If you haven't been to the new one on Cesar Chavez make the trip. We went yesterday and it is one of the coolest buildings I have ever been in. You can check out everything from books to CDs to computers, it has great views of the city, awesome spots to read, and they are opening a coffee shop craft beery joint called Cookbook where all the food is made from recipes in the libraries cookbooks. The staircase design was so interesting as well,

Homeless laying about?

Has the urine smell set in yet?

I did not notice any homeless and it was very clean. There were a few people using the computers who could have been homeless but funny enough they were watching the news so not bothering anyone.

Apparently you can rent the outdoor roof deck for $1200 buck for 4 hours. It would a great place for a party.

Well, hopefully there's a great "library revival" in Austin. Because I can't remember the last time me or anyone I know was pining for going to the library. Seems like an awful expensive building and location for something that on first glance, seems to not be "the future". I can't see my 2 high schoolers heading to the library in their free time.

Have teenagers ever desired to visit a library?

I agree that it is a waste of money and space, but now that it's here, I think it will be a good spot for young families.

Ha, I thought about myself too....I quit wanting to go after 7th grade. Hopefully the place stays busy, not seeing it...but hope it does.

The place was busy while we were there on a Saturday afternoon and not with people aimlessly touring, people were using the facilities. Classes were being taught, lots of studying and reading was going on. I work from home a lot and can definitely see myself working from there. I am interested in seeing what it is like on a weekday but won't be able to check it out for a few weeks.

I encourage you to check it out yourselves if you have doubts about it. It may have been expensive but like it or not it's ours now, so you might as well see if there is any value in the space for you.

The stairs creak a lot.

Dad-O-Lot said:

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The stairs creak a lot.

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That's because the good stair contractors are part of good GC's and also bidding on Trump's wall. The City didn't let them participate.

Nothing like a library that finished 30 million over budget for a total cost of 126 million.

Hey...it's just tax dollars. That's not real money, right?

So the building is probably worth more than the books it houses?

It's not even your tax money but hey!

You're darn right. Used to be...not any more.

I dont listen to him much anymore, but the library cost was a funny rant of Jeff Ward's.

AgGrad99 said:

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Nothing like a library that finished 30 million over budget for a total cost of 126 million.

Hey...it's just tax dollars. That's not real money, right?

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And I'm almost certain the city built it to high rise code...costing extra millions. They could have dropped the roof a foot or so negating the high rise requirement.

BQ78 said:

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So the building is probably worth more than the books it houses?

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Probably??? I hope it ends up being a positive to the city.

Money is spent now, might as well enjoy what was built with it and 126 million is chump change. However, I do wish they would have taken on private donations, my guess is that they could have covered a lot of the cost with tax deductible donations.

Maybe not to you

That library or 1.5 Jimbo Fishers?