Modus Operandi

Something about the latest drama with the county executive feels familiar: Erie City, Davis Admin. clash again over vacant tiny homes. Let’s compare notes:

Davis ignored the zoning procedures for this tiny house project, similar to the way that he ignored the Donated and Dedicated Property Act (DDPA) in leasing space to Gannon in the Blasco Library. He also breeched his fiduciary duty in having these homes built when they couldn’t be used because he refused to submit plans to the City of Erie, similar to the way he leased county property at far below market value for up to 45 years. The main difference is that he’s certainly no library expert, but he purports to be an expert in construction. Hmmm…

And, he’s whipping out that argument that no one wants to work with HIM. It’s nothing personal, but when everyone else is expected to follow the law, it doesn’t increase his likeability to flout the law.

This is why our lawsuit is so important. Davis will continue making up the rules as he goes along. He needs to be held accountable for his actions.

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“Welcome to ‘Whose Line is It Anyway,’ where the rules are made up and the points don’t matter.”

~Drew Carey

A Slippery Slope

One of the members of county council that voted in favor of the Gannon lease said in a private meeting that it wasn’t fair to residents of the county that the main library was located in the city of Erie. This, despite the fact that a large number of county residents work in the city or city-adjacent. I wonder how he feels about the fact that county residents have to drive into the city for jury duty–but I digress. The Erie County Library System has 4 branches–Edinboro, Lincoln, Iroquois and Millcreek. Three of those four are owned by the county, with Millcreek located in the Millcreek Mall complex and looking to re-locate in eventually in a county-owned facility. The infrastructure and programming for those branches are located at the main branch on the bayfront.

As recently discussed the in post “Anchor Tenants”, the county executive considers the Blasco Library and Erie Maritime Museum to be only tenants in a building which was built as their home. So if you are a county resident and don’t live in the city, think about it. What does this mean for the branches? Wouldn’t they be considered “anchor tenants” in their own buildings as well? We’ve seen how much the county executive values libraries ($7 per square foot, among other examples). How much is your local branch worth?

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“Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money will get you through times of no libraries.”

~Anne Herbert

The Math Ain’t Mathing

As discussed in a recent post, Gannon is selling one of their building on State St. for $2.2 million. So let’s do a comparison. The building is 63,000 square feet. This means that they are asking $34.92 per square foot for real estate on State Street, but they are paying (checks notes) $7 per square foot for bayfront property at our Blasco Library. And that price stays the same for 25-45 years. The math ain’t mathing! How is this fair to taxpayers or our library?

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“Math is the only place where truth and beauty mean the same thing.”

~Danica McKellar

“Anchor Tenants”

Included in the discovery in our lawsuit is a text message exchange between the president of Gannon and the county executive where the county executive refers to the library and the Maritime Museum as “anchor tenants”–like Boscov’s or Macy’s at the mall. In other words, the building that Dr. Blasco envisioned and built as his legacy for the community specifically for the library and the museum is nothing more than a rental property to the county executive, and they are only tenants. Is he looking to add or replace “tenants”? That remains to be seen, but it does give one pause. The Blasco Memorial Library is the home of the library and the museum–they aren’t just tenants.

Here’s the link referenced in the exchange: PA Historical and Museum Commission ends association with Flagship Niagara League

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“I believe in libraries because most students don’t have any money. When I graduated from high school, it was during the Depression and we had no money. I couldn’t go to college, so I went to the library three days a week for 10 years.”

~Ray Bradbury

Shared Space

Gannon will be showing the documentary, “Ripples of Plastics,” over the weekend at the Hirt Auditorium inside Blasco Library. For our take on the documentary, check this earlier blog post: Coincidence?, Part 2

If you’re wondering why “Save Blasco” isn’t being shown at the Blasco, it’s because of the cost involved. Under the lease, Gannon, however, is allowed to use the shared spaces for free. Here’s a link to the costs everyone else pays: Fees Gannon Doesn’t Have to Pay. Doesn’t sound very fair, does it? The lease sure gave Gannon one heck of a deal.

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“Live so that when your children think of fairness, caring, and integrity, they think of you.”

~H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

63,000 vs 3200

Wait! What?! Gannon is selling its 63,000 square foot Center for Business Ingenuity for $2.2 million, but they need 3200 square feet of OUR library?! To quote Gannon’s spokesman, “Right now, we have a lot of space.” Really? The math ain’t mathing here.

State Street home of Gannon’s Center for Business Ingenuity is offered for $2.2 million

It’s interesting to note that this building was donated to Gannon for their use, but they are choosing to sell it. This might give some insight into why they are dismissive of the original purpose of the donation of Blasco Library by Dr. Blasco.

Also of note is the demolition of Wehle Hall on Gannon’s campus: Demolition underway at Gannon’s Wehrle Hall It would be interesting to know how many microplastics are being released into the environment with this demolition, but I digress.

One potential bright spot–if the CBI building is sold to a for-profit business that isn’t tax-exempt, it will go back on the tax rolls, unlike Gannon’s other properties: 2024 Erie PA City Council Budget Workbook with Tax-Exempt Properties

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“The world belongs to those who read.”

~Rick Holland

Fun Facts

If you are a City of Erie resident, you might want to attend the city council meeting on July 2nd at 9am. The council is voting on a resolution to loan Gannon University $1 million dollars. Fun fact, this is close to the amount that Gannon would pay for a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Program, if they chose to participate, which they do not. 2024 Erie PA City Council Budget Workbook with Tax-Exempt Properties

Another fun fact, if you work in the City of Erie and overpay your income tax, you don’t get a refund because the city is a “distressed community,” but it has the money to loan to a private tax-exempt entity.

Taxpayers of Erie County already gave Gannon $1.5 million in ARPA funds are are being told to hand over 3200 square feet of the Blasco Library. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?

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“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

A Place of Privilege

The recent heat wave where the weather was close to 100 degrees and several social media posts gave me a lot to think about last week. A lot of us are lucky and have air conditioning at work and at home.. In fact, I sometimes complain about it being too cold at work. Not everyone can say the same. If you don’t have air conditioning, in extreme heat, where can you go if you live in the city? Let me rephrase that—where can you go without spending or being expected to spend money? The Blasco Library! Think about it–it’s pretty much the only free, indoor, air conditioned space left on the bayfront in Erie. But the county is giving a large chunk of space to a private university that is already privileged enough to have air conditioning on their campus.

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“Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.”

~Albert Einstein

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make out Bingo event such a success. What a crowd! If you worked at the entrance table, donated an auction basket or raffle item, sold advance tickets, or even attended, you were part of the team that helped to raise just over $6300 toward our legal fund! Most especially, thank you to Patty and Kathe for organizing the event and leading the team! Thank you also to our host, JPTF Bingo.

Even with that success, we still have a way to go to reach our goal. Please click on the donate button to help keep the momentum going!

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“Collaboration is multiplication.”

~John C. Maxwell

Whelp, It’s Certainly an Election Year!

June 7th kicked off the Summer Reading Program at Blasco. If you haven’t signed up yet, you should! Information is here: Color Our World.

The county executive–in one of his very rare library visits–made sure to turn it into a photo-op for his re-election campaign and made sure his picture was posted to at least 3 public Facebook pages. Don’t be fooled. This is how he really feels about the library:

But hey, he’s trying to keep his job now.

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“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.”

~President Barack Obama