To: 
Oren Auslin, President, Board of Trustees, Director - Jersey City Free Public Library
Jersey City Deputy Mayor of Education
Jersey City Mayor
From: The Friends & Neighbors of the Five Corners Community
Subject: Petition Regarding the Closure of the Five Corners Branch Library

Dear Mr. Auslin and Members of the Board of Trustees of JCFPL, JCFPL Director Hill, Deputy Mayor Bryant, and Mayor Solomon,

On behalf of the residents, families, students, and community members of Journal Square, we are writing to express our profound concern and deep disappointment regarding the sudden closure of the Five Corners Branch Library.

Social infrastructure—especially public libraries—is an essential means of fighting inequality, building civic trust, and uplifting communities. The Five Corners Branch is an important site of local infrastructure: a welcoming, safe, and democratic "third space" for individuals and families from all backgrounds, incomes, and circumstances. From longtime Jersey City residents to new Americans, Five Corners has long served as a refuge, a cultural hub, and a place to discover knowledge.

Journal Square needs more third spaces, not fewer. The neighborhood already has too few places for residents to gather, connect, and build community. To our experience as close neighbors, the fact that residents often look beyond Journal Square for those opportunities only underscores why Five Corners must remain a permanent public anchor at its current location.

We acknowledge the serious infrastructure challenges detailed in your recent announcement—specifically the failure of the HVAC system and the necessary environmental remediation required before major capital work can proceed. We agree that public funds must be spent wisely and that our community ultimately deserves a safe, modern facility.

However, we cannot allow a vital public asset to be lost to disinvestment or neglect. Closing this branch without a fully activated, transition plan for a brick-and-mortar at the same site strips our neighborhood of services that are quite literally survival essentials:

• Essential Technology & Lifelines: In addition to books, Five Corners provides free access to computers, printers, scanners, and high-speed Wi-Fi—tools required to navigate modern life, whether applying for jobs, paying bills, or launching a small business.
• Diverse & Inclusive Resources: The branch houses rich, curated collections in various South Asian languages, directly serving and reflecting the rich cultural diversity of the Journal Square neighborhood and Jersey City.
• Vital Social Services: Five Corners is a designated cooling center during hazardous summer heat waves, an official polling station for our elections, a distribution site for free summer meals for school-aged children, and one of the few places offering accessible, clean public restrooms in the area.
• Neighborhood Programs & Cultural Anchor: From storytimes for toddlers and STEM/STEAM activities for teens, to adult art classes, yoga, free health screenings, and author readings, the library enriches lives at every stage. As Jersey City’s historical fine arts library,  Five Corners has long given the public access to free film screenings, concerts, and dance recitals through its spacious auditorium, stage, and audio-visual system
• Architectural & Environmental Value: The building itself is an architecturally significant Mid-Century Modern landmark and a public space that communicates dignity and worth to everyone who walks through its doors. It is a structure with unique historical value and should be preserved as part of Jersey City’s heritage.

While stationing a Bookmobile outside the building is a well-intentioned gesture, a mobile unit cannot host after-school programs, shelter residents from extreme weather, offer quiet study space, or replace a fully functioning neighborhood library.

We are also deeply concerned by how suddenly this decision was made. Community members reviewed several years of Library Board meeting records and did not identify a sustained public discussion of deteriorating conditions at Five Corners, an imminent need to close the branch, or a repair-versus-relocation analysis. A closure of this magnitude should not occur without advance planning, public notice, meaningful community consultation, and a clear path to reopening.

Before abandoning or relocating this branch, the Library and City must also exhaust every available source of capital and grant funding. The Main Library received a $5 million grant supported by a $5 million city match. Journal Square deserves the same ambition and investment. State, federal, county, municipal, philanthropic, and historic-preservation funding opportunities should all be fully pursued to remediate, modernize, and reopen Five Corners.

At a time when public goods across the country are increasingly devalued, we cannot allow this essential public resource to be strip-mined, scrapped, or quietly handed over to private developers. If this land is sold or lost to private interests, an irreplaceable public good is gone forever.

Therefore, we urge the Board of Trustees and Library Leadership to commit to the following:

• Expedite an Indoor Temporary Location: Prioritize and rapidly secure an accessible, full-service storefront or temporary physical location in the immediate Five Corners/Journal Square area, not at a distance, to maintain continuous access to books, computers, programs, and climate-controlled public space.
• Guarantee Reopening at the Current Location: Explicitly commit that the Five Corners Branch at 678 Newark Avenue will be fully remediated, upgraded, preserved, and reopened as a full-service public library. Relocation should not replace the restoration of this essential public facility.
• Preserve and Protect the Building: Commit that the property will not be demolished, sold, transferred, or offered for private redevelopment, and immediately pursue evaluation for historic designation.
• Pursue Full Capital and Grant Funding: Develop and publish a funding strategy that includes grant opportunities, city matching funds, capital reserves, historic-preservation resources, and all other available public funding.
• Commit to Reopening & Preservation: Explicitly guarantee that the Five Corners Branch will be fully remediated, upgraded, and reopened.
• Offer a Transparent Timeline & Public Town Hall: Publish a clear roadmap for both temporary services and long-term capital plans, and host an in-person public forum to listen directly to the concerns of the Journal Square community.

Public libraries are not a luxury; they are part of the bedrock of civic life. The residents of Journal Square should not be forced to choose between a safe library and no library. They deserve a swift, concrete commitment that the Five Corners Branch will be protected, fully restored, and reopened at the location that has served this community for generations.

We stand ready to partner with the Board of Trustees, City officials, and community stakeholders to secure the funding and support needed to keep Five Corners thriving.

Respectfully,

Journal Square Community Association
Pershing Field Neighborhood Association
The Hilltop Neighborhood Association
Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy
Heights Community Coalition
Central Heights Neighborhood Association
JC Heights Parents
Riverview Neighborhood Association
Journal Square & Surrounding Communities