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Images the Brooklyn Public Library doesn’t want you to see

The Brooklyn Paper

The Brooklyn Public Library censored a politically charged art exhibit inspired by Atlantic Yards, free-speech advocates charged this week.

The show, entitled “Footprints: Portrait of a Brooklyn Neighborhood,” portrays the condemned 22-acre area where Atlantic Yards is slated to be built, capturing those who live and work there on the eve of the land’s condemnation.

The show mostly consists of documentary-style depictions, but several hot-button pieces, ranging from a neutral portrait of a high-profile Yards opponent to a depiction of Ratner’s arena as a toilet bowl, were eliminated.

The portrait of Yards opponent Daniel Goldstein showed the activist staring calmly at the viewer — and its creator thinks it was cut not because the image itself was too hot to handle, but merely because of the political baggage Goldstein carries in the fight against Yards developer Ratner.

“It is clear that they are trying to keep controversial pieces out,” said artist Sarah Sagarin. “It was upsetting for me because I painted a portrait of a person, not a symbol. I did that to show the humanity below the politics and they have made it political.”

Donald O’Finn’s painting of Atlantic Yards as a toilet bowl was certainly political. O’Finn, a bartender at Freddy’s, the Prospect Heights nightspot that has become Ground Zero in the anti-Yards fight, will hang his painting, along with others that were cut, next week at the bar.

A library spokeswoman declined to speak about specific pieces of work that were removed.

“We worked closely with the curators of the ‘Footprints’ exhibit to select the pieces that best represent the theme of this exhibition,” said spokeswoman Ruth Wagner, mentioning the limit on space for the installation.

The library had said from the start that it would not include the entire installation. It never explained why certain works would be eliminated — though opponents focused on one fact last week: Ratner has reportedly been talking to the library about funding a proposed arts branch near the Brooklyn Academy of Music.

Wagner did not deny that the show’s perceived political message was an issue for the library, which decided to install the work at the Central branch on Grand Army Plaza after it ran in its entirety at a Prospect Heights gallery last year.

“Our interest in this exhibition is in documentation, not advocacy,” Wagner said.

But a free-speech advocate slammed the library.

“They removed artwork from the show because of the views expressed in them,” charged Svetlana Mintcheva, director of the arts program at National Coalition against Censorship. “That is censorship and an error of judgment for an institution that has gone to bat so many times in the past for the public’s right for exposure to such critical ideas.”

“Footprints: Portrait of a Brooklyn Neighborhood” will be on display in the lobby of the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza until April 21. Call (718) 230-2100 for information.

“Salon des Refusés de las Bibliotheque de Brooklyn” will open Thursday, Feb. 22 at Freddy’s Bar & Backroom (485 Dean St., between Sixth and Carlton avenues).

Reader Feedback

Paul Isaac Jr from Brooklyn says:
If Osama Bin Laden walked into the[Brooklyn Public] library I'm convinced that Ginnie and friends would not call the police. They would be more concerned about his intellectual freedom. The best one word description I heard describing her[Ginnie Cooper]: COMPULSIVE.                                     Posted by: former BPL employee | June 17, 2006 9:36 AM

What Lucy Gertner had to say is real cause for alarm. When I was there, there was a particular librarian with multiple offenses. At the Clinton Hill branch, he had a fight with a supervisor using expletives and was transferred to the Flatlands branch. There he had another fight with his supervisor and also maliciously ran up a co-workers credit card when she left her computer for a moment. He also praised the 9/11 attacks. He was then transferred to another branch where, after about a year, he harassed a Kingsborough Community College employee using the library's phone. As a constant repeat offender, he only received a 5 day suspension and transfer to the Highlawn branch for this. It's a real outrage that Lucy was given an 8 day suspension for simply trying to protect a collection. This shows what abominants that Cooper, Kinney, Jennings, and the rest of the Grand Army Plaza 3rd floor vermin are. Also, there was a popular, well-liked Training Manager who was called up to serve in Iraq. Cooper knifed him in the back while he was serving and eliminated his position.      Posted by: Concerned | June 23, 2006 10:06 AM

