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Why Long Beach Public Libraries Matter by Ryan ZumMallen | Archive | 08.19.10 |
+ With the Long Beach city budget deadline of September 15 quickly approaching, the City Council is attempting to quickly decide which programs and services should survive and which are expendable in order to balance an $18.5 million deficit. After a strong community effort two years ago to save the Main Library, libraries across Long Beach are again on the chopping block. One local teacher is looking for solutions to keep libraries open, especially for the students most in need. Wilson High School English teacher Devon Day has taught locally for many years and is a very active member of the Freedom Writers Foundation, keeping a love for writing alive in her students, some of whom face extreme challenges every day just to attend school. In the letter below, which the LBPOST.com is proud to present, Day describes what could happen if some of her students lose library access. She and other local teachers are considering attending an upcoming Long Beach City Council Budget meeting next Monday, and Day is open and willing to consider suggestions as to action that can be taken to further this cause. * To whom it may concern:
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23 Comments so far.
It is sad It is sad, but if I had to make a choice between Public Libraries and a Municipal Band - Libraries win hands down. And they both win as compared to spending money on "reconfiguring" the breakwater. Sander I value the libraries and, in fact, practically grew up in them. While the benefits of our Library system are evident, we're still faced with the need to 1) generate revenue or, 2) make cuts. Where do the funds come from? John M. Fentis I read this story with a mixed measure of sadness for our school chldren and frustration at the actions of the City Council who seem to delight in throwing out the baby with the bathwater. When I prosecuted Jet Blue in the early 2000s for non-compliance with our municipal ordinances related to late night flights, I negotiated a settlement that ultimately accumulated a sum near or in excess of $500,000. I felt it was my obligation to direct that sum to a destination that would ultimately benefit ALL the citizens of Long Beach. In that vein, I directed the entire sum of money to the Friends of the Long Beach Library to be used for the purchase of publications as well as computers. I was disappointed to see that the City Council cut the library budget the next year by that sum of money. Not one of their brightest moves. Now, while some of you council members weren't sitting on the Council at the time, I relate this story in an effort for all of you to get the message: the future of this planet depends on the education and awareness levels of our children. Don't let history repeat itself by continuing to cut the library budget along with other education related line items. In fact, if you all really had the courage, you would cut the salaries of some of the public officials, including yourselves, before touching the funds that properly aid our children and provide them with the necessary tools to become responsible adults ForLB Thank you Devon Day! Perhaps now, the council will choose to be enlightened. ScarlettBurn I honestly hope the libraries of Long Beach don't get shut down due to budgeting issues. Libraries are one of the last places available for the public to use computers for vital research and homework assignments, as Ms. Day pointed out in her letter. Trimming the budget is better than closing down a library. Every sector of the city should be sacrificing, not just the poor neighborhoods. Matt I understand that public libraries have a certain sentimental value in most peoples hearts. I don't necessarily feel that they are a top priority but I do see the importance they CAN play in a community. I'm actually in favor of media centers as opposed to libraries with old smelly books. It is much more advantageous for a student to be computer literate than to understand how a library functions. Joe Weinstein As usual, and despite various citizen suggestions and letters, few if any of our politicians question - or even discuss at all - continued costly funding of certain traditional allegedly ‘needed services’ which in fact are highly dispensable and indeed serve mainly to promote IR-responsible behavior. In particular the Gen Fund spends $4 million annually ($3 million overtly, another $1 million hidden in the regular trash collection budget) to weekly sweep all street gutters, rain or shine, dirty or clean, need or no need. Very little of this effort goes to cover points and events of genuine need: stressed street storm drains, post-accident cleanups. The sweeps pick up but a small fraction of the city's total weekly garbage - on average 1.3 lbs per 50-foot frontage - and compared with regular trash collection cost 8 1/2 times as much per pound of rubbish to do so. But the sweeps do have the ‘advantage’ of SUBVERTING the message of Litter-Free Long Beach. After all, instead of picking up the litter in your gutter, why not instead chuck a bit of extra litter there (rather than walk over to your trash bin)? - the city will pick it up anyhow! The one rationale (when any at all is given) for the sweeping is that the city makes money from parking tickets, issued in violation of once-a-week half-day parking bans, and for these bans possible sweeping (all of a few minutes per block) is used as the excuse. Even if you warmly support such bans to permit the city thus shamelessly to prey on car-owners, it's shoot-in-foot approach for the city to spend money on a costly and indeed counterproductive process as excuse for the bans, when there are other and better no-cost excuses: such as simply reserving a day each week on each side of your street to facilitate safe biking or street strolling or potential junior band parades. @ Joe Weinstein You struck a nerve with your