True leaders needed to push library project ahead

Today's Ottawa Citizen has an article about the Ottawa Public Library's New Central Library Project and how leadership is needed to communicate the value of the library.

Unless the City of Ottawa finds true leaders willing to see a bigger, more vibrant picture of what the municipality could be and take the steps necessary to achieve the vision, it will remain a small provincial town, says the Ottawa Public Library's planning consultant.

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"Leaders with real power in these places could see the value in the projects," he said. "They saw what a landmark, modern central library could do for a city. These projects can be the soul of city. The project here will also be the brain of the city." Mr. Brown said leaders in cities where projects have been successful showed the value to taxpayers and were brave enough to ask them to pay for it or found a creative way to finance the costs.