Pulaski Library Fund Gets $100,000 Boost

Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

By Lara Becker Liu
Staff Writer

The Group 14621 Community Association is another step closer to refurbishing the old Pulaski Library and moving its Community Technology Center, a cafe and archive space for the Polish community inside.

Rep. Louise Slaughter, D-Fairport, on Monday announced an additional $100,000 in funding for the project, bringing the total amount raised to just under $500,000. Group 14621 has said it needs at least $1 million to renovate the building.

The library, at Hudson Avenue and Norton Street, was built in 1931 and named after the Revolutionary War hero, Polish-born Gen. Casimir Pulaski. But it closed from lack of funding in 1994 and has remained vacant.

The building’s closing was “a natural heartbreak for me,” said Slaughter. “We tried everything we could think of not to close it.” Since then, she added, “the deterioration has been dreadful.”

The federal funds announced Monday will be used to stabilize the building, and repair water-damaged areas and the roof.

“This will more than allow us to do that,” said Group 14621 Executive Director Joan Roby Davison.

The $100,000 is the only major funding to be secured by the group since last December, when Assembly David Gantt informed the group of an award of $65,000. Fundraising has been slow, owing in part to the sluggish economy and competing projects.

“If this were Trading Spaces, we’d be able to do this with $5,000 and 30,000 people over a weekend,” said Slaughter. “But it’s been slow going.”

Meanwhile, the Community Technology Center operates from temporary quarters at 1476 St. Paul St. In the three years it has been there, the center has served about 400 residents, according to director Carrie Cleveland.

The Polish community archive also has been stashed in a temporary location:

“Our archives are tucked away in a third floor convent (in St. Stanislaus Church),” said Gene Golomb, president of the Polonia Civic Center Inc. “We’d like to get it out so people can see it.”

Residents, too, are eager to see the rehabilitation of the building that once figured so prominently in their lives.

“When I was in high school, we used to use the building a lot to look up books for reports. It was very vital to people at Franklin High,” said Patricia Canty, a lifelong neighborhood resident. “I always saw it as a quiet, peaceful place to go. When it closed, it took away a part of the community, changed things.”

Supporters of the project say it’s appropriate that the building, an architectural gem listed on the state and national registers of historic places, be used once again as a sort of “modern library.”

The community technology center will be welcome among the area’s young people who “don’t have some of the things that other young people in other neighborhoods have,” Canty said.

“It’s very needed in this community.”