Community News
The Road to Hunters Point Library
Remembering the trials and sacrifices behind the project
www.qns.com I LIC COURIER I OCTOBER 2019 21
BY MAX PARROTT
After almost two decades af-ter
its initial conception, the
Hunters Point Library has
amassed a long list of people
who deserved thanks for its existence.
So the emcee of the library’s opening
ceremony Dennis Walcott had a tall order.
Walcott’s tenure as president and CEO of
the Queens Public Library only stretches
back a quarter of the project’s timeline.
“You’ll hear a lot of arc of history
conversations — people who have been
here many years ago, people who are
no longer with us now but who fought
hard for this library and people who are
currently with us who fought hard,” said
Walcott in his opening speech.
A crowd of several hundred gath-ered
around the glittering silver exterior
to tour the library for the first time on
Sept. 24.
The library’s price tag of $41.5 million
explains both its architectural allure and
the budgetary setbacks which delayed
its construction. Now the 82-foot-high
concrete prism, dotted with lopsided
glass cutouts will provide the Long Island
City waterfront with another immediately
recognizable landmark.
At the grand opening, Mayor de Bla-sio,
local electeds, and other library and
city officials involved with the project
commemorated the many people who
jumped in the ring to push the forward
project over construction and planning.
The politicians lining the podium each
presented a different snapshot of the
challenges facing the project. Assembly-woman
Cathy Nolan, who has been in
office since 1984, recalled having con-versations
with fellow parents as the idea
for the library was starting to gain steam.
It was going to be great to have a
new library for their kindergarten-age
children to have, she remembered one
saying with a laugh.
“Even though we didn’t get the benefit
of it, that’s part of the privilege of living
in New York City. You don’t just do it
for you and your own family, you do
it to pass it on to the people who are
coming after you,” said Nolan.
LIC Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer,
who has been working on this project
since he was a staffer at the Queens
Public Library, said that library “is the
single most important project of my life.”
During his time as a librarian, Van
Bramer said that he first heard from
Fausta Hippolito, a Long Island City
mother of two who worked to gather
signatures and support for the project
when the nearest library was the one
inside the CitiBank building.
Ippolito was one of a few key play-ers
in the library who received tribute
from the majority of the speakers over
the course of the ceremony. Another
popular acknowledgment was Lorraine
Grillo, the Department of Design and
Construction commissioner.
“If you want to get things done, call
Lorraine Grillo,” said Nolan.
In this case, Grillo helped construct
a library that will not only function as
storage for its 52,000 books, but a com-munity
center and a tourist destination.
Max Parrott and Victoria Schneps
“Today is of vital importance to the
community in that it confirms the com-mitment
to the continuity of humanity,”
said Gary Strong, former president of
the Queens Library.
Dennis Walcott emcees
the opening of the new
Hunters Point Library
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