Janet Kinney and Ginnie Cooper were responsible for the lack of security in the library. We attended a meeting on our Unattended Child Policy and we were told that if we saw a seven year old child in the library wondering on his own during school hours we should not ask the child why he is there because that child might be home schooled. In my years of working in the library I have never, been told such crap. New York City has laws about truant, children, not to mention child welfare laws. I could not believe what I was hearing. Thought what they were saying was not in our policy the head of security along with several others in charge were telling us to condone this nonsense. Security officers were asked to allow unruly child to stay in the library and disrupt the library. Since the new heads of security has taken over security there has been no security. Our best officers have quit or have been fired for ridiculous things like taking sick days that are legally given to them under our city contract and union laws. The library has gotten wilder and though the patrons complained and Janet Kinney and Ginnie Cooper did nothing. The staff was asked to attend a mandatory workshop called "Creating Safer Libraries. In this workshop we were basically being trained to handle issues that would normally be handled by security. One colleague followed the Creating Safer Libraries procedure and got her finger cut off, and administration told her it was her own fault.  Guess what we are not a security guards, babysitter or social workers, we are libraries.  I hope that our Board of Trustees learns from their mistakes. And I pray that Washington puts their foot down and doesn't allow Ginnie Cooper to disrespect you like she did Brooklyn.    Posted by: Soon to be a former BPLer | June 30, 2006 5:37

I'd just also like mention that a few years ago, not long after Sept. 11 there was an incident at a branch library when a customer asked reference staff probing questions about Pres. Bush's parade route (he was visiting New York). The staff were concerned and called Security who then called the police. The individual was arrested and taken in for questioning and later released. Ginnie was upset about this and later developed Intellectual Freedom Training for the entire staff. Among the items covered was public computers and accessing pornography. Many of us were disturbed by the outcome: BPL instructed us to allow patrons to access pornography; according to them it was their intellectual right. When we asked about children accessing pornography we were told to discourage it but that we shouldn't actually tell them they couldn't access it via the internet. That was also (to their way of thinking) their right, even though they were underage. Since then library computers have been filtered but it is still not impossible to do pornography. People even send it to themselves via email. If Ginnie feels that pornography is o.k. in a library setting, then why not just order XXX DVDs. By not ordering them you are censoring according to their philosophy. I know that most patrons, esp. parents do not think like this.                                                         Posted by: former BPL employee | June 3, 2006 9:55 AM

(Paul Isaac Jr-NYsentinel at Large)
May 27, 2010, 6:04 pm
Paul Isaac Jr from Brooklyn says:
If Osama Bin Laden walked into the[Brooklyn Public] library I'm convinced that Ginnie and friends would not call the police. They would be more concerned about his intellectual freedom. The best one word description I heard describing her[Ginnie Cooper]: COMPULSIVE.                                     Posted by: former BPL employee | June 17, 2006 9:36 AM

What Lucy Gertner had to say is real cause for alarm. When I was there, there was a particular librarian with multiple offenses. At the Clinton Hill branch, he had a fight with a supervisor using expletives and was transferred to the Flatlands branch. There he had another fight with his supervisor and also maliciously ran up a co-workers credit card when she left her computer for a moment. He also praised the 9/11 attacks. He was then transferred to another branch where, after about a year, he harassed a Kingsborough Community College employee using the library's phone. As a constant repeat offender, he only received a 5 day suspension and transfer to the Highlawn branch for this. It's a real outrage that Lucy was given an 8 day suspension for simply trying to protect a collection. This shows what abominants that Cooper, Kinney, Jennings, and the rest of the Grand Army Plaza 3rd floor vermin are. Also, there was a popular, well-liked Training Manager who was called up to serve in Iraq. Cooper knifed him in the back while he was serving and eliminated his position.      Posted by: Concerned | June 23, 2006 10:06 AM

