Rally Tonight for Library Eminent Domain, Springfield City Hall Steps
Posted on Monday, December 15 2008 by Heather Brandon
A public rally is set to take place tonight at 6:15 pm, on the steps of Springfield City Hall, in support of eminent domain use to take back a former library building currently owned by the Urban League (pictured; photo by library manager Reggie Wilson). The 
rally is being planned by the Mason Square Library Advisory Committee. The City Council has already voted to urge Mayor Domenic Sarno to use eminent domain to take 765 State Street, the Urban League building.
Sarno has generally withheld comment, pending another city solicitor opinion, since the recent revelation of a previously-unknown 2003 agreement between the Urban League and the Massachusetts Attorney General.
Following the rally, those present will participate in a public comment session as part of tonight’s City Council meeting. Prepared to speak are Morris Jones, Ida Flynn, Ruth Loving, library advisory committee chairperson Liz Stevens, and Kathryn Wright, among others.
Pictured at left, courtesy Springfield’s McKnight Neighborhood Council, schoolchildren last spring attended an event in the Mason Square branch library, currently a small portion of the Urban League building. The space is recognized as a temporary situation, but it has been this way for well over five years.
In a press release yesterday, the library advisory committee stated, “The best Christmas present Mayor Domenic Sarno and the political leaders of this city can give to Springfield’s citizens, especially to the Mason Square community, is to return the Mason Square Branch Library to the people.”
“Mayor Sarno has repeatedly expressed his intention and desire to get a library back in Mason Square as soon as possible,” yesterday’s release continued. “Other buildings have been studied and found inadequate for a library. The Mayor is now waiting only for an opinion from the city solicitor and an assessment of the cost in time and money to get it done. The process should cost the city nothing.”
Prior to the sale of the building to the Urban League, Springfield-based architect Stephen Jablonski redesigned the interior spaces.
According to a November 6 article in the Valley Advocate by Maureen Turner, more than half of the resulting $1.2 million renovation work was paid for by city bonds.
Published here, with Jablonski’s permission, are three images from his online portfolio featuring the work not long after it was completed. The images show a light-filled, ample space with room to stretch out, browse, and read.
About two years after the renovation work, the building was secretively sold to the Urban League. Presumably the interior looks rather different now, no longer functioning as a library. The current space available for a library is recognized by the advisory committee as inadequate. Pictured below: Wilson’s photo of the current crowded area in the building designated as a library branch.
The Springfield Library Foundation—an independent non-profit formed in 2005 now managing the Annie Curran Endowment Fund, and chaired by former mayor Charles Ryan—is apparently “on the verge of voting to cover any costs of the eminent domain taking, holding the City of Springfield harmless,” according to the advisory committee release.
“In about three weeks,” it continues, “funds will finally be transferred from the Museums Association and be available to the Library Foundation. The vast bulk of that money is made up of the Annie Curran Fund, which can be used only for the library in Mason Square. No other branch library in the system has such an endowment.”
The library advisory committee added that “the people of Mason Square are fed up with waiting for our neighborhood library to be restored,” noting the city has the right to seize the former library building constructed expressly for the purpose of housing such as service. Pictured at right: library manager Reggie Wilson with children in the Mason Square branch last April; photo courtesy the McKnight Neighborhood Council.
“There is no court that would stop an eminent domain taking of the building,” the advisory committee said. “The only thing to argue about in court is the purchase price, and the Urban League settled that amount (at $700,000) with the agreement they signed with the state attorney general’s office in 2003.”
DickieNealSt
December 16th, 2008 at 2:58 pmDo you ever get tired of yourself? Do you ever get tired of your agenda? Do you actually know how many libraries the city of Springfield has? Do you know how many libraries the city of Westfield has? Do you know what the population difference is between Springfield and Westfield?
Heather Brandon http://urbancompass.net
December 16th, 2008 at 3:38 pmBelow is a brief summary of proceedings from someone who attended the public comment session.
