For almost eight years I worked at the Manhasset Library so I know it is a very busy place. In addition, our house is within a few hundred yards of the old Village Bath Club property so I am very familiar with the site of the proposed new library that seems to be heavily favored by the board of trustees. There are several reasons why this is not an appropriate location for the new building.

Cost concerns and the specter of a three-story building looming over our neighborhood from the hilltop aside (at least the builders of the current library, the Bath Club and even the stores in the Daffy's complex sought a low profile and harmony with the surrounding area), health and safety concerns are paramount.

The library is a very busy operation. It is open seven days a week, including nights, weekends and most holidays. The building opens for cleaning and maintenance at 6:30 a.m. and, except for weekends, it doesn't close until 9 p.m. (later, if programs run past 9 o'clock).

There are approximately 66 employees; at least that was the number when I left in 1999. That is a lot of coming and going just for the staff.

Then there are the hundreds of people who come for the excellent programs and services the library offers--all needing parking, and all needing to exit at the single light at Northern Boulevard. This intersection is always congested and always dangerous. Just this past Jan. 8, a car in the intersection was demolished and two ambulances were required to transport people to area hospitals.

All of the drivers who feel it is too dangerous or too slow to wait for the light will try to exit by navigating the hills and valleys of our circuitous, no-sidewalk, residential streets. They are going to get lost and they are going to get mad.

We're not talking about just cars either. It takes a lot of support services to maintain the library and that means a lot of commercial traffic.

We can expect to see landscaping and snow removal trucks, sanitation and sewage trucks, utility and delivery trucks and all the trucks of all the workers required to maintain the infrastructure of the library, such as plumbing, heating and cooling systems, electrical and computer systems, phones, etc.

That is a lot of noise, pollution, traffic and potential danger to impose on a property so deep inside a residential area. After all, this site is surrounded on three sides by people's homes.

I believe the current site is a far better and safer alternative. The board should pursue one of the options at that location.

Lynn MacIntosh