Library supporters to speak out at Monday Council hearing
Group seeks library sale moratorium
Library supporters across New York City plan to make their voices heard at a City Council oversight hearing on Monday. The topic of the 1 p.m. hearing, held by the Committee on Cultural Affairs, Libraries and International Intergroup Relations, is “capital construction needs and the potential disposal of libraries in New York City.”
The Pacific branch in Boerum Hill and the Brooklyn Heights branch of Brooklyn Public Library are two of the city’s libraries facing sale and redevelopment, along with the Central Library in Manhattan, which faces Draconian shrinkage, and the Mid-Manhattan and Science Industry and Business Libraries, which face closure. (The Pacific branch has received a reprieve through the efforts of City Council Member Letitia James.)
The Donnell Library, sold in 2007, is being shrunk by more than two-thirds, from 97,000 to 28,000 square feet. The New York Public Library is netting only $39 million from the sale, while the penthouse in the skyscraper replacing the library is priced at $60 million.