The Birmingham Library and Repertory Theatre amalgamation – a snip at £193 million and coming to a site near you, soon – remains the only game in town as far as the city council is concerned.
All eyes were on new Tory regeneration supremo Neville Summerfield, the unassuming florist from Kings Heath, who woke up one morning to discover that he had become a member of the council cabinet.
Nev, attending his first meeting around the top table, clearly had to say something about the Centenary Square library project.
Reading carefully from a brief note, he reminded us that lots of people had said really nice things about the scheme when it was officially launched in Baskerville House a couple of weeks ago. It followed, therefore, that the library must be a very good thing indeed.
He was also careful to praise the wisdom, vision and imagination of council leader Mike Whitby.
If we didn't know before how Nev got the job, things are beginning to fall into place now.
There were the usual doom-mongers among the Labour ranks who asked difficult questions about the cost of the library and had the temerity to inquire where the money would come from. They were told not to worry, since Birmingham City Council has lots and lots of money at its disposal in the form of land and buildings that can be sold so there will be absolutely no problem finding a mere £193 million.
Clive Dutton, the council regeneration director and close ally of Whitby, made an extraordinary comment.
When asked how he could be certain of raising £55 million from land sales and how he intended to close a further £39 million funding gap, Mr Dutton said some of the missing money would come from "serendipity".
My dictionary defines serendipity as follows: "The occurrence of events by chance in a happy or beneficial way."
The origin of the word is said to stem from a 16th century European fairy tale, The Three Princes of Serendip, in which the heroes were always making discoveries by accident, and was first used in 1754 by the then Prime Minister, Horace Walpole.
A fairy tale? Sounds about right.
It is what you might call the Micawber factor – something will turn up, probably.
The last word from the cabinet meeting must go to Whitby himself.
In what careful observers might have interpreted as a subtle change of tack, or even a veiled threat, the council leader said: "I trust the people who have told me that the resources are there and I trust equally that they know what I have asked them to do."
Over to you then, Clive.
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And on the subject of libraries, the Minneapolis Public Library in America is one of the role models highlighted by council bean counters in the business case for the Centenary Square Rep-library project.
An unfortunate example, I might suggest.
Since it opened the Minneapolis Library has been plunged into financial crisis, forcing the city mayor to consider a drastic cuts package ranging from reducing opening hours or closing completely a dozen or more suburban community libraries to increasing council taxes by 16 per cent.
It appears, according to the local paper, that politicians backed a "spanking new Central Library" only to find that severe cuts in local government spending "decimated" the library budget.
It wouldn't happen here, of course.
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Angry scenes the other day when Birmingham Labour councillors were locked out of their offices.
Group leader Sir Albert Bore was seen remonstrating with Council House officials after the new smart-card security system failed, leaving him and colleagues banging haplessly on locked doors.
Strangely, this took place on a Saturday when you might think Bore and co would have better things to do. Shopping, going down the pub, spending time with the family? The sort of way ordinary people spend Saturdays.
On the other hand, given the woeful ineffectiveness of Labour in Birmingham, would anyone know or care whether they were in their offices or not?