DC 37, NYC’s Largest Public Employee Union, Slams Sell-off of Libraries

DC 37, New York City’s largest public employee union, has come out strongly against the selling off of branch libraries as part of NYPL’s renovation plans. “We can solve the funding crisis without selling our cultural heritage,” says Local 1482 President Eileen Muller, quoted in an article published on the DC 37 website  The article goes on to note:

Critics say the sell-offs are unnecessary and irresponsible and amount to handing over public gems to real estate developers without guaranteeing the public any improvement in library services.

They point to the 2007 botched sale of the Donnell branch in Manhattan as an example of what can go awry when public services are needlessly subjected to market forces.

The article also quotes Ada Louise Huxtable’s evaluation of the Central Library Plan: if the NYPL carries out the plan, the Library “would undertake its own destruction.”

The article is well worth reading in full:
Communities and DC 37 Mobilize to Stop Library Sell-Offs