Back in February, Springfield City Hall offered a promising timeline for returning full library services to the Mason Square neighborhood: City Solicitor Ed Pikula told the Advocate at the time that the Springfield Urban League would need to vacate its building at 765 State St.—which it bought in 2003, and which the city took by eminent domain last summer—by May. That would allow time for the building, which had previously served as the Mason Square branch library, to undergo any necessary work in advance of a November reopening.
But with that deadline fast approaching, residents are concerned by a continuing lack of significant movement. Urban League President Henry Thomas has publicly protested leaving the building, which his organization bought from the Springfield Library and Museums Association, the private entity that ran the city library system at the time. (Shortly after, the city took control of the libraries, in response to pressure from citizens who found the publicly funded SLMA unresponsive and unaccountable.)
And why would Thomas want to leave? The sale, arranged quietly by SLMA officials without public input or notice, allowed his agency to move out of a rundown building and into a beautiful new home that had recently undergone $1.2 million in renovations (about half of it picked up by city taxpayers), at a price tag of just $700,000.
The City Council voted to take the building by eminent domain last August. As required by law, the city hired a relocation expert to help with the transition, including helping the Urban League find a new home. (The city will also pay fair-market value for the building and cover the agency’s relocation costs.)
But regular updates sent by the city Law Department to the Library Commission indicate both a lack of urgency on the part of Thomas to move out of 765 State, and a lack of strong pressure from City Hall to prod him along. To wit, this report, dated March 20: “The City’s relocation consultant, Mr. [Steven] Mollica, is waiting for a return call from Mr. Thomas today to review the status of any potential and/or new replacement sites. As you will recall, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Mollica had agreed to talk today.
“Mr. Mollica did pass along 443 State Street, the former Kavanaugh Furniture Store to Mr. Thomas, at the beginning of the week,” the update continued. “Mr. Thomas replied that he is aware of the site and had previously been inside the building. Mr. Thomas felt that the building was much too large for the Urban League’s needs. Mr. Mollica will be contacting the City’s Planning and Economic Development office to see if they have any more suggestions.”
The most recent report, dated April 9, offered somewhat more promising news: “Mr. Thomas has reported to & Mollica that he is waiting for a couple of the principals of the replacement locations that he is interested in to get back, to the Urban League, with pricing points. He also reported that he was contacted by Bob Greeley, a commercial realator [sic], who had two locations that might fulfill the Urban League’s needs. Mr. Thomas said that one of the locations they were familiar with had ruled out. He said that he was going to follow up with Mr. Greeley on the remaining location.”
*
As has been the case for the past several years, Thomas did not respond to an interview request from the Advocate. At deadline, Pikula had not returned a call from the newspaper either. In February, Pikula told the Advocate that efforts to relocate the Urban League had met with several delays, including a trip Thomas had taken out of town. The city has proceeded cautiously, given that Thomas has threatened to sue over the taking, Pikula added.
In an email sent to the Advocate (and copied to a number of involved residents), longtime library activist and former Library Commissioner Sheila McElwaine voiced her impatience with the lack of action: “With only a few short weeks to go before the library department wants the Urban League to vacate 765 State Street, I’m surprised by the flaccid approach being taken by the city’s Law Department and the City Council,” she wrote.
“I’d like to see the Law Department and the city’s relocation consultant pressing a little harder on getting the UL relocated … nothing improper or overbearing, but more continuously and to greater effect! I’d be very surprised if more than three face-to-face meetings between the Law Department and the UL have taken place in all the months since the City Council voted unanimously to take this property by eminent domain. With such a strong show of support, you’d think the Law Department would feel OK about putting more energy into finishing the job, wouldn’t you?”
McElwaine called for city councilors to keep up the pressure on the Law Department—and for them to do so in a very public way. “I have observed that answering questions in public results in more meaningful answers … answers that sound reasonable one-on-one are often lazy ones that suddenly sound lame in public, even to the person giving them,” she noted.
Library supporters may soon have the chance to ask those questions publicly: Ward 6 Councilor Keith Wright has requested a Council hearing on the issue.
