What The City's Decision Means For The Cabin

Dear Friends,Thanks to all of your emails, letters, and testimonies about The Cabin’s impact and the importance of maintaining access to our programs, the City of Boise has made a firm decision to move our historic home to the east end of Julia Davis Park.Last night, the Boise City Council held a public hearing on whether The Cabin should remain on its current site or be relocated to make way for the new Main Library building. In my presentation, I let the Council know The Cabin was open to two scenarios:

1. If city leadership wanted to keep Moshe Safdie’s library design intact, then the best option for us would be to move the building to a location that has a beautiful setting, easy access, and great programming opportunities — the east end of Julia Davis Park.
2. If city leadership’s priority was to keep The Cabin in its current location, then the best option for us would be to work with a coalition of stakeholder groups to make substantial changes to the original design that would allow both buildings to function in such close proximity.

After hours of testimony, the City Council voted unanimously to move The Cabin to the east end of the park.I know this decision won’t sit well with everyone. Although our members are passionate about our mission, opinions concerning the location of our building are individual and varied. While we understand that some of you feel disappointed that the City has opted to relocate a historic building, Cabin leadership is excited that we finally have a clear path forward and that the city chose to protect the access and future programming potential of our organization.No matter where you stand, The Cabin board and staff appreciate all of the passionate testimony and letters that you sent to the City (130 pages of emails, according to TJ Thompson!) in support of the work we do to forge community through the voices of all readers, writers, and learners.There is still a long way to go before this project is complete, but if we stick together, Boise will get to benefit from both a world-class library and a reinvigorated literary arts organization. This absolutely wouldn’t have happened without you. Thanks for being a part of The Cabin community.Kurt ZwolferExecutive DirectorTHE CABIN, a center for readers & writers