From TomDispatch.com, I was taken by the featured article written by librarian, Chris Ward, The Public Library As Asylum For The Homeless. Although from Salt Lake City, Ward writes about two important issues here in Knoxville and Knox County.

Homelessness is described from Ward's position on the frontline at the downtown library. His voice also convinces us of the importance of the public space provided when a community commits to an urban library.

Ward recently retired as the assistant director at the Salt Lake City Public Library. He's a little preachy* but he's earned the right for his career commitment. He says, "I like to think of our library as the civic ballroom of our community where citizens can practice that awkward dance of mutuality that is the very signature of a democratic culture." The value of the library as a public gathering place is an overarching principle that makes it possible for him to persevere because some day’s encounters yield only frustrating despair.

Inseparable from discussion of downtown libraries are urban transients, the homeless, the outcast. We all know what this problem is – it’s the stinky ick factor or the awkwardness of being within earshot of a schizophrenic...

... or some other socially difficult encounter with the homeless. Ward’s perspective is incisive because the most important moment is the point of contact with a homeless, mentally ill or chronically intoxicated person - the moment of asking, "What are we going to do?". There are a several ways to make this public problem less public (e.g. arrest, banishment) but fewer and harder yet is fixing what keeps it from happening over and over.

That moment of contact should yield positive steps instead of just throwing them out, down the steps, or in jail. Also, like it or not, we have the ability to help be part of the answer.

Homeless problem solving is as intense in Knoxville now as I have seen it since I settled here 20 years ago. The 10 year plan to end homelessness in Knoxville is now the 9 year plan but progress was made in the first 365 days. Transition housing with case management is the immediate goal of the work started last Friday at 5th Ave/Minvilla (KNS link). Dr. Nooe’s efforts as Director of the 10 Year Plan have produced mental health and law enforcement coordination rarely seen. People are being taken off the streets to help them stay off the streets. Our community should support efforts that are the best hope for the down and out and that will solve related downtown neighborhood issues.

Concerning libraries and homelessness, we are under the same community obligation as in author Ward's. Salt Lake City is a pretty good city by most accounts. My wife and I have enjoyed several great stays there. They have tremendous mountain surroundings and urban living in the same vicinity somewhat as we do here. Adding to the vibrancy of Salt Lake City is the downtown library - a thing of beauty.

I am optimistic that our City and County can and will commit to the building of a downtown library over the next 5 years. Mayor Ragsdale’s previous downtown library initiative was cowed by the property tax debacle. Fortunately that was a small group of voices who had the advantage of peculiar groundswell of opposition to both the library and that tax. Besides to the core of those folks, the homeless are reason enough not to build a new downtown library.

But most of us see this as another part of our community's duty. We are among one another. I don’t believe we can be misdirected from the importance of public space dedicated to learning and equal access to information. It’s what is best for the community.

I hope you read Ward’s article and find it as stirring.

*who am I to talk, but hey it is Sunday...