Red Hook Library plan shelved, by George Fiala

According to today’s Daily News, the plan to split the Red Hook Library into a library and a rehearsal space has squashed. Library spokesperson Emma Woods is quoted as saying “We heard the community’s concerns and are going to have a robust dialogue with Red Hook residents, community leaders adn elected officials before moving forward with any project.”

Library 'honchos' listening to Velmanette Montgomery at recent library meeting.
Library ‘honchos’ listening to Velmanette Montgomery at recent library meeting.

At the recent meeting where the plan, two years in planning, was finally unleashed to the general public, library representatives used the words “robust” and “dialogue,” many times.

The article states that the library estimates that nearly $2 million is needed to upgrade the library’s air conditioning system. They also would like to install modern automatic checkout stations and create a new children’s space.

At the same time that the library executives and others claim that the library is greatly underutilized, so much so that almost half the space could be taken up by a rehearsal studio for performing artists, they seem to feel that automatic checkout stations are necessary.

It remains to the community to continue to focus on the library. Potential users of the library told the Star-Revue that they do not use the library much because there is a very limited selection of books. Barnes and Noble provides a much richer selection and those that can go to Park Slope or Brooklyn Heights do so.  Others have said they go to the library and order books which the library will then have shipped from other branches, but with a time lag. This latter service is very useful, and can be utilized by all residents of Red Hook.

 

UPDATEWe have been contacted by the public relations representative of the Brooklyn Public Library, who seem to take issue with the substance of the Daily News story, from which the above was based. Their statement to us is: “We heard the community’s concerns, and are going to have a robust dialogue with Red Hook residents, community leaders, and elected officials before moving forward with any project. Our goal is, and has been, to create a dynamic and vibrant library that serves the needs of the Red Hook community.”

Which is of course different from shelving, or squashing the project.

We also received communication from Spaceworks, the company that is supposedly contracted to create and manage the potential rehearsal space:

“We heard the concerns of the community expressed at the Community Board 6 meeting in July. We are committed to continuing this process, cooperating with the library, and hearing more from the Red Hook community.

Our core mission is to provide affordable space to artists and cultural organizations. We believe this strengthens the cultural landscape of the city, and complements vibrant neighborhoods.”

We interpret the above to mean that the library/Spaceworks team hasn’t given up and will try to convince the Red Hook community that they have a good idea. The next step then will be to appear at the next Land Use meeting, probably in September, armed with actual figures and a clearer report on the proposed renovations, as demanded by Community Board 6.

 

 

Author

Share:

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn

One Comment

  1. I am glad to hear the BPL is listening to Red Hook. Now it needs to listen to Brooklyn Heights and stop its library destruction plan

On Key

Related Posts

MUSIC: Wiggly Air, by Kurt Gottschalk

Apparitions of the Eternal Earth. On their monolithic 2022 debut, Eyes Like Predatory Wealth, the Houston, TX trio Apparitions set forth a slow burn with three tracks running, in sequence, 10, 20 and 30 minutes. The fire has been spreading ever since. In 2023, they issued the digital-only Semel, with three poundingly untitled tracks, and this month comes Volcanic Reality (CD

Quinn on Books: “Lost in Love”

“Lost in Love”: Review of “Horse Crazy,” by Gary Indiana, introduction by Tobi Haslett,   Reviewed by Michael Quinn Years ago, I fell for a recovering drug addict. I met him at a funeral for a man we had both been involved with. When he caught me looking, he smiled—a slow, disarming gesture that made my heart thump like a

The Impact of 9,000 New Apartments on Red Hook: A Community’s Concerns

I’ve been trying to calculate how many new apartment buildings are needed to accommodate the 7,000 to 9,000 housing units the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC) wants to add to our neighborhood to help pay for the redevelopment of the Brooklyn Marine Terminal, the 122-acre strip of waterfront extending from our neighborhood, through the Columbia Waterfront District, to Atlantic Avenue.