I don't often rant on this blog, though there are plenty of things to bitch about in Sunset Park. I often use the library on 51st street to go in and do some quick work while I move around in the neighborhood. With the sweltering temperatures of July you'd figure that they would quickly fix the air conditioner at this branch if it broke down. I have been going there intermittently for well over the last week and the library has no air conditioning. A look at the wall thermometer inside shows a sweltering temperature of 85 degrees. So the air conditioning which went down last Monday is still not fixed and our local users have had to put up with the unhealthy prospect of having to walk into an oven to do any work or look up books. AND even though it's slightly warmer outside, at least you get a breeze. We've had to put up with holding events and services at the library under extremely unhealthy conditions. I feel sorry for the library staff that has had to stay indoors under sweltering stuffy air. If the library did business as a bakery I suppose you would have to put up with the heat. But trying to sit down and write a blog while sweat is dripping from your forehead onto the keyboard is asking a bit much. I asked the library staff when it was going to get fixed and the only answer they could give was "soon". I am willing to bet that if the management of the Brooklyn library system had their air conditioning broken they would have it fixed in a nano second. I can understand budget concerns and all that, but keeping a local library at over 85 degrees indoors in the 21st century is asking a bit much. I bet the head honcho who runs the library has new carpeting and chandeliers for his office as a top priority. I bet he's even got gas money for his chauffeur and makes sure he gets his paycheck on time. I hope this post gets to somebody in management at the library. Just so they know there are some really pissed off library users in Sunset Park and we hope we all remember come election time when the head honchos ask for a bigger budget so they can get a pay raise which right now as I see it they don't deserve one. Actually I think a pay cut is in order, and while we're at it, let's make sure they get cuts on their main office budget. I am pretty sure they don't need any new carpets either....
UPDATE July 15, 2014: Day 8 without air conditioning. Today the library was closed early at 5 PM as opposed to it's normal hours 1-8PM. Air conditioning still not fixed. Blog post was posted all over Facebook. Sent a copy to Menchaca's office and sent it to the library via their contact page. A reply from them indicates it was passed on to the "Office of Neighborhood Services". How about the air conditioning repair office?
