Dances With Books
Logan’s self-imposed one-term mayor, Craig Petersen, says he will donate the remainder of his 2017 salary to the construction costs for the town’s new library. Whatever that means. “The remainder” starting from when?
While this may sound to some like a heartfelt gesture of philanthropy, to me it sounds more like a short-sighted, apologetic public relations ploy to cover for a potential boondoggle the likes of which Logan has never seen ..way worse than the Cache Valley Transit District, or the new Cache Water District.
Why these people want to be mayor is beyond me. Is it ego ..or the perception of a desire to “do good”, “public service” ..a sense of power, prestige ..“I can do this”?
Like many small towns in our region, and all over the country, Logan has had it’s share of economic development problems, as well as a dwindling downtown business population. It seems like every mayor that comes along inherits the same set of problems concerning the downtown business district. And after much city council review the official consensus always seems to be that the problem is ...parking. The invisible, omnipresent, unsolvable, all-agreeable bane of everyone’s existence.
Downtown parking.
I’ve lived in Logan for over fifty years and I’m in town every day, at the library regularly, and I must admit that I have never, ever had a problem parking. Just lucky, I guess.
What has this got to do with dancing with books and the library? (It’s a take-off on “Dances with Wolves”). I’m getting there.
Aside from the purported parking concerns that are assumed to be contributing to the decline in downtown Logan business, the mayor is confronted daily with a bevy of other problems and issues ranging from parking strip violations, winter parking restrictions, special parking stalls for electric cars, designated parking areas by time and day ..to free zone parking, underground parking, parking validation, valet parking ..and no-parking.
The Utah State University Business School should offer a PhD program in parking ..with fellowships available!
And while the day-to-day job of the mayor is somewhat routine, it seems that every mayor has one stand-out issue that becomes his legacy.
It looks like Logan Mayor Craig Peterson’s legacy will always be the town’s new library, even though he is probably hoping the issue will outlast his one term administration which ends in January. Then it’s the next guy’s problem.
Being a small town in Utah you’d think the library issue would be about burning books (like in “Footloose”) ..or even about reading books. But it’s not. It’s about real estate, land development, and lack of leadership.
A mayor is always quick to hire a “downtown business director”, and also to appoint someone on the city council to oversee a special project. In this case it’s council member, Tom Jensen, who says his search committee is reviewing dozens of new library design proposals from multiple “national quality regional firms.” Whatever that means. Probably relates to cost.
The cost for the new library is estimated at $15 million. The Mayor and Jensen propose a “21st Century, state-of-the-art” facility complete with food courts, and, you guessed it ..underground parking. Jensen says the steering committee will make a final decision in a month on the architect and design firm. Don’t hold your breath. He says there are some “lingering concerns” like cost, funding, design, expansion opportunities, and ...parking. Hello! Makes you wonder just what they will actually decide in a month. Or to whom they will pass the buck.
I hope Jensen picks us a good one. He’s soliciting public input as well (for public relations), although they have had many closed meetings. And they’ve scoured the countryside for ideas on what a 21st Century library should look like.
Jeez, Jensen, just build the thing and have some great books. Leave the food court and the waterfalls, take the underground parking (“Leave the gun, take the cannoli.”)
But wait! Why does Logan need a new library in the first place? The current library works just fine, it’s located for accessibility, can accommodate the needs of the people ..and there’s plenty of parking. The library staff says the heating and air conditioning need some work, but other than that and whatever few other things need attention, why not leave well enough alone?
Why not put the $15 million into the downtown business district and get that parking issue licked once and for all!
Here’s maybe why. In the behind the scenes land grab development scheme, has the current library property already been committed and sold out from under us?
There are current plans for a new 4-story Hampton Inn on the corner of Main Street and 200 North in Logan, a prime piece of real estate. That property is adjacent to the site of the current library. I can only imagine what the current library property could mean to either the Hampton Inn enterprise (parking?) or to the developer ..or both, and including a financial gain to Logan City.
Follow the money.
If this is the case, it paints Mayor Petersen into a difficult corner now having to provide a new library. I can see why he’s donating his salary, and maybe hoping his term will pass before the s_ _t hits the fan. He’s between a book and a hard place.
The plot thickens.
The Emporium has been the heart of downtown Logan for years. It’s just a few blocks away from the current library and right across Main Street from the historic Logan Tabernacle. The Emporium is a 3-story mall of sorts housing businesses like art galleries, barber shops, Army-Navy-Marine recruiting centers, a coin and collectible shop, and various private and state offices. And most beloved at The Emporium was the Coppermill Restaurant located on the third floor of the building, a Logan mainstay for eating, meeting and gathering ..and plenty of parking!
But over the years and apparently beyond the control of Logan’s economic development director, most of these businesses have left The Emporium and downtown for new office space and better business traffic on the “magic mile” of Main Street north of town. The last nail in the coffin was when the Coppermill likewise moved out last year.
Now, in a desperation move, the mayor and his advisors have targeted The Emporium as the site of the new library.
Obviously, this knee-jerk plan has been met with much public derision, confusion, and with many unanswered questions. The plan has bounced around from a complete demolition of the mid-block, Main Street Emporium to build a new “state-of-the-art” library from the ground up including food courts and “waterfalls”, and, of course, underground parking ..to a building that would include housing apartments on the top floor.
The existing businesses in the building were notified to vacate ..then put on hold ..then put on hold again. No one knows what’s going on, when or even if The Emporium will become the new library site, or just what the Mayor’s plan is. Even the Mayor doesn’t know these things.
I think his plan is to hope his salary donation ploy wins him public favor, and hope that he can ride out his one term without having to make any decision ..and leave it for the next guy.
I’m sure the next guy will want to “Make Logan Great Again!”
...and on it goes.
John Kushma is a communication consultant and lives in Logan, Utah.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/john-george-kushma-379a5762
http://newsbout.com/a/John+Kushma
