It’s a lie-brary!
The Brooklyn Public Library is fending off rumors that it plans to redevelop Bay Ridge’s 73rd Street branch as apartments in a plan similar to the system’s controversial proposals for the Brooklyn Heights and Sunset Park branches. Mayor DeBlasio wants to build low-income apartments over the book-lender, according to a Facebook user who posted to a 2,700-person group dedicated to Bay Ridge.
“The Mayor wants to close the library on Ridge and 73 st For building ‘affordable housing’?!?!?” the user wrote, garnering more than 50 incredulous comments.
But it is pure fiction, a library official said.
“We’ve gotten several spurious inquiries today, and it’s all a bit perplexing!” library spokeswoman Madeline Kaye said via e-mail.
The library system does, however, plan to fix the branch’s roof — a project that will not require closure, she said.
Work is set to begin on the $800,000 project — funded largely by Borough President Adams and Councilman Vincent Gentile (D–Bay Ridge) — in late summer and last four to six months, a spokeswoman said.
