Statement before the Glenn A. Walsh

Council of P.O. Box 1041

The City of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15230-1041 U.S.A.

Pittsburgh: Telephone: 412-561-7876

Carnegie Library’s Electronic Mail: < gaw@andrewcarnegie.cc >

Allegheny Regional Internet Site: < http://www.andrewcarnegie.cc >

Branch Library 2007 December 11

Good morning. I am Glenn A. Walsh of 633 Royce Avenue, Mt. Lebanon. Today I am speaking as a private citizen representing no organization.

The fate of the Allegheny Regional Branch of The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, America’s first publicly-funded Carnegie Library which Andrew Carnegie built in the neighborhood where he grew-up, will be debated at a City Council public hearing on Tuesday Evening, December 18, 2007 at 5:00 p.m. This hearing will be held in the neighborhood at the New Hazlett Theater in the world’s first Carnegie Hall, which adjoins the Allegheny Regional Library at 5 Allegheny Square on the North Side, next-door to the original Buhl Planetarium.

Will the newly-repaired Allegheny Regional Library be reopened as a public library, or will library services be transferred to a smaller structure three blocks away, once they raise enough money to build the newer building? And, if a newer and smaller building is to be used for a library on t he North Side, what will happen to the historic Allegheny Regional Library, the city’s oldest library?

Will we have to wait for years and years for a reuse of the historic library? The historic Hazelwood Library Branch, which includes a 250-seat auditorium, was abandoned by Carnegie Library nearly four years ago and continues to be empty and unused.

Carnegie Library announced plans for a new North Side library in August of 2006. Yet, the planned groundbreaking in early Autumn of 2007 had to be postponed, due to the fact that money for the new building has yet to be raised.

All citizens, and particularly North Side residents, are urged to attend, and pre-register to speak, at this public hearing. Pre-registration to speak at the public hearing is requested and can be accomplished by calling the City Clerk’s Office at 412-255-2138; again, to pre-register for the public hearing, the telephone number is 412-255-2138.

Again, this public hearing will be Tuesday Evening, December 18, 2007 beginning at 5:00 p.m. in the New Hazlett Theater, which adjoins the Allegheny Regional Library at 5 Allegheny Square on the North Side. The telephone number to pre-register to speak is 412-255-2138.

You can learn more about the Allegheny Regional Library and the public hearing at the new web site:

< http://alleghenyregional.carnegielibrary.us >, again the Internet address is:

< http://alleghenyregional.carnegielibrary.us >.

gaw