794 replies to this topic

[VicHockeyFan]

I don't have a problem with neighbourhood library branches.

 

But should we keep adding square footage, even when the population has not increased in the area?  We just expanded Uptown, and opened a brand new one in WestShore.

[nagel]

But should we keep adding square footage, even when the population has not increased in the area?  We just expanded Uptown, and opened a brand new one in WestShore.

Uptown is smaller than the former Emily Carr unless I am mistaken.

 

Saanich has 4 branches to only one in the city.  http://gvpl.ca/wp-co...anch-map-lo.pdf  The one in the city is quite inconvenient to get to if you ask me.  In an ideal world, in addition to this JB branch, I would add another as part of a total mixed-use redevelopment of Crystal Pool.

[aastra]

I'm just saying a neighbourhood like James Bay would normally have a public library branch. It's true that the population there hasn't increased by much and it's also true that the central library is quite close.

 

Maybe Victoria doesn't need a large central library?* Just have a James Bay branch and a downtown branch and another branch in another neighbourhood as nagel suggests?

 

*I used to be a big pumper of the "new downtown library" dream, FYI

Edited by aastra, 15 June 2016 - 11:12 AM.

[nagel]

I think smaller and more spread out is better for a library system.  Yeah it's probably more expensive but it's one of the most important resources available to get kids started off on the right foot.  I take 50 books out every couple of weeks (I think it's the max allowed) for my 3 kids and they tear through them.  Almost tips my cargo bike over when I leave the library.  Those books are far more valuable than if they were on an iPad or watching TV.

 

Living by the McKenzie interchange I have 3 branches within biking distance.

Edited by nagel, 15 June 2016 - 11:18 AM.

[aastra]

 

...and they tear through them.

 

Great. Just great.

[VicHockeyFan]

I'm just saying a neighbourhood like James Bay would normally have a public library branch. It's true that the population there hasn't increased by much and it's also true that the central library is quite close.

 

Maybe Victoria doesn't need a large central library?* Just have a James Bay branch and a downtown branch and another branch in another neighbourhood as nagel suggests?

 

*I used to be a big pumper of the "new downtown library" dream, FYI

 

I'm not sure we do need a big central library, now that you say it.  Materials move quite nicely between branches and you can order them in online.  So it's only one trip to the local library.

[jonny]

I don't have a problem with neighbourhood library branches.

 

Me neither.

 

I have a problem with initiatives and expenditures coming out of every which direction under this administration. All of a sudden a James Bay library is a must have? Seems odd to me.

[Nparker]

...All of a sudden a James Bay library is a must have? Seems odd to me.

To be fair, I believe a James Bay branch library has been in discussion for some time. I know I heard the idea proposed a long ways back.

[tedward]

James Bay is not poorly served by buses...

 

Clearly you don't ride buses in James Bay. I walk into and out of town rather than try to get buses near my home.

 

We have needed a branch for a long time. I don't think kids and seniors should have to schlep downtown to access the library.

[nagel]

2-3km on a bus is just a hassle.  That's pretty much the ideal distance for slogging it on a bike, even at a snail's pace.  

[Greg]

Clearly you don't ride buses in James Bay. I walk into and out of town rather than try to get buses near my home.

 

We have needed a branch for a long time. I don't think kids and seniors should have to schlep downtown to access the library.

I agree that JB bus service isn't that great, but isn't this only moving the library about 700 meters closer than the central branch?

[Bingo]

I suppose books are making a comeback and this might be the time for the Maritime Museum to comeback by inserting books and boats into the same space.

[Kapten Kapsell]

Is James Bay "rapidly densifying," as Helps said? There's nothing major on the books for James Bay other than some 150 units at Capital Park, a couple of townhome projects and a four-storey woodframe. There's the seniors tower in front of Q Apartments on Belleville, albeit within the James Bay boundary, is arguably a downtown project with the downtown library in closer proximity.

What's with the misinformation lately? One minute we're being told there has been a dry spell in the hotel industry, despite a dozen new hotels built over the last decade or so, and now Helps claims James Bay is wildly densifying -- when there are no indicators that it is.

So where is the Vic West library? That area actually is rapidly densifying.

Perhaps she was also thinking of some of the recently (last few years) completed developments such as 200 on the Park and Duet?

[LJ]

“I can’t wait to see that mezzanine built out and people spilling out into the courtyard with their freshly signed-out library book, walking over to the local café and reading in the sunshine.”

 

My, what a bucolic picture that paints. Now pan to the existing library with half a dozen smelly "homeless" folks hanging out and shooting up in mezzanine.

[ZGsta]

My, what a bucolic picture that paints. Now pan to the existing library with half a dozen smelly "homeless" folks hanging out and shooting up in mezzanine.

 

That doesn't happen there, at least during business hours. I'm through there constantly due to work. There's security guards walking through there pretty much constantly (and there's a security desk that operates off hours right there too) and nobody is shooting up. Maybe in the middle of the night. That's the courtyard for a pretty big set of government offices as well as the library so it's pretty much constantly full of people.

Edited by ZGsta, 15 June 2016 - 10:01 PM.

[tedward]

I agree that JB bus service isn't that great, but isn't this only moving the library about 700 meters closer than the central branch?

 

Wasn't really thinking about the distance but the difference between the edge of  a residential neighbourhood and the middle of downtown. I would not send my 10-year old to the downtown branch on his own. I would send him to this new branch.

[aastra]

 

Perhaps she was also thinking of some of the recently (last few years) completed developments such as 200 on the Park and Duet?

 

Maybe she's also being really optimistic about the Belleville terminal redevelopment and the Admiral Inn redevelopment? But even if she had been thinking of all of these things and even if "the area" that she was referring to was just the immediate area around the new library (and not James Bay as a whole), I still don't think it's quite right to claim that the area is rapidly densifying. Gradually densifying, okay. Some new buildings should be coming eventually, but we all know that we're probably talking 10-15 years at a minimum for something to happen on all of the sites that we've mentioned. And the Admiral Inn redevelopment and the residences at the Empress probably won't be particularly large projects no matter what happens.

[Mike K.]

Speaking of James Bay, yesterday I spoke with a developer of a run-of-the-mill woodframe proposal in James Bay who is being put through the wringer. The neighbourhood association weilds incredible power over there. So much so that they've convinced officialdom that they're rapidly densifying and need a new library. Go figure.

[jonny]

I imagine the lobbying from that particular neighbourhood association would be intense.

[Nparker]

Speaking of James Bay, yesterday I spoke with a developer of a run-of-the-mill wood frame proposal in James Bay who is being put through the wringer....

He (she?) should market the proposal to the CoV as the "ultimate in tent city luxury". Council will bend over backwards to make it happen.