By Jeanette DeForge | jdeforge@repub.com
SPRINGFIELD — The long-awaited plan to replace the East Springfield Branch Library was finally realized on Monday with money officially allocated to pay for the $12.4 million project.
The city now hopes to be able to have a new 8,723-square-foot library open on Osborne Terrace in two years, said Molly Fogarty, Springfield library director.
“Everybody here and the entire community has recognized the value of this library and other libraries,” said Kathy Brown, president of the East Springfield Neighborhood Council. “This is going to be wonderful. We have been asking for this for a while and we knew if we wanted it, we needed to stay on task and help everyone else stay on task.”
Brown thanked city, state and federal officials and especially the neighborhood council for their work to bring the project to fruition more than a decade after it was first proposed.
The City Council Monday night voted unanimously to approve the funding for the project, which includes $4.5 million from the city. The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners last month agreed to provide a $6.8 million grant to pay for half the project.
Outside sources, including fundraising efforts and donations, will provide the final $1 million needed to complete the project, said Peter Garvey, director of capital asset construction for the city.
Just hours before the City Council gave its approval, U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, gathered with city officials, neighborhood advocates and members of the Springfield Library Commission and the Springfield Library Foundation to announce a $500,000 federal earmark to add more money to the mix.
The funding, which was requested by the city, came from the Housing and Urban Development budget and was approved by Congress. “The money is well spent and I consider it a long-term investment,” Neal said.
That funding is a perfect example of the importance of having Congress control federal spending. It is individual representatives and senators who understand local priorities and help communities fund hospitals, colleges, libraries and other projects that benefit the public, Neal said.
“I renovated every library in the city when I was mayor,” Neal said, adding the effort in the mid 1980s was spearheaded by the late David Starr, publisher of The Republican. “Every neighborhood in Springfield had their own library. That was a big deal and it is very hard for cities to duplicate that.”
Before approving the bond authorization, City Councilor Michael Fenton, who has worked with the neighborhood for years on the project, echoed Neal’s sentiments saying the Pine Point and Liberty Heights libraries were closed more than a decade ago, making it even more important to invest in the East Springfield branch.
“This is one of the last true neighborhood branches that is on a residential street. Its circulation numbers are terrific,” Fenton said. “It is a jewel of the neighborhood.”
Mayor Domenic J. Sarno also put his support behind the project talking about how vital libraries are saying they provide an equal opportunity to read, research and explore without censorship.
Libraries are critical to advancing health equity by building knowledge, reducing isolation and in some cases have become a second home for residents of all ages, said Health and Human Services Commissioner Helen Caulton-Harris, who is also a member of the Library Commission.
Part of the effort will require fundraising. Matt Blumenfeld, executive director of the Springfield Library Foundation, which provides support to the libraries, including funding expanding hours, technology and about one-third of its materials budget, said the organization will soon announce a challenge grant that will help raise the money needed for the new branch library.
The plan calls for the existing library, build in the early 1900s, to be razed and rebuilt on the same lot at 21 Osborne Terrace. While officials explored expanding the original library, they determined it would be more cost effective and better to build new.
The new building will be nearly three times the existing one and will have separate rooms for children, teens and adults. There will be an area set aside for technology and a community room that can be locked off from the rest of the building so it can be used when the library is closed. The current library is essentially one large room that is divided with the creative use of book shelves and other furniture.
Brown said the neighborhood council is searching for temporary locations to move materials so the library can continue to operate during construction.
