Former New York City Mayor and Democratic presidential candidate Michael Bloomberg has through his charitable organization donated $3 million toward construction of a new public library in his Massachusetts hometown, officials said Tuesday.
The library, scheduled to open next year, will be named the Charlotte and William Bloomberg Medford Public Library in honor of Bloomberg’s parents, who lived in the city north of Boston for 65 years, according to a statement from Bloomberg Philanthropies and the Medford Public Library Foundation.
The entire family benefited from the library, Bloomberg and his sister, Marjorie Tiven, said in a statement.
"The Medford Public Library played such a big role in our community, and in my family, when my sister and I were growing up," Bloomberg said. "Our father was passionate about books and our mother joined one of the library's first reading groups — and she continued returning to the library for clubs and programs throughout her life."
The new $27.5 million building will have double the usable square footage of the current 60-year-old library, and will be fully accessible, energy-efficient and have the latest technology.
"The new library building will serve all of Medford’s residents, providing cutting edge technology and access to resources for generations to come," Mayor Breanna Lungo-Koehn said.
