Business
La Crosse’s old south library gets historic status, after potential buyers sent city proposals
A La Crosse city committee granted historic landmark status Thursday to the former South Community Library, which closed last year.
The Heritage Preservation Commission voted to declare the old library on 16th Street as an historic local landmark.
A month ago, prospective buyers made offers to city hall to convert the building to new uses or remove it in favor of new development.
The assessed value of the building and land is $348,000.
The landmark designation to preserve the library is considered binding, unless that decision is appealed to the city council.
Members of the audience at the meeting applauded the commission’s vote to recommend landmark status for the building.
Roy
May 24, 2024 at 2:30 pm
What unelected power this Heritage Preservation Commission has. It simply declares a property “historic” and it can’t be touched if a neutral City Council fails to act.
How would you like your house or maybe your grandparents’ house declared “Historic”? You then have no say over it’s status. But, like so many unelected government agencies “They know best”.
Lucenut
May 31, 2024 at 11:07 am
Libraries are an antiquated scheme from when the cost of a book was equal to a week’s wages. It is now completely unnecessary and should be abolished. The social justice warriors and city planners have turned the libraries into social engineering platforms. Drag queen story hours, bums looking at internet porn… It’s time to end this boondoggle.