Nope, you are not going to find any easter eggs in this picture, no spring flowers either. With what might be an oil derrick in the back right of the photo, this could be a desert somewhere in the Middle East …or Texas, if it weren’t for the Manhattan skyline at the top. Instead it is an empty lot slated to be the LIC Library(sponsor’s name tbd). Now I don’t know about you, but all I’m reading these days is about municipal budget cuts, the brunt of which seem to be falling on perceived “discretionary” spending such as libraries. I think the average New York City library is open about 3 1/2 hours a month if I’ve been reading correctly. But not here in LIC! We’re getting a brand-spanking new library on the water with drop dead views of Manhattan. Why us? Because in case you haven’t read my other posts, LIC is becoming the center of the universe. Anyway who really cares why as long as they stock Playboy. In other LIC news, we have two more new openings, and surprise surprise: the articles make no mention of Chuck Schumer attending the ribbon-cutting! Actually he was there but his attendance at these press conferences has become the default position for the media so only his absence warrants a mention. Happy Easter and Passover, go get them eggs!
Easter Egg Hunt in Gantry Park this Saturday from 10am – 12pm
The Wizard of LIC says
April 16, 2012 at 6:38 pmInteresting comment from today’s NYT regarding libraries, and sent by a woman in Queens no less:
Mariah
Queens, NY
According to Library Journal, Bloomberg’s proposed FY12-13 budget contains the following library cuts:
Queens: 26.7 million
Brooklyn: 26.9 million
NY (Manhattan and the Bronx): 36 million
NYPL’s four research libraries: 6.8 million
May I respectfully suggest that now is not the time for an expensive building project unless it delivers a) serious expansion of services to undeserved library patrons and b) possibly some genuine long-term savings that would support the expansion of services to undeserved patrons?
This plan seems unlikely to deliver either. It’s difficult to justify more glamorous Manhattan building projects when the libraries of Queens are overflowing with children, library hours are continually under fire, and acquisitions budgets are so weak that the books are mostly old and tattered. Invest where the needs are greatest, please, throughout the city. Yes, I know the systems are separate–but the financing comes from the same pot.