rant about street sweeping. Street sweeping in Long Beach is pretty ridiculous. I have several friends who live in lower income neighborhoods that have a very difficult time in finding parking and the fact that Long Beach feels the need to street sweep at 4 am in the morning is incredibly stupid. I once lived on a block with very limited street parking and 4 am street sweeping and I have nothing but utter contempt for that entire devision of city services. I now live in a middle class neighborhood in east long beach where the street sweeping is during working hours when no one is at home anyway. But even if they were home there are driveways at every house and more than enough room on either side of the street to park. Apparently the city finds it OK to fine the poor so the wealthier don't have to have a noisy burden. Cut that program and keep the libraries and band. frustrated library patron I, too, am very worried about the cuts to our library services, especially the Family Learning Centers where homework help and extremely needed job-seeking services are available (one in every public library in Long Beach). Ms. Day is one who can SEE their importance in her critical work with our city's children. Those of us who don't see those youngsters lining up for homework help need to be just as cognizant of the risk we're taking when we allow those homework helpers' jobs to be cut. Regarding the Jet Blue funds: they go to the Long Beach Public Library Foundation, not the Friends of the Library, and all the funds, by agreement, must be spent on books--not staff. MissLBLibrarian Slander said: we're still faced with the need to 1) generate revenue or, 2) make cuts. Where do the funds come from? Good point - where do funds come from? Id love for people to share their ideas w/ City Council. However, I must ask - since when is the library a revenue generating entity? Anyone who adopts that idea (like many who work in finance for the City) will kill the library, period. BTW, LB Libraries ALWAYS make requested cuts, while other departments do not... we may be quite, but Im sure other readers will agree we make a HUGE impact on the City. Literacy Teacher What a sad commentary on a community that comes out in force to save free concerts in the park, truly a luxury in these hard economic times, but barely a whisper about cuts to the vital services provided by our community and school libraries. Thanks, Ms. Day, for being a voice for the students and needy people of Long Beach. If we could muster even half the number of people who turned out for the city council meeting to save the municipal band for this coming city council meeting to save public libraries, it would be hard for the media and council to ignore. I for one will be there! CHARLIE Well how about a big chunck of that money Obama just gave to the Teachers Union - Now here's a chance for the Union to do a real good deed which I think the rank & file would happily approve... a reader Why not combine the city libraries with school libraries? Keep the school media centers open evenings and weekends staffed with city librarians after school hours and weekends. Several school libraries are within walking distant to my house, whereas I need to drive to the city library. It's a shame for both entities to be closed so many hours. Combine them and get rid of the duplication! Let's look for a new way Knowing in this market that we have to deal with the budget cuts for library services can we not consider looking at "new ways to manage our opportunities?" Library staff such as librarians are highly paid positions (and righfully so), but if the cost of having a librarian at each branch each day as well as other paid staff could be offset with "volunteers" from say the Library Foundation and the Friends of the Library, could we not reduce the library budget so to keep our libraries open ? While doing this we will also strenghten the Library Foundation as well as the Friends of the Library would we not? Shouldn't we be considering options such as this at this point, or is this another "Employee Union" issue that we have to deal with? Libraries working with the Community to assit in staffing to help keep them open seems like a no brainer, but then maybe I am wrong on this issue? Bottom line is we need our libraries to survive this economy and not take the budget hits it has been subject to. It is an education and saftey issue that cannot be swept under the carpet. What about working toward WIFI for neighborhood library access? If a three mile radius is able to be accessed by all residents for services needed to do school work, research, reading, etc. wouldn't this take some stress off the neighborhood libraries? Sponsors such as Microsoft and other local businesses just might jump aboard to help or pay the entire cost of this through grants, as well as Obama's 10 Billion dollar technology fund, we can be a leader in this area can't we? A model for cities across the U.S. We all need to begin to think out of the box instead of just from our pocketbook. It is sad when you think of all of the other items being discussed in depth and the Library is not at the top of the list. Bike path? Green City Services? Municipal Band? etc. Things we enjoy, and surely are needed, but not as much as our Library and its services. Come on Council THINK ! How about a itywide event to raise money for the Library - Come on Library Foundation and Friends of the Library THINK ! Thinking out of the box with Union support, the community involved, we can rise to the occassion and fix this. Sander To MissLBLibrarian: I believe you misspelled my name, and misunderstood my comment. I was not suggesting that the library become the source for additional revenues. I was simply asking where the money for libraries should come from. The City is facing an 18 Million Dollar deficit. We can cut spending, raise taxes, borrow, or some combination of the three. What City services should be cut? What taxes should be increased? Should