Ida Flynn told the City Council she feels “upset and disgusted.” She said the library shouldn’t have been sold. She added that the men in the Black Leadership Alliance now supporting the Urban League on this matter never came to NAACP meetings during her presidency. She said, “The City Council should have something to say on this matter.”
City Councilor Bud Williams responded, “This body has voted twice. We’ve done our part. It’s up to the mayor. It’s a process.” Flynn asked, “Why haven’t we heard from the mayor?”
Former city councilor Morris Jones said he had been before the City Council five times on this issue. Citing remarks by City Councilor Jose Tosado at the last meeting on this, Jones said “a mistake was made in 2003. Let’s correct it and move on.” He added, in a loud voice, “Give these people their library.”
Tanya Pipp asked what the Urban League does for the community, saying the only jobs they refer people to are Burger King and Kentucky Fried Chicken. She wanted to speak to “our mayor.” She asked the City Council, “Can you get the Mayor out here?”
City Councilor Bud Williams promised to facilitate a meeting with the mayor. Ida Flynn broke in to say, “I’ve spoken with him, and he’s scratching his head.”
Kat Wright thanked other speakers for expressing the anger she feels, and the City Council for keeping this issue on the radar, adding the group knows it’s up to the mayor. She closed saying, “The best Christmas gift for the neighborhood would be to get the library back.”
Sheila McElwaine http://!?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:01 pmDickieNealSt, what is your point? If you don’t like this blog, why not stop reading it? If you don’t like this issue, why not simply skip posts on this subject? What point are you trying to make with reference to Westfield’s library resources and population?
DickieNealSt
December 16th, 2008 at 5:13 pmMo Jones. Mo Jones? Isn’t he the guy who co-signed an SBA loan for his brother? I believe he is. I believe he co-signed an SBA loan for his brother, who later defaulted on the loan. How much was that SBA loan for? What public excuses did Mo Jones resort to as a way of avoiding his responsibility to repay the loan he co-signed for? Did Mo Jones ever pay back ONE penny of the loan. If he did, how much?
Sheila McElwaine http://!?
December 16th, 2008 at 5:58 pmDickieNeatSt, can you relate your latest post to an eminent domain taking of 765 State Street and returning it to its intended use as a public library?
Heather Brandon http://urbancompass.net
December 17th, 2008 at 10:47 amMike Dobbs also covered the rally/public comment in an article in the Reminder. Dobbs mentioned in the article that former Mayor Charles Ryan had asked Mayor Sarno if it would be possible to get city solicitor Ed Pikula’s opinion on the eminent domain taking in time for the library foundation’s next meeting, Monday, December 22.
Nothing like piling up political pressure on multiple fronts just in time for the holidays.
Sheila McElwaine http://!?
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:14 pmTonight, the Springfield Library Foundation, which includes Mayor Sarno and city solicitor Ed Pikula, voted unanimously to indemnify the City for certain expenses related to taking 765 State Street by eminent domain. This is the first step in a taking by the city.
City Solicitor Pikula will issue an opinion tomorrow clarifying the process from here on in.
Thanks to everybody who spoke, sent emails, prayed, wrote letters, or buttonholed public officials on behalf of righting this wrong. Special thanks to Mo Jones, Ruth Loving, Ida Flynn, Kat Wright, Liz Stevens, and especially former Mayor Charlie Ryan who has focused like a laser on the Mason Square Library issue since leaving office last year.
Heather Brandon http://urbancompass.net
December 22nd, 2008 at 9:29 pmThanks for the news. What does this vote to indemnify the city mean exactly, and why might it have been necessary as an initial step, I wonder.
I look forward to learning Ed Pikula’s legal opinion on this, which I imagine Mayor Sarno must be mostly aware of by now.
Sheila McElwaine http://!?
December 23rd, 2008 at 9:27 amMayor Sarno attended the meeting of the Springfield Library Foundation (of which he is a member) and was among those who voted unanimously in favor of the motion agreeing to indemnify the city.
So he was very much aware of the measure which had been drafted and reviewed but not yet proofread at the time of the meeting yesterday.