Come the end of 2011, the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library may no longer occupy its space on 41st Street, an aging structure that is small but full of character.

The property on which the library sits was sold by Citibank in a lease-back offer last September to Neil and Diane Goodhue of Piedmont-based Goodhue Property Investments. They raised the monthly rent from $1 to $4,250 — a significant increase the city may not be able to afford given its current $42 million budget gap.

While the city knew as early as last summer about the impending sale, library advocate Ronile Lahti said the move came as a shock to the community when people found out last fall.

Lahti has been deeply involved with the library’s response to the news. She has been a member of the board of directors for the Friends of the Oakland Public Library since 2007 and before that was a Friend of the Piedmont Library.

“We've had a branch library in this neighborhood for many, many years. Our goal is to take whatever steps are necessary to see that a branch library remains in this neighborhood,” she said. "There will be a library on Piedmont Avenue. We just don't know how big it's going to be, where it will be or what we're going to do with it."

Mela Woods, a library aide at the Piedmont Avenue branch, said from what she understands it is very likely the branch will relocate.

She said while “patrons will have to get used to a new location” and it is “uncomfortable and cumbersome to have to move,” there are some positives to the situation as well.

A new space will be larger, offer more room for new collections and materials and actually house a restroom, she said — the branch has been at its current location since 1932 and is without bathroom facilities. Plus, it is tiny at 1,700 square feet.

The Piedmont Avenue library is the smallest branch in Oakland, but it has the fourth highest circulation in the system.

Even on this past Saturday, which fell on Memorial Day weekend, the library was full of people. Patrons sat all around a large rectangular table inside reading books and newspapers and foot traffic in and out of the library was steady.

Finding the resources

Oakland library officials identified the need for a larger or expanded Piedmont Avenue branch in its June 2006 Master Facilities Plan, according to a document prepared in April by the finance committee of Oakland’s Community and Economic Development Agency.

The library proposed a bond measure to raise funds to build a new space that would not only feature restrooms, but serve three to four times as many people, as well as expand seating, the children’s area and the number of computers for public use (right now there are only three). It also would be better accessible to those with disabilities.

But the measure failed in the November 2006 election by 2,000 votes.

Now, the Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library have established a working group that has teamed up with library administration and staff from Councilwoman Jane Brunner’s office to consider whether to try and find money to rent the current space or another nearby building, build a new city-owned library or buy a property nearby, particularly in a redevelopment area to bring in more money to the city.

Gerry Garzon, associate director of the Oakland Public Library,  said the advisory group includes Oakland and Piedmont residents to get a sense of what the community would like to see happen.

While Piedmont residents can use any library branch in the city, Garzon said they are particularly concerned about what happens to the Piedmont branch.

"They use that library extensively and are interested in its future," he said.

Piedmont does not have its own public library and contracts with the city of Oakland for library services, paying $355 thousand per year under its current agreement. That money goes to Oakland’s general fund.

Brunner and the group cosponsored two community meetings on the subject in May.

Brunner’s Chief of Staff Zac Wald said the library is a “very special, very well used part of the community” and their office is looking at all short and long-term options. 

“We’re doing everything we can,” he said. 

Community, residents weigh in

In addition to the meetings, Friends of the Piedmont Avenue Branch Library posted a survey on the websites for the Piedmont Avenue Merchants Association and Piedmont Avenue Neighborhood Improvement League in May.

The survey received 500 responses, according to Lahti.

Sixty-nine percent of respondents said the library needs to be bigger, while only 37 percent said they wanted the library to stay in its current location.  Seventy-four percent said they supported a tax on homeowners to fund a new library.

A similar tax assessment district, called a Mello-Roos district, is in effect for the Rockridge branch, located one mile away. Wald said whether Piedmont Avenue residents support such a tax is one of the critical questions to answer in determining the fate of the library.

Woods said one building officials are particularly eyeing is the yellow structure at 3770 Piedmont Ave., which used to hold Kaiser Permanente offices and is currently up for sale.

The Piedmont Avenue branch, for which the city does pay all utilities, maintenance and property taxes, is currently only one of a few of the city's 16 library properties it does not currently own.

Garzon said others include the Cesar Chavez branch, for which the city negotiated to pay all its rent upfront and now only pays common area expenses (for such things as utilities and maintaining the restrooms) and the Eastmont branch, the lease for which was negotiated when the facility opened in 1998, so the rent is below current market value.

Neil Goodhue said the $4,250 figure is as well. Goodhue said when he bought the property he was willing to lease it to the city for less than market value, and has worked with officials since January to come up with the $4,250 monthly rent figure.

The property was recently appraised at between $5,000 and $6,000 a month, and Goodhue said he and his wife Diane have been approached by a number of businesses willing to pay that amount.

Last year Goodhue said Citibank asked him at the time of purchase if he would honor the $1 per month rent for one year and he agreed, which is why it is in effect until this upcoming Oct. 31.

Since it bought the library property in the early 1980s, Citibank offered the rent at such as low price as a gesture of community goodwill, Goodhue said, adding he couldn’t keep the rent that low because “I’m not in a financial position to continue that.”

The Piedmont Avenue property was one of several Goodhue bought from Citibank last year.

Wald said he believes Goodhue as a businessman sees the property as “a profit center,” a means to make money instead of benefit the community.

“We would really have liked to see the $1 a month rent continue,” Wald said, adding that he thinks Citibank went into the process of selling the property with the notion that whomever bought it “would consider the library sacrosanct.”

Citibank and the city were both shocked, Wald said, when Goodhue announced he would raise the rent, especially to near market value.

But Wald said their office recognized years ago that the Citibank deal “was a position to be in that didn’t have a guarantee,” so they came up with a plan to work with a developer to build a multi-storied structure — which would also house condominiums — in the parking lot adjacent to the current library.

Those were different economic times, however, and Wald said that in any case, no amount of planning would prepare the city to find the money to pay the new rent.

Moving forward

According to the April CEDA document, the City Council “wishes to continue to occupy this location because it is adjacent to a commercial corridor, convenient to residents in the area and the library is very well used.”

At its April 13 meeting, council members approved to pay the new rent amount in a one-year lease beginning November 2010, which will total $51,000, as well as provide the option for a one-year renewal.

Goodhue said he signed the contract two weeks ago.

Funds through June 2011 will come from Measure Q, a library parcel tax expansion passed in March 2004 that amended the Library Services Retention and Enhancement Act Oakland voters passed in 1994. The tax is slated to remain in effect until the end of the 2024 fiscal year.

Funding for the balance of the remaining four months and renewal under the one-year option will be addressed as part of the City's FY 2011-13 budget process.

Goodhue said he offered to lease the space to the city for up to 10 years, but finance officials told him given their economic outlook, they could not commit beyond two or three years.

He said he has tried contacting Brunner's office to correct any misconceptions that he has been unwilling to compromise with the city, but has not heard back.

“The ball is in their court,” Goodhue said.

Most of the library patrons Oakland Local spoke with said they did not know the property had been sold. Shandra and Larry Miller said they were shocked. The couple said the library is walking distance from their home and they come often, about once a week.

Shasta Norris said she had heard the library might relocate and actually likes its small size.

“I think that would be sad,” she said. “This building is so charming.”

There have been two community meetings so far, one on May 12 and the latest May 20, both of which were well attended, according to Lahti. Additional public meetings are scheduled for late summer or early fall, she said.

However, Wald said he doesn’t see local residents giving up.

“I don’t believe the residents of Piedmont Avenue will let this go without a fight,” he said.