Residents Decry Library Closures
By Amanda S. Miller
WI Contributing Writer
Thursday, November 17, 2005

The Watha T. Daniel Public Library at the corner of 8 th Street and Rhode Island Avenues Northwest has stood vacant and in a state of disrepair since January of 2004. The library is around the corner from Shaw Junior High School, a few blocks away from Banneker Senior High School, and across the street from a home for the elderly.

Aside from the Watha T. Daniel Library, three other branches are waiting to be reopened. Tenley-Friendship, Benning and Anacostia are in similar states of disrepair.

Last week, on  Thursday, November 10, 2005, at the John A. Wilson Building, Councilmember Kathy Patterson hosted a town hall meeting to discuss the four closed libraries. Representatives from the D.C. Public Library, the D.C. Office of Contracts and Procurement, and the D.C. Office of Property Management fielded questions from the public. But the meeting was inconclusive, and residents left angry.

Officials present from the D.C. Public Library dodged residents’ requests for solid dates for when their new libraries and temporary storefronts would be opening. They danced around the residents’ concern regarding the extraordinary lapse in service they have been forced to endure due to no operating branch.

“I have not come with a definitive timeline,” said Karen Hester with the Office of Contracting and Procurement. “Whatever the order and priority is, that is what I’ll give my attention to…The process will probably take longer than you’re anticipating,” she added.

The process will include the procurement of an architect, the design of the new libraries and solicitation of bids for construction. The entire process was roughly estimated to take until 2008.

Residents, disappointed with the prospects, expressed outrage with having to possibly wait two more years for a library in their neighborhoods. They acknowledged frustration with having Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial Library downtown as their only option, especially when many young people who depend on the libraries aren’t in positions to make the trip downtown.

“I thought when I left today we’d have a date for the storefront,” said an exasperated Virginia Lee. Lee is a Shaw resident and the president of the Friends of Watha T. Daniel Library. “You wonder why there’s so much crime,” she said. “It’s because you’ve given us no hope.”