Friday, June 08, 2007

Barnum 'angel' wanted by many, sought by none

By John McTaggart

At least two members of the five-member Ad Hoc Barnum Design Committee favor saving a portion of the Barnum School building if an “angel” can be found to pick up the tab, one of the members says.

But neither they nor any members of the four ad hoc Barnum committees, nor any city official, has approached the most likely angel of all -- Beaumont Hospital, which owned the building for more than 20 years, still occupies and maintains it, and has expressed a keen interest in staying.

The two Barnum committee members join a significant number of Birmingham residents and city officials, including members of two of the four Barnum ad hoc committees, who believe the building can be put to good public or private use, and that such use could defray the cost of improvements to the property.

One of the members, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the committee voted to ask the City Commission to demolish the building next year because, without an angel, “the only feasible option at the present time is to demolish the building. The likelihood of finding someone, no matter how badly you want someone to come along, is very slim.”

But finding someone appears to be the last thing on anyone’s mind. The third Barnum Ad Hoc Property committee gave short shrift to development options, and the only serious investigation by the city into long-term use of the building was for a community center, which was studied thoroughly and rejected by the second Barnum ad hoc committee. Few, if any, other options for use of the building by public or private interests have been considered seriously by the ad hoc committees or city staff.

A spokesman for Beaumont Hospital told the Buzz last week that no one from Birmingham, officially or unofficially, had approached the hospital.

John Labriola, senior vice-president and director of Beaumont-Royal Oak, said the hospital is “happy” at Barnum, that it currently uses about 30,000 of the more than 100,000 square feet of space for in-house training and storage, and that the hospital would welcome the opportunity to stay at Barnum. He said the hospital views Barnum as an ideal location because of its proximity to Beaumont’s Royal Oak and Troy campuses.

But the hospital’s use of Barnum is under threat for the second time in just six months, as the commission is set to consider again Monday night a request from the ad hoc committee to evict Beaumont. The commission rejected the same proposal when it arose in January.

Mayor Tom McDaniel -- a member of the property committee who with Commissioner Don Carney supported the January proposal to evict Beaumont early and proceed with demolition -- has said the committee tried to attract such organizations as the Birmingham Area Senior Coordinating Council (BASCC), but the organization’s coordinator, Theresa Monsour, told the Buzz in April it had never been approached, and had never considered the idea.

And in a May 21 letter to the commission, Monsour and BASCC directors Russell Dixon and Donald Jensen said a statement from the commission that BASCC "didn't want" Barnum "may have been a bit misleading."

"The Barnum location could be viewed as a promising option" for future expansion, the BASCC letter said.

“My feeling is that even if we get this [the demolition] through the City Commission, then we still have about a year or so for an angel to come along and deal with the original Barnum School building,” the anonymous ad hoc committee member said.

The committee voted 4-0 last week to ask the city to move forward with demolition, even though the commission asked it only to issue and evaluate responses to an RFP for the design of Barnum Park. Commissioner Rackeline Hoff, a member of the committee, abstained from the demolition vote saying it was outside the scope of the committee.

The committee expects to issue an RFP for a park designer soon.

The commission meets at 7:30 p.m. Monday at City Hall.