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March 12, 2009

Clock ticks for uptown library

Jersey Journal March 12, 2009
By RONALD LEIR
BW STAFF WRITER

T heresa Jones spends so much time at Bayonne's uptown library branch at Avenue C and 51st Street, she could conceivably be paying rent.

Taking a break from her computer research, Jones, 40, explained: "I come here every day, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., looking for a job." She was laid off in December after working nine months as an assistant to the property manager at The Beacon, a luxury apartment complex in Jersey City.

Joseph Bonner, 64, a nomadic English professor who in 1966 captained the basketball team at St. Peter's College, Jersey City, has been coming for the past five years to do writing and research.

Hunched over other nearby terminals, were Bob Garritano, 52, a onetime on-air personality at a Bergen County radio station, and Mike Murga, 49, who last worked as a chauffeur, perusing the Web for employment options.

But after tomorrow, they and many others who've become economic casualties - along with children from neighborhood schools - will have to find another place to hunt down Internet job postings and homework helpers.

As part of an effort to climb out of its own fiscal mess, Bayonne is shutting down its uptown branch and the downtown branch at the city's Fourth Street Senior Center. In a December briefing, Mayor Mark Smith pegged the estimated savings at $250,000 but city spokesman Joseph Ryan said that all the details have yet to be played out, including exactly when the downtown branch will close.

A related issue is where the 12 computer terminals at the branches will end up, since, Ryan noted, several that were acquired through a foundation grant and others bequeathed came with the caveat that they be used in a library setting, so some computers - along with library staffers - may end up at the main library.

Several of the uptown branch patrons suggested that the city consider keeping the branch open at reduced hours for the sake of the city's youngsters.

"At 3 p.m. this place gets crowded with school children," Jones said. "I don't want the children to suffer."

Bonner added: "You come here after 3 o'clock and you'll see 15 to 20 kids waiting around to use the computers. Without them, they'll really be hurting."

Patrons also agreed that librarian Susan Humenic, who's spent half of her 24 years in the Bayonne library system at the uptown branch, has been a godsend.

"I've known Susan for five years and if anyone has devoted her time to the people, it's her," Garritano said.

"If I have a little problem with my computer, she tinkers around and finds out what to do - you need people like that. The library is an education for all of us."

Posted by tumulty at March 12, 2009 9:09 PM

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