{"id":70418,"date":"2025-12-25T16:39:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:39:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/70418\/"},"modified":"2025-12-25T16:39:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-25T16:39:10","slug":"settlement-ends-case-against-center-for-lake-erie-education-and-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/70418\/","title":{"rendered":"Settlement ends case against Center for Lake Erie Education and Research"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"CLEER\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The lawsuit regarding Gannon University\u2019s Center for Lake Erie Education and Research at the Blasco Library has been settled, allowing the center and the community to enter 2026 on new footing.<\/p>\n

\u201cFrom the beginning, we believed this center is a community asset and good match for the Blasco Library,\u201d said Gannon University President Walter Iwanenko. \u201cWith this settlement, it is reassuring to know that even those who opposed this project in the beginning support the additional Gannon programming agreed to in the settlement in the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under the terms of a memorandum of understanding that accompanies the settlement, Gannon pledges to assist the public library with its annual library membership drive and with additional regular programming.<\/p>\n

\u201cCooperating on programs is a synergy we envisioned for this center, given its location,\u201d Iwanenko said. Each year, those programs will be determined by the university\u2019s provost and the library\u2019s executive director.<\/p>\n

Keep Our Library Public, a group of Erie citizens, filed a lawsuit in June against County Executive Brenton Davis, Erie County Council and Gannon that challenged the details of the lease and the conditions over which it was reached. That suit has been withdrawn now that a settlement has been reached.<\/p>\n

The settlement also addresses the length of the lease with an initial term of 10 years and the option to extend for four additional five-year terms.\u00a0 The rental rate will be adjusted at each extension.<\/p>\n

Over the first three months of CLEER, which opened Oct. 3, there have been nearly 5,000 visitors to the center. They have been able to experience the NOAA Science on a Sphere \u2013 one of just 206 in the world \u2013 and learned about key environmental issues facing the region in the center\u2019s interactive exhibit area. Students visiting from regional schools have also used the science lab that is part of the 3,280 square feet of space the university is leasing from the county.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlready the community is embracing this project,\u201d Iwanenko said. \u201cWe are proud of CLEER, and we are not surprised so many have taken time to experience it. We expect that to only grow. With the lawsuit settled, we hope we can now focus on the center\u2019s original intent \u2013 educating the public about the wonder of the Great Lakes and the issues that threaten that ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dec. 19 is the effective date of the settlement and the memorandum of understanding that accompanies it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The lawsuit regarding Gannon University\u2019s Center for Lake Erie Education and Research at the Blasco Library has been…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":70419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[136,138,137],"class_list":{"0":"post-70418","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-erie","8":"tag-erie","9":"tag-erie-headlines","10":"tag-erie-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=70418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/70418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/70419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=70418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=70418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=70418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}