By Forum Staff
Queens Borough President Donovan Richards Jr. and Queens Public Library leadership will hold a rally on Thursday, May 16, to demand a full restoration and baselining of funding in the eventual Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for every City library system, including QPL.
The 10 a.m. rally will be held at the Forest Hills Library, which received $1 million in funding from the Borough President’s Office earlier in his term to pay for renovations at the facility. Since taking office, Richards has allocated $23.6 million across 20 different Queens libraries, members of his administration noted.
In the proposed FY25 city budget, Queens Public Library, Brooklyn Public Library and the New York Public Library are facing nearly $60 million in funding cuts — including $16.6 million for QPL alone. This “staggering reduction,” Richards said, threatens key QPL programs, services, maintenance and repairs, as well as Saturday service at every location except the Central and Flushing libraries. The cuts would also delay the reopening of QPL’s Broadway, Bay Terrace and Hillcrest branches, where major upgrades were recently completed.
Photo Courtesy of Borough President Richards
Borough President Richards is demanding a full restoration and baselining of funding in the eventual Fiscal Year 2025 Budget for every City library system.
These potential measures follow previous budget cuts in November 2023, which forced QPL to eliminate seven-day service and cut programmatic and maintenance spending.
Joining Richards at the rally will be Queens Public Library President and CEO Dennis Walcott, “Friends Of” library groups from across the borough and area leaders who will speak to the importance of the library system to The World’s Borough’s families.
