Thursday - June 3, 2010
The residents of Woodhaven held a rally outside their library in the hopes of staving off cuts that would either cripple or kill this vital community resource. There are similar rallies taking place all over the city -- Tom Galante, Chief Executive Officer of the Queens Library recently testified before the City Council and explained the impact of the proposed cuts:
"Overall, our average weekly service hours would shrink from 42 hours presently to 20 hours, taking with it the huge variety of programs and services offered. Public library service would be slashed nearly in half.
This means as many as 3,000 adults would miss out on crucial literacy classes as literacy centers would be closed more often than they are open.
This means as many as 5,000 students a day would have to find somewhere else to go for homework help and a safe place after school. It could mean half as many books in the hands of Queens residents, half as many opportunities for free programs for seniors and young parents.
It means 25,000 people a day could show up to their local library to find it closed."
Click here to read his entire statement.
However, it still looks like the ax may fall someplace -- so the key is to make your case to the public unique and personal. And on that count, the residents of Woodhaven succeeded.
The children were out, and taking part in the filming of the event -- above and below you see them handling the sound equipment. Yet another program available to the children of Woodhaven through our library.
The centerpiece of this rally was the library's "Tree of Knowledge" -- basically, you can write memories, or supportive messages, on paper leaves and add them to the tree. On Facebook, ProjectWoodhaven and the Woodhaven Residents' Block Association created a Virtual Tree of Knowledge, to which current and former residents could add their thoughts. Just before the rally, these comments were put together into a document and printed. This way, those who could not attend the rally in person were there in spirit -- and in "voice." Here is that document:
It's a very touching document -- and a testament to the importance of the Woodhaven Library. A copy of this document is being mailed to Mayor Bloomberg's Office. If you can't view the document in the window above, click here.
So, when we arrived, we were asked to speak to the residents first -- and that was not expected :-)
I have to admit, I was a little nervous -- but by carrying this document with me, I was not alone - I had many years of Woodhaven's finest residents with me and that made all the difference in the world. Here is the first part of our video coverage -- I wish I could have read all your comments, but there were other speakers waiting -- but I did end up reading one.
The crowd welcomed one speaker after another. It was a good crowd.
Here is the second part of our video coverage:
We hope we made a difference -- and that our unique approach will give us an edge when the final decision is made.
Here is Woodhaven's Tree of Knowledge:
It was a great idea to hold this event in the shade as the sun was real hot.
And finally, the crowd assembled for a group shot --
Many thanks to Joe Virgona and Bobby "The Flash" Gennaro for helping with the photography -- Mrs. PW shot the two videos above and this last one comes to us courtesy of The Flash --
If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com .
