Abinanti Announces $160K in State Grants to Local Libraries

TARRYTOWN- New York State Assemblyman Tom Abinanti (D-Greenburgh/Mt. Pleasant) announced that the New York State Library and New York State Education Department has awarded construction grants to three public libraries in his 92nd Assembly District.

The grants, which are supported by the $24 million capital fund appropriation in the 2017 state budget for the construction and renovation of public libraries and public library systems in New York State, are being awarded to the Greenburgh, Warner (Tarrytown/Sleepy Hollow), and Hastings-On-Hudson public libraries.

“I am pleased that these libraries were recognized and selected to receive these much-needed grants,” Abinanti said. “Local libraries are critical to our communities in so many ways and I will continue to be an advocate for more state investments to the library system.”

The Greenburgh Public Library will receive $141,152 to construct an enclosed extension to their lobby for an “eating room”/café with tables for dining- to accommodate daytime patrons who eat their lunch in the library. The room will have ADA compliant (handicap accessible) electronic sliding doors to provide patron access to the adjacent unused patio.

The Warner Public Library will receive $12,667 to replace its old and warped wooden step at the library entrance with a new limestone front step engraved with the words “truth” and “harmony”.

The Hastings-on-Hudson Public Library will receive $8,000 to replace all of its existing fluorescent lighting with energy efficient, long lasting LED lighting.

Abinanti is the former Chair of the Assembly Committee on Libraries and Education Technology.

“Not only do libraries serve as a place for learning, they are the center of our communities – a place for children and adults to meet, a place for those without internet to find it and even a place of refuge in an emergency,” said the Westchester Assemblyman.