Monthly Archives: October 2013
UPDATE – AT THE REQUEST OF THE NYPL, THE ASSEMBLY HEARING HAS BEEN POSTPONED UNTIL DECEMBER 13TH (SAME TIME AND LOCATION)
Assembly Member Micah Kellner, Chair of the Committee on Libraries and Education Technology, has called another public hearing on the sale of New York City library buildings to private developers on Thursday, October 31, in Manhattan. This hearing is a follow up to the one held in June, and will examine the Central Library Plan and feasible alternatives to the sale of the Mid-Manhattan and Science, Industry, and Business Libraries, and the destruction of the stacks at the iconic 42nd Street Library.
The Committee to Save the New York Public Library needs a big show of support at this hearing! Please attend, and demonstrate to our elected officials that New Yorkers do care what happens to their libraries and the services they provide!
Thursday, October 31, 10:30am
250 Broadway, 19th Floor, room 1923
(between Murray Street and Park Place, across from City Hall)
Arrive early to go through security (10:00am), and bring valid photo ID
Please join us and voice your concerns about the Central Library Plan. As at the June hearing, we will be speaking against the cost of the plan, the proposed destruction of the historic seven-story book stacks in the 42nd Street Library, the proposed sale of the Mid-Manhattan Library, and the shrinkage of the Mid-Manhattan and Science, Industry and Business Library into a space one-third their current size. We will ask again for an independent audit of the cost of the plan, along with an analysis of the cost of alternatives such as combining the Science, Industry and Business Library and the Mid-Manhattan in a rehabilitated and expanded building on the Mid-Manhattan site.
If you wish to testify at the hearing, the Assembly requires speakers to pre-register by submitting a Public Hearing Reply Form NO LATER THAN THURSDAY, OCTOBER 24. The form can be submitted via email or fax to the contact person listed below, and can be found online here: http://assembly.state.ny.us/comm/Library/20131008/
Speakers are allotted 3 minutes each for oral testimony. Ten copies of any prepared testimony must be submitted at the hearing room registration desk, so that each member of the committee can have a copy.
If you wish to attend but not speak, there is no need to pre-register.
If you wish to submit testimony but cannot appear in person at the hearing, you can still send a statement in the form of a .pdf or Word document to the address listed below, for up to two weeks after the hearing:
Lindsey Facteau, Legislative Analyst
Assembly Committee on Libraries and Education Technology
Suite 1147, Alfred E. Smith Building
80 South Swan Street
Albany, New York 12248
Email: facteaul@assembly.state.ny.us
Phone: (518) 455-4881
Fax: (518) 455-4128
Representatives from Citizens Defending Libraries will be speaking against the proposed sale and shrinkage of branch libraries in Brooklyn and across the city.