Claar Takes Responsibility for Lack of Library Support

It was interesting to see Mayor Roger Claar accepting responsibility for failing to support the construction of a new Fountaindale Library.

I attended the groundbreaking with all the usual local dignitaries, business leaders and library administrators. We all sat under a tent, sipped juice and ate cookies. And for me, it was nice and cordial, as these things tend to be, until Mayor Claar approached the microphone.

There he admitted that he was initially against the project, a project that bought all of these book-looking individuals to the tent on such a fine day. He used a familiar and quite cleaver quote: "I was against it before I was for it," he said. And everyone got a bit of a chuckle out of that.

I respect that he didn't get up there and make up some excuse as to why he didn't support the project, nor did even say why to the audience of library professional, but in January 2008 library administrators, said he publicly stated that he was against it. I called Claar to find out his initial reasons for begin against the project; however, he was unavailable for comment.

What I also admire about this project is that the people moved forward with their vision and prevailed. Claar himself alluded to this project taking a democratic approach.
"This is how our great country works," he said referring to the fact that although he was against it, the project managed to succeed. Because in February 2008, voters passed a referendum to build the new library.

The project was initially spearheaded in 2004 when library administrators invited a group of local residents to sit down as a focus group. Library officials ask the residents what would they like to see in a new library, said Tony Lucarelli, a spokesperson for the library. That group became the library's Citizens Planning Committee, the group who lobbied for the new library.

As a result, Bolingbrook will soon have a new $43.6 million LEED-certified (Leader in Energy Efficiency Design) library. Construction has begun and the new facility is expected to be completed in 2011. I say let's continue to turn the page on the democratic process. Who knows what's possible.

See you around the library.

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