New Library Moves Ahead, Slowly but Surely

By JAMES FANELLI

Library patrons at the cramped Fordham Library Center will be glad to know that plans for a main library worthy of a borough of 1.3 million people are moving forward, even if slower than expected. 

The plan, which is being coordinated by the New York City Public Library (NYPL) and the Office of the Bronx Borough President, will move the Fordham Library Center from its Bainbridge Avenue headquarters to the more spacious former Con Edison building on Kingsbridge Road. In its latest press release on plans for the borough's new central library, the NYPL states that it has selected a firm to design the new site (the Con Ed building will be razed) with construction beginning by the end of 2003. The new library will be called the Borough Center Library/Latino and Puerto Rican Cultural Center. 

"This has been a dream more than 50 years in the making," said Arlene Mukoko, a spokeswoman for Borough President Adolfo Carrion. "The library will give Bronx adults and children alike the opportunity to take advantage of expanded resources."

If all this sounds familiar, it should. Plans to move the borough's central library to a bigger location have been brewing for years. When the Norwood News last reported on the issue in May 2001, NYPL officials and then-Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer had selected the former Con Ed building at 310 E. Kingsbridge Rd. for the project. At the time, library planners expected to select an architectural firm by the summer of 2002, with construction to begin shortly thereafter. However, due to a longer-than-expected fund-raising drive and the time-consuming process of weighing construction bids, plans were delayed. 

The price tag for the new library is $50 million, and the NYPL has only recently come close to raising this amount. After securing over $40 million more than two years ago from the city, the Bronx delegation of the state Assembly and private donations, it only recently neared the $50 million benchmark. A $6.15 million allocation from the Pataki administration in October helped the NYPL reach $48 million, just $2 million shy of the goal. 

Even though the start of construction has been pushed back from 2002 to the end of 2003, the NYPL and the borough president's office say the library's development is on target. NYPL spokeswoman Jennifer Bertrand noted that hindrances in construction were typical for a project this size. "These are not unusual types of delays," Bertrand said. "We are on schedule and proceeding with the project, and we are very excited about it."

Mukoko agreed. "Everything is moving along fine," she said. 

The push for a new central library goes back at least 15 years, since an increased wave of immigration swelled the borough's population. From 1990 to 1994, immigration to the borough - mostly by Latinos from Caribbean islands - increased by 33 percent from the 1980s. Today Latinos comprise 47 percent of the Bronx population, which is partly why the new facility will also serve as the Latino and Puerto Rican Cultural Center. 

The new building is expected to dwarf the Fordham Library Center, which is just blocks away. "The current building is 27,000 square feet, and the new building will more than double that," Bertrand said. "There will be more space for services, including a 
performance area." It will also offer more services, including resources for children and young adults; an adult literacy and language learning center; small business classes and technology training.

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