When former IPI exec Kim Jackson arrives in Princeton to take over as head of the university’s parking operation, her first job will be to ignore the squabbling that is going on in the community surrounding the institution of higher learning.
and the township, had decided to stop the parking subsidy. The library
immediately blamed its falling attendance on the parking charges and we are off
to the races.
I have a better idea. If you build it they will come. Keep
the parking charges and make the library some place people WANT to visit. Set
up readings, concerts, (folk, rock, rap, classic). How bout a day care center
for moms who want to read, or book circles specializing in mystery, romance, history,
great literature, or parking. Give a parking validation to everyone who checks
out two books and has none past due. Hold county and city meetings there. Why
not a used book sale? How bout having local authors give talks about their
books. The list is endless. In my day the library was the center of culture and
activity in our small community.
If the librarian were to develop a marketing plan for the
house of books to be funded by parking fees and sell it to local politicos, my
guess is that a quick compromise could be reached. And the library would become
the most popular stop, and parking place, in town.
JVH
