YOUR TAX DOLLARS AT WORK

by Sheila McElwaine

January, 2001.

"I thought I was looking at an abandoned building you were reporting to Code Enforcement," said my husband when he looked at photos of the Forest Park Branch Library. Failed mortar, peeling paint, graffiti, crumbling cement steps, stained and blistered plaster, a missing ceiling tile, and rugs patched with book tape are what the private non-profit Springfield Library and Museums Association must feel Forest Park Branch deserves. In any case, it is what the Association and its employees have given to us.

While focusing on historic restoration at the City Library and new construction at branches in Brightwood (serving a population of 11,000), Indian Orchard (serving a population of 8500), and Sixteen Acres (serving a population of 23,000), Association priorities couldn't even find the money to keep the Forest Park Branch (serving a population of 25,000) up to minimum standards. The fact that Brightwood is on its third facility in twenty-five years and Sixteen Acres was only built in the sixties, while the Forest Park Library building is 92 years old makes us wonder what part equity plays when the Association plans repairs and renovations.

Not only is the Forest Park Branch on the losing end as far as facilities go, it is also among the branches with the fewest operating hours per week: 24 hours, including only one evening and no Saturday hours. Concerned citizens, members of the Pioneer Valley Project, and the Forest Park Civic Association have tried in vain to obtain additional after school and Saturday study hours. Association officials and employees and ex-officio trustee Mayor Albano have refused to release annual operating expenses for the Forest Park Branch, information which would allow interested taxpayers to determine how much additional money it would take so that library hours would meet the needs of Forest Park families.

Librarian Emily Bader told the December board meeting of the Civic Association that the library has begun considering "staff priorities" for a library up-grade in Forest Park. (Staff priorities?? What about Neighborhood Priorities?) Bader refused to discuss the need for better maintenance or additional operating hours while acknowledging the need for "additional programming" at Forest Park.

Board members, astonished that they could not meet directly with Association trustees or library advisory committee members who decide where and how to spend City tax money, made it clear that their program priority was additional operating hours, particularly on evenings and Saturdays during the school year. Bader did agree to take neighborhood priorities back to the Association.

For comparisons that will knock your sox off, visit the Forest Branch and then head for the Brightwood, Sixteen Acres, or Indian Orchard branches where you sure won't see any code violations. Count the chairs, tables, and computers and note the number, age and condition of books on the shelves. When you come home and while you're still indignant, call Library and Museum Association ex-officio trustees Mayor Albano (787-6100), Angelo Puppolo (782-5862), and Ken Shea (739-5534) and Library Advisory Committee member Bill Foley (783-2201). To see more of the photos that shocked my husband, check out the FPCA website.