The Glendale city council is meeting in workshop today, March 17, 2015. At 10 AM Mayor Jerry Weiers officially declared the proposal to sell the library building and relocate the library to the Foothills Recreation & Aquatic Center as dead.
Many people deserve thanks. First and foremost the residents of Glendale are to be congratulated for their participation in the process. Many of you attended all six public meetings on the issue. Others made public comment either at the meetings, on comment cards, by calling a city hotline, or by sending email’s or letters to the mayor and council. Your efforts made the difference. Your expression of support for Glendale’s entire library system was noted.
Thanks also to the the three boards and commissions, Arts, Parks & Recreation and Library, that received information on the issue, listened to public comment, deliberated with serious consideration and recommended denial of the proposal to the city council.
Thanks to the city council for listening to the voices of the people and refusing to move forward with the proposal. They did their jobs in representing their constituents.
Thanks to Parks, Library and Recreation Director Erik Strunk and Chief Librarian Michael Beck for withstanding the public criticism of this proposal with grace and respect.
Councilmember Bart Turner offered an idea to provide library services in west Glendale by utilizing space within Glendale’s Media Center at Westgate. Glendale staff will now be tasked with researching the suggestion. I applaud Councilmember Turner’s suggestion and should it become reality, it is not a substitute for Glendale’s long term promise to establish a stand-alone, dedicated library building at Hero’s Park at 83rd Avenue and Bethany Home Road. It is an excellent interim solution to the lack of service we, who live in the Yucca district, have experienced for 15 years but it should not be considered the ultimate solution.
Once again, congratulations to all who participated in the process of consideration of the proposal. Job well done by all.
© Joyce Clark, 2015
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The westside library needs to happen. Frustrated with all the excuses. Council needs to look at priorities of citizens. A community is made up of amenities such as libraries, parks, recreation centers, etc. We are giving up too much as citizens for other agenda’s. As I stated in a Facebook post, how many other people are spraying weeds growing out of the cracks in their streets.
Hear! Hear! Well said!
It is embarrassing that the City cannot keep up with the weeds growing around their own properties. Dandelions as tall as 3′.
Sadly the ones growing out of the cracks in the street only cause more problems with the street surface as it deteriorates.
I have hope for the first time that the members of the council are amenable to the voice of the people. Libraries need to be part of the public treasury not currency to fill the city coffers even when the city coffers need filling. I hope this vote will hold for the future. Our kids and our citizens deserve a legacy of literacy.
Thank you so much to the Library Advisory Board, Arts Commission, Parks & Recreation Commission, the Friends of the Library & the Glendale community for all your support in saving the Foothills Branch Library! Also thanks to the Mayor and Council! Your support is overwhelming and gratifying!! The Westside is very much in need of a Library, & Bart Turner’s interim solution is applauded! The City must invest in the infrastructure!!
I truly believe that if We, The People, had not made our voices heard through e-mails, letters, online comments, and in-person attendance at the meetings, the sale of the FBL and relocation to the FRAC might very well have happened.
There is, indeed, strength in numbers, and thank heaven common sense prevailed!
I am soooo happy that our beautiful Foothills Library will still belong to Glendale, and not become a part of the MWU campus!
Hopefully, this issue is really DOA, and doesn’t come up at a later date, like the “billboard issue” has.
Now I must remember to send an e-mail to the Glendale Mayor & City Council Members , and thank them for listening to their constituents and doing the right thing.
I still have a question! While it has been widely stated that Midwestern University approached the City, I am having my doubts! If the City approached Midwestern, anyone involved needs to be fired! Although Fischer is now gone, anyone else associated with the early planning of this fiasco needs to also be gone. Anyone with a half of brain & who has a background in City Administration knows that proposing something like this is political suicide!
From everything I have read or heard, the city approached Midwestern with the proposed sale.
Joyce:
This, in part, was your blog dated February 4, 2015:
Love your library…work to save it
Posted by Joyce Clark on February 4, 2015
Posted in City Council Actions • City issue and actions • City of Glendale • Glendale finances | Tagged With: City of Glendale, Foothills Aquatic and Recreation center, Foothills Branch Library, Midwestern University, relocation of Foothills Library, sale of library building | 12 Comments
…Apparently Midwestern came to the city in January of 2014 seeking to buy the building and land. The first point of note is that senior staff knew about this a year ago. Why didn’t they notify council immediately? Instead they moved forward with two appraisals of the property; one in March of 2014 valued at $3.4 million dollars and one in July of 2014 valued at $4.7 million dollars. By the time senior staff informed council it was November of 2014, election season and understandably council gave direction to table the item until a new council was seated in January of 2015.
