GLENDALE, Ariz. — Community members in Glendale are concerned about the potential of demolishing a library in the heart of historic Downtown Glendale and moving it up the street.
The Velma Teague Library in Murphy Park has been there for decades in its existing building, but a library has stood in the park for 107 years.
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"This is the center, our cultural center, really, of this area, and we're surrounded by lovely restaurants and businesses that are thriving, but we need to have anchor, and Velma Teague is our anchor," Jessica Koory, a longtime resident of Glendale, said.
The City of Glendale is now considering demolishing it and moving the library down the street.
"That was news to all of us because we've been assured that this library was in a secure spot," Koory said.
Its potential fate was discussed last week at a Glendale Library Advisory Board meeting.
"As you can imagine a 53-year-old building is going to need a lot of work, even when it has been maintained or things have been addressed over the years," Jean Moreno, the city's Director of Community Services, told the board during the meeting.
A Glendale spokesperson denied 12News' interview request on the potential plans and the community concerns.
"Our patrons really want places to gather and learn and share and explore and create," Moreno said. "So to do that, we feel like it's necessary to have more meeting and programming space."
Moreno said that, to keep the building as is, at least a $5 million investment is needed to address the issues in the building.
But other options were brought to the Library Advisory Board including a renovation of the current Velma Teague Library and its building that would be estimated to cost $17 million in the future but couldn't be done for a few years if a bond election passes.
Another option is moving it down the street to a city-owned building at Palmaire Ave and 58th Ave.
"It's the most diverse and economically disadvantaged part of our community, and they deserve to have quality amenities. They deserve to have a destination. They deserve to have spaces that are not available at other libraries in our system," Moreno said.
But, an online petition with more than 300 signatures and community activists disagree, believing the potential new location isn't the right spot.
"You can't take a historical building and move it into what we call the armpit of Glendale, because that's what it is. The businesses that where they want to put it have never succeeded," Bobby Casares, a community activist, said.
While the Library Advisory Board voted to recommend the move to the city-owned building down the street to the council, Glendale City Council will discuss the option at its workshop this coming Tuesday. That meeting is set to start at 12:30 p.m. The agenda can be found here.
Still, residents hope Velma Teague Library will stay in the spot it's been for decades.
"They say we're economically disadvantaged here, and this is our amenity," Koory said. "This is the highlight of downtown."
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