Feds Investigate Accessibility At $41M Hunters Point Library

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Federal investigators are looking into whether the new, $41.5 million Hunters Point Library complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, according to documents filed this month in a lawsuit over the library's accessibility.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York sent an architectural expert to examine the library on Dec. 12 in connection with its investigation into whether the library is accessible to people with mobility issues, court records show.

Reached by phone, a spokesperson for the U.S. Attorney's Office declined to comment.

A lawyer for the city revealed the existence of the federal investigation in a letter filed in Brooklyn federal court earlier this month, first reported by the New York Post.

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That lawsuit, filed in November by the nonprofit legal center Disability Rights Advocates, argues that the library excludes people with mobility issues from "full and equal access," in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

"The City and Queens Public Library are committed to ensuring their facilities are accessible," city Law Department spokesperson Nick Paolucci said in a statement. "Both are cooperating fully with the U.S. Attorney’s investigation."

Designed by renowned architecture firm Steven Holl Architects, the brand-new library on the Long Island City waterfront opened on Sept. 24 following eight years of planning and construction.

It became the subject of accessibility complaints barely a week after its Sept. 24 opening, when visitors pointed out that some fiction books were shelved on tiered levels only accessible by stairs.

The library building technically complies with the Americans with Disabilities Act, a Queens Public Library spokesperson has previously said, and the library's website touts that it is wheelchair accessible.

"It is always the Library's goal to be welcoming, open and available to everyone, including customers with disabilities," Queens Public Library spokesperson Elisabeth de Bourbon said in a November statement on the lawsuit. "We are taking this matter very seriously."