The powers-that-be are working to shut down our beautiful Burien Library and give us a larger but inferior library in the new city hall. We should stop this error. We should keep our beautiful Burien

Library, and Burien city government should keep its new city hall building.

Approaching our beautiful Burien Library, we drive into a parking area that has trees. The library is also next to a park filled with trees. Across the street, to the northeast is the community center. The beautiful Burien Library is in a peaceful location ... a non-hectic location. The peaceful approach to the beautiful Burien Library helps to put the library user into a pleasant and productive mood.

But the new city hall location, in comparison, will be a hectic location, a location with parking problems, an un-inviting location. The area already has parking limit signs. The powers-that-be are planning to unnecessarily add the cars of the library patrons to the city hall parking problem.

Parking problems at the new city hall location could start the library user off with a hectic mood of unease and a fear of ticketing and towing, which could cause potential library users to stay home.

Back at the beautiful Burien Library, we park our cars with ease, and walk into a strong and beautiful brick building. Inside the entrance is a pleasant glassed-in-garden. Inside the library, in the southwest corner of the library is a reading area that reminds me of a living room, which I like.

Beautiful libraries can always be improved. Years ago, I suggested to the library trustees that instead of building a new 40,000 square foot library in the proposed new three-story city hall, we should instead merely put up support columns and build 20,000 feet of towering, new library space above the existing library. My plan would have doubled the size of our beautiful Burien Library at half the cost. But who (besides me) would want a towering library?

It was wrong to put money into discontinuing our beautiful Burien Library. It is wrong to make parking in downtown Burien difficult. Let's keep our beautiful Burien Library.

Goodspaceguy

Burien

(Editor's note: Goodspaceguy was a 2004 Libertarian Primary candidate for Governor of Washington.)