Illinois community journalist says fee for library meeting space is retaliatory

In a move a community news editor called retaliation for his reporting, journalist Kevin Gosztola was notified on July 22, 2025, that he must now pay for previously free community meeting space at a public library in Elmwood Park, Illinois.

Gosztola runs the Elmwood Park Advocate, a Substack newsletter that covers local news in the Chicago suburb. (Full disclosure: Gosztola has also previously worked as a contractor for the Freedom of the Press Foundation, of which the U.S. Press Freedom Tracker is a project.)

In June and July, Gosztola hosted meetings with community members at the Elmwood Park Public Library to discuss local issues, he told the Tracker.

When he first reserved the room to host the meeting, he said he filled out a form that asked him to check whether his organization was a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Gosztola described the Advocate as a nonprofit, but conceded it is not officially registered as such, and so he checked “no” on the form.

For the first two meetings, Gosztola said he was not asked to pay a fee to reserve the library rooms to host his meetings.

But when Gosztola tried to reserve the same room for an August meeting, he said the library director, Michael Consiglio, notified him via email July 22 that he would need to pay $100.

“I would like to inform you that I am waiving any previous charges that may have been incurred during past reservations but were not invoiced. This gesture is being extended as a courtesy,” Consiglio said in the email, which was reviewed by the Tracker.

Gosztola said he believes the change is in retaliation for the newsletter’s perceived alignment with local opposition political candidates and the mistaken belief that it will focus on electing them in the future.

“They’re infringing upon my access to the meeting room as a journalist, which I’ve been using to further my newsgathering activities,” Gosztola told the Tracker. “They think that this newsletter is some kind of a threat to them politically, that it will be used to help furnish and support opposition candidates when elections come around in the town.”

Consiglio disputed Gosztola’s characterization. “I want to state unequivocally that these claims are entirely unfounded and without merit,” he wrote the Tracker. “The decision to enforce the policy had nothing to do with the content of Mr. Gosztola’s reporting or his political views. It was prompted solely by community concerns and my duty to apply Library policies fairly and without exception.”

Gosztola said he met on July 28 with Consiglio, who told him that a group of people, including library board President Chris Pesko, had pressured Consiglio to begin charging Gosztola for using the room. Pesko did not reply to a request for comment.

Consiglio acknowledged to the Tracker that “several concerned residents” contacted him in mid-July, questioning why Gosztola and the Advocate were allowed to use the library’s meeting space without paying a fee.

“After reviewing the Library’s publicly posted Meeting Room Policy, I concluded that the standard fee must be applied consistently to all individuals and organizations that do not meet the definition of a community-based nonprofit,” Consiglio said.

Gosztola was asked to pay the fee, Consiglio said, because the Advocate is not a recognized nonprofit.

The library policy, last updated in 2024, says that while Elmwood Park government agencies and nonprofit community groups do not have to pay to reserve rooms, “for-profit organizations” must pay $100 per hour to use the space.

Gosztola said that although the Advocate is not an officially registered nonprofit, it also isn’t accurate to call it a for-profit organization. The newsletter is free to subscribers, he said, and it has received less than $100 in donations. “I don’t make a lot as a journalist,” he added.