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QC09112014

FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.queenscourier.com september 11, 2014 • The Queens Courier 17 Dear Residents of Queens and Friends of the Queens Borough Public Library: We are the six former Trustees of the Queens Library who Melinda Katz, the Queens Borough President, recently removed. Since she took office, Ms. Katz embarked on a campaign to improperly discredit and dismantle the Library Board of Trustees for her own ends. Ten of the Trustees who were on the Board at the beginning of the year are no longer there. We write this letter to explain who we are and what we have fought to preserve in this wonderful institution. We brought a federal lawsuit to preserve the Library’s independence from an individual politician. Ms. Katz removed us from the Library Board when we refused to agree to her political demands. But that is not what she told the public. Ms. Katz claimed that our actions were not in furtherance of the Library’s educational purpose. That is simply false. Ms. Katz’s actions have been harmful to the people of Queens. She manufactured a crisis by spreading false accusations about the Library. She threatened to, and then did, withhold City money from community libraries in need of repairs because we refused to vote her way. She misled the public by claiming that the Board had refused to allow the City Comptroller to audit taxpayer funds, when in fact the City Comptroller had been auditing Library records for City taxpayer funds since February 2014. In fact, the City has always had complete access to audit the Library’s City funds. What Ms. Katz really wanted was access to private donations - information that we believed we had an obligation to protect. Ms. Katz’s tactics to disparage the Library and our stewardship were so egregious that they sparked a whistleblower complaint under New York law. We supported that investigation. Six days later she removed us from the Board. Library independence preserves Freedom of Thought, or your library is Katz’s political poker chip. Andrew Carnegie founded the Library on the principle that a public library must be free of undue political influence. For over 100 years, the Queens Library has operated as an independent, self-governing private corporation. Ms. Katz decided to unravel that. She engineered a new law that allowed her to remove trustees at will. She then used her power to remove us because we refused to be bullied. We obeyed our duty to follow our best judgment - not her political agenda. She responded by maligning us in the press and misleading the public. The American Library Association called Katz’s law a “dangerous precedent for libraries and library boards around the nation,” and warns that “freedom of information and freedom of thought cannot exist in a system where undue political influence can be brought to bear arbitrarily.” We faithfully and successfully worked to further the Library’s educational purpose. We six served the Library for a collective 120 years. We are long-time residents of Queens. We volunteered countless hours to the Library because we cared. During our tenure, the Library was awarded the prestigious “Library of the Year” award, selected as the best library in the nation, and won over 50 national and local awards. It was the first library in NYC to lend patrons e-readers and Google tablets. We opened doors to immigrants by providing information, English classes, and cultural literacy. We secured a $6 million private grant to perpetually fund an Adult Learning and English as a Second Language program, and built the world’s largest 24/7 auto book return system. Success like this does not just happen. It was cultivated through years of responsible stewardship, strong leadership and smart management. Queens Library employees are committed to our mission and are the best anywhere in the world. Our President & CEO for the last 11 years has been critical to our success, and our decision to compensate him at par with his peers was appropriate. It has been an honor and privilege to serve you and it is unfortunate the Borough President has decided to disregard our dedicated years of service. Sincerely, JACQUELINE E. ARRINGTON TERRI C. MANGINO GRACE LAWRENCE WILLIAM JEFFERSON JOSEPH R. FICALORA GEORGE L. STAMATIADES


QC09112014
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