Sunset Park Library
Sunset Park is a busy library with a circulation and attendance that almost ranks the top of the sixty public libraries in Brooklyn. The library opens from Monday to Saturday at 10.00 am. The closing times vary: it closes at 8.00 pm from Tuesday to Thursday, 6.00pm on Mondays and Fridays, and 5.00pm on Saturday. Currently, there are plans to redevelop the Library. The Fifth Avenue Committee and Brooklyn Public Library aim at building a new branch that is almost twenty-one thousand square feet and forty-nine affordable housing units; nine units will be preserved for domestic violence victims.
History
The library was initially called South Branch and was launched on 12/9/1905. The first building was a two-storey in the Classical Revival design. The architects were Lord and Hewlett and the financier were Andrew Carnegie; it was brought own and rebuilt in 1970 and 1972 respectively at the same site. Sunset Park is situated among the highest altitudes in Brooklyn and offers a view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan horizon. Its lengthy waterfront made Sunset Park one of the earliest communities to be settled. In the twentieth century, there was widespread industrialization in the area that attracted various immigrant populations such as Latinos and Europeans.
Importance
The role of libraries in a community cannot be ignored. Sunset Park Library is a source of employment for several members of the society since it hires cleaners, library attendants, plumbers, security guards and janitors. Libraries provide information to everyone regardless of their social status; therefore, poor people can access historical and educational material. During vacations, weekends and summer holidays the library is a source of study materials for high school and college students. As a library that was built in the seventies, it preserves the history of Sunset Park. Information regarding the area such as roadmaps and historical events and culture of the area is found in the library (Trombetta, 2017). Maps are important for tourists and new residents so they do not get lost. Also, the library provides information to business people to make better, informed decisions and employees in different sectors to improve their skills.
Re-development Project
There has been a thirty-four percent increase in the population of Sunset Park from 1990 to 2014; for this reason, the library’s expansion is necessary. The City Council of New York has approved the redevelopment of Sunset Park Library. The library will partner with Fifth Avenue Committee (an organization with forty years’ experience in community development and affordable housing) for the initiative. The new branch will give the neighborhood a unique, modern library, which is twice as big as the current building. The incorporation of affordable housing is a breather to the members of the community who cannot afford the current housing prices. The present library was built in the nineteen-seventies and is therefore unsuitable for modern times; the branch owns 12,200 feet but only 7465 feet of the land is available for public access (Sunset Library Park Redevelopment, 2017).
In the new design, the ground cover will be 20,755 sq. ft. and 18,200 square feet will be accessed by the public. The new library will be designed for the contemporary era, with current technology, flexible space and collections necessary to provide different services as well as serve a big, diverse patrons. Fifth Avenue Committee will construct the eight-storeyed library without charging the Brooklyn Public Library; the new project will cost FAC about ten million dollars.
Impact on neighborhood
Sunset Park Library provides adult literacy programs to its patrons. Willing individuals volunteer to tutor older people with the desire to improve their skills in reading and writing. In addition to this, there is the summer meals program, which provides snacks and meals to children aged eighteen and below during summer. The sites for the activity are parks, churches, schools and other places where children gather.
The forty-nine new housing units will help the poor members of the community in that their expenditure on housing will be lower since they will be available for people whose income ranges from thirty to eighty percent of the region’s average income (Sugar, 2017). Most of the units will be reserved for individuals earning less than fifty percent of the area’s average income; the apartments’ rent will range from five hundred to a thousand dollars per month. Half of the apartments will be occupied by community board residents, ten percent of city workers and ten percent for physically challenged individuals. Affordability of the houses is an advantage for the community in that people will save more money for other expenses such as education and healthcare. The allocation of some houses to people with disabilities and domestic violence victims shows that the library values the minority and disadvantaged members of the community.
Conclusion
Sunset Park Library was built in the seventies and there are plans to redevelop the building to give it a modern look with a variety of services. In addition to a new building, there will be the construction of affordable housing units for members of the community earning between thirty and eighty percent of the area’s average income. The library is a source of information for many people as well as a way of preserving Sunset Park’s history.
References
Sugar, R. (2017). Sunset Park Library Redevelopment will include 49 Affordable Apartments. Curbed.
Sunset Library Park Redevelopment. (2017, March Monday, sixteenth). Retrieved from Brooklyn Public Library.
Trombetta, S. (2017). 7 Reasons Libraries are Essential, Now More than ever. Bustle.
