The RPL Film Theatre? “Absolutely.”

Here’s what you want to know about tonight’s council meeting: in a scrum after the RPL portion of tonight’s meet, library board director Darlene Hincks-Joehnck was asked if the Dunlop Gallery and RPL Film Theatre were still part of the library’s future. Her answer: “Oh absolutely. The Dunlop, the film theatre, all aspects of the main library will remain intact.”

So there you go. Stand down from red alert for the time being.

So why the fuss? A fair chunk of blue sky work ($400 grand, said Joehnck) was done without public input in the last couple of years and when architectural drawings were leaked, people (including us) freaked and worried that a final vision of the library was a fait accompli. And not unreasonably. Now that we have a commitment to maintain the film theatre and gallery, we can proceed forward somewhat more calmly.

We’ll have more on the blog later and of course in Thursday’s paper. The freemasons had a lot to say. We would’ve interviewed them after the council meeting but they vanished. Probably into their secret mason tunnels. Those masons!