2:00pm | A few weeks after hopes were dim for Long Beach public libraries, good news emerged from the halls of City Council chambers yesterday.

With the City suffering from an $18.5 million deficit that must be balanced by September 15, several essential services were - and still are - in danger of being cut or eliminated altogether.  Among the most notable were public safety, community parades and hours at local libraries and their Family Learning Centers. Today, the Press-Telegram's Paul Eakins eases our fears [PT]:

The City Council's Budget Oversight Committee unanimously approved a plan Tuesday to replace the city's portion of the learning centers' funding - $186,500 - that had been slated to be cut under City Manager Pat West's proposed budget. The full council will have to decide, perhaps as early as Tuesday, whether to support the recommendation.

According to the article, the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network will contribute $75,000 of the cost while Technology Services will spare the other $107,000 by "not charging for a technical support staff member."

If approved by the City Council, the Family Learning Centers will be allowed to continue operation. These services allow adults and youth alike without readily available internet access to use computers, often for job searching for educational purposes. When the idea of cutting these services came up a few weeks ago, Wilson High teacher Devon Day wrote a passionate editorial that was published in the LBPOST.com entitled "Why Long Beach Public Libraries Matter," explaining how this may affect those who most need our help.

"By limiting access to tutors or adults in the library available to assist those at-risk students, the academic playing field becomes skewed in favor of those students whose families can afford computers, printers, and the internet in the comfort of their own homes," she wrote.

"Providing at-risk students with the library support they need, we will benefit not only our community but our nation to stay competitive in the global economy."

Day said today in an e-mail that she is extremely pleased with yesterday's budget meeting outcome, but the work is not yet done. The City Council must approve the idea during next week's meeting, and this amount of money saved from cuts - while significant - is merely a drop in the bucket of the $18.5 million deficit. Possible solutions have now been found for library services and the Municipal Band, but plenty of other important issues could get the axe over the next two weeks.


Disclosure: LBPOST.com publisher Shaun Lumachi is Chair of the Pacific Gateway Workforce Investment Network board of directors.

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