At a packed town hall, City Councilmember Jeffery Young proposed replacing the library with a mixed-use building. It didn't go well.
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Residents and community groups rejected an idea to replace North Philadelphia's Cecil B. Moore Library with a new library building that would include housing.
City Councilmember Jeffery Young Jr., proposed the idea as an alternative to renovations promised at the library through the city's soda tax-funded Rebuild program at a packed town hall meeting Tuesday evening at a nearby church.
"We are against demolition," said resident Nadine Blackwell. "We resoundingly do not want that. We want a library."
The Cecil B. Moore Library -- which provides a safe space for kids, crucial computer access for adults and cultural programming -- has been closed for more than a month because of a broken HVAC system. The Free Library plans to repair the HVAC system so the library can reopen "as soon as possible," spokesperson Mark Graham said. But the library's longer-term future is less certain.
The library's Rebuild renovations, which are planned to include Americans With Disabilities Act accessibility upgrades, a teen space, new furnishings and new HVAC and electrical systems, were originally scheduled to begin last summer. But Councilmember Young asked Rebuild to hold off on construction so he could secure additional funding for more amenities, said Aparna Palantino, director of the city's Capital Program Office.