City mulls Millennium Library community resource centre By: Ben Waldman Posted: 7:00 PM CST Wednesday, Jan. 15, 2020

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This article was published 14/01/2020 (1710 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

What used to be a coffee shop on the main floor of the Millennium Library could soon become a community resource centre equipped with community crisis workers, pending city council approval.

It’s one of several recommendations from the Winnipeg public service the executive policy committee will debate Jan. 21 related to downtown safety, including the endorsement of a partnership and a cost-sharing agreement between the city and True North Sports & Entertainment Ltd. to evenly split the salary of that partnership’s director.

Located beside the lobby, and before the airport-like security measures library guests have had to pass through since last February, the former Human Bean Coffee & Tea has been closed for nearly two years.

If approved, the to-be renovated space will include resources related to mental health and wellness, housing, addictions, and other basic needs; a community meeting room; access to beverages and snacks; and access to the library’s community crisis workers.

Altogether, renovations are estimated to cost $236,000, all of which will be drawn from the city’s destination marketing reserve fund. The project would be piloted over a two-year period.

Community crisis workers are currently stationed on the second floor — not entirely out of sight, but not exactly easy to find, library officials say. With the added security measures — including bag checks, metal detectors, and pat-downs — a Dec. 31 administrative report noted, some people had a difficult time accessing the workers’ services.

“The public service has received feedback that some citizens may perceive the enhanced security measures… as a barrier to access, rather than an improvement to their individual sense of safety,” chief corporate services officer and report author Michael Jack wrote.

“While the need for security has increased due to a variety of factors, the value of enhanced security is limited if it detracts from the sense of well-being of the city’s most vulnerable community members,” he wrote.

“The proposed community connections space is intended to reinforce the library’s role as an inclusive public space, while providing important service connections to vulnerable individuals and further enhancing the safety of all library patrons.”

Ed Cuddy, manager of library services, said Wednesday people who access the resource centre won’t go through the security gates to do so, and the change will help bring support services “front and centre.”

Cuddy said there weren’t yet “concrete” plans to remove the security measures. However, he did say the best-case scenario would be if the downtown library could “find a framework that would make screening unnecessary.”

While he admitted there wasn’t proper consultation about the implementation of the security measures last year, which led to community outrage from groups such as Millennium For All, Cuddy said he hoped to remediate that moving forward. “We’ve learned that we can’t make decisions like that in isolation.”

“I think the community space is a great idea, and I’m happy they’re open to consultation, but it doesn’t repair the damage that’s been done,” said Joe Curnow, a Millennium For All member. “Until the screening comes down, people are being made unsafe.”

Another recommendation the policy committee is set to discuss relates to the security of the library’s parkade, operated by the parking authority.

The administrative report notes the parkade isn’t fully secure, with unrestricted access to pedestrian foot traffic. To that end, the public service is recommending the addition of card-swipe stations to secure its elevators and stairwells.

The parking authority’s proposed budgets don’t include funding for those upgrades, the report said, so approval is being sought for an estimated $100,000 in capital costs to cover the price-tag.

ben.waldman@freepress.mb.ca

Ben Waldman
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Ben Waldman covers a little bit of everything for the Free Press.

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