- What Alliance Residential Has Planned for Its 5-Story Apartments Near The Silos at Sawyer Yards [HBJ ($); previously on Swamplot]
- Six Houston Library Branches Still Closed 11 Months After Harvey [Houston Public Media]
- Houston On Track to Use More Water This Month Than Any Other Since Record 2011 Drought [Houston Chronicle]
- A Bike Tour of Brays Bayou’s Green Infrastructure [OffCite]
Photo of White Oak Bayou: Marc Longoria via Swamplot Flickr Pool
Headlines
Re: Libraries
Reading may be fundamental, but libraries have mainly become just public sponsored internet access points. They need to become more
WR, when’s the last time you set foot in a public library? Libraries offer:
– physical books, ebooks, and audiobooks
– archives of historical materials and other special collections
– computers and internet access for people without them
– assistance with research that is more than “just Google it”
– hobby/special interest classes for children, teens, and senior citizens
– literacy advocacy and support
– ESL and citizenship classes
– tax forms and assistance
– venues for displaying and viewing art
– meeting spaces for community organizations
– air conditioning and water fountains for people who have nowhere else to go when it’s dangerously hot outside
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Furthermore, in some places, librarians are being trained on how to administer Narcan/naloxone to overdosing addicts. The addicts are doing their thing in the library because they figured out that if they OD in the library there’s a higher possibility of being found and brought back to life.
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The library is a community center; it’s not just a building containing books and wifi.
@ GoogleMaster ….. two weeks ago. One person was in the stacks while 8 were on computers
Re: Libraries
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I admire GoogleMaster’s full-throated defense of libraries. In using tax dollars, libraries are worthwhile (along with fire and police protection, water/sewer services, and road maintenance, if you care to know).
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But, I don’t know about the “librarians as lifesaver” program for drug addicts. That’s a bit much to ask of librarians and I don’t want to encourage drug addicts from loitering in libraries, especially around children. A drug-addled mind isn’t likely to be reading Proust or thumbing the pages of Popular Mechanics.
Is Kendall Library the one the city currently has no plans/intentions of repairing and re-opening?
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Hoping the SBISD schools can step in to fill this gap in the community. Our kid starts school this coming year so will be getting the details then.
I stopped into the Katy Cinco Ranch library to vote in the mid-term primaries a few months ago. While voter turn out was of course low, I was stunned at the number of people using the library. A lot of families with kids — from a variety of countries, cultures and backgrounds. And they were checking out stacks of books and making great use of what the library had to offer. While I’m not a user myself, it was nice to see a community place for all those kids to go on a Saturday morning with their families.
To add to googlemaster’s list, they have a selection of movies that you can check out in the post-blockbuster age, and they also have market research available for businesses (which can be very valuable).