OCT 15, 2023
Background
I am writing regarding Matter S02023-0002990, an ordinance introduced to the Transportation and Public Way Committee by Alderman Lopez to restrict the construction of public bookcases (Little Free Libraries) on public property.
The proposed ordinance would prohibit individuals from building and maintaining a free library, only allowing “organizations, not-for-profit entities, and licensed businesses” to apply for the necessary permits. (Block Club: “Little Free Libraries On City Property May Soon Require Permits,” 10/3/23)
Block Club asked Alderman Lopez about whether neighbors who have built Little Free Libraries on public property would be allowed to keep them. He declined to answer the question, saying only that “they should get ready to have that conversation about the structure’s future.”
Some Thoughts
In the summer of 2018, I installed a free library box in the parkway planter outside my house in Wicker Park. My wife and I had lived in our house for a few years, but we still didn’t know our neighbors.
Little Free Libraries
Background
I am writing regarding Matter S02023-0002990, an ordinance introduced to the Transport...
