Here's a Possible consequence of delaying the building of the new library that will cost a billion or two--merge it with Hennepin County. It would be a disaster for library patrons, but what the hay?
In my lexicon of library, which comes from using libraries usually from here to the East Coast, mostly above the Mason-Dixon Line (goes through Dayton, Ohio), the main library has a children's room, usually furnished with a respectable puppet stage arrangement and low chairs and now, kid computers. The rest of the downtown library is for adults down to mid-teens. It contains a government documents section, a "business" section (that term is less than satisfactory for what the business section does), microfilm, newspapers, A VERY LARGE REFERENCE DEPARTMENT, art, music, fiction--current and classics--all that good stuff, computers. It has adequate bathrooms, drinking fountains, and a little enclosed garden. It has video and DVDs and CDs because we keep the inventories of our culture in a larger variety of ways. (The same thing probably happened when they went from papyrus scrolls to books and from hand-printed books to presses.) The way it looks and smells says library. The city's budget requirements for the library and counter-productive, particularly at a time when the library staff is trying to build a new library and refurbish the community and district libraries. It cuts $1.5 million from the library's budget. (Librarians are, as a class, thrifty, parsimonious, tight, stingy folks professionally. They're exacting and they inculcate the notion of making the best use of money that you can.) They were already giving us good value for our money and asked for too little on the Library Bond question last election. They've been last in line at the Legislature and the Congress and the City forever. In tight times like RT has declared we have (and I'm not altogether sold on that notion either), they should be asked to cut no more than half what RT and the council are asking unless we're not really serious about having a new library, improving the district and community libraries and their services, and moving forward. I'd say I'm pretty thoroughly deesgoosteed with the council's and mayor's performance on this issue and the library board is being way too timid with the city. However, Jan Feystukas is going to wind up driving herself into an early grave or she'll be sent to the home for the bewildered for a rest cure. This is entirely unfair to her as Interim Director and to the rest of the staff as well. It's also unfair to the citizens who are getting short-changed three ways from the middle in this. WizardMarks, Central Terrell Brown wrote: >-----Original Message----- >From: michael libby ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > >Someone explain to me why we're in the process of tearing down a >working facility without a plan for its replacement. How many years >will the library block sit as a surface parking lot while this gets >hashed out? > >[TB] Give it 10 .... just a bit more than the number of years the >city plans to take to "Bring property-tax supported expenditures, >including past deficits, into line with reasonably available revenues >by 2010 while at the same time preserving as much of the current >service level in core city businesses as possible." (Michelle Mensing >(9 Oct 2002) > >[Libby] I'll be very disappointed if the rest of my daughter's >childhood memories of the library are of some slipshod "interim" >library. At least the children's section is carpeted, and rather >presentable. > >[TB] OMG, that's it ... again it's "for the kids" that tired worn out >reason of why somebody else should spend all of our money. Maybe with >a little .... (censored). BTW, the Greens tell me its an overpopulated >world, maybe somebody needs to have fewer kids. > >But the real question is this: Why does the City Council find a need >to micro-manage the Library and why is the Library Board letting them >do it? We elect a Library Board to run the library, they're >specialists in the library system. The city council has the job of >trash and sewers. For the council members