Angry bookworms say they were duped into signing a petition asking Mayor de Blasio to support the New York Public Library’s controversial central-library plan.
The top of the NYPL’s online pledge, launched Jan. 16, asks the mayor and City Council to generally support the library, praising the good it does for the city. But farther down, the letter calls for “a renovated central branch library” — with no mention that two branches, including the Mid-Manhattan Library, would be sold off to create it.
Under the plan, the library would also get rid of the landmark main branch’s seven levels of historic book stacks.
Critics say the library’s petition disguises the unpopular aspects of the plan and want their names off.
“This is truly an example of Orwellian doublespeak,” Assemblyman Micah Kellner (D-Manhattan) wrote on his Facebook page.
It’s unclear how many signatures the library collected, but a similar petition on Change.org has 782 signatures.
A dozen other library lovers went on Twitter to bash the sneaky solicitation after The Committee to Save the New York Public Library told them the petition was “misleading.”
“Please remove my signature from the misleading petition,” tweeted Robyn Tellefsen on Jan. 22, after writing, “It’s disheartening that @NYPL would be so deceptive.”
The NYPL brushed off the criticism. “We ask for New Yorkers’ support all the time, and thousands have supported this effort,” said spokesman Ken Weine.
Now book lovers are turning to Mayor de Blasio to stop the $300-million plan, which has not yet been finalized. The library is seeking $150 million in taxpayer funds for the project.