May 30, 2003

Dear Henry Thomas,

Urban League president

I hope that you have changed your mind about the sale of Mason Square Library to your organization. I also would like to respond to your last email by mentioning that nowhere in my previous email did I try to suggest that the Urban League does not have more years of total community service than Mason Square Library. It doesn’t really matter.

You mentioned that “strictly speaking, this is a “private business transaction.” As a matter of fact, “strictly speaking” slavery and other forms of exploitation have traditionally fallen into the old “private business transaction” category also. Mason Square Library and the other branches throughout this city have been generously supported by public taxpayer money and the system would collapse without it. The good people of Springfield have been long-suffering in their wish for clean, well-stocked, and safe libraries that are open for them to enjoy. The majority have spoken in Springfield that they don’t want the Main Library to finally open up in July and then jettison its branches. This is why the Springfield Library and Museums Association will soon not “own the Mason Square Library “privately” as you claim and is also the reason that they will not be in the library business for very long. Before the Library Study Committee (which was commissioned unanimously by the city council) could even conclude its report by June 15, you and the SLMA were out trying to circumvent their imminent recommendations to the people of Springfield by seeking a “quicky closing” on the last bad deal for the taxpayers by the SLMA. This unlikely alliance of a national civil rights organization and an organization which should be investigated by a civil rights organizations for the lack of people of color in all levels of management and the profession ranks made strange bedfellows to many. Your April offer to open Mason Square Library 5 days a week if it were sold to the Urban League may have been more legitimate and genuine had it been placed on the table and you waited for The Library Study Committee to conclude its report by June 15. Your whole deal with the SLMA became disingenuous and illegitimate to many when people found out that you had to vacate your old office space at 756 State Street by June 1 or else. Is there any wonder why the majority of people all over this city question the sincerity of this deal and want you to walk away?

Your claim that Mason Square Library was “reduced to one day and was scheduled to be closed permanently due to budget problems.” All those facts were true because it was a “private” SLMA decision that occurred that led to an investigation into the why libraries can’t be kept open a reasonable amount of hours by Library Study Committee chairman Charlie Ryan. Your assertion that the Mason Square Library is the “most underutilized asset in our community” is misinformed. As the former supervisor of Mason Square Library, some of the people who are now your most vocal critics of the ownership of Mason Square Library by the Urban League (daycare providers, schools, social service agencies, Commerce High School) were regular uses. The University of Massachusetts did a survey of branch usage throughout Springfield while I was supervisor and Mason Square Library was near the top. You asked “where were the voices with regard to this reality” of under-utilization of Mason Square Library. My question is “where was your voice while this was allegedly happening?” The fact of the matter is that you would see that Mason Square Library wasn’t under-utilized if you ever stopped in.”

You mentioned that “you will see as many others that the Urban League’s role in the transaction is value added and a win for the community.” How about the people’s role in this process? In the sharing, open process of mutual decision making, it’s a loss for the community. Mr. Thomas, this deal was plotted without the say of black and white, all religions, working people, the under-educated and educated, community activists, and everyday people from all neighborhoods. All they wanted was a simple voice in the determination of Mason Square Library’s destiny. Are you going to allow the patrons of Mason Square to play second fiddle in a blues trio with your organization and the SLMA? Is it fair that the taxpayers will be ripped off for $500,000 in library renovation funds while firefighters, teachers, police, and public works people are being laid off constantly? This city is less safe, pothole ridden, and a fiscal disaster. If you are not in tune with the people, cherish the words of wisdom from the heart of retired Mason Square supervisor Sylvia Humphrey, who along with Bettye Webb put the Mason Square Library on their slender shoulders and carried it into the next generation. Ms. Humphrey said, “It has sadden me to see what has transpired in the past few weeks regarding the disposition of the Mason Square Library. The impact of the sale of the branch without any input from the people within the community. The library has been both a treasure and an institution of pride in the Mason Square area. Elementary and high schools, colleges, organizations, businesses, churches, families, people of all ages have been touched by the books and programs within its walls.”

Another former assistant supervisor of Mason Square Library/Children’s Librarian from 1991-98, who was unfortunately laid off by the SLMA this year, Haydee Hodis wrote “I fully support the efforts spearheaded by the McKnight-Hill Council, DeBerry School staff and other citizens to stop the sale of the Mason Square Branch Library. Many professional librarians and support staff have contributed during the years and continue to do so maintaining and up keeping this valuable cultural, educational, and free resource. Perhaps the audience closer to the library staff are the young children with their bilingual “joyful noise” that go to the library with their parents, daycare providers, teachers, and on their own when they are young enough to walk in and search for books, puppets, games, audios, videos, dvd’s, cd-roms, and a variety of best sellers with their library cards.” Ms. Hodis concluded that “To its’ users young and old it would be irreplaceable loss to proceed with its sale like any other building or supermarket. I urge you to reconsider its acquisition, to think of those “joyful noises” and of Ann Curran’s desire for a branch library right in the neighborhood.”

There was no secrecy or collusion in Mason Square Library’s benefactor Ann Curran’s desire to establish a branch library in Mason Square upon her death in 1955. The only secrecy is that she had all that money to give to a community that she loved when she departed the living. She did not enter into a relationship with the SLMA to perpetuate her dream of a great library for future Mason Square residents to have it “hocked” by those who should know better. It belongs with all of the other city-owned library branches that will be established soon and not with a social service agency looking for great office space. Because of the history of hard working and dedicated workers at the Mason Square Library, the rugged library has not let down its patrons. It has been “here today, gone tomorrow” politicians, administrators, and lack of commitment that have let down Mason Square Library. Let Mason Square remain a great branch library and the Urban League an important social service agency. I pray that you change your mind Mr. Thomas and contact members of the Library Study Committee or community leaders and start a new dialog. We need to all work together.

Sincerely

Reginald A. Wilson