The Floral Park Library is not accessible to wheelchair users, according to a resident who raised her voice at a recent village board meeting.
“Do you all enjoy going up the stairs independently? Well, my brother can’t do that at the library,” a Floral Park resident said. “You have an antiquated chair lift that he doesn’t fit on unless he takes off the legs of his wheelchair so that he can get on this antiquated, scary chair lift that takes 10 to 15 minutes.”
“He has the right, as a disabled person, to be able to explore the library independently. That’s inclusivity in 2025,” she continued. “There’s no excuse for there not to be an elevator in 2025 in our library.”
Mayor Kevin Fitzgerald responded by saying that the village had been audited for compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act by the state comptroller earlier this year and had “almost completed” all of the improvements requested by the audit, which the resident did not appear to find satisfactory.
“It’s really demoralizing in 2025,” the resident said. “I can’t believe the library doesn’t have an elevator.”
After the board meeting, Library Director Pat Eren told Schneps Media LI in an email that the library has been making accessibility improvements over the past several years, but that these improvements are challenging due to the historic nature of the building.
“The village board and the library board understand the residents’ concerns expressed at the village board meeting and are regularly evaluating feasible means of improving accessibility at the library,” Eren’s email read. “Part of the charm of the library is that it is located in a historic former Farley Post Office Building that was originally constructed in 1936. Over the last several years, the village has made several accessibility improvements to this historic building.”
The residents’ complaint comes at a time when the village is facing a lawsuit charging that the library’s lack of compliance with the ADA resulted in resident Nadia Holubnyczyj-Ortiz, who uses a wheelchair, experiencing significant injuries while in the library.
She is seeking $10 million damages after needing her husband to carry her down library steps to access an event for Attorney General Letitia James due to the wheelchair lift malfunctioning, causing her injuries and embarrassment. Holubnyczyj-Ortizand suffered multiple broken bones, internal bleeding and facial lacerations due to an unmarked step on the outside of the building’s basement door which caused her to fall out of her wheelchair, according to her lawsuit.
Jon Bell, Holubnyczyj-Ortiz’s attorney, said he had not been aware that a resident had made a public comment regarding the library’s accessibility, but found it fitting, as he and Holubnyczyj-Ortiz had just filed a motion to turn her suit into a class action suit.
“They’re on formal notice of how they’re excluding these individuals with disabilities for so long and they still have a library that people in a wheelchair can’t take advantage of,” Bell said. “It’s atrocious, it’s awful, and it’s irresponsible and totally unfair.”
Bell said he believes a decision will be reached on Holubnyczyj-Ortiz’s suit within the next three months to a year, and that she wouldn’t sign any agreement that didn’t include a provision ensuring the library became fully ADA compliant.
“I think it’s crazy that even after this litigation, it’s still not accessible,” Bell said. “It’s disgraceful. They’ve had 30 plus years since they passed the ADA law requiring that these places become accessible for people with wheelchairs.”
The village did not respond to a request for comment on the suit.
The library did not respond to a request to provide a full list of accessibility improvements or detailed information on the current status of the wheelchair lift, which the resident at the village board meeting took issue with.
However, Eren’s email said the village converted the media room to a fully accessible community room last June, constructed a ramp leading to new accessible front entrance in 2022 and reconfigured the layout of a “a large portion of the first floor” to provide for “fully accessible pathways through the first floor, the installation of a new reference desk and circulation desk, both with accessible counters, and new accessible work tables for patrons,” in 2016.
The library said the public’s comments are “always welcome” as a way to improve services at the library.
The next board of trustees meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 18 at village hall.
