Having lived in Rockport Village my whole life ( 59 years); well, I moved here at three months, served 12 years on the Rockport Select board, was a volunteer firefighter, served on the Rockport Zoning Board of Appeals and various ad hoc committees, and attendee or moderator of decades of Rockport town meetings, I’d like to share my opinions on Article 4: a new Library.

Given the opinion from professionals, our presentliibrary needs to go. So we need to buy or construct a building. The present plan is to spend up to $400 per square foot for a 7,100-square-foot building, which includes new accoutrements.

The plan that we will vote on is to build a three-story structure on the existing site.  

Though I am not happy spending even $2 million, I know that the town’s debt load is very low and we need to have a new library.

My big question to everyone, and which I have not received an answer to, is why would we building a three-story 7,100 square foot building on a “postage stamp” sized lot that has literally no patron parking?

I live just around the corner from our beloved library that served us all for so many years. When I was a kid at least half of the homes had kids. The village was vibrant with families. That has all changed. There might be 20 homes with families now.

So why wouldn’t we want to locate our library closer to where the families live?  The town has a tremendous piece of property in the former Rockport Elementary School site which would still place theliibrary on the edge of the village but closer to the center of our town.

The one rationale for staying at 1 Limerock St. is that the Bok family stipulated that it is to always be a library. If we don’t build the library there, will the Bok family take it back? If so, then let them. My guess is that they would be happy to allow the town to turn it into a “Reading Park.”

In closing; I want to urge voters to reject Article 4 and speak up about what makes common sense for the families of Rockport. A yes vote, unfortunately, sites the library on this “postage-sized” lot that has little or no parking. This should not happen. 

Robert Duke lives in Rockport