A Grand Day For the Mamaroneck Public Library

Community leaders and residents alike huddled together on Prospect Avenue at 10 a.m yesterday morning for what turned out to be both a bright and chilly ceremony marking the grand opening of the Mamaroneck Public Library.

Mamaroneck High School’s (MHS) “The Force” drum line opened the long awaited ceremony, and, soon after, Carly Rose Sonenclar—the Broadway starlet from Rye Neck—sang the National Anthem before a crowd of nearly 200 onlookers.

“This is sort of the kickoff of the 350th anniversary of the Town of Mamaroneck. . . we’re just the beginning,” said Mamaroneck Library Board President Jeff Meighan.

“Isn’t Mamaroneck a great place to live,” he asked rhetorically.

As Building Committee Chair, Helen Rafferty was instrumental to both the library’s rehabilitation and the completion of its new addition.

“People from every corner of our community have come forward and turned this dream of a beautiful, inviting, environmentally responsible public library for Mamaroneck into the reality you see before you here this morning,” Rafferty said.

Friends of the Library President and Grand Central Winter scribe Lee Stringer was on hand for the event and offered his thoughts on how the newly upgraded library compares to the old facility.

“Actually, I love the historical touches of the old site, which they preserved and restored. I think, as the nature of libraries change, this has turned into a fantastic public space, an eye-dropping public space,” Stringer said.

And, on a more contemplative note, he added: “In change, you give a few things up, but you gain other things.”

Congresswoman Nita Lowey also spoke highly of the integration of both past and present in the Library’s renovation.  With Lowey’s support, a was obtained from the Housing and Urban Development (HUD) during the Library’s reconstruction to be used for handicapped accessibility and green initiatives.   

“This was a team effort and what was particularly exciting to me was that the architects and all those who were involved in the planning made sure that they retained the architectural integrity of a building in Mamaroneck that was built in 1927," Lowey said.

Senator Suzi Oppenheimer—who championed past legislation to gain Mamaroneck recognition as a library district—noted that when potential homeowners eye a community the first thing they look at after schools are the local libraries.

“And so we want our community to stay as vibrant as it is and that’s the importance of having a wonderful library in your community,” Oppenheimer told the crowd.

Senator Oppenheimer supported the Library’s efforts to obtain State Education grants and a from the New York State Dormitory Authority.  Her office also provided a $50,000 grant for new technology.

New York State Assemblyman George Latimer spoke on a more personal note.  Recalling his younger days growing up in Mount Vernon, he talked about the power of books in their ability to introduce readers to far-flung corners of the earth, far from home.

“There is no way to see the Vienna of Beethoven or to see Tom Sawyer’s and Huckleberry Finn’s Mississippi River; they don’t exist in this time and place,” he said.

“[The young] will see things that they can’t yet see in the physical world and they’ll see it right here in this building,” he said.

Westchester County Executive Rob Astorino spoke briefly about his nostalgia for “the old black and white on paper hardcover books” in the age of the Kindle and eBooks

“You should be very proud of what you’ve accomplished,” Astorino told the crowd. “The new focal point of Mamaroneck is right here today and will be for generations to come.”

Town of Mamaroneck (TOM) Supervisor Valerie O’Keeffe shared a little history of her own.

Addressing a now well-chilled yet enthusiastic crowd, O’Keeffe talked about her college years and how she took a course in Shakespeare, feeling like she wasn’t the smartest kid in class.

In need of creative inspiration to impress her professors with, O’Keeffe visited the Library for it’s collection of books from the 1920s “that no one had read,” hoping to gain an edge.

“A library is holy ground, you stretch your mind, you enlarge your soul,” O’Keeffe concluded poetically.

One of the last to engage the crowd was Village of Mamaroneck (VOM) Mayor Norm Rosenblum.

“The greatest gift anyone can give anyone else is an education,” Rosenblum said, referencing Andrew Carnegie and John Jacob Astor, who were both influential in developing and funding public libraries around the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

The morning’s ceremony concluded with the mayor reading a proclamation on behalf of the VOM, declaring September 17-24, 2011 to be officially recognized throughout the community as Mamaroneck Public Library Week.