Apple's Carnegie Library Store in Washington, DC to Respect Historic Context With Subtle Branding, Community Focus

[ApfelKuchen]

Once a library, now a commercial cesspit is more the reality.

The county would best be served by turning this building back into a place of learning and NOT into another one dimensional retailer such as an Apple Store.
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No, Apple wants the building for retail sales, that's not knowledge or learning. You can sit at home and order a MacBook to unlock those riches. This public space does not need to be converted into retail space, it needs to be restored as a public learning space.

If you, or someone else can come up with a viable, educational use for the space (and the necessary funding in an age when education, art, and culture are being de-funded), I wouldn't object in the least. Apparently, that has been a challenge. For the time being, the building is being used as an event space, an adjunct to the convention center across the street. Is a long-term commercial lease that would generate revenue for the public coffers and ensure the funds for continued preservation of the structure such a bad alternative?

 

[GoldenJoe]

Why? It hadn't been used for years, and was decaying because the city couldn't keep it up.

This is a win/win/win for the city/Apple/and society as a whole.

A beautiful building will be restored to its former granduer and used and appreciated by the people of the city and those traveling through.

You're right. If only we could commercialize more historic buildings under the guise of restoration. It would have just been such a huge win-win if we had converted Mt Vernon to a McDonalds. Nothing says America like a good hamburger!

 

[truthertech]

YOU (and I) are Apple customers, and it should be all about "the you" if Apple wants to continue to grow.

This is yet another example of why I'm moving away from Apple as a customer. Steve Jobs was extremely focussed on delivering innovative game changing products to the customer. When companies lose focus on the customer (especially hugely egotistical companies), then they lose customers.

People wouldn't be complaining about a fancy spaceship headquarters, historic buildings for stores, and a CEO bent on making political statements rather than spending their vast pile of cash on innovative product development; if the company was delivering on their core mission. But that isn't happening. Product lines are being neglected and Apple is moving from innovator to follower... or rolling out things like the touch bar that the market doesn't want. I was just in the store yesterday playing with the Galaxy S8 and the mock ups for the next iPhone look an awful lot like Apple is now just lagging Samsung.

I've spent a lot of money with Apple over the years and more and more I'm finding that they just aren't hungry for my money anymore. About all I have left that I'm using which is Apple is an older Mac Mini (with a Dell display since my Thunderbolt Display died and no replacement offered; and planning to transition to my Surface Pro 4 most everything from it), a single Apple TV (just bought a Roku yesterday, and planning another one to replace the Apple TV since they have a couple of apps like Amazon that I want on there), and an iPhone 6s+.

Sad story. Sounds like this is good bye, and you'll be moving on to an Android and Windows forum. Google has been waiting for you to cut those final cords and just needs a few more items to complete your dossier they've been building on you and your family.
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If you, or someone else can come up with a viable, educational use for the space (and the necessary funding in an age when education, art, and culture are being de-funded), I wouldn't object in the least. Apparently, that has been a challenge. For the time being, the building is being used as an event space, an adjunct to the convention center across the street. Is a long-term commercial lease that would generate revenue for the public coffers and ensure the funds for continued preservation of the structure such a bad alternative?

Agree with you except I have to correct the false impression you have about education being "defunded." In fact, the US continues to lead the developed world in portion of GDP spent on education (although we trail many countries in our test scores, showing money isn't a panacea), and most importantly, the total education spending continues to rise in America. We have great stats on this and here it is showing billions more each year and planned/predicted massive increases from 2010 to 2024.

 

[ApfelKuchen]

Agree with you except I have to correct the false impression you have about education being "defunded." In fact, the US continues to lead the developed world in portion of GDP spent on education (although we trail many countries in our test scores, showing money isn't a panacea), and most importantly, the total education spending continues to rise in America. We have great stats on this and here it is showing billions more each year and planned/predicted massive increases from 2010 to 2024.

Interesting graph. Does this include state and local funding, or federal budget only (as the source is usgovermentspending.com)? Does it include private spending (college tuitions especially)? According to this chart, historic spending is far closer to "flat" than rising. Projected spending looks rosier, but there's often a disconnect between intentions and execution. The next tax cut, program cancellation/modification, or revenue shortfall could gut this graph in an instant.

As you noted on quality of results, the amount the US spends on a lot of things doesn't necessarily line up with quality of results (healthcare, ::cough:: ::cough:: ). I have my own theories on why this is (as do we all), but I won't belabor them.

In the case of education, I wonder how much of this increase has to do with spending on security or long-delayed (and much deserved) wage increases for educators.

Perhaps my original comment had to do more with perception than statistics, but my full statement was "education, art, and culture." You have anything on art and culture? Charts that look back 20 or more years could be enlightening as well. For example, starting in 2009 skips comparisons to pre-2008-financial-crisis spending.

 

[truthertech]

Interesting graph. Does this include state and local funding, or federal budget only (as the source is usgovermentspending.com)? Does it include private spending (college tuitions especially)? According to this chart, historic spending is far closer to "flat" than rising. Projected spending looks rosier, but there's often a disconnect between intentions and execution. The next tax cut, program cancellation/modification, or revenue shortfall could gut this graph in an instant.

As you noted on quality of results, the amount the US spends on a lot of things doesn't necessarily line up with quality of results (healthcare, ::cough:: ::cough:: ). I have my own theories on why this is (as do we all), but I won't belabor them.

In the case of education, I wonder how much of this increase has to do with spending on security or long-delayed (and much deserved) wage increases for educators.

Perhaps my original comment had to do more with perception than statistics, but my full statement was "education, art, and culture." You have anything on art and culture? Charts that look back 20 or more years could be enlightening as well. For example, starting in 2009 skips comparisons to pre-2008-financial-crisis spending.

This is all government education spending and shows steady rise of education spending of billions each year. Don’t know about arts and culture spending levels. That’s probably very much a guess as most would be private.