While it may be more fashionable to badmouth the place, Glens Falls does have a wide array of cultural activities for a very small city... especially for an old mill town with not a lot of money. New York City it ain't, but then again Glens Falls is one of the safest cities in the country. Let's not forget that Glens Falls' population is not even 15,000 and, if you ask me, has a higher quality of life than most places.
How many cities the size of Glens Falls have a fantastic fine arts museum (The Hyde), a great new theatre, a professional symphony orchestra AND a theatre company that puts out high quality performances? And that's not even counting the historical museum or the children's museum.
However, clearly the most important cultural institution in the Glens Falls or the immediate area is the Crandall Public Library. Voters recently approved a bond issue to expand the cramped library building.
Back in the early 90s, Glens Falls and the neighboring towns of Queensbury and Moreau agreed to create a special library taxation district. That alone is quite astonishing. While taxes are popular nowhere, this part of upstate New York is more anti-tax than most. I still see bumper stickers that read "Queensbury: Taxtown USA." And Queensbury eliminated its town tax a few years ago.
Yet every year (except one) since the taxation district has been in existence, the library budget has been approved by a majority of voters in each of the three municipalities.
An earlier bond issue for expansion failed because it was seen as too "extravagent" (though I certainly didn't come to that conclusion) and the library leadership did a poor job selling it. So they developed a more modest expansion project and engaged in widespread public consultation. This one passed, with almost 60% in Glens Falls and Queensbury (a bit closer in Moreau).
That the famously anti-tax residents of this area would voluntarily increase their own taxes to support this most important cultural institution, instead of relying on 'free money' from Albany or Washington, is a testament to the esteem with which the library is held by the locals.
1 comment:
Matt, I have to respectfully disagree. I think the library is the most important cultural institution in Glens Falls. As far as fighting ignorance and helping people expand their minds, there's nothing that comes close to it. I don't support keeping the important library in overcrowded and decaying digs, thus being penny wise and pound foolish.
If we want to feed the poor, cloth children or create affordable housing, which I agree with as goals, I'd much rather we find a way to divert the millions of dollars that will be wasted on a pedestrian-hostile roundabout and that may be wasted on a boondoggle parking garage. Instead of robbing Peter to pay Paul, I'd rather money be diverted away from something DEstructive instead of something CONstructive.
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