The city of Spokane wants your input on what should be housed in former East Side Library

The city of Spokane is looking to residents to help decide what takes the place of the former East Side Library.

The City Council announced Monday that it has launched an interactive online survey to garner feedback on what should become of the library, which sits adjacent to the Martin Luther King Jr. Center at East Central on Stone Street.

The library was vacated when Spokane Public Library opened a new branch at Liberty Park last month.

Councilwoman Betsy Wilkerson, an East Central native whose district encompasses the southern portion of East Central, sponsored a resolution passed by the City Council in November that promises a community-led decision-making process to find a new tenant in the library space.

The space is owned by the city, so it will be up to elected officials what to do with it.

The City Council launched its survey through ThoughtExchange, which has become its go-to tool to solicit public input. It hosted a similar survey on American Rescue Plan spending earlier this year.

Rather than give respondents multiple choices, ThoughtExchange allows them to offer written ideas and then rate the ideas of others.

Ideas already proposed to the council include using the space as a new police precinct or an extension of the neighboring community center.

“Community conversation is the first step in our multiphase community engagement process and ThoughtExchange is the perfect tool to start this very important conversation,” Wilkerson said in a statement. “We want to hear from impacted community members on the best ways to occupy that space in East Central.”

The survey can be accessed at https://tejoin.com/scroll/418291364.