di Matt A. V. Chaban
On a recent afternoon, students from down the block and around the world scribbled out homework, studied with tutors, practiced English and honed their chess skills. On the walls, posters promoted not just reading but citizenship services and business-planning classes. Parents and children alike sat at banks of computers, indulging in a world of knowledge that many New Yorkers take for granted.
It was a hive of activity, one that actually buzzed. Four portable air-conditioners the size of refrigerators blasted air through coiled ducts. One could be forgiven for thinking the place was being fumigated, but really, the central air wasd broken and has been for years.
The patrons of the Sunset Park library, one of the 20 busiest in the city, are hardly alone in their love for, and frustration with, their local branch. Demand for libraries reaches new highs with each passing year (nearly 34 million visits in 2016), while many of New York’s branches are woefully outmoded (the average library is 62 years old).
New York, graced with the generosity of Astor, Tilden and Carnegie, was foundational in the library movement. Today, those foundations are crumbling. Despite their popularity, and because of it, the city’s 212 branches face nearly $1.5 billion in capital needs. And that is simply to reach a state of good repair.
Chipping away at these needs can seem overwhelming. But New York has an opportunity, one shared by cities across the country, to improve library infrastructure while creating badly needed housing. By using aging branches as sites for development, new libraries may rise with affordable apartments on top. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio should seize the chance at sites citywide to link these crucial needs.
Michelle de la Uz has made a career of tackling complicated affordable housing projects. As the executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, she has helped build hundreds of units inside developments that include community spaces, medical offices and prekindergartens. “It shouldn’t just be the communities that can support these projects — every neighborhood, and every community, deserves great civic spaces,” said Ms. de la Uz, who is also a city planning commissioner.
In 2014, the city selected the Fifth Avenue Committee to undertake the novel task of redeveloping the Sunset Park branch. There, an eight-story building will rise, with the first two floors dedicated to a library 75 percent larger than the one there now. The floors above will have 49 apartments, all of which will be rented to low- and middle-income families in perpetuity.
Imagine if the city did the same at the branch in Corona, Queens, where cramped quarters force study groups to huddle on the floor; or Red Hook, Brooklyn, where families from the nearby housing projects are eager for more job training; or Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where rising sea levels and storms like Sandy threaten its very operations.
Continua la lettura su The New York Times
On a recent afternoon, students from down the block and around the world scribbled out homework, studied with tutors, practiced English and honed their chess skills. On the walls, posters promoted not just reading but citizenship services and business-planning classes. Parents and children alike sat at banks of computers, indulging in a world of knowledge that many New Yorkers take for granted.
It was a hive of activity, one that actually buzzed. Four portable air-conditioners the size of refrigerators blasted air through coiled ducts. One could be forgiven for thinking the place was being fumigated, but really, the central air wasd broken and has been for years.
The patrons of the Sunset Park library, one of the 20 busiest in the city, are hardly alone in their love for, and frustration with, their local branch. Demand for libraries reaches new highs with each passing year (nearly 34 million visits in 2016), while many of New York’s branches are woefully outmoded (the average library is 62 years old).
New York, graced with the generosity of Astor, Tilden and Carnegie, was foundational in the library movement. Today, those foundations are crumbling. Despite their popularity, and because of it, the city’s 212 branches face nearly $1.5 billion in capital needs. And that is simply to reach a state of good repair.
Chipping away at these needs can seem overwhelming. But New York has an opportunity, one shared by cities across the country, to improve library infrastructure while creating badly needed housing. By using aging branches as sites for development, new libraries may rise with affordable apartments on top. The administration of Mayor Bill de Blasio should seize the chance at sites citywide to link these crucial needs.
Michelle de la Uz has made a career of tackling complicated affordable housing projects. As the executive director of the Fifth Avenue Committee, she has helped build hundreds of units inside developments that include community spaces, medical offices and prekindergartens. “It shouldn’t just be the communities that can support these projects — every neighborhood, and every community, deserves great civic spaces,” said Ms. de la Uz, who is also a city planning commissioner.
In 2014, the city selected the Fifth Avenue Committee to undertake the novel task of redeveloping the Sunset Park branch. There, an eight-story building will rise, with the first two floors dedicated to a library 75 percent larger than the one there now. The floors above will have 49 apartments, all of which will be rented to low- and middle-income families in perpetuity.
Imagine if the city did the same at the branch in Corona, Queens, where cramped quarters force study groups to huddle on the floor; or Red Hook, Brooklyn, where families from the nearby housing projects are eager for more job training; or Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, where rising sea levels and storms like Sandy threaten its very operations.
Continua la lettura su The New York Times
