PASSAIC PUBLIC LIBRARY
PASSAIC PUBLIC LIBRARY IN THE NEWS
The purpose of this page is to provide the public with a fair appraisal of the facts based on the information available. In cases where the newspaper article runs juxtaposed to the opinion of the Library Director and Board of Trustees you will see a highlighted box.
New lease on life for a beloved library - Editorial
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Good news. Passiac's Reid Memorial Library will not close. "I am here to promise you that the library stays open," said Mayor Samuel Rivera to more than 150 people who had come to Sunday's public hearing at the 104-year-old building to comment on plans to shutter it. "The library will be saved, and we will rebuild the library, and we are going to reconstruct," Rivera added. He also announced that he had met with local businessmen who will help start a foundation to support the library, which needs more than $1 million in exterior and interior improvements.
The mayor's welcome words followed months of letter writing and other forms of protest in response to a February Board of Trustees announcement of plans to close the library that has meant so much to so many for so long.
"The people have spoken," said Mark Auerbach, the former city historian who had vigorously opposed plans to close the library. Indeed, the apparent saving of the library was a text-book example of how community activists and the press can hold local government officials accountable for their actions, challenging them or even changing them.
Sadly, it took a distressingly long time for Rivera, the City Council and the Library Board to hear what the people were saying.
In February, the board said it would consider closing the building because its (structurally damaged) roof would cost $155,000 to repair. Officials said the cost of making the Reid accessible to the disabled would prove too costly. But, earlier this month, City Councilman Daniel Schwartz said at a City Council meeting that Community Development Block Grant funds that had been assigned in 2002 but left unspent since then could be used for some repairs. Further, a new report by architects LAN Associates showed that "there were no significant structural deficiencies observed. The overall main structural conditions are in good condition."
Thus, it was the rationale for closing the library that collapsed. And it is the trust in the judgment and the motivations of the Library Board that must be rebuilt.
Over time the board has failed to fully respond to a 2004 evaluation by the State Library that called for changes, including improving outreach to residents, especially the city's growing Hispanic population. It has failed to use federal grant money that could have helped restore the library. And, the board has failed to heed the wisdom of the community it purports to serve. The multigenerational, multiethnic coalition that succeeded in saving the Reid did so in spite of the current Library Board.
With the possible exception of losing a beloved house of worship, no loss is more acutely felt in a community than a library closing. For decades the Reid has welcomed new groups of people who sought to lose themselves in books or who sought to find a quiet sanctuary from summer storms.
Nevertheless, if it hadn't been for the people speaking so loudly and clearly, Passaic's Library Board would have lost the Reid, all it had been and all that it could be. This newspaper is pleased to have played a role in amplifying the people's voices.