Some supporters of the Jones Library demolition/expansion project in Amherst have made increasingly desperate and baseless claims, while also taking pains to denigrate fellow townsfolk who do not share their blind faith in this flailing project. Though blind faith was a good name for a great band, having such, as we see on the national political stage, can be dangerous.

It is time for proponents of the Jones plan making these claims to provide proof of their validity.

Here are some questions I have for them:

Have you read the available material and viewed the meetings? I have, and there is a wealth of documentation disputing your assertions.

If the project won’t damage the historical elements of the library, why has the Massachusetts Historical Commission, twice, cited multiple violations of historical standards and rejected almost $2 million in historic tax credits?

If the project is so green, why has only one sustainability measure survived the two rounds of value engineering? Replacing the HVAC system with electric heat pumps would be the first thing that gets done in a repair scenario.

If the Jones Library has been a valued treasure and resource for you and your children, where have you been for over a decade as it languished in disrepair and deferred maintenance?

What delays are you talking about? The time the town took to disenfranchise legitimate petitioners? The months it took for the consultants to get the bidding docs in proper order? The months and years of mismanagement? The delays in this project have been self-inflicted.

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When pointing fingers and using words filled with vitriol (including some that may be legally actionable for slander and libel) what exactly do you think we “naysayers” have to gain by attempting a more reasonable and less expensive approach to protecting what all of us value?

Why are you not talking about the exorbitant cost?

Fact: The project went from $36 million to $46 million and the lone bid came in $7 million over that. The planned “value engineering” is more than wiped out by cost escalation, rejected tax credits, and grants at risk for lack of compliance. Fundraising is many, many millions short and the town will be on the hook for it.

It’s time to get to work on what we can afford, including addressing all the other unmet needs in town.

Rita K. Burke

Amherst