Spruce Hill rejects Free Library plan

Distrustful of the University's long-range plans, an area community group voted Tuesday night to strongly oppose a proposed land deal that would give the University the Free Library branch that sits on the edge of Superblock. The board of the Spruce Hill Community Association voted to oppose a City Council resolution which provides for the proposed deal and to urge the Council to appropriate the funds to maintain and update the present building, Spruce Hill president David Hochman said last night. In the proposed deal, first proposed by the administration last year, the University would build a new facility for the library in an eight-story, 750-car parking garage complex to be constructed starting this January catty-corner to the library's current site. Hochman said the group understood that the library was offered "a good deal," but a long history of distrust between area residents and the University was a main reason for rejecting the proposal. "People were troubled by the University's lack of willingness to guarantee the continued standing of the property," said Hochman. In a community meeting Saturday, Eliot Shelkrot, president and director of the Philadelphia Free Library, told residents that to keep the present library site open was not feasible and would cost upwards of $500,000. During the Saturday meeting, area residents voiced skepticism over the planned deal, with many objecting to the swap on historical grounds. The Walnut Street West building is one of several libraries donated by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in the earlier part of the century and is considered to be of historical importance. Kevin Vaughan, 27th Ward Democratic leader and member of the Spruce Hill board, said opposition to the swap is the best move for the residents considering the little amount of information the University has provided to them. Echoing this feeling, Hochman said the community is frustrated that it is "constantly finding out things indirectly, not directly, and have to force input into issues like [the swap]." Hochman said the association notified Cheryl Hopkins, University director of community relations, of their stance as well as the public affairs department of the Free Library. Hochman said that the "flat-out opposition" to the swap was seeded in the history of University expansion into the neighborhood. Despite these feelings, the association has not taken any position on the 40th and Walnut garage complex itself, which will also house the University Police Department and the University Mail Service. But according to Hochman, the association would like Spruce Hill residents to be on an oversight committee for the project. Vaughan, who is also the legislative director for Council member Angel Ortiz, said that the association's recommendation should have a "strong impact." "Councilpeople take very seriously recommendations from community groups," said Vaughan. "The University must spend time talking to the community."

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