By Nicole Falco
Last month, East Franklin Square residents voted 190 to 48 in favor of creating a library district. They then voted to sign the new contract with the Elmont Public Library over Waldinger in Valley Stream, Malverne and West Hempstead. Elmont received 132 votes, Waldinger 66, Malverne 64 and West Hempstead 22. The contract is for one year at $123.33 per household. There are about 4,500 residents in this district.
North Valley Stream residents voted 10 to one in favor of establishing a library district, and more than half of those who turned out for last Thursday's referendum voted in favor of contracting with Valley Stream's Henry Waldinger Memorial Library.
With 391 yes votes and only 36 no votes on Sept. 18, more than 9,700 North Valley Stream residents not served by a library district gave themselves full library access. Access will officially begin Jan. 1, 2004.
"The vote really validates the fact that people in the area wanted library service," said Town Councilman James Darcy. Darcy supported the push to restore library service to the unserved community at the local level.
By voting yes to establishing the district and yes to contracting with Valley Stream's library, North Valley Stream has agreed to a one-year contract at $55.86 per household. Residents who voted chose the Waldinger Library over the Elmont and West Hempstead libraries. Waldinger received 271 votes, Elmont 214 and West Hempstead 18. According to Eugene Ferencik, town attorney, the votes cast on the question do not match the number of votes cast for the library choices because "some people go into the polling booth and get confused and don't vote for every proposition or don't vote for each question."
Once residents apply for their library cards in January, they will be able to access their chosen library's entire collection and borrow from any library in the Nassau Library System, with minor limitations at some locations.
Currently, residents not served by a library use state-mandated access cards that allow them limited use of their local library. A previous arrangement allowed unserved residents to purchase a library card, until the New York state Board of Regents ruled that the sale of library cards is illegal.
North Valley Stream's contract is limited to one year so that elected officials at the town and state levels can re-examine the district's boundaries, according to Darcy. He said he would discuss the possibility of splitting the district with Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos and assemblymen Tom Alfano and Bob Barra. The three state legislators supported the necessary enabling legislation in their respective houses. Darcy said there are indications that residents north of the Southern State Parkway would prefer Elmont, while residents south of the parkway prefer the Waldinger library.
In two other separate votes North Lynbrook and North Malverne also voted to establish a library district and contract with a local library.
On Sept. 10, North Malverne agreed to a three-year contract with the Malverne Public Library at a cost of $119.69 per household for the first year. Residents voted 24 to 7 in favor of establishing the district. The Malverne library received 25 votes, the West Hempstead Public Library received eight, and two votes were cast for the Waldinger library. There are approximately 150 residents in the district.
On Sept. 16, North Lynbrook residents voted 43 to 21 in favor of creating a library district. The Malverne library edged out the Lynbrook Public Library by two votes for the contract. North Lynbrook agreed to a three-year contract with Malverne at a cost of $155.36 per household for the first year. Malverne received 24 votes to Lynbrook's 22. Also on the ballot, the Waldinger library garnered eight votes. There are about 670 residents in this district.
Results in all four referendums are subject to recanvass, absentee and affidavit ballots.
Darcy said he was not surprised by the results. He said that his office, state legislators, the Nassau Library System, local parent-teacher associations and civic groups, and other town officials have worked together to successfully restore full library service to five unserved communities in two years.
"This was a clear example of democracy at work," Darcy said. "The people have gotten what they wanted."
