By Jerry Burke
Today, what could only be described as a concrete bunker resides at the corner. Soon, a storage facility will be erected in the place where the library had hoped trees, grass, ample parking and a state-of-the-art community center would live for generations to come.
"The Woodfield Road site took 4 1/2 years of hard work and
planning, with the Board meeting two and sometimes three times weekly," said board Vice-president Andrea Dee Giordano.
Residents who voted against the bond pointed almost unanimously at the proposed site's location, a busy intersection adjacent to the Courtesy Hotel, as the reason for nixing the plan.
According to Giordano, however, the hope for a new facility didn't end there. "Our board has taken a step forward and regrouped and reorganized our future options," said Giordano, the first-term incumbent seeking re-election in May against challenger and community activist Madeleine E. Schwartz.
At the March 18 West Hempstead Civic Association meeting, Giordano updated residents on behalf of the Library Board at current prospective sites. The board is now looking at the Town of Hempstead municipal parking located on Hempstead Avenue next to the Venus Restaurant and at the Savers Thrift Store property on the corner of Hempstead Turnpike and Mayfair Road.
The two sites which many critics of the June referendum, including Schwartz, were interested in, namely the two and a half acres north of Hall's Pond and the vacant parcel of land next to St. Thomas Chapel, have been deemed unfeasible by the board.
According to Giordano, a title search on the Hall's Pond site uncovered a catch-22 that made development on the land available only for, as quoted by a May 7, 1981 deed, "for park and parkway purposes only. The lot, was originally a watershed area owned by the City of New York prior to the annexation of Queens County and subsequent creation of Nassau County before the turn of the century. The 1981 deed conveyed the lot from the City of New York to Nassau County. According to the deed, a reverter clause would give the property back to the City of New York if it were used for anything other than a park or parkway.
While Giordano has stated that an on-site environmental center would be required before building a library facility, Schwartz does not agree. "You can't tell me that the county, the city and the state can't work something out to make that land available," said Schwartz.
She agrees with Giordano in that building an environmental center with taxpayer money would be counterproductive when the focus should be on a library, but Schwartz maintains it shouldn't even be required. "Nothing directly states an environmental center would be needed," said Schwartz, further saying that Giordano's example of Cold Spring Harbor, which built its new library on a parcel of land under the same provisions as the Hall's Pond site, is inaccurate. "We are not Cold Spring Harbor. Their board voluntarily put the environmental center up."
The St. Thomas Chapel site, owned by the Diocese of Rockville Centre, was also a dead end, said Giordano. "The board requested information from the Diocese on March 1," said Giordano, "But according to Monsignor James Lisante (St. Thomas the Apostle Church pastor), any discussions about the land could only focus on a lease." Investing millions into land they do not own is not in the library's best interests, said Giordano, because the Diocese could take the land back should they ever require it in the future.
Giordano says that while the municipal lot on Hempstead Avenue and the Savers Thrift Store site are "intriguing," it will take more time, research and, most importantly, public feedback. "The library board welcomes all comments, suggestions and ideas."
While Giordano and Schwartz disagree on the methods, the goal of having a modern library for the future generations of West Hempsteaders is something they agree on. As the books pile up at Chestnut Street, both candidates remind the community that the trustee and budget votes are set for May. Voting will take place at the Middle School from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
