Today the Fulton County Commission will vote on the recommendation from the Library Board of Trustees to vacate the Main Library (the one in Downtown Atlanta) and replace it with a huge building and a parking deck someplace else. Let’s set aside the fact that the library building they want to abandon is by a famous architect – Marcel Breuer.
Let’s also ignore that this building in particular is world-renowned, featured in magazines and design blogs, and visited by lovers of design. It needs a refurbishment, but what it doesn’t need is to be torn down and replaced by a building of the exact same size or smaller. That would deprive the County of its main library for years, involve many more millions of dollars for land acquisition and construction. And it’s completely unnecessary. If you are a Fulton County resident, consider finding your commissioner on this list and sending an email. Or you could just quietly lament the loss of an irreplaceable building and a waste of money.