Great Neck Library meets after vote defeat

Great Neck Library trustees are holding a special meeting Tuesday to discuss how to move forward after voters rejected a $20.8-million bond referendum to expand and renovate the main branch.

The meeting will be at 7:30 p.m. in the community room of the main library, located at 159 Bayview Ave. in Great Neck, library director Jane B. Marino said.

After discussing a building project off and on since 1990, the trustees proposed renovating and expanding the 47,000-square-foot library by 8,645 square feet.

But voters on Oct. 25 defeated the proposal, with 2,924 votes cast against the project and 1,286 in favor.

In a statement after the failed vote, library board president Janet Nina Esagoff said renovation is essential. "Monies will have to be borrowed, and a future referendum is likely," Esagoff wrote in a statement.

The plans included expanding the children's collection area, increasing the audio/visual space area, and creating a computer training room.