LIBRARIES

The Northeast Library is jammed with people almost all the time.Shutting down the Holmesburg Library and telling all its many patrons to come to the Northeast Library will only increase waits and reduce service. The last thing the Northeast Library and its existing clientele need is more people there at most times.Similarly, the Coleman Library in Northwest Philadelphia would get some of the overflow if the Ogontz Library is shut down and the Logan Library is shut down. That library too is jammed almost all the time.It doesn't take any detailed study to see that libraries being shut down serve a vital purpose. Government budgeting has this in common with family budgeting: if you cannot afford existing expenditures, you cannot afford new expenditures.New York City, BTW, with five years of the 311 system under its belt, now has a deficit of $4 billion, about the size of Philly's total budget, which it will take a combination of taxes and program cuts to pay off.

November 30, 2008

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/politics/71017-interview-managing-director-camille-barnett-4.html

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I am afraid that two libraries in my district--both of which have charter schools nearby--are going to be shut down, leaving many people without access to books, the internet, and job data bases.These libraries are full of people from modest means taking responsibility for their own futures and those of their children, precisely the kind of behavior that is most needed in our city today.I am afraid that library near my district will be shut down in Northeast Philadelphia, having the same kind of impact on my constitutents and others.I am afraid that the 311 system will be an expensive acquisition for the City of Philadelphia. Nobody here has talked about its costs, but the New York Times for December 1, 2003 found that in its first year, the 311 system had start up costs of $21 million and operating costs of $27 million per year. It had a total staff of 375 people, and generated millions of calls, while the total number of calls to the 911 system remained the same.Let's start asking tough questions about how much the 311 system is going to cost, and what programs are going to have to be cut, or what taxes are going to have to be raised, in order to pay for it.

November 30, 2008

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/politics/71017-interview-managing-director-camille-barnett-5.html

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I would recommend that people looking to donate books give them to a high school library. Pennsylvania schools generally, and Philadelphia schools in particular, rank school libraries as low priorities. The State library system says a school library should spend $38 per student per year, but the state average is only about $18 and the city average is less than $7.

June 4, 2006

http://www.phillyblog.com/philly/showthread.php?p=260057#post260057