Mayor Bloomberg defunded New York libraries at a time of increasing public use, population growth and increased city wealth, shrinking our library system to create real estate deals for wealthy real estate developers at a time of cutbacks in education and escalating disparitiesin opportunity. It’s an unjust and shortsighted plan that will ultimately hurt New York City’s economy and competitiveness.
It should NOT be adopted by those we have now elected to pursue better policies.
Showing posts with label Brooklyn Borough President. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Brooklyn Borough President. Show all posts
First, before considering the vote, consider a background reference this page (with pictures) about our rally the day before outside Brooklyn Borough Hall with links to our press release and letter to Borough President Eric Adams asking for instillation of transparency and that the vote be delayed and not occur without it. This page has links to press coverage, including a radio report from WBAI reporter Mitchell; Cohen.
The Patch article has the brilliant concluding quote from Councilman Steve Levin used in the image at the top of this page. (The Brooklyn Eagle article has a picture of a lonely Levin being interviewed by NY1 in a vast empty Borough Hall space around the time he gave that quote.)
City Council members who disgraced themselves voting for this rigged deal included not only Council members Levin and, of course, the fervent library sales advocate Brad Lander (ditto David Greenfield), but also Carlos Menchaca who favors pushing through the no-bid sale of the Sunset Park Library for redevelopment, Mark Treyger, Vincent Gentile (despite the fact that when he was campaigning and needed and wanted voted he signed our letter of support calling for the opposite) and Laurie Cumbo who, in her statement at the City Council vote let the cat out of the bag that Steve Levin had been working against, the community's wishes for months.
Beginning at 17 minutes in you will see activists, including members of Citizens Defending Libraries (thank you Patti and Mary), holding up signs that express that they are opposed to the sale of the library.(some images below). This turned into an image the Brooklyn Papers used in its coverage of the event. Just before that moment Borough President Adams silences Citizens Defending Libraries co-founder Michael D. D. White threatening to eject him from the proceedings for calling on Councilman Steve Levin to state when he would finally take action to to insist on transparency seated himself to state his support for the sale and shrinkage of the library (without transparency).
Borough President Eric Adams threatens to evict, demanding silence when CDL's Michael D. D. White calls out to Councilman Levin asking when he will observe his fundamental obligation as a city councilman to demand transparency about the library sales.
Citizens Defending Libraries in the Borough Hall lobby awaiting the electeds coming out of the Borough Board vote after the vote. NY1 was filming, but reports on the national primaries is what aired instaed, plus a library story- See next image.
Opening up a new battlefront (of making further advances on it) NY1 reported this same evening that ex-mayor Bloomberg presided over the installation of his man, Dennis Walcott, as the new chief of the Queens Library, the one NYC Library system that resisted selling libraries and turning them into real estate deals. Bloomberg is, of course, the mayor who underfunded libraries at an unprecedented level, an excuse, when he introduced the idea, to sell and shrink them. BPL Linda Johnson says that the sale and shrinkage of the Brooklyn Heights Library will be used a s model for transactions in all three systems.
Here is a link to a 8.5 minute special downloadable March 1st radio report on the press conference by WBAI reporter Mitchel Cohen who has already produced several other radio reports on the library sales aired by WBAI:
LINK TO DOWNLOAD special 8.5 minute March 1st radio report on the press
conference by WBAI reporter Mitchel Cohen
We are looking for better photos when the entire crowd had arrived. Please send if you have them.
