A Failed Library Board

I am not representing the Friends of the Regina Public Library today. I have been a tax-payer in Regina for 44 years and I have 4 grievances against the group of people before me.

1. You call yourselves the Regina Public Library Board – which would suggest that you are guardians of one of the most prized public possessions in Regina.

But instead you are a Secret Society of Land Grabbers – working hand in hand with the Regina City Council which has already sold the rights to public land to developers who have replaced school after school with high density, high priced housing.

You are aware that this is the most valuable of all the public land in the city and you are trying to destroy buildings on it to make a present of it to a rich developer.

You should resign

2. You have sullied the good name of a public institution by bullying their neighbour, the Mason Hall, to sell their valuable historic property to the library. This, not for the library’s use, but to hand over for the eventual profit of a rich developer.

You should resign

3. You have failed as guardians of this facility by admitting that this building has not been cared for and has much that needs fixing.  But you have not remedied the heating plant, nor had someone who is wise enough to suggest better ways to use the interior of the building.

Instead you say it is past repair so should be torn down. That in spite of the report only five years old given by competent judges that the building was itself a city, provincial and even a national treasure and in good condition.

You should resign

4. You have failed to respect the quality of the staff here – who have maintained their high standards of service in spite of you.

But you have insulted them by expecting them to accept lower wages – while the cost of living in Regina has increased (due in part for the failure of the City Council to modify rents). You have refused to settle the overdue union agreement.

You should resign

If you have a Bible, I suggest you read Psalm 10 (it is near the centre of the Book).

In case you have not seen it, here is the Regina Declaration, from the 2007 Ordinary Amazing Symposium.  Following that is Mark Wihak’s letter to the Board from the first Visioning Session.

At the Ordinary Amazing Symposium, Trevor Boddy, curator of the Clifford Wiens exhibition, and Cheryl Cooper, of the Arthur Erikson Conservancy, drafted the Regina Declaration, which was signed by many architects and cultural writers from across Canada who were in the audience that weekend. I will attach the Regina Declaration.

Regina Declaration, May 26, 2007

We are architects, planners, business people artists, property-owners, seniors and public servants from Regina, all over Saskatchewan and from the Atlantic to the Pacific in Canada.

We are resolved that the Dunlop, the central branch of the Regina Public Library and all the neighbourhood branches are an important part of the social, intellectual, artistic and business fabric of the City of Regina, and urge City Council and the Library Board to look for innovative ways to keep this superb system in place.

We are further resolved that the Regina Public Library Central Branch is a building of national, historical, cultural and architectural merit and urge City Council and the Library Board to find a way to keep and maintain and enhance the heritage value of this fine building consistent with the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in Canada; as well as explore creative possibilities for a building enlargement that would complement the 1962 building, so it can continue to serve the changing needs of Regina’s people, and enhance its key public spaces.

We are resolved that many of the buildings of the city’s most prominent architect, Mr. Clifford Wiens, in Regina and elsewhere in Saskatchewan, have been neglected, ill-maintained, or added onto in unsympathetic ways; therefore, we urge the Cabinet of the Province of Saskatchewan to work with the various municipal councils and community groups like the Saskatchewan Association of Architects and Heritage Canada to preserve these import works for the future.

By signing the petition attached, our sentiments are with the citizens of Regina who continue to make the “Queen City of the Plains” a forward-looking place dedicated to the quality of the built environment.