Janet Kinney and Ginnie Cooper were responsible for the lack of security in the library. We attended a meeting on our Unattended Child Policy and we were told that if we saw a seven year old child in the library wondering on his own during school hours we should not ask the child why he is there because that child might be home schooled. In my years of working in the library I have never, been told such crap. New York City has laws about truant, children, not to mention child welfare laws. I could not believe what I was hearing. Thought what they were saying was not in our policy the head of security along with several others in charge were telling us to condone this nonsense. Security officers were asked to allow unruly child to stay in the library and disrupt the library. Since the new heads of security has taken over security there has been no security. Our best officers have quit or have been fired for ridiculous things like taking sick days that are legally given to them under our city contract and union laws. The library has gotten wilder and though the patrons complained and Janet Kinney and Ginnie Cooper did nothing. The staff was asked to attend a mandatory workshop called "Creating Safer Libraries. In this workshop we were basically being trained to handle issues that would normally be handled by security. One colleague followed the Creating Safer Libraries procedure and got her finger cut off, and administration told her it was her own fault.  Guess what we are not a security guards, babysitter or social workers, we are libraries.  I hope that our Board of Trustees learns from their mistakes. And I pray that Washington puts their foot down and doesn't allow Ginnie Cooper to disrespect you like she did Brooklyn.    Posted by: Soon to be a former BPLer | June 30, 2006 5:37

I'd just also like mention that a few years ago, not long after Sept. 11 there was an incident at a branch library when a customer asked reference staff probing questions about Pres. Bush's parade route (he was visiting New York). The staff were concerned and called Security who then called the police. The individual was arrested and taken in for questioning and later released. Ginnie was upset about this and later developed Intellectual Freedom Training for the entire staff. Among the items covered was public computers and accessing pornography. Many of us were disturbed by the outcome: BPL instructed us to allow patrons to access pornography; according to them it was their intellectual right. When we asked about children accessing pornography we were told to discourage it but that we shouldn't actually tell them they couldn't access it via the internet. That was also (to their way of thinking) their right, even though they were underage. Since then library computers have been filtered but it is still not impossible to do pornography. People even send it to themselves via email. If Ginnie feels that pornography is o.k. in a library setting, then why not just order XXX DVDs. By not ordering them you are censoring according to their philosophy. I know that most patrons, esp. parents do not think like this.                                                         Posted by: former BPL employee | June 3, 2006 9:55 AM
(E16St & Ave J)

(Paul Isaac Jr-NYsentinel at Large)
May 27, 2010, 6:04 pm
Paul Isaac Jr NYsentinel@large from NYC says:
911 Hero dumped by skank girfriend
Michele Ruiz Peaches705 Subscribe
Add as Friend | Block User | Send Message
I betrayed my boyfriend when I ran away like a coward then I sent him a Dear John Letter by E-mail didnt have the decency to call or say it to his face like a woman but ran away like a child
I am nutty with no morals or scrupples
Maybe Ill even ask if I can —— your brother or another relative when Im horny and you cant get it up just like time Rodger & Cliff called me over for a threesome and I told my ex I was raped(twice) but my ex caught me in a the lie.
I live at 577 E26st Brooklyn and am in the process of evicting my ex-boyfriend an FDNY Aux/Lt Fireman who is sick from 911 cause my nutty mother and drunk friving drug addict child molesting father dont like him
Im to much of a coward to defend him even though he protected us from the drug dealers and convicted rapist my parent happily rented rooms to in our house.
My ex-boyfriend even brought my dying Grandmother back from unconsience when she suffered from diabetes low blood numerous times not to mention the numerous times he stould by me when I had my seizure but that doesnt matter to our nutty family cause its more important that I get laid by all the new guys & girls at my hide out.
My nutty mother falsely called the police on my ex-boyfriend after he ran into a potentially collapsing house next door to rescue handicapped children and when the 70pct arrived I screamed to Officer Valez that I wasnt getting enouph sex and showed her my 12inch pink dildo right in front of my nutty mother.
Then the next day my mother gave my ex-boyfriend a 10 eviction notice and I ran away to stay in a new place to spot new guys & girls to —— and suck
So if you want to see me send me an E-mail at Michelenypr@yahoo.com
micheleruiz24@gmail.com
Cause ——ing is all thats on my mind
Michele Ruiz Peaches705
Sept. 11, 2010, 1:41 pm

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