I must respond to some assertions that have been made about the Jones Library project, which are wrong on facts and verge on propaganda. By contrast, the Gazette editorial on the subject (“Hadley, Amherst face choices on library projects,” July 27) provided objective facts and a balanced status report on the library project.
The Jones Library project proposal came in at number 18 among the 33 applications; only 9 of the 33 were awarded the grants and all 9 were LEED certified. Amherst’s project is not. This doesn’t make the Jones Library crew winners.
It is disturbing to see Ely pull a page from the Trump playbook, and call “fake news” the valid points made by those opposed to the bloated, grandiose and destructive project proposal by the Library Trustees.
The Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners does not require a specific square footage increase in order to apply for a grant. The MBLC states “A Construction Project may either be a project to construct a new facility, an addition/renovation to an existing building that may or may not add space, but does involve a significant reorganization of functional space…”
The wait-listed project with its demolition of the entire 1993 addition and then re-construction followed by expansion is only the preferred vision of the trustees, and there is no broad consensus.
The Jones Building Program needs to be re-designed to be fiscally more prudent, avoid demolishing spaces that are perfectly usable and respect the historic values of the building.
John Janardhanan
Amherst