Is the City Council about the take dramatic action to finally restore full library services to Mason Square?
At its Oct. 4 meeting, the Council will vote on an order to evict the Urban League from 765 State St., site of the former Mason Square branch library, which the agency bought in a hush-hush deal in 2003. After years of protest from residents over the secretive sale, the Council voted in August of 2009 to take the building by eminent domain and return it to library use. That vote was followed by more than a year of foot-dragging by the Urban League, which seemed in no hurry to give up the lovely, recently renovated building it had bought for a song.
At the Oct. 4 meeting, councilors will vote on whether to direct the Hampden County Sheriff’s Department to “make entry on the premises located at 765 State Street, Springfield, Massachusetts and to take possession thereof, on behalf of the City of Springfield’s Library Department, in the event that they are not moved out in time” according to a draft order prepared by the city Law Department. What exactly “in time” means is unclear; numerous projected move dates have come and gone over the past year. Library Director Lee Fogarty has said she hopes to have the library up and running by the end of November, although there is some repair work that needs to happen first.
According to a Sept. 24 memo from City Solicitor Ed Pikula, Urban League President Henry Thomas has told City Hall that his agency has signed a lease to rent space at Springfield Technical Community College. “[Thomas] also told Mr. Mollica [a relocation consultant working with the city and the Urban League] that he now expects to vacate by the second or third week of October. He told Mr. Mollica that he would cooperate with the Library with respect to access to the property if they needed to do work in advance.”
The City Council will have a subcommittee meeting to discuss the matter this Wednesday at 4:30 at City Hall.
