Denver just poured $60 million and four years of construction into a gleaming makeover of its Central Library, funded largely by the 2017 Elevate Denver bond. City leaders cut the ribbon last November, calling it a “world-class downtown living room.” The building is a 21st-century public space built for all.
But eight months later, that living room still pulls the shades every Friday.
Starting July 6, the city’s flagship library will operate Monday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. It will remain completely closed on Fridays. Evening hours? Still none. That leaves the public with just 44 hours of access per week — far fewer than what’s typical in similarly sized U.S. cities.
Denver residents have paid not once, but twice for better access. The 2017 bond covered the renovation. Then, in 2022, voters approved Referred Question 2I, a property-tax increase pitched specifically as the key to expanding library hours — especially on nights and weekends.
Despite that promise, Central continues to close before dinner every day and remains dark on a weekday that working families, students, and unhoused residents rely on for internet access, research help, and basic community services.
Other cities don’t treat their central libraries like optional luxuries. Seattle’s Central Library is open seven days a week, including evenings. So is Minneapolis. Austin and Kansas City also offer full-week service, with multiple nights open past 6 p.m. These peer cities provide between 58 and 65 hours of weekly public access at their main branches. Denver offers just 44.
What makes that shortfall even harder to understand is the budget behind it. Denver Public Library’s annual operating budget now stands at $95 million — nearly identical to Seattle’s. The City of Denver’s general fund will grow to $1.76 billion in 2025. And yet, no new full-time library positions have been added.
Insiders estimate that keeping Central open on Fridays and adding just two evenings per week would cost around $1 million a year — roughly 1% of the dedicated mill levy voters approved in 2022. The money exists. What’s missing is the will to spend it where it was promised.
The library may cite staffing shortages or safety concerns near Civic Center Park. But other cities face the same pressures — and still prioritize keeping their civic institutions open when people need them most.
City leaders like to call the Central Library a model of 21st-century public space — a cornerstone of civic life. But a public institution that closes every Friday and never stays open past dinner doesn’t anchor anything. It isolates. What Denver needs isn’t more ribbon-cuttings — it needs consistent, reliable access to the spaces people rely on most.
Let’s be clear: this isn’t about logistics. It’s about broken promises. The 2017 bond was marketed as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to modernize core public infrastructure. The 2022 tax was sold as a way to restore library hours and reestablish libraries as true community anchors.
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The renovation is finished. The collection is stocked. The staff is ready. All that stands between Denver residents and the full use of their library is City Hall’s willingness to turn the key. Until it does, the Central Library will remain Denver’s costliest “Closed” sign — $60 million spent to tell taxpayers, “Come back some other time.”
William Porter is a longtime Denver resident and public-affairs professional who has spent more than a decade working in and alongside local government in Colorado.
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