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Taking it National!
Have you seen the EveryLibraryLive interview with Anna McCartney and Cayce Mell about “Save Blasco”?
Thank you!
Thank you to everyone that attended the showing of “Save Blasco!” at Harding Elementary School last night. If you missed it, or would like to hear it with full quality sound, you can watch it here: Save Blasco!
Last night got us closer to our goal of retiring the legal debt, but we can use some more help. Please use the donate button to help.
Pay It Back, and Pay It Forward
Did you know that next year, you can write off charitable donations for 2026, even if you don’t itemize (consult your tax preparer for details, as this is not intended as tax advice)? Why are we telling you this? Because this is a great way to pay it back and pay it forward! When your give to our FundLibrary.org site, you can help us pay back the reminder of our legal bills, but 10% also goes to help the many other libraries across the county that are facing similar challenges. You can also support KOLP by watching Save Blasco! at Harding School with us on Thursday so you can see what your contribution did.
This Settlement Wasn’t the Luck of the Irish
It was a result of KOLP’s lawsuit and your continued support! Check out the changes that guarantee that our library remains public! And make sure you RSVP for the showing of “Save Blasco!” at keepourlibrarypublic@gmail.com. And while you’re at it, please use the button below to help us retire our legal debt.
A Lesson in Democracy
Join us for “Save Blasco!” at Harding Elementary and help us retire the debt.
Book Lover’s Sale this Weekend
The Friends of the Erie County Library annual Book Lover’s Sale is this weekend
Location: The Admiral Room of the Blasco Library
Dates:
Thurs. Feb 12: 10am – 6pm
Fri. Feb 13: 10am – 4pm
Sat. Feb 14: 9am – 3pm
And don’t forget to show KOLP some love and help us retire our legal debt by using the button below:
What Are Your Plans This Weekend?
“Save Blasco!” will be showing on Saturday, February 7, 2026 at 1 PM at the Park Church – Beecher Hall; 408 Gray St.; in Elmira, NY. Admission is free to ages 13+. This award-winning documentary is a labor of love by Cayce Mell and 2nd State Films and tells our story. No donations were used to make this documentary, but if you’d like to make a donation to retire our legal bill, please use the donate button below.
“Sight is what you see with your eyes; vision is what you see with your mind.”
~Richard T. Kiyosaki
How it Started and How It’s Going …(part 2)
During the recent reputation rehabilitation media tour of Gannon’s president, he has been saying that that the lawsuit settlement didn’t really change the lease among other claims. Huh.
We at KOLP believe in transparency, because the original approval of this lease was a result of a lack of transparency to the taxpayers. Instead of a carefully curative narrative, here are the facts:
How it started….
- The original Blasco/Gannon Lease
- The $1.5M ARPA Grant for a Research Lab including the original Project NePTWNE proposal
- The op-ed by the current Project NePTWNE director that refers to Blasco Library as a “mudroom” for Project NePTWNE
How it’s going…
- Memorandum of Understanding that codifies Gannon’s obligations and responsibilities to the library. These did not exist under the original lease, but are a result of the settlement KOLP negotiated.
- New Lease Terms
Seems like some big changes in the lease as a result of the settlement after all, don’t you think? Please help us retire the rest of our legal fees by using the button below.
“I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.”
~James A. Baldwin
Just a Little Clarification
Since the settlement was announced, Gannon’s president has told the media, “With this settlement, it is reassuring to know that even those who opposed this project in the beginning support the additional Gannon programming agreed to in the settlement in the end,” he said.
As we have said many, many, many times, KOLP never opposed the project. We opposed the location. Full stop. And just because there is a settlement in place, doesn’t mean that our opinion on that has changed. It means that we saw a way forward for the library, the community, and taxpayers.
It’s also important to note that the settlement terms came from KOLP. When Gannon and the county executive had no compromises to offer, we were willing to take the case to trial. Any guardrails put in place and any contributions that Gannon now must make to the library in terms of programming were a result of ideas set forth by KOLP. One of those guardrails includes metrics to determine programming and attendance. It will be interesting to see if there is any data to back up the attendance claims that have been made to date by Gannon.
For more information, please check out this link: New Year, New Lease. And please help us retire out legal bill by using the button below.
“If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.”
~Mark Twain
Keep Our Library Public! 