Wasilla is being blindsided

To the editor:

The current proposed library upgrade is a wolf in sheep’s clothing and details are falling under the radar. The community is unaware that this transaction, which is only a temporary library, will delay getting the beautiful 37,000-square-foot library and performing arts center, planned for 2013, only three years away. The Rasmuson Foundation of Anchorage has withdrawn any funds, on the basis that Meta Rose Square is an inadequate building. The Wasilla Sports Complex will be paid off March 2011 and a new 1/2 cent tax was to be proposed for the library/performing arts building, along with the Rasmuson grant funding. With purchase and retrofitting, the city will be spending $2 million, of taxpayer’s money, to achieve their goal of turning Meta Rose Square, into their own office building, passing temporarily under the guise of a library. A library is too important to be housed in an insufficient makeshift building.

Wasilla’s former Mayor Diane Keller had the foresight to appoint a library steering committee, which has already spent $78,000 planning what the community needs. We will gain a long-term great facility if we follow their professional advice, instead of current city council’s hasty unplanned Band-Aid fix, which is for their own interest.

Phyllis Pickett

Wasilla