Article on the February 20th Meeting of the City Council's
Planning and Economic Development Committee Meeting

Link to the Union News Article on the Meeting

Over 75 neighborhood people jammed the City Council Chambers to hear Joe Carvalho and attending City Councilors Tim Ryan, Angelo Pupello, Rose Marie Mazza and Bud Williams discuss the Library closings. Joe Carvallo gave a summary of the SLMA's position; buildings that were closed were not ADA compliant. They had no wheel chair ramps, bathrooms,etc. The City councilor's peppered him with questions about the closings, including their timetable for disposing of the buildingWhen asked what it cost to run the Forest Park Branch, Joe said "he didn't know.. it was hard to break those figures out... what with service provided to the branches by the Central Library." All financial questions were answered curtiously and and with the same,"I don't have those figures. I can get them for you later" response. They then approved a motion requesting that the associations' board of trustees provide them with financial reports and an analysis of what it would cost to keep reopen the closed branches one day a week.

The meeting was then opened to the public. Speakers heaped scorn on the Springfield Library and Museums Association and on city councilors for years of making multi-million unrestricted gifts to the association without setting any goals or standards for use of this money. A retired librarian and former page at the Forest Park Branch Library, Mrs. Mary Peck, questioned SLMA president Joseph Carvalho about ways to fund handicapped access for the three closed branches. (Lack of access has been cited as a reason for closing the branches which are 90+ years old.) People, including a professional librarian, offered to volunteer their time to keep the Forest Park branch library open; Carvalho was dubious, citing union considerations. The recently announced $646,000 addition to the Springfield Science Museum and the $400,000 iron fence being erected around the downtown Quadrangle were singled out as projects which ought to be abandoned in favor or solving code problems at the closed library branches. Another speaker pointed out that reduced hours at branch libraries could jeopardize funding from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners.

In a powerful presentation, former mayor Charles V. Ryan used the Springfield Library and Museums Association's own annual report and financials to point that last year the association spent $1,350,000 on fund raising and that, contrary to association claims, most of their contributions come from public sources such as the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners and the federal government's Institute of Museum and Library Services while relatively little comes from the suburbanites who dominate the SLMA board. Ryan outline his plan for formation of a different non-profit corporation with a board of directors comprised of Springfield residents from every neighborhood which would run the city's library system using the city money currently allocated to the Springfield Llibrary and Museums Assciation. Ryan also sympathized with Carvalho's position as the sole association representative sent to face a hostile audience.

Joe Carvalho tried hard to appear open and accommodating, but claimed not to know the most basic financial information about the system, i.e. the annual operating cost of the closed branches. Businessmen in the audience were heard to groan and ask out loud whether or not he managed the association while a professional librarian lamented the weakness of his presentation, saying librarians in general ought to know these things and present them more coherently.

Members of the City Council's Planning and Economic Development Committee, who called yesterday's meeting, voted to request that the SLMA leave library materials and equipment in the closed branches pending re-use plans which will include their take-over by another entity. The meeting was not adjourned, but was recessed until next week when it will be reconvened once Carvalho receives instructions from association trustees.

...Sheila McElwaine & Jeremy Cole