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Supporting the allocation of state bonding toward the East Side Freedom Library project.
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Whereas, the historic Carnegie Library 1105 Greenbrier Street, Saint Paul, has been a central institution in the East Side community for 98 years, and it has received recognition by the National Registry of Historic Place and the Saint Paul Heritage Preservation Commission, and
Whereas, the new non-profit East Side Freedom Library, led by neighborhood residents, took possession of this building through a fifteen year lease with the City of Saint Paul in June 2014, and
Whereas, they have been restoring, renovating, and reinventing the building, providing hundreds of thousands of dollars in books, art works, and material objects, including the local Hmong Archives, and developing programs which honor the immigrant working people who have made the East Side their home for the past 150 years and educate the wider community about the importance of the labor movement, and
Whereas, the Minnesota labor movement has long sought the development of an institution which would preserve and teach the history of working people and unions throughout the state,
Therefore, be it resolved, that the City of Saint Paul does hereby support the allocation of $2.2 million in state bonding support toward this project, for the capital needs of the restoration, renovation, and preservation of this historic building in its new presence as the East Side Freedom Library.