TRENDING
City urged to help foot $300M bill for Brooklyn library fixes
Nonprofit calls on de Blasio to act; says some branches have roofs that are collapsing
A civic nonprofit is rallying at Prospect Park’s Grand Army Plaza today to convince Mayor Bill de Blasio to help pay for the $300 million in building repairs needed at Brooklyn Public Library’s 60 locations.
Several of the branches in the system have broken elevators, collapsing roofs and poorly functioning air conditioning. The group, Citizens Defending Libraries, pointed to a $3.5 million AC unit needed at the Brooklyn Heights library located at 280 Cadman Plaza West.
City officials did not provide a comment to the New York Daily News, which reported the story.
In February, library officials revealed plans to sell the Brooklyn Heights site to a developer who would build condominiums above a ground-floor library. Proceeds from the sale would go toward making repairs at multiple branches. Various developers bidding for the site were required to include at least 20,000 square feet of library space and affordable housing when proposing designs, as previously reported. [NYDN] — Mark Maurer