Posted by Ricardo Kaulessar, Urban Times News on August 07, 2003 at 12:02:38:

First J.C. library built in over forty years

Urban Times News
by Ricardo Kaulessar - E-mail: rk1872@onebox.com

Any visitor who came at least an hour early to the groundbreaking ceremony for the Martin Luther King Branch of the Jersey City Public Library and Community Center on July 24th would have noticed the library director Priscilla Gardner already waiting for the crowd to arrive – for at least two hours.

But her wait was short compared to the forty-one years that Jersey City residents have had to wait for a new library to be built.

The groundbreaking of the first new library in Jersey City since 1962, when the Five Corners Branch was completed, saw a lineup of Jersey City notables from Mayor Glenn D. Cunningham to his new political ally Councilman Steve Lipski.

Gardner, who has worked in the Jersey City public library system since 1969, and is the project manager overseeing the construction of the new library couldn’t contain her excitement as she spoke of her new responsibility.

“I say it’s a miracle because we are starting here after a year and a half. I feel so happy, as if I got a raise”, said Gardner.

Mayor Cunningham spoke of how this library was a structure long overdue in this section of Jersey City.

“This was more than symbolic…when I ran for Mayor, I promised that we would fight to make every neighborhood a golden neighborhood.”

The library started earlier in the week and will continue over a two hundred eighty day construction schedule until completion in March 2004. The developers of the project, Del-Sano Construction of Union, N.J., were at the ceremony but they would not comment further on the project until after it was finished. However, Mayor Cunningham acknowledged Del-Sano for abiding by city law and hiring local minority residents for jobs on the construction site.

Local architect Helena Ruman, who told the Urban Times News before the ceremony that it was the first new library building she had ever designed in her twenty years of work for the Jersey City Public Library system, designed the entire structure.

A space of over 5,600 square feet encompassing the area between Bostwick and Myrtle Avenues, the library will contain the requisite shelves for books which will be relocated along with the staff from the nearby Claremont Branch, as well as sections for children’s books and reference. There will also be a state-of-the-art computer room with computers donated by the Microsoft Corporation, and a maze where children can run through during playtime. An unusual but creative addition, which according to Gardner was suggested by former councilwoman Melissa Holloway. And there will also be fourteen parking spaces for employees and visitors.

The adjoining community center will be utilized for many library-based events but will also serve as a meeting place for various social groups in the area. The total cost of the structure has been estimated at 1.8 million dollars, the bulk of which came from a Community Development Block Grant.

While the library/community center is built, construction is to also to commence on a park across the street, to be completed by the end of this year.

The plan for the new library/community center had been drawn up before Mayor Cunningham came into office two years ago but there was very little enthusiasm in previous administrations about building it on MLK Drive.

And according to Bob Leach, a longtime volunteer in the Jersey City Public Library system and currently president of the Jersey City Historical Project, the reason that no library had been built for over forty years because much of Jersey City were not being developed as it is now, which discouraged any new city project from being built.

“I think you have to wait until a neighborhood reaches a certain point of development and expectation like this neighborhood is now reaching.”

Residents and businesses in the area were pleased to see the library/community center finally come to fruition. Flip Jackson, Vice-President & Manager of the Kiddie Corner Day Care Center who believe that it is “very much needed, something that the community can utilize.”

Michael Ferguson, an employee in the Division of Cultural Affairs and currently a student at St. Peter’s College, who was at the ceremony, grew up only two blocks away from the site.

“I hope it becomes a great success because when it comes down to it, there’s not that much support coming over to this part of the city. It helps build some more esteem to all the people, especially the students and the people who going to need the extra knowledge or at least gained themselves a better understanding to help build this city up.”

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