It was pointed out that some of the Free Library branches slated for closing,
including the Kingsessing branch, were donated to the City of Philadelphia by
Andrew Carnegie back in the early 1900's. The Kingsessing branch has a plaque
inside the front door that says that it was donated by Andrew Carnegie, Esq, to
be used as a library forever. This means that Mayor Nutter may not be able to
sell the Carnegie branches, because once they stop being used as libraries, the
donor, which would now be the Carnegie Foundation, would have the legal right
to seek to have the title revert to them, and thus tie those branches up in
litigation.
The Carnegie Foundation is located in New York City. I left a voice mail
message with a Mr. Ron Sexton alerting him to the situation, and I'm waiting
for him to call me back. Given its original ties to the libraries, the Carnegie
Foundation would seem like an obvious entity to reach out to in this time of
crisis for the libraries today. Did Mayor Nutter explore this possibility?
