Brewer, Rivera Renew Fight for Library Funding at Sweaty Brooklyn Protest

Scores of pro-library advocates including nine New York City Council Members braved the scorching heat and humidity late Sunday morning June 23 in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, to implore Mayor Eric Adams to restore full funding for all city library systems.

The Manhattan delegation was represented by UWS council member Gale Brewer and LES council member Carlina Rivera.

The rally, held outside the Walt Whitman Branch of the Brooklyn Public Library, was one of two this day, the other taking place a half-hour earlier at the Flushing Branch of the Queens Public Library.

The reason the event was held today was twofold. First, to make a strong, collective call to restore public library funding ahead of this year’s on time budget deadline of July 1 and second, to highlight what has become of one Eric Adams’ signal achievements: the lack of citywide, seven-days-a-week library service.

While never widespread, all five boroughs did have at least some Sunday library hours until last autumn, when $58.3 million in budget cuts, due to what the Adams administration said was migrant-crisis related spending, forced their cessation.

Sunday closures were chosen by the library systems themselves as being least disruptive of bad options. Nonetheless, the loss of Sunday service has been keenly felt across city, by bibliophiles, by children and their families, and by people needing to access the myriad educational and social services libraries also offer.

Protests and council committee hearings followed, highlighting the library funding crisis—but so far with little apparent momentum by the Adams administration to reverse the cuts.

The event began at 11:30 outside the Walt Whitman Branch on St. Edwards Street. In one sense the location was odd, as the only library in all of Brooklyn—population 2.6 million— that had Sunday hours pre-budget cuts was the main branch at Flatbush and Eastern Parkway.

In another sense, however, the location was perfect. First, the great Brooklyn journalist and visionary poet Walt Whitman lived with his mother and other family members on nearby Portland Avenue in the early 1860s, and his example of lifelong self-improvement and inclusion has inspired generations of readers worldwide. The most important book Whitman published while on Portland Avenue was the 1860 edition of Leaves of Grass.

Second, the branch which honors Whitman—which is a Carnegie Library, opened in 1908—is literally in the middle of a large public housing development, whose residents are among those who need library services the most. Opened in 1942 as Fort Greene Housing Project, the large complex today comprises Walt Whitman Houses and Raymond V. Ingersoll Houses.

The brisk and efficient emcee of today’s event was Council Member Crystal Hudson, of Brooklyn. She was joined by Manhattan council members Carlina Rivera and Gale Brewer; and Brooklynites Alexa Avilés; Mercedes Narcisse; Jennifer Gutiérrez; Lincoln Restler; Rita Joseph; and Justin Brannan, chair of the Council Finance Committee.

Also present was Walt Whitman Branch manager, Alex Mouyios, various other library representatives, and concerned citizens.

Before handing off the microphone, Hudson briefly spoke plainly but forcefully, asserting that “Libraries are our most democratic institution and we need to make sure that they’re open every single day.”

Carlina Rivera, who exhibited a notable sense of situational humor before the rally began and is chair of the council’s Cultural Affairs and Libraries committee, spoke next.

“Wherever libraries can be open seven days a week, they should be,” Rivera passionately stated. “Not only do we depend on them for technology resources and books, we are also dependent on them as cooling centers and when you are in the middle of a heat wave just like we are today—and when you are in the middle of public housing—you have to understand that this is a social service. This is something that should be fully funded every single year.”

“We are here with a clear ask, $58.3 million in restoration.” Rivera went on to deride not just lack of seven-day library service but the possibility layoffs, fewer books and more maintenance issues in those libraries that are open.

A fiery Gale Brewer followed. Reiterating many of Rivera’s points, Brewer especially riled the crowd when she seethed that libraries could “drop down to five-day service if these friggin’ cuts go through!”

Brewer didn’t forget her Manhattan constituents either, noting the special importance of 125th Street Library in East Harlem. Addressing Mayor Adams, she concluded, “The City Council has already put in the money they need to, now we’re waiting for your money!”

Alexa Avilés was next, and speaking without notes, was impressively straight talking. “Listen, the message is clear,” she said. “Our libraries need to be baseline funded to reflect the important institutions that they are. This yearly battle is both an incredible waste of time—and it says a lot about what this administration really values.”

”This is unnecessary! Let’s get them restored—let’s increase the budget for the libraries! Let’s build more libraries, because quite frankly, our population is growing and we need more libraries!”

Mercedes Marcisse— who was a nurse and small business owner before she entered politics— came to the podium next. Her tangy Haitian-American accent was an apt complement to weather so hot and humid that many of her fellow Council Members were fanning themselves with protest signs to keep cool.

“Hello everyone, it’s a beautiful day, we are blessed to be alive, to fight another day. So, I’ll tell you my story to show the importance of libraries in every community, especially in communities that are underserved as well...

“When I came from Haiti— that was my place, the Jamaica Bay and Canarsie library, because that’s where I learned the language. That’s where I traveled through time to see different places on this planet. So I did the same thing for children, I can say proudly, they love libraries...

”When I had my small business, I used to go to the library to find my way. For nursing, I had to stay and live in the library until they close... We need the mayor to understand this is a priority for us. If this was a luxury, we would’t be here because I’d be in church saying hallelujah! amen!—in good AC.”

Everybody laughed but Marcisse’s conclusion was sharp and serious: “Mayor Adams, we just want our library to be home. Because this is a key component in our community and our society.”