The board voted 3-2 to put the planned 10,000-square-foot library branch at 2821 Beacon Avenue South, ousting the Wells Fargo there. The board's vote means they've chosen to substitute one necessary institution in the neighborhood for another. Beacon Hill is thus left taking one step forward (the shabby 25-year-old library sorely needs replacement) and one back (slashing access to capital).
"My greatest concern is that asking a community to trade a tremendously valuable resource to gain another... I don't know why that would have to happen.... It implies that [the neighborhood] is lacking in economic viability," says Shaw Canale, executive director of the Cascadia Revolving Fund, a nonprofit community development bank. "Would you ask another community to have to choose between two major institutions that are so important?"
There is no question about the value of an adequate library. Books, computers, newspapers, and space for community meetings are fundamental tools for educational and cultural progress. But let's face it, our savings and checking accounts and access to loans have a more direct impact on our lives. Regardless, Seattle neighborhoods shouldn't have to make the choice between banks and libraries.
"They've taken everything away from us," says Mary Fontana, a Wells Fargo customer who's upset by the threat to her bank, and has written to city officials. "Gas stations, cleaners, transit, the pharmacy. There's nothing left here. So now they want to take our bank. We want to be treated like Magnolia Bluff citizens."
Fontana, who's in her 70s, moved to Beacon Hill in 1948 and banked at the branch when it was still First Interstate. She says seniors rely on Wells Fargo because it is accessible and many can walk there. But they have few choices. There is only one other full-service bank with a branch on Beacon Hill.
At The Stranger's request, Michael Verchot, the director of the Business and Economic Development Program at the University of Washington Business School, assembled stats showing the number of major bank branches in certain Seattle neighborhoods. Verchot found that banks are not evenly distributed throughout the city. As you might expect, more of them tend to be in wealthier neighborhoods. For example, Capitol Hill has seven branches, and Queen Anne and Magnolia each have five.
Beyond serving individuals, banks are also required by federal law (the 1977 Community Reinvestment Act) to spend money in their communities. On Beacon Hill, between 1996 and 1999, Wells Fargo donated about $6 million to organizations serving the community (like the Asian Counseling & Referral Services, South East Effective Development, and HomeSight) in order to meet its community reinvestment obligations, according to a bank spokesperson.
The bank's disappearance is not a done deal. The bank doesn't want to budge, and could challenge the city in court. However, it's unlikely that a judge would rule against a library.
Wells Fargo Statewide Community Development Officer Grace Jeremia says she is looking for another site, but can't find one on Beacon Hill. "Leaving that community is not an option," she declares. However, as she also points out, unlike the city, the bank can't just seize inhabited property.
The Library Board is drafting legislation proposing to the council that the city condemn the bank's building so that it can seize the property by eminent domain, and the library can ultimately move in. Sadly, the city has turned two essential services into enemies.
