New Library Coming to Chatham!

The Chatham enclave will be getting a new library. The current Whitney Young branch will be torn down and replaced with a new one at 7901 S. King Drive. It should be completed by January 2011 and was allocated $14 million for construction. The new library, like some others, got more funding than others due to their different sizes and varying land costs. The new Whitney Young library will be larger than the current one at 14,500 square feet. The new library will have a parking lot and a reading garden. The new library is a part of the city's $1.9 billion capital plan and are being funded through a tax increase passed in fall, 2007. It was Mayor Richard M. Daley's idea to get the libraries funded under the new capital plan according to Chicago Public Library Commissioner Mary Dempsey.