The Frankford Branch has been shut down since the beginning of April, and was suppose to be reopened this week, but postponed until August. The entire building could have been torn down, and a state of the art facility built, in the time it has taken to install a new air conditioner system. Nothing has been done for weeks in repairing the system. Frankford is a big time cooling station for me and other locals. The branch is less than three blocks from my apartment. Any other branch costs me SEPTA tokens. Because of health issues, I need to be able to get home quickly, and a three block walk from the Frankford branch is much different than a 20 minute Septa ride home. Also, if I need to get home in the middle of the day due to health issues, it cost me more Septa token to get back to a cooling station branch of the library. In the 15 years living in the neighborhood, there are many local families who rely on the Frankford Branch for their children. Children can do their homework in the nice warm library in the winter time, an air conditioned place to take the children in the summertime. There are many landlords that do not provide enough heat in the winter --- my last landlord claimed he set the heat at 63 degrees to be environmentally conscience. Sixty three degrees. There is no air conditioning provided during the summer, and my building can be ten to twenty degrees warmer inside than outside on a warm summer day or warm summer night. I am not the only person who suffers this kind of nonsense in my neighborhood. The Frankford building is right there, and so close to me and so many other people in the neighborhood, but no one cares about the poor or low income families in Philadelphia. It would not be impossible to get the situation rectified by the end of the week, and before the next heat wave. Yes, it cost money, but it has been three months of nothing, and at some point the City needs to wake up and realize that the lives of poor people do matter.

We are working hard to restore a cool and safe environment for you, other patrons, and staff at Frankford Library and other libraries without sufficient heating and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems. This has taken longer than anticipated. We absolutely understand your frustration and are working on resolving the issues afflicting Frankford and other locations. Jennifer/Communications Coordinator