Council could call for alternate downtown library plan

The Baton Rouge Metro Council will consider Wednesday a resolution urging the Library Board of Control to rethink its plans for a new downtown facility. The resolution asks the board to halt plans to construct a new library and requests alternate plans for renovations of the existing structure. Council members Ulysses “Bones” Addison, R.J. “Smokie” Bourgeois, Donna Collins-Lewis, Chandler Loupe and Mike Walker are cosponsoring the resolution. The proposed library has drawn opposition for its estimated $21 million price tag. The council OK’d $19 million for the project in its current budget. District 12 Councilman Bourgeois says he supports the measure, not just because it would save money, but because he thinks the existing library is more than salvageable. “We all know it’s not going to be $19 million,” Bourgeois says. “What I’d like to see them do is repurpose the building … whitewash the exterior, add some caulking, fix the drapes. … They can make it look spiffy.” Even if the planned downtown library is scrapped, the $19 million will remain dedicated to the library system. Refraining from commenting on the situation today, Baton Rouge Mayor Kip Holden says he’ll respond “in due time.” Also at Wednesday’s meeting, the council will again consider bids for the proposed $900,000 Galvez Plaza stage canopy, another project the council previously OK’d but which has since come under the scrutiny of several members. A proposed agreement with EATEL allowing the company to provide broadband network coverage in the parish will also be taken up, having been deferred at the Sept. 14 meeting. The Metro Council is scheduled to meet at 4 p.m. Wednesday on the third floor of the Governmental Building, 222 St. Louis St. —Ian McGibboney