Members of the Fraser Hickson Library - and I have been a member since the library first opened in NDG decades ago - were not advised about the new location for the library at Trinity Church until we read about it in The Gazette on October 18. Since Borough Mayor Michael Applebaum and the Fraser Hickson's Nicholas Hoare and John Dinsmore shut down the FH Library in NDG, we members have been kept in the dark about everything.
This new arrangement means that the people who most need a serious library in western NDG - seniors, the handicapped and children - will still be without one. For those who can drive, parking is virtually impossible in the area of Trinity. Only those people who live in the immediate area and those who are able to use public transportation will benefit from this arrangement. Once again, Western NDG has been abandoned by the NDG Borough Council under Michael Applebaum and the board of governors of the Fraser Hickson Library.
How very lightly John Dinsmore dismisses the people of Western NDG. Speaking to The Monitor about the clandestine move, (Oct. 22 issue) he says, "It's really so much better, in terms of physical access, than we were able to offer outon Kensington Avenue and Somerled". Access for whom? Note how Mr. Dinsmore uses the word "out" to emphasize that we here in Western NDG are living in the boondocks, thus implying that we don't count. Poor country cousins don't need access. Note how easily Mr. Dinsmore trivializes and dismisses the needs of the people of Western NDG, the needs of the members who have depended on the Fraser Hickson for decades as our primary library and community centre. Now Mr. Dinsmore doesn't need us anymore. If we can get on a bus, good. If not, wait for Michael Applebaum to produce another library, but first - that Pleasure Dome Sports Palace in Benny Park.
Phyllis Carter, NDG
