In My Book, a Hit AND a Miss

This morning’s weekly “Hits and Misses” column in the Trenton Times notes the plans of the Mercer County Catholic Youth Organization (CYO) to lease the shuttered Skelton Branch of the Trenton Free Public Library for five years from the City, to be used to expand the CYO’s preschool program. “Hits and Misses” doesn’t explain why this is a good thing to them, but the news article earlier in the week described how the South Broad Street building has remained dark since the four Ward Branch Libraries closed their doors in August of last year.

The Executive Director of the CYO, Thomas Mladenetz is quoted in Thursday’s article as saying, “Seeing the library closed since last August has been painful, I think, for everybody in the community… Right now, it doesn’t appear the funds will ever be there for the city to operate it as a library again, but we’d be delighted to keep it open as an educational piece for families in our community.”

This announcement comes at the same time that I hear similar proposals in the pipeline for private non-profits to lease at least two other branches in the City: the East Trenton Branch and the West Ward’s Cadwalader Branch. These other proposals are not nearly as far along as the Skelton plan, from what I hear

City Council passed the first reading of an ordinance approving the lease of Skelton to the CYO at its Thursday meeting, with West Ward rep Zachary Chester in opposition. According to the Times account, he said, “If this council approves the lease to the CYO for five years, then that’s telling me that the administration doesn’t plan to open that back up as a library and I have concerns with that.”

I am of two minds about this news. On the one hand, I agree on a gut level with Councilman Chester. Plans to lease out the branches for multi-year terms are tacit admisisons that the branches are not likely to re-open as Public Libraries. Not now, not soon, not ever. That still wounds me terribly, and represents a great loss to the City and all its people. Everyone says this means that greater resources and effort can be directed to the Main Library on Academy Street. I certainly hope that will be the case, although the neighborhood branches were much more accessible to more Trentonians than the Downtown Main can ever be.

And yet, the plans being put forward for the re-use of the Branches are good ones, as far as I know. I know no details of the plans for Cadwalader branch. What I have heard about the East Branch is good: an intriguing plan from a reputable group who will respect the past history of the building and its role in the Community as it works to reuse the facility and adapt it to current needs and potentials. I will say no more about this plan, since the group has not yet been successful in scheduling meetings with the Administration to move their proposal ahead. I wish them luck and will offer any help I can.

The CYO is a great fit for the Skelton Branch. CYO is a neighbor to the Library building, located right across the street. Director Mladenetz has long been a friend to the Library. During my work on the effort to create a Library Foundation.  he made a very generous donation to our Fund, and wrote a wonderful letter to us describing the importance of the Skelton Branch to the life of South Trenton. I know he feels the loss of the Branch keenly, as well as the dark black hole at that Broad Street corner since August. He is doing what he can to restore life to that building in a way that will serve his neighbors in the South Ward. I wish him and the CYO all the best, and urge City Council to approve the second reading of this ordinance as soon as they can.

So this proposal, and the others, do qualify as a Hit. But for many reasons, it is also at the same time a Major Miss. Mr. Chester bemoans this announcement, but for the last several months since the Library closed amid a flurry of attention and a Mayoral “Plan” to keep the Branches open that consisted of noise, miscommunication and bluster with zero action, Council has done nothing to match the concern expressed by Mr. Chester.

The Administration, as mentioned above and last summer, did nothing to preserve or re-open the Branches.

Library Director Kimberly Matthews has, in my opinion, never been a friend of the Branches, and was quite content to let them close and stay closed.

And the Library Board of Trustees deserves most of my ire, as always. Many of the current members of the Board served over the many years that the system’s finances deteriorated, doing nothing to address a critical need for fundraising on their own; and declining the repeated offer in 2008 and 2009 of private citizens to take up that fundraising burden themselves from the Trustees. An opportunity was lost then, by those Trustees.Many of them still passively sit on that Board, and have done so throughout the crisis leading to the branch closures last year, and throughout the darkness of the last 10 months without any attempt to re-open the branches or mount any serious fundraising.

The Trustees should look at these proposals to lease the branches as their final failure on this Board. Each and every one of them should resign, if they had any Honor, and if Shame wasn’t such a rare commodity in this town.

So, to those who let those doors shut as Neighborhood Libraries, Jeers! To Mr. Mladenetz and the others working to re-open the Branch doors under New Management for New Uses, I say Good Luck and Cheers!