Library Allies Rally at City Hall

A large group of City Councilmembers joined a loud, sign-carrying, button-wearing contingent of library supporters in City Hall Park on April 14 for a rally in support of the city’s three systems, and to object to a combined $81 million in proposed budget cuts.

“We will not support these cuts,” said Queens City Councilman Mark Weprin, who then channeled Dr. Seuss in the spirit of libraries: “We will not support them in the rain. We will not support them on a train. We will not support them in a house. We will not support them with a mouse. We will not support them here or there. We will not support them anywhere. We do not like these cuts. Those who support ‘em are a putz!”

Councilman Vincent Gentile from Brooklyn organized the rally and day of support in honor of National Library Week, and said it was attended by “more councilmembers than any of our other library celebrations.”

“We have a lot of advocates,” he told the group gathered.

And they spoke strongly in favor of the library – City Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, chair of the Council’s library committee, said, “Libraries are not a luxury. They are a necessity. They are a vital and critical service.”

Councilman Leroy Comrie called the libraries “an oasis for so many people,” and joked that weekend service is especially important because his kids are “always telling me on Sunday they have a 10-page paper due.”

Councilwoman Julissa Ferreras said, “Libraries equal jobs” and talked about her first job at a Jackson Heights library branch in Queens at age 14. Councilwomen Letitia James and Margaret Chin discussed reading Grimm’s Fairy Tales as kids in libraries, and Councilman James Sanders said the bulk of his education came “in the library.”

He also said, “The next mayor of New York City may be in the library waiting,” and issued a challenge to current Mayor Michael Bloomberg: “Save the libraries and James Sanders Jr. will read your book.”

The heads of all three library systems also attended the rally, and NYPL President Dr. Paul LeClerc said while he understands the tough economic times, “You’ve got to consider what these places [libraries] mean to our people.”

He mentioned Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor, whose family couldn’t afford to buy her books as a child.

“Where could she read the books she said were so formative in her life,” LeClerc asked. “Only at libraries. A child today could become a Supreme Court justice . . . We have to keep libraries open for them.”