By Doug Miller
But a last-minute deal may give the facility a stay, according to library Director George Trepp.
The branch, a 625-square-foot storefront at 868 W. Beech St., was first leased to the library in 1968, and remained open until a broken window in the rear of the facility caused the mold problem over the summer. The branch was closed pending a cleanup in August, but at its Sept. 20 meeting, the library's Board of Trustees voted not to reopen it.
"The library has requested a proposal from the owners to ameliorate and stabilize the situation," Trepp said in a statement Tuesday. "We requested the proposal be delivered by Wednesday, Oct. 17."
The building's owner, Rita Lam, had previously explained to the Herald that the problem was the library's and she would not pay for it. If no agreement is reached, the library must be out by Oct. 31.
The branch has operated without a lease since 2000, paying $1,400 per month plus property taxes and utilities. By comparison, the Library pays $1,875 per month, with no added cost for utilities or property taxes, for its Point Lookout branch, and it owns the main branch, on West Park Avenue near City Hall.
When an agreement could not be reached with the Lam over who would pay for a cleanup, Trepp said, the board began to look elsewhere. But the cheapest available space in the West End, the former Surfside Chemists at 1079 W. Beech St., lists a rent of $3,375 per month. That left the library with few easy options for serving the West End. "The future may be limited service options," Trepp said last week.
Most likely, this would involve the library contracting with a West End retailer, which would act as a delivery depot for books customers can reserve and check out online. The books and other materials would be delivered to the retailer daily for pickup.
If a final agreement with Lam is not reached, the next job for the library staff would be to figure out what to do with the West End branch's inventory. Most of it would be donated to educational foundations or Long Beach schools, Trepp said, and the rest disposed of in an environmentally friendly manner.
But nothing short of reopening the branch will satisfy the West End Neighbors Civic Association, whose president, Rick Hoffman, fired off an angry letter to the library board on Oct. 4. "We feel that the Library Board has unilaterally taken away the only place in the West End that actually brought neighbors of all ages together for learning," Hoffman wrote.
Trepp said the library remains committed to serving the neighborhood, even though the main branch is only a mile away. The branch's customers are not the homebound, who are unlikely to be Internet users, Trepp said, but West End residents who prefer walking to driving. "You know as well as I do how many West End residents don't move their cars from Thursday to Sunday," Trepp said.
But Hoffman made clear in his letter that his association would much prefer that the library continue its search for new digs. "Long Beach citizens voted to pass the library budget, which included funding for the library branches ...," he wrote. "How can the Board vote to override a publicly voted upon budget allocation?"
In any case, Trepp dismissed the idea of a West End bookmobile. "I drove one, and my experience is they get about eight gallons to the mile," he said. "So besides the cost, which can run into the six figures, the people at the first stop tend to be like, 'Oooh!' and the people at the last stop tend to be, 'Awww!'"
Comments about this story? Dmiller@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 213.
