I saw an article a while back where they were moving the closest branch to where I live closer, but apparently they decided to move it a lot more distant. As it stands now, once it opens, it will be too far away for me to visit on my bicycle. Not only that, but only one of the other branches is much closer once the move finishes next year.
I am not going to spend the bus fare to ride to the new library or the closest branch as the cost isn’t worth it. I hate missing the library, but they have several branches spread out across the city and they keep moving the ones that were closer. The main branch moved a few years ago and it was the second closest branch. Now, it might be the closest branch, but it’s far enough away it’s not worth the effort to get to it. I appreciate them needing more space although with the cost of expanding to new buildings or building new spaces, it’s not worth the effort or the added cost. They planned on closing some branches, but last year took money from other parts of the budget, including some from roadwork, to keep them open.
Ideally, they would move libraries in ways that make sense, addressing that many people rely on walking, riding bikes, or the bus system to get to libraries. In areas where most have vehicles, it makes sense to spread them to a more central location within an area. This move takes a library that is one of the few in that part of town and moves it more north and east. This deprives people who rely on the old branch the opportunity to have easy access to the library. It also deprives people who live further south easy access.