we seek loans? I don't have an answer, or even an opinion, about these questions. I was merely trying to illustrate that hard choices face us all. Mr. Fentis' story would be funny if it weren't so tragic. Mr. Weinstein made a useful suggestion about the reduction or elimination of street sweeping. I don't think the City will eliminate it, however, because parking violations are a huge revenue stream for the general fund. Libraries were my home, my safe place for discovery, fun, and learning. The elimination of Library services is tragic. Still, if we want to preserve them, we need to make a well reasoned, implementable and politically safe case for cuts elsewhere. That was my point. Sander I just did a bit of math and, if each resident of Long Beach threw down $36, we could pay down the budget deficit today. is it really such a diffi to Let's look for a new way- a new way would be to cut the non-essential municipal band completely (letting them seek non-profit 501 C status and get their own funding which should have happened long ago but why bother when you can suckle at the teat of the city until it's discovered that you are serving such a small segment of the residents to the tune of 480M and the director and his wife pulling down 108M of that)and direct that money to programs such as the library or even the LB Jr concert band which also serves the city's youth or any other programs serving youth in this city. it is criminal to continue the weekly street sweeping routine in times like this just because the city can claim revenue off of parking violations. do we really need automated street corner trash compactors to be green?? what about RDA money for art on vacant lots downtown (look for more vacancies downtown soon) or in median strips in bixby? jeeze, if they have money to spend on that nonsense... meanwhile, kids and families lose libraries. a new way indeed! grand slam Very sad! What is happening to Iowa by the Sea, Long Beach? I think it is not as extreme as the city of Bell, but some salaries benefits can certainly be trimmed by any percent to save jobs, services, and money. If this is not done, than It may some day be as Bedford Falls is called Pottersville from the movie "It's A Wonderful Life" I know many people that use the library and their lives have changed for the better. One example is your Hometown Music column writer Steve Propes where he has written to that effect in the LBPost column. Fred J I don't think this should turn into a "libraries vs. Municipal Band" debate, because both our important to our quality of life. While libraries--with what Matt called "smelly old books" --have historically provided an opportunity for self-education leading to upward mobility for the individual. the Municipal Band nurtures all of us as a group by expanding the sense of community in our neighborhoods with events that attract people of all ages, allowing them to interact while broadening their musical horizons. The Band's concerts are where people meet, neighbors greet, and face-to-face networking takes place. It would be hard to measure what the value of it is, dollar-wise, because I believe the interaction at the summer concerts is contributes to better neighborhoods. So even if you don't attend, it's a good thing for you! That said, I also think that those who attend the concerts are more likely to be the type of people who support libraries. Libraries have traditionally been the first thing on the chopping block whenever cutbacks loom. Let's say no to that. I'll bet that plenty of fat lurks just below the surface of those "essential" departments, if one digs just a little. Dave Hall As a former instructor working in an Inmate Education Program, I can attest to what the writer is saying- many, even the majority of those in trouble with the Law are illiterate or barely literate. Libraries serve so many functions and one of the most important tasks that libraries have is to keep us all on the right path-out of trouble and helping society and our familes. Budgets cuts to our city library system will hurt Long Beach in so many ways. Devon Day I attended the budget oversight committee at City Hall today. It was very emotional. The brilliant piece was from Lori Ann Farrell, Director of Financial Management. She collected the data for 44 cities and how they have cut costs. Little ol' Colorado Springs with a population of 380,307 came up with an innovative solution for saving pet projects like libraries and Junior Concert Bands and Municipal Bands. Ordinary citizens bought a street light for say $300. and then designated where that money would go. What if I were able to get 310 people to buy a stop sign in Long Beach. That would replace the money being cut (approxiamately $90,000). Do the math folks, the Junior Concert Band needs about the same amount. The Municipal Band needs 1,300 donors. Seriously, this could work. It could be two families, four families that go in on one stop light. I like Colorado Springs kind of thinking. Together this city can do anything. Pam Oehlman Devon, that is a terrific idea! We could reach out through our local neighborhood associations and PTA's to get it started. If Colorado Spring can do it, Long Beach certainly can! iconz Let's cut all the fat before we reach into people's wallets. Here's an example of city waste. My coworker has received three street sweeping parking tickets in the past year on a block that has no designated street sweeping posted. We pay the enforcement officer's hourly wage and we pay the panel that reviews my coworker's appeals, only to have each citation dismissed after administrative review!
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Ryan ZumMallen has served as the managing editor of the LBPOST.com since 2007. He graduated from CSULB with a degree in Print Journalism in 2008 and is a member of the 2009 class of Leadership Long Beach. You can find him on various basketball courts around the city.
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