Pleasant library opened in 1925; it was the last of three branch libraries in D.C. paid for by Andrew Carnegie. The Friends of the Mount Pleasant Library group, residents and officials have been working for years to get funding for system upgrades and historic restoration.

Now that funding has been secured, the library is being closed prematurely, with major questions unresolved, just as spring break for D.C. schools begins and before the storefront interim library is ready, calling into question the D.C. Public Library’s common sense. But here’s the real head-scratcher: Why won’t the public library system listen to the public?

A petition can be signed online at http://districtdynamos.org/mount_pleasant/petition.

A rally will be held Saturday, beginning at 2 p.m., at the Mount Pleasant library, 16th and Lamont streets.

Robin Diener is director of the DC Library Renaissance Project.

[Harry]

The minutes from the KCA meeting seemed to be about picking apart the MTP library plans in hopes of redirecting funds to a library in THEIR neighborhood at Marie Reed. So forgive me if this makes me nervous.
It's well documented on this "award winning" forum that nothing ever gets done in Mount Pleasant. While countless other neighborhoods have added retail and restaurants and are received street scape overhauls, Mount Pleasant has had little investment from private or public sectors. (note that we had one of the biggest drops of any neighborhood for tax assessed home values behind petworth...) When I first read about the plans for the library I told myself that it was too good to be true and the usual Nimbys would tear it apart. Of course that is what happened and yet I read in disbelief when a revised plan had been approved and it was back on track.
Now, with the temporary library nearly finished on MTP Street (thankfully taking up one of our vacant storefronts. And the most exciting thing to open its doors on MTP street in years.) One day before the library is to close and break ground, I'm reading that Kalorama has a problem with it? Can we get anything done in this neighborhood? No mural? fine. No bars? ok. Just give me a nice new library. And the arguments against the expansion are weak. Wheel chair ramp is too long? Big deal install a chair lift as a backup. We already have a basement meeting room that goes unused? Well of course. Who would meet in that basement when we can go across the street to bell multicultural? To suggest a clean new modern meeting room would go unused because our current dingy basement does is false logic used to advance their agenda. A meeting space like the one planed for the library could be put to countless uses from Neighborhood Meetings. Voting place. Classroom space. Movie nights. Neighborhood pot lucks. I for one am hoping the library is completed as planed. But then I'm a well known YIMBY.Yes. please put a nice new library with community meeting spaces in my backyard. Yes. please paint us a mural. open a wine bar. yes yes yes.

[admin]

NEW DATE: Mount Pleasant Library Closing for Renovation April 3, 2010

Interim Location Opening April 26
The Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library, located at 3160 16th St. N.W. will close for renovation Saturday, April 3, 2010 at 5:30 pm. Library services will resume on Monday, April 26, 2010 at the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Interim Library, located at 3164 Mount Pleasant St. N.W.
The library will remain in the interim location until spring 2011, when the renovated Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library re-opens at its 16th St. location.

During the transition to the interim location, library users can return or renew books checked out from the Mount Pleasant Library at any other D.C. Public Library location or online. The libraries closest to the Mount Pleasant Neighborhood Library are the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Neighborhood Library at 945 Rhode Island Ave. N.W., the Petworth Interim Library at 4200 Kansas Ave. N.W. and the Cleveland Park Neighborhood Library at 3310 Connecticut Ave. N.W.

Archie

Archie D. Williams
Intergovernmental Affairs
DC Public Library
901 G Street, NW Room 405
Washington, DC 20001
(202) 727-1437 office (202) 727-1129 fax

[jack]

As Mount Pleasant library construction nears, critics ramp up the fight
By KATIE PEARCE
Current Staff Writer

Attached

[jl]

[Nickel]

ANC Commissioner vs Fire Department Officials -- hmmmmm Navel gazers vs Trained Professionals (of course, referring to the firefighters as the trained professionals as I have yet to see any set of qualifications for ANC Commissioner above mouth breathing).

This is just one more example of our ANC folks using a made up issue to try to subvert something that will vastly improve the community for all the people. And once again proves how easy it is for these folks to just stamp their feet rather than get something done. The whole ANC system is such a monumental waste of money -- neighborhood bureacrats who are here to protect their prior positions over nothing.

yes -- I should have posted the "Rant Alert" at the beginning. This is just so frustrating.

[snarkyupagus]

I hear that Greg Edwards wants the library to apply for a nightclub license and to put a Laundromat in the basement to better serve our community.