New York City’s most glamorous bookworm is speaking up for its libraries.
Sarah Jessica Parker is asking fellow New Yorkers to battle looming budget cuts that could slash hours and programs at libraries in all five boroughs.
In an email released on Monday, Parker urged people to post sticky notes about why they love their libraries on the investinlibraries.org website.
It’s a cheeky nod to her “Sex and the City” character, Carrie Bradshaw, whose boyfriend dumped her via Post-it.
In the email, Parker calls her local branch, the Jefferson Market Library in Greenwich Village, “a cornerstone, a beacon and one of the most beloved buildings in our community.”
And echoing Carrie’s favorite phrase, “I couldn’t help but wonder…,” the actress asks: “Could I as a New Yorker accept cuts to our wonderful, important, necessary, and beloved libraries? I’m sorry. I can’t.”
The email is the latest part of an aggressive campaign by all three city library systems, the New York Public Library, the Queens Public Library and the Brooklyn Public Library, to fend off budget cuts and ask for a boost in funding while the City Council and the de Blasio administration haggle over the fiscal year 2020 city budget.
According to a briefing paper by the City Council, the FY 19 city subsidy for all three systems was $387.7 million. This year’s proposed funding is $388.8 million, which is a slight increase.
But library officials said once annual rising costs are factored in, that actually comes to an $11 million cut, $3 million from baseline funding and $8 million from the City Council, which is not guaranteed.
Officials from the three systems have also argued for a $35 million funding increase to properly serve the growing needs of the patrons who come through library doors.
