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Mr. Mayor, fund the libraries!
By Ed Goppelt
Sunday, 02/13/05
(1108325739522)
In a cost cutting move, City officials are preparing to reduce almost half the libraries to part time branches. I don't doubt that the City needs to cut back on its spending, but must it do so at the expense of the school children and residents? Is there really no other way? To me this seems like a classic example of "penny wise, but pound foolish."
Cutting the libraries won't turn around the City's finances. What it will do is reduce the quality of life for hundreds of thousands of City residents who depend on the library as their source of knowledge and learning, their Internet access, their day care center, their after school enrichment program, their meeting place.
The library cuts are just a small part of the City's larger financial picture. Skyrocketing costs in just two areas--employee benefits and human services--are forcing the City to slash spending in all other departments. This year the City will need to take $171 million away from other departments in order to pay an additional $115 million in benefits promised to City employees as well a $56 million increase for the Human Services Dept.
The Mayor has cut the Library's budget by $2 million or 6 %--about the same as other departments. 86 Library employees will lose their jobs over the next two years as a result. While $2 million may seem like a lot of money, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the $171 million in cuts the City needs to make.
I commend the Mayor on his commitment to fairness, to making all departments share equally in the fiscal pain. But in my view we elected the Mayor not to mechanically apply a formula, but to stand up for the people. He should reverse cuts that will yield little money, but are likely to do much harm.
According to his official bio Mayor Street "came up the hard way." As a young man he made the most of the educational opportunities he was given, eventually rising to lead America's fifth largest city. So why isn't this Mayor jumping at the chance to provide similar opportunities to those who would like to better themselves? Doesn't this Mayor want leave a fully funded and flourishing library system to future Philadelphians?
View photos of the recent library rally.