Proud Papa
25/09/24 01:13
OK. I am just going to say it. I am so incredibly proud of our son that I can’t keep it in. I am, as they say, bursting my buttons. I know that hubris is a sin. I know that pride goeth before a fall. But I just can’t help myself.
To be clear both of our children have given us many, many opportunities to be proud of them. We’ve been witness to first steps, first bicycle rides, first days of schools of many different types, and first born children. We’ve been the proud parents at ballet recitals and band concerts and pageants and graduations. We’ve watched two infants turn into adults with loving marriages and families. There have been a lot of reasons to be proud and the surge of pride welling up within me is not exactly an unfamiliar set of feelings.
On Saturday, however, there will be a celebration of a different type. The vision of the Mount Vernon Library Commons project has become a reality. When our son made a not altogether planned transition from the corporate world of directing a major hospital chain’s libraries and information services to the political world of small town city government as the new director of the Mount Vernon Library, the Mayor and members of the Library Board were clear that they wanted to build a new library. It also was clear that they didn’t know how to make such a building happen. Floating a bond issue before voters was unlikely to gain the supermajority needed to increase property taxes and use debit to finance a new city building. There were so many hurdles that would need to be cleared. There was the question of where a new building might be constructed, what would be done with the old building. How to manage the transition if a new library would be built on the site of the old one seemed daunting.
At that time, the city was nearing completion of a major multi-year infrastructure project. A series of flood walls were being constructed that would change the insurance ratings of the entire downtown business core. It was an ambitious project and dependent on a large amount of federal financing and had required a lot of political maneuvering by the mayor and city council. More than a few members of the community were tired from all of the effort of the largest infrastructure project in the history of the city. It seemed as if there was little energy left over for a new library.
They didn’t start with building plans. They didn’t start by describing a dream library. They started by asking the citizens of the community what they wanted. There was a long list. A new library was on the list, but perhaps not the highest priority. Members of the community wanted economic development, an improved downtown, a conference center, a place for community members to gather, improved transit, and they wanted to address climate change and the threat of environmental disaster. They were worried about problems of integrating new community members, some of whom were immigrants with different languages and cultures. They saw the effects of addiction and homelessness on their streets every day. They were a small town with a wide variety of needs and visions.
Our son listened very carefully to the community he had been called to serve. Among the hopes and dreams of the future were stories about the past. He heard about how the city library had been formed before the city government was organized. Citizens wanted a place of learning and study. They were willing to share books and they needed safe spaces to read and discuss what they had read. It became clear to him and to others that if their community was to get a new library, the library would need to go beyond being a collection of books in a building.
Collecting the community vision, a new possibility emerged. The new library might feature a commercial incubator kitchen, a large EV charging station, expanded meeting space and dedicated areas for youth and for citizens. The price tag of all of the possibilities for a new facility began to mount beyond anything that had ever been attempted.
While plans emerged and changed, our son was growing the library in its present location. The children’s library and children’s services began to expand. The small town library became the largest and best programmed children’s library north of Seattle. The staff of the library’s growing in size and in diversity. Additional speakers of Spanish were recruited. Careful research was conducted on how to obtain a collection of Ukrainian language books. All along the way the voices of community members were taken seriously.
Then Covid hit. The library was forced to make adjustments. With their building closed they had to develop a system of safely getting resources to people. Online programs needed to be developed. The city parking lot across the street from the library building needed to become a free wi-fi hotspot and the library began to allow people to have tablet computers delivered to their cars so children who didn’t have internet access at home could complete schoolwork.
The vision of the community had to be merged with the real limitations they found. The price tag of the new combined community services center, which became known as the Library Commons, reached $60 million. It was the biggest single community spending ever proposed in that town. They could see their way to about half of the figure if spread out over several years.
With a lot of encouragement, the library foundation, which would be required to invest heavily and the city council began to come on board with some enthusiasm for the project. A few key individuals began to explore funding sources. In the end the project is being completed with roughly $20 million in local funding, $20 million in state funding, and $20 million in federal funding. It has been accomplished without raising local taxes.
Saturday we will be present when they cut the ribbon on a building that is literally writing the book on energy efficiency. They will be offering their community as many electric vehicle charging stations as the number of gas pumps in the city. They will cut the ribbon on the first vertical structure ever to be finished to the Department of Transportation’s standards for structural steel. They will be cutting the ribbon on a city space with bike lockers, bike racks and bike and scooter chargers. And they will be cutting the ribbon of a new era of what a library is and what a library can do.
I’m going to be there in the crowd, as proud as a father can be. I’m pleased with the new building and the expanded vision. I’m ecstatic about a son who is willing to invest so much in building community and serving those who have been underserved. If one were able to choose a family legacy, community and service are not a bad combination.
For more information on the Mount Vernon Library Commons, check out this article published in the Salish Current.
To be clear both of our children have given us many, many opportunities to be proud of them. We’ve been witness to first steps, first bicycle rides, first days of schools of many different types, and first born children. We’ve been the proud parents at ballet recitals and band concerts and pageants and graduations. We’ve watched two infants turn into adults with loving marriages and families. There have been a lot of reasons to be proud and the surge of pride welling up within me is not exactly an unfamiliar set of feelings.
On Saturday, however, there will be a celebration of a different type. The vision of the Mount Vernon Library Commons project has become a reality. When our son made a not altogether planned transition from the corporate world of directing a major hospital chain’s libraries and information services to the political world of small town city government as the new director of the Mount Vernon Library, the Mayor and members of the Library Board were clear that they wanted to build a new library. It also was clear that they didn’t know how to make such a building happen. Floating a bond issue before voters was unlikely to gain the supermajority needed to increase property taxes and use debit to finance a new city building. There were so many hurdles that would need to be cleared. There was the question of where a new building might be constructed, what would be done with the old building. How to manage the transition if a new library would be built on the site of the old one seemed daunting.
At that time, the city was nearing completion of a major multi-year infrastructure project. A series of flood walls were being constructed that would change the insurance ratings of the entire downtown business core. It was an ambitious project and dependent on a large amount of federal financing and had required a lot of political maneuvering by the mayor and city council. More than a few members of the community were tired from all of the effort of the largest infrastructure project in the history of the city. It seemed as if there was little energy left over for a new library.
They didn’t start with building plans. They didn’t start by describing a dream library. They started by asking the citizens of the community what they wanted. There was a long list. A new library was on the list, but perhaps not the highest priority. Members of the community wanted economic development, an improved downtown, a conference center, a place for community members to gather, improved transit, and they wanted to address climate change and the threat of environmental disaster. They were worried about problems of integrating new community members, some of whom were immigrants with different languages and cultures. They saw the effects of addiction and homelessness on their streets every day. They were a small town with a wide variety of needs and visions.
Our son listened very carefully to the community he had been called to serve. Among the hopes and dreams of the future were stories about the past. He heard about how the city library had been formed before the city government was organized. Citizens wanted a place of learning and study. They were willing to share books and they needed safe spaces to read and discuss what they had read. It became clear to him and to others that if their community was to get a new library, the library would need to go beyond being a collection of books in a building.
Collecting the community vision, a new possibility emerged. The new library might feature a commercial incubator kitchen, a large EV charging station, expanded meeting space and dedicated areas for youth and for citizens. The price tag of all of the possibilities for a new facility began to mount beyond anything that had ever been attempted.
While plans emerged and changed, our son was growing the library in its present location. The children’s library and children’s services began to expand. The small town library became the largest and best programmed children’s library north of Seattle. The staff of the library’s growing in size and in diversity. Additional speakers of Spanish were recruited. Careful research was conducted on how to obtain a collection of Ukrainian language books. All along the way the voices of community members were taken seriously.
Then Covid hit. The library was forced to make adjustments. With their building closed they had to develop a system of safely getting resources to people. Online programs needed to be developed. The city parking lot across the street from the library building needed to become a free wi-fi hotspot and the library began to allow people to have tablet computers delivered to their cars so children who didn’t have internet access at home could complete schoolwork.
The vision of the community had to be merged with the real limitations they found. The price tag of the new combined community services center, which became known as the Library Commons, reached $60 million. It was the biggest single community spending ever proposed in that town. They could see their way to about half of the figure if spread out over several years.
With a lot of encouragement, the library foundation, which would be required to invest heavily and the city council began to come on board with some enthusiasm for the project. A few key individuals began to explore funding sources. In the end the project is being completed with roughly $20 million in local funding, $20 million in state funding, and $20 million in federal funding. It has been accomplished without raising local taxes.
Saturday we will be present when they cut the ribbon on a building that is literally writing the book on energy efficiency. They will be offering their community as many electric vehicle charging stations as the number of gas pumps in the city. They will cut the ribbon on the first vertical structure ever to be finished to the Department of Transportation’s standards for structural steel. They will be cutting the ribbon on a city space with bike lockers, bike racks and bike and scooter chargers. And they will be cutting the ribbon of a new era of what a library is and what a library can do.
I’m going to be there in the crowd, as proud as a father can be. I’m pleased with the new building and the expanded vision. I’m ecstatic about a son who is willing to invest so much in building community and serving those who have been underserved. If one were able to choose a family legacy, community and service are not a bad combination.
For more information on the Mount Vernon Library Commons, check out this article published in the Salish Current.
