{"id":2012,"date":"2014-06-10T15:50:58","date_gmt":"2014-06-10T19:50:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=2012"},"modified":"2014-06-10T16:01:40","modified_gmt":"2014-06-10T20:01:40","slug":"groundbreaking-held-for-new-downingtown-library","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/?p=2012","title":{"rendered":"Groundbreaking held for new Downingtown library"},"content":{"rendered":"

$1 million still needs to be raised to complete project<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

By Mike McGann<\/strong>, Editor, The Times<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"DowningtownLibraryGroundbreak\"<\/a>

Downingtown Library Board President Deborah Miles (left) and State Sen. Andy Dinniman \u2014 along with the help of some youthful library patrons \u2014 celebrate the groundbreaking for the new library building, Tuesday.<\/p><\/div>\n

DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 A dream many years in the making is about to become a reality, as various county, state, school district and borough officials, and dozens of local citizens gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new library building, Tuesday.<\/p>\n

The new library is slated to move into an old Downingtown Area School District administration building adjacent to Kerr Park, which will replace the existing 200-plus-year-old Lancaster Avenue library building that has been its home for a century. The new building, which is currently in the process of being gutted, will offer some 7,000 square feet \u2014 and crucially, some 33 parking spaces, as opposed to nine at the old building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems like a miracle,\u201d enthused Deborah Miles, the library board\u2019s president, in describing some of the amazing new features the building will offer to local residents, including 10 computer terminals, free WiFi and various rooms for community groups to meet in.<\/p>\n

But as the work of finding a new home is now complete, a bigger job remains: a $1 million capital campaign to pay for the nearly half of the $2.2 million project that has not been raised through grants and other donations.<\/p>\n

Miles singled out State Sen. Andy Dinniman for his support of the project and help in shepherding a $550,000 state grant \u2014 one of three similar library grants he\u2019s worked on in the county, including Spring City and Phoenixville.<\/p>\n

Dinniman, a former county commissioner, noted that he had long been a supporter of finding a new home for the library. He said that the threatening, muggy weather was perfect weather to celebrate the formal start of work on the library.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the start of a nice day, a rainy day,\u201d he said. \u201cWhat better day to curl up with a nice book?\u201d<\/p>\n

Mayor Josh Maxwell spoke about how the library had impacted him growing up, as a place where he could walk to as a youth, learn and dream of a better future. But he said he also saw it as a cornerstone to the continuing revitalization of the downtown area.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s incredibly important to have a library like this,\u201d he said. \u201c\u201dWe want to have vibrant public spaces.\u201d<\/p>\n

Libraries, said County Commissioner, Ryan Costello are part of the American tradition of \u201cequality of opportunity\u201d where anyone can read, learn and better themselves. Commissioner Kathi Cozzone said \u201cshe was so impressed with all the people here to support the library\u201d to a room filled with residents excited by the prospect of a new library.<\/p>\n

Commissioner Terence Farrell, recently back from China, noted the difference that libraries make here, as opposed to there. \u201cSo many things are available for people, no matter your status.\u201d He spoke about how in China, only those who pass rigorous tests are allowed to go onto college, while here, people can fail, get back up and through hard work and study at places such as libraries, work toward degrees and a new and better life.<\/p>\n

Although work is under way, raising the final funds to pay for the project remains a hurdle for the library board \u2014 with about $1 million needed to complete the project. Although everyone attending the event Tuesday was given an envelope with details on how to support the fundraising campaign, donations can also be made on the Web at: www.downingtownlibrary.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

$1 million still needs to be raised to complete project By Mike McGann, Editor, The Times DOWNINGTOWN \u2014 A dream many years in the making is about to become a reality, as various county, state, school district and borough officials, and dozens of local citizens gathered to celebrate the groundbreaking for a new library building, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2011,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,8],"tags":[51,598,1452,1459,1151],"class_list":["post-2012","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","category-featured","tag-downingtown","tag-downingtown-area-school-district","tag-kerr-park","tag-library","tag-sen-andy-dinniman"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2012"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2012\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/2011"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2012"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2012"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/downingtowntimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2012"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}