Protest For Promised LIC Waterfront Library

Councilman Eric Gioia joined concerned Long Island City residents and advocates recently to petition for a library to be built at Parcel 8 on the Queens waterfront in Long Island City.

Despite an agreement signed by the major developers of the Long Island City waterfront four years ago to build a public library, no work on a library has begun at the site.

A coalition of community activists last week demanded that the developers, Avalon Bay and Queens West, live up to their agreement and start construction.

"The children of Long Island City need and deserve a library," City Councilmember Eric Gioia declared at a waterfront protest rally which included local leaders and neighborhood activists.

Gioia, who represents Long Island City, Woodside, Astoria, Sunnyside and Maspeth, recalled, "When I was growing up in Woodside, I went to the library every day after school at P.S. 11. That library allowed me to immerse myself in a world of books and gave me the chance to open my mind to new opportunities and ideas. Our children today deserve no less."

Assemblymember Catherine Nolan (D-Ridgewood) added: "We've worked hard to secure a large increase in capital library funding. Now is the time for the developers of Queens West to step up to the plate and keep their commitments to the community."

Gioia said he had secured $1 million in city capital funds for the library construction project. The lawmaker said he had also gathered signatures from the community on a petition urging a go-ahead on the project.

Dorothy Hosey, a Long Island City resident and a member of Citizens for Queens West Parcel 8 Library, said, "Libraries have been a very big part of my life since my early childhood in The Bronx. It would be a shame not to have a library here for the children of this neighborhood."-John Toscano