Midwestern is offering $5 million dollars in cash for the purchase of the library and land. Never mind that it cost the city $7.8 million dollars to open the library doors. What about the artwork? Midwestern’s CEO, Kathleen Goeppinger, is an art collector. Every year when the Glendale Arts Council hosts its art show at Sahuaro Ranch, Goeppinger is invited to privately preview and purchase artwork from the show. One of the pieces of artwork at Foothills is the Dale Chilhuly glass art appraised at $400,000, the “Magic Doors” piece proposed for relocation to Velma Teague Library and a mural appraised at $85,000 and logistically unable to be moved. Midwestern wants the Chilhuly art to be included in the sale. The cost to relocate the Chilhuly to another Glendale building is $85,000 to $100,000 and if the building is sold, Glendale needs to retain this one of a kind piece and it’s relocation should be done from the proceeds of the sale….
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Now you write that the City of Glendale approached MidWestern.
I know it doesn’t matter much since the proposal is DOA, but which is it?
Who made the first move? The City – or MWU?
DiNasio, Since I wrote that blog in early February I then learned that the city went to Midwestern first. This comes from people within the city who would know. Will anyone of them verify? No. They continue to fear retribution. So, I can’t prove what I know.
Joyce:
Of course, no one is going to break into tears & cry, saying, “I’m sorry – you caught me!”
But no matter who started this senseless, idiotic proposal, the most important thing is that it will not come to pass! Thank goodness!!
Can the troublemakers in our city government be removed somehow? Shouldn’t those people be the ones in fear of retribution? It seems to be backwards.
The only city employees controlled by city council are the City Clerk, City Manager, City Attorney and Chief Judge. All other employees are hired and fired by the City Manager under a merit system that affords city employees extensive due process rights.
According to Erik Strunk, the guy
Jpano….???
It seems that Erick Strunk, he apparently works for the city, has said that Midwestern University approached Glendale. It was reported in the newspaper back in February.
“Glendale’s Community Services Director Eric Strunk told me that Midwestern approached the city about buying the library a year ago, eventually offering $5 million cash after presenting an appraisal that showed the property was worth $3.4 million”.
I attached the article http://www.azcentral.com/story/laurieroberts/2015/02/12/glendale-proposes-library-sale-coyotes/23296193/
Jpano Laurie Roberts story was correct. From what I heard MU sent letter to city after they learned city might sell.
Hallelujah! Now on to the billboard fight. Please let the council know that we don’t want to change our zoning code to allow billboards in north Glendale!!
Joyce, you also deserve lots of credit for keeping citizens informed on the City of Glendale through your blog, and also, your time as a Councilmember!
Paperscrapper, Thank you.
I agree.
Thank you Joyce for determined effort to make us aware of the facts and fight for what is right. Citizens should, and do with you, come first.
A big “thank you” goes to our Mayor and City Council for demanding the participation of the three affected boards/commissions as well as listening to citizens on this issue. One of the best things to come from all of this is the great proposal initiated by Bart Turner. Utilizing space in Glendale’s Westgate property for a temporary library is a masterful idea!
Hallelujah is right!
Thanks again, Joyce for helping to get the word out about Foothills.
Early on, I, too, thought it was Midwestern that approached the City; however, I have my doubts!! Interesting how the City has never really said how this happened. We only know that there was a letter from Midwestern University to the City. It appears that everyone is in CYA mode! Unfortunately, the City of Glendale has a long way to go to establish credibility due to perceived (or possibly real) past deceptive practices. I do wish that the ridiculous “audit” (who in their right mind calls what the City received an “audit” to the tune of $500,000) had been comprehensive.
We can only hope this proposal on our library is finally and truly dead!!
Thanks to all our citizens including council members who participated.
Joyce, I appreciate your blog that has kept us up to date on the proposed sale of Foothills. It has been a needed source of current and background information and a forum for residents comments. Thank you for the role you played in contributing to the defeat of the library proposal. Well done!
Thank you Jane. I hope you and your neighbors will continue to read to keep up on issues that are important to all Glendale residents.