Petition demanding ‘long promised’ expansion of  
 Briarwood library has more than 600 signatures 
 BY ANGELICA ACEVEDO 
 A petition demanding the “long  
 promised” expansion of the Briarwood  
 library has garnered more than 600 signatures, 
  according to Rosalie Quinones,  
 president of the Friends of Briarwood  
 Library Board. 
 “The Briarwood community wants to  
 know where the new library is,” Quinones  
 told QNS. 
 The petition, which exists only in  
 print, has a clear statement at the top of  
 the signature list: “I, a resident of Briarwood, 
  avail myself of the Briarwood  
 branch library’s facilities and activities  
 which enrich my life in inestimable  
 ways. Together with my friends and  
 neighbors,  I am dismayed  to  learn  that  
 the sorely needed and long promised expansion  
 of the library is in jeopardy of  
 being abandoned. We demand that the  
 plan  to  expand with  a  second  story  remain  
 in force, and the necessary funding  
 be expedited to realize the objective.” 
 Quinones and the Briarwood Community  
 Association (BCA) have been  
 asking that the city make the library’s  
 expansion a priority for several years  
 now. And in 2016, they believed they received  
 their answer. 
 In September of 2016, the BCA announced  
 that there was a proposal to  
 expand the library by 2020 with a $32  
 million project, according to the Queens  
 Chronicle.  However,  Queens  Public  Library  
 spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon  
 at the time said that although the  
 facility’s upgrades are in their 10-year  
 capital plan, the logistics were a “hypothetical.” 
 De Bourbon recently told QNS that  
 as of now, the Briarwood library, located  
 on 85-12 Main St., is slated to undergo a  
 $13.9 million renovation. She emphasized  
 that while the renovation is fully  
 funded by the city, an expansion is not.  
 Therefore, they would need more funds  
 for an expansion. 
 “Right now we are in a holding pattern  
 until there is consensus among  
 all stakeholders on how to proceed,” de  
 Bourbon said. “It is important to note  
 that QPL is committed to the renovation  
 and expansion.” 
 According to John Denegall, president  
 of the BCA, the library has served  
 the community for more than 30 years  
 now,  but  is  in  desperate  need  of  an  expansion  
 due to “rough leaks” and lack of  
 meeting rooms and other resources that  
 serve the surrounding schools. 
 “No one wants renovation, everybody  
 wants a new library because it’ll last 30  
 The Briarwood library is located on 85-12 Main St.  Photo via Google Images 
 more years,” Denegall said. “Kew Gardens  
 got it, so why can’t we?” 
 Quinones, a retired public school educator, 
  asked Mayor Bill de Blasio about  
 the city’s plans for their library at a town  
 hall meeting in 2017. 
 “We were promised that in 2020 the  
 beginning of construction and information  
 of our new library is going to begin.  
 Now it is just the beginning stages. I want  
 to know what commitment is the city going  
 to give us? When are we going to have  
 a brand-new library built, much bigger,  
 to meet our needs?” Quinones said. 
 De Blasio told Quinones that while he  
 had been updated about the issue, he still  
 didn’t have a “nice, clean, easy answer.”  
 “We have been talking to the Queens  
 Library System, there are some challenges, 
  I think it is a priority, but there  
 are challenges trying to figure out what  
 it is going to take, the timeline, and one  
 thing or another,” de Blasio said during  
 the town hall. “What I can at least say to  
 you is that it is on our radar screen, we  
 are trying to come up with a real plan, a  
 real timeline, and we certainly are going  
 to work closely with Councilman Rory  
 Lancman on it.” 
 Councilman Lancman has been outspoken  
 about the library’s desperate  
 need of a full makeover. He told QNS that  
 it’s “bursting at the seams,” and that it is  
 now up to the mayor to deliver the funds  
 they need for an upgrade. 
 “The mayor acknowledged the need to  
 expand the Briarwood Library at a town  
 hall meeting at M.S. 217 two years ago,  
 and we expect him to deliver a plan to do  
 so,” Lancman said. “We have $14 million  
 set aside, and an expansion is estimated  
 at $24 million. Only the mayor has that  
 kind of money, and he needs to deliver as  
 promised for the people of Briarwood.” 
 A statement from the mayor’s office  
 to QNS acknowledged that there are already  
 funds set aside for the Briarwood  
 library’s renovation, and that they are  
 still in ongoing discussions with Councilman  
 Lancman and the Queens Public  
 Library. 
 “We are in constant contact with the  
 Queens Public Library about their needs  
 and will address capital funding issues  
 through the budget process,” the mayor’s  
 statement added. 
 But Quinones, who said she hasn’t  
 received much information about the  
 library’s expansion progress since 2017,  
 wants to make sure that the community  
 is as involved with the library’s expansion  
 plans as possible. 
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