By Jill Renton Santa Monica
I have to disagree with Nancy Himmelfarb’s impression of the new Main Library (SMDP, Jan. 16, page 4). For me, it has all the charm of an airport terminal building. It’s an impersonal, cavernous place where a lot of tiring walking is needed to find what you want. It’s tasteless, with nouveau riche pretensions.
With Santa Monica now saddled with years of debt to pay for this scandalously, recklessly expensive $74 million building, the placement of a used book store at its entrance is tacky. Why not donate unwanted books to a less affluent community? Are we really expected to believe that the sale of $1 books is going to help pay off the debt? Or that the library is broke?
Most of all though, I deplore the razing of our former library when an extension could and should have been designed to harmonize with the original building. Had our city done that — as they originally said they would — the scale would have been right, the character of the building would have been preserved, and Santa Monica taxpayers would have been saved a bundle.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on January 23, 2006. Read the original PDF.