June 7, 2007
Closed D.C. Libraries See Progress
On December 30, 2004, D.C. Public Libraries closed four branches — the Anacostia, Benning, Tenley-Friendship and Watha T. Daniel/Shaw neighborhood branches — announcing replacement libraries in 18 months. That schedule was upended by DCPL management changes, leaving those communities without functioning libraries, and D.C. residents everywhere complaining about the sad state of a city that seemed to have the wrong priorities. But over the last few months, things have started to turn around. First, interim libraries in temporary trailers finally began opening up. The Tenley Interim Library opened at the end of 2006, The Anacostia Interim Library opened in late March, and now the Benning Interim Library and the Watha T. Daniel/Shaw Interim Library (pictured in progress above) are both set to open by the end of this month.
In April, DCPL also announced that demolition contracts were finally in place to level the old branch buildings, which will eventually make way for new libraries. Demolition at all four sites is scheduled to be completed by the end of July, which will certainly be a welcome sight for neighborhood residents tired of looking at those sad, boarded up old libraries.
The Mayor's office has also indicated that a final schedule for rebuilding has been put together, with the new libraries projected to open in 2010. There have been an endless series of community meetings on different designs for the new libraries over the last 3+ years, but there will be more over the course of this year. We'll continue to keep you posted.
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There's a quirk with the schedule for the Tenley demolition. There are preliminary discussions about doing a private-public partnership that would renovate the Tenley library, renovate parts of the Janney Elementary School, and build non-luxury condos on the properties, with a decent number of affordable units. Mary Cheh has been doing some meetings to see if people are interested in this idea. And, of course, the local ANC composed of NIMBYs has come up with its own rival group (which will no doubt find that this is the absolutest, most worstest idea ever in the history of mankind). It sounds like an interesting idea to maximize a nice-sized and Metro accessible location. Which means the NIMBYs will hate it and do all they can to kill the idea. Good times in Tenleytown.