COMMENTARY ~ Setting a Precedent
By: C.T. Krukeberg- 05/25/2005

     When I heard that the Washington Library Foundation would be hosting a charrette to design the new library, I immediately thought, "Wow! Great! What the heck is a charrette?"
     A charrette is an event, it turns out, in which civic officials ask the public for their participation in developing some kind of urban planning during intense, brief meetings. In this case the urban development is the new site downtown, the old Seifert's buildings purchased last winter to be the future home of the Washington PUblic LIbrary. THe public is you, or anyone who uses or even wants to use the Washington PUblic LIbrary downtown.
     The term charrette is thought to have originated–according to Wikipedia.org. a fee online encyclopedia–in l'Ecold des Beaux - Arts in Paris in the 19th century. Charrette, Finch of cart, refers to the car pushed around by art professors who collected the final works of art and architecture students, "who were in a frantic rush to finish their work," according to the Wikipedia.
     Today, the term still survives at the University of Virginia School of Architecture, where the final week of classes if informally termed a charrette, when students hustle to finish their projects before the end of term and examination by professors and peers.
     Here, we're in less of a rush. WE have no deadline for finishing the library project–in fact, we don't even have a timeline for the project yet.
     Interestedly, the Wikipedia claims that the modern civic chararette–a set of meetings between the public and project developers–is meant "to achieve community involvement and hopefully avoid costly legal battles," resulting form "traditional confrontation between residents and developers."
     Who could have known that a word we couldn't define yesterday is just what we needed in this freshest, most positively viewed public building projects. Spars fly at even the lightest whisper of the words "high school." Grumbling is still heard in conversations about the phantom new jail, especially form the "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" set who see the reopening of the old jail as a fix we can ride forever. An the new hospital project created a stir when it was suggested in the 1912 building be given a kiss with a wrecking ball. But the new library .... There's one people find hard to complain about, and this charrette business is a good example of why. The library foundation has shown its hand throughout the planning process, hiding only, for a time, the details of real estate transactions so the might not fall through. There have been information sessions, all questions asked have been answered to the best of the leadership's abilities, and even, the designing phase of the process will be open to public suggestions, scrutiny and debate. That's a breath of fresh air, isn't it? To be asked in, specifically every body, to not hear about plans, but to help create them.
     No wonder the encyclopedia notes a charrette is a tactic used to "avoid costly legal battles"; it's hard to argue about a job you brought input to, even in small part.
     The Washington library charrette, scheduled for june 2-4 at the new site, will be giving ownership and responsibility to the public in this process, which will be rewarding to those who have an interest in it. Allowing public involvement in a civic project gives the taxpayer a part ownership in and emotional tie to said project. Nobody ever looked long and hard at his property tax bill and sid, "I helped."