Libraries, rezoning hot topics at WRBA

The general manager of the Woodhaven Library branch, Rebecca Alibatya, spoke about how the community should be helping the library as best as they can at the Woodhaven Residents’ Block Association’s (WRBA) monthly meeting on March 18.
“The mayor is threatening to cut the libraries’ budgets,” Alibatya said. “That means fewer services and programs.”
Maria Concolino, a representative from the Friends of the Libraries program, spoke about how people can get involved in showing they care about the Woodhaven library.
“You just have to sign up for Friends of the Libraries, go to a few meetings and pay your dues,” Concolino said.
According to Concolino, the dues paid by the members of this program are what pay for the free events.
“We need people,” Concolino said. “We need Friends of the Libraries to show everyone how important the Woodhaven library is to the community.”
City Councilmember Elizabeth Crowley’s representative, Kate Mooney, expressed her support for libraries when speaking at the meeting.
“Libraries are a treasure, they’re the universities of our streets,” she said.
The topic of rezoning Woodhaven came up next when WRBA board member Maria Thomson handed out a proposal for doing so.
“We have to protect our homes and property,” Thomson said.
Some area residents fear that the neighborhood will be tarnished when all the Victorian homes are sold and knocked down to make room for apartment buildings, according to Thomson.
“We are giving the option for store owners with one-story buildings on Jamaica Avenue to build up if they want to,” Thomson said.
A few Woodhaven residents at the meeting expressed their concern about business owners building second- and third- floor apartments on their Jamaica Avenue properties.
One resident said it would cause more traffic congestion on Jamaica Avenue.
But Thomson replied, “We’d much prefer the congestion than Woodhaven’s beauty being torn down.”