Ian Avilez cannot get enough books. So much that the first grader reads on a third class level. “I read him to him as a baby,” said his mother Miguelina Minier. His kindergarten teacher asked about Ian's expansive vocabulary. “Why does Ian know words that I haven't even taught him?” I like we live on the library, “said Ms. Minier.
It is true. Ms. Minier and her son live in the Sunset Park Library and in apartments in Brooklyn, which were opened in 2023 with the apartment part above the library. The first library in this place was opened in 1905 and lasted until 1970 when it was demolished. A new one that opened in 1972, although it took a lot of love in time.
Ms. Minier remembers well. She has been living in the neighborhood for 20 years and has been going to the library since her teenager. “It was dark, very, very dark and it was small,” she said. “Sometimes they didn't have the book they were looking for.” When she developed interest in criminal justice, she wanted to see reference works on the exams of the police academy. “They didn't have them,” she recalled.
When her son was born, the building needed repairs to a broken air conditioning system and an outdated electrical system to name just two. The public library in Brooklyn could not afford the necessary work. The Fifth Avenue Committee, a non -profit developer, has teamed up to renovate the library and add 49 units of the affordable living space.
In order to qualify for life in the building, Ms. Minier had to achieve an income between 30 and 80 percent of the middle income in the area, which was 86,380 US dollars when applying. The number of units comprises eight apartments that benefit from a project -based subsidy program in section 8, and nine apartments for families and people who used to experience homelessness.
“I didn't know that it would be a building on the library,” Ms. Minier recalled. “I thought they would only renew the library and that was it. But then the building came and I said: 'Oh, I had to apply for it.' “
It was not the first time that Ms. Minier tried her luck in a housing lottery. “I had more than 38 applications. But this should be. “It was selected from 60,000 applicants.
The apartment that she and her son moved into has two bedrooms. It is the first time that the 6-year-old and the 34-year-old have their own room. “Imagine,” she said, “33 years of life with someone else and have no room for their own. This place is a blessing. “
$ 1.350 | Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Miguelina Minier, 34
Profession: Relationship manager for a non -profit bank
On popularity: Since Ms. Minier has met so many people in the neighborhood through the work she does, it is rare that she can go out without being recognized. “Every time I walk along the street, I hear: 'Hello, Miguelina. Hello, Hello, Hello – like the president, ”she said with a laugh.
When leaving New York: Although Ms. Minier hopes that she and Ian will stay in the apartment for years, she sometimes wonders what it would be like to live in a house. “I want to have a garden on which I can make grilling,” she said. “My son tells me that he wants a trampoline to jump and I want to give him that.”
Ms. Minier, born in the Dominican Republic, came to United States as a child and their living conditions have always been tight. “I come from a foreign country,” she said, “and when you come here you have no room for your own. Although they are 13, 14, they still sleep with a cousin or someone else. Ian, thank God, he is lucky. He has something I've never had before. He has his own space. “
Ian, born in Sunset Park, grew up in overcrowded apartments in the first years of his life. So it was enough to get his own room to get him excited about the move – and that was before he learned the library below. “That came later,” said Ms. Minier. “When the library was opened, we had the opportunity to do a tour in the library for the tenants. When he saw that, I explained to him: “We are the first to see the library because we live about it.” He said, 'Oh, mom. Oh my god, oh my god! '”
If there were Ian, he and his mother went to the library every day. “I am the one who is:” Not today, Ian, mom is tired – let's go another day, “said Ms. Minier. Nevertheless, they do it at least three times a week.
Ms. Minier reads Ian every now and then, but nowadays it is mainly he from favorites like the “Pete the Cat” series and “Don't let your deaf drive the bus”!
When her son is at school, Ms. Minier spends her own time in the library. She works from home and it is helpful to have access to the library's work rooms.
“You have chargers,” she said, “you have the Wi-Fi that you can connect, and you even have plugs with which you can connect your device. For me personally, the library means a lot. The staff is all very, very helpful. You ask you for every resource, everything and you will help. “
Ms. Minier works for a non -profit bank who works for entrepreneurial women, many who live in the neighborhood. “The work I do focuses on the people we sometimes see on the train who sells churros or sells chocolate, or sometimes they see them on the street that sell mangoes and the like. We spend a little loan to help you start your business. “
The best part of the work is the change in your neighbors. “If you write me an SMS and say: 'Hey, Miguelina, look, now I have my own Churros -Karren', I will be happy because you can achieve something that you can achieve like me that you come from another country and have achieved something. “”
It is not just the Wi-Fi and the books and the quiet space that the library Ms. Minier and her son offers. It is also proud. On a recent excursion with his classmates to a nearby fire station, Ian had the opportunity to point out the library. “He said it to all of his friends: 'I live here. I live on the library. '”
On the upper floor, he told them, he has his own room with a shelf for every book that he tried.