To the Editor,
A glitzy flyer from the Bethlehem Public Library Director and Board of Trustees was recently mailed to taxpayers. It was very misleading. Their claims of “five decades of deferred maintenance” are absurd now that we know they have been sitting on $5 million in their “general fund.” This is the source of the $2 million already paid to the architects and another $3 million from their “general fund” MAY be used to mitigate the cost of the bond. We have been overtaxed for years to create this extraordinary cash fund. They recently purchased another house on Borthwick for $200,00 (the yellow house adjacent to the entrance to the parking lot) which will be torn down to make way for the addition.
What addition you ask? The glossy brochure once again misleads the public. There is no mention of the addition which is one of the most expensive parts of the $36.9 million. A large addition will be erected to house meeting spaces that will be able to accommodate 197 people. A small number of parking places are planned, so parking will be on the street, primarily on Borthwick Ave.
The construction will last three years, and Bethlehem will have the largest meeting space in the Upper Hudson Library system, even larger than the Albany Public Library. Anyone with a library card in that system will be able to book space. The space will not hold more books, media, or computers for the residents.
A handful of people with a “vision” are going to ruin what is a beloved library, destroy the Borthwick Ave. neighborhood, create traffic nightmares, and saddle the taxpayers with enormous debt for years in addition to their annual taxes for the library and annual increases in the library budget. Even if all their claims about “deferred maintenance” are totaled and you throw in esthetic updates, it is nowhere near $36.9 million. Vote NO on Dec. 12th. The vote will be held at the library from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Francis Royo – Delmar
