I'm not optimistic at the moment. While putting up these notices just now, I inspected the bent hinges preventing the door from closing. They are welded onto both the metal frame of the box as well as the metal door. I'm not sure how easy it will be to bend them back. No doubt when they do get around to fixing it, they will probably have to remove the box, hopefully temporarily. Will I regret telling them? I can't imagine my walks without seeing the red box there, even without books.
It would almost seem easier to at least adjust the sprinkler head nearby. The water that reaches that far is wasted anyway.
The ruined books included mostly paperback thrillers, and only a few childrens books consisting of thin picture books of Judaica that all appeared at once last month---one about a Jewish immigrant girl coming to New York in the early 20th century, another about life in the Shtetl, and another about a Golem. There were also a couple Harry Potter paperbacks. I tried reading Harry Potter (the first one) years ago but it did not engage me enough to continue past the first chapters.
Among the books remaining inside, I removed the last apparently undamaged book and carried it home with me. It is a hardback novel with a dust jacket called Back Fire: An FBI Thriller by Catherine Coulter that was withdrawn from the Scottsdale Library. Not my usual reading material, but I will keep it for now and put it back when it is safe to do so.
I will regret my intervention if they permanently remove the box. The title of the book I rescued does not give my great hope. In any case, it is out of my hands now.
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