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The Pelham Parkway-Van Nest branch of The New York Public Library is a modern building with a distinctive facade. It is located around the corner from the busy shopping district on Lydig Avenue. This one-story facility houses adult, teen, and children's collections, as well as extensive World Languages collections, featuring books in Albanian, Arabic, Bengali, Russian, Spanish, Urdu, and many other languages. Programs and classes for people of all ages are offered daily in the glass-enclosed community room.

The history of the branch goes back to 1912, when it was first established as a station of NYPL's Travelling Libraries program, bringing library books to neighborhoods that didn't yet have branches. The Van Nest sub-branch opened in 1917, and occupied a series of small, but progressively larger storefront locations around the neighborhood, until it moved to its current location in 1968. Since then, it has variously been known as Van Nest-Pelham, Van Nest, and, since 2014, as Pelham Parkway-Van Nest.

Community District Information

For more information about your Community District, including census data, community board information, local schools, and other resources, see here.

Information about Environmental Remediation Projects in Your Community

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) has received a Brownfield Cleanup Program (BCP) application and Interim Remedial Measures Work Plan from New York City School Construction Authority for a site known as 650 Waring Avenue, site ID #C203068. A copy of the application, Interim Remedial Work Plan and other relevant documents are available in the online document repository.

There are several ways to comment on BCP applications. Comments can be submitted to the site Project Manager Nigel Crawford at NYSDEC-Region 2, 1 Hunter's Point Plaza, 47-40 21st Street, Long Island City, NY 11101; via email at nigel.crawford@dec.ny.gov; or by calling 718-482-7778. All comments must be submitted by April 27, 2018.

Brownfields are properties where redevelopment is complicated by actual or suspected environmental contamination from past land usage. Because of New York City's long industrial history, brownfields are found in areas throughout the five boroughs. The New York City Office of Environmental Remediation offers programs that encourage environmental investigation of lightly-to-moderately contaminated sites, and that oversee clean up appropriate to a site's new end use. Information about these projects is available below:

New York City Voluntary Cleanup Program
Brownfield Educational Video series –Cleaning Up NYC