“Save Wheaton Library,” say locals.

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.  But if the county’s broke, we may be fixin’ for a fight.

By “fight” I mean a good old-fashioned fracas about funding priorities.  Silver Spring got a sexy makeover, but it looks like homely stepsister Wheaton is going to have to settle for some delayed gratification now that times are lean around here.

Hats off to county residents who have stayed on top of the Wheaton library relocation proposal.  Local activist and social media strategist Noah Wolfe has started up a Facebook group in support of keeping Wheaton Library at its current location at the corner of Georgia and Arcola Avenues.  He makes a lot of sound, sensible arguments laying out why the library should stay where it is.

Also be sure to check out the related Save Wheaton Library website.  This site provides some background on how Wheaton redevelopment planning has been conducted.

Even though some of us missed the official public comment cutoff date, we can still make our voices heard about this.

I plan to learn more about Wheaton redevelopment.  Hey now, we can’t always trust politicians, pointy-headed urban planners, and other self-appointed know-it-alls to work everything out in our collective best interest, can we?

(My sister is actually an urban planning geek; let’s hope she doesn’t take offense at this.  Many urban planning/renewal thinkers are very bright and motivated about their work but I fear that they don’t always have entirely realistic views about urban/suburban blight and decay.  It’s probably one of the occupational hazards of being a visionary.)