The Bethlehem Public Library has developed a long term project that will offer the Bethlehem community a place that can serve its residents for decades to come.
As with many public buildings including the Bethlehem school system, upgrades and space enhancements are necessary to meet the changing needs of a diverse and growing community. Bethlehem schools have seen many high dollar value projects that residents have voted in favor of in the past decade. The school buildings all date back to over fifty years ago with the post-World War II baby boom. The Bethlehem Public Library now faces similar challenges and has developed a plan to modernize the building, create additional spaces for the community, and update the infrastructure to become more energy efficient while meeting the challenges of decreasing its carbon footprint.
There has been some concern about the cost of this project but it needs to be put into perspective with what construction costs are today. This is a long term investment and when the present library was constructed there were residents who thought it was too expensive. The initial investment has served us well and now it is time to make the next investment for the town’s future generations. We may no longer have children in the school system yet we still pay our share of school taxes each year.
Consider how much you pay for your cellular phone service or your television/internet service and compare that to what the annual increase will be to support the Library project bond. I know there are some who are on a fixed income and view this as a burden but you pay the increase for the school budget each year and the community is better for what we contribute as its residents.
The Bethlehem Public Library deserves our support to insure that we have a vibrant, accommodating, accessible, efficient building that will serve all of us long into the future.
Oliver Holmes- Delmar
