GREENFIELD — The volume of passionate voices at the new Greenfield Public Library’s groundbreaking ceremony would have made any librarian go “SHHHH!”
Despite rain pouring down just minutes before the event, supporters and opponents of the project congregated between the Fire Station and the current Greenfield Public Library in the audience of five speakers. Brief speeches preaching optimism, growth and gratitude were met with both a crowd of cheers and sidelined critical outbursts. Once the speeches and the following ceremonial dirt-digging were complete, attendees were invited into the current library for coffee and pastries.
Mayor Roxann Wedegartner opened the ceremony with a brief speech, followed by state Library Commissioner George Comeau, library board of trustees Chair Doris Cowdrey, Library Building Committee Co-Chair Ed Berlin and Library Director Ellen Boyer.
“A new library is a symbol of strength for the community,” Comeau said. “Libraries are a symbol of liberty. … You are strengthening our democracy.”
Reflective of democracy, multiple perspectives were presented at the event. A small group of protesters, who held signs, gathered on the audience’s perimeter to voice their opposition to the project, interjecting throughout the speeches with grievances of “fraud” and “lies.”
Complaints surrounding the project were primarily based upon the allocation of tax dollars, claims of city officials being dishonest with residents regarding funding, and the idea that a public library already services the city.
“I’m not anti-library like these people think,” said Dawn Morin, one of the protesters.
Speakers at the ceremony tried to relax the atmosphere by both directly calling for quiet and by insisting the new library will prove its validity.
“We just knew that our current library building was woefully inadequate to serve the community,” Cowdrey said.
Lane Fletcher, who worked for 26 years as a substitute teacher, said she has been going to the Greenfield Public Library since she moved from east Texas at the age of 2. In her time at the library, she’d observed that the building fell short of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) code.
“If you go downstairs, there’s a ramp,” she said. “I’ve had to help wheel people up the ramp. It couldn’t be ADA-approved.”
Fletcher said the new library will be a great service to everybody in town, even if they denounce the project.
“This is for all the citizens of Greenfield, whether they want it or not,” Fletcher said.
“I can assure you that what we’re about to build here is more than bricks and mortar,” Comeau said. “This is a product of vision and dedication. I promise you that this will make our lives more fulfilling.”
Berlin relayed a message from fellow Library Building Committee Co-Chair Tim Farrell to add that the project is “on time and on budget,” an announcement that was met with a roar of applause from the crowd. The $19.5 million appropriation accounts for construction costs as well the cost of the architect, project manager, furniture and fixtures, Berlin said previously.
In addition to a $9.4 million grant from the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioners, the Greenfield Public Library Foundation has said it will contribute about $2 million, reducing the city’s cost to about $8.1 million.
The site for the new library was chosen in 2016 and Greenfield voters approved building a new library with a 61% positive vote in 2019, but desires to open a new library first began decades ago.
“I want to especially thank the people of Greenfield for supporting this as long as they have,” Wedegartner said.
“At the end of the day, the city of Greenfield will have a new, sparkling, energy efficient library,” Berlin said.
Wedegartner said construction is slated for completion between the end of 2022 and the beginning of 2023.
Reach Julian Mendoza at 413-772-0261, ext. 261 or jmendoza@recorder.com.