Statement On The Elmwood Park Advocate's Right To Access The Library Meeting Room
The following statement was read by Editor-in-Chief Kevin Gosztola after the Elmwood Park Advocate’s “Community Conversation” on traffic safety concluded. Our gathering took place at the Elmwood Park Public Library on August 16.
When we reserve this room, the Elmwood Park Advocate is expected to submit information requested by the library and agree to abide by the meeting room policy. We must avoid advocacy for the election or defeat of political candidates as well as any advocacy related to ballot measures or public propositions. At all three of our meetings, we have followed this policy.
Yet, in July, I was informed by Library Director Michael Consiglio that Library Board President Chris Pesko and seven or eight other unnamed “patrons” or “residents” had complained about the newsletter’s use of the meeting room. I do not know if these anonymous hecklers are affiliated or not with the village government.
The complaint, as shared with me by the Library Director, was that these hecklers had questioned the “process and rationale behind hosting your meetings at the Library.” They insisted that the library start charging us a rental fee of $100/hour to hold “Community Conversations” in the room, even though we were never asked to pay to use the room for our June and July meetings. In other words, the Library Board President and the unknown “residents” urged the Library Director to interpret the meeting room policy in a manner that would impose an unfair burden on us.
I’ve read the meeting room policy more times than anyone can imagine. The policy does not need to be changed, however, it could be improved so that the policy is more clear. As it stands, the policy says, “In the case of For Profit Organizations, the cost to use the room is $100.00 per hour.” It says nowhere that the library must collect a fee from community groups, neighborhood organizations, or residents with library cards, who use the room for a non-business purpose.
On July 28, I met with the Library Director, along with my colleague Sara. The Library Director informed us that the Library Board President was afraid that we might use the meeting room during the 2027 Village Election to promote opposition candidates. This was apparently serious enough for the Library Board President to bother the Library Director for two months. He started pressuring the Library Director around or just after our first “Community Conversation.” But we left that meeting with a commitment that the library would not charge us to use the room for this conversation on traffic safety.
Then, on August 11, during public comment at a Library Board committee hearing, I shared my viewpoint as a journalist and editor-in-chief of the Elmwood Park Advocate because meeting room policy changes were on the agenda. I specifically mentioned the role of the Library Board President as shared with me by the Library Director. This noticeably upset the Library Director, who sternly insisted that I had misremembered what he said in our July 28 meeting.
Two days before this conversation, on August 14, I suddenly received this email from the Library Director: “Where are we with the payment for Saturday's reservation?” Immediately, I objected and maintained that the newsletter would use the room for today’s conversation and without paying a fee because that is what the Library Director had promised. The next day, the Library Director flip-flopped again: “As I said at the meeting in my office, there won't be a fee for your meeting on August 16.”
I note the presence of Library Board Trustee Mike Monahan [pointed to him] and Library Board Trustee Peter Fosco, who is in the back [pointed to him]. I applaud Fosco for having the Elmwood Park Neighborhood Civic Organization kick in $1200 so that the library could still hold its Indigenous Peoples Day event in October. But I also must note that he has just been in the back of the room like a minder and not really participating.
Now, in our view, the newsletter has engaged in First Amendment-protected actions in a designated public forum. The rationale for hosting our meetings is that library meeting rooms are open to groups or organizations for education, culture, charity, advocacy, civic engagement, religion, or even political discussions.
The newsletter’s access should never be restricted or burdened as a result of the content of our meetings. Our use of the room should not be abridged as a result of our beliefs or affiliations.
Questioning whether the Elmwood Park Advocate will follow the meeting room policy one and a half years from now can only be motivated by how Pesko and a bunch of hecklers perceive the newsletter’s political views/associations—and possibly even by what the newsletter has published.
It’s an infringement of our First Amendment rights when the Library Director gives in to a tiny group of hecklers, who disagree with how the Elmwood Park Advocate may engage in freedom of speech.
The Elmwood Park Advocate will continue to assert our rights as taxpaying residents to use this meeting room free of any additional fees, and we will keep asserting our rights as a news media publication to engage in newsgathering activities in this space.
We invite you to our next “Community Conversation” on Saturday, September 6, at 3 pm, which will be led by Salvadoran immigrant and Elmwood Park resident Silvia Rogel. She’ll lead a discussion with our Hispanic neighbors, who make up nearly 40 percent of the Elmwood Park population.
The conversation will be called: “Bridging Perspectives: A Community Dialogue on Migration and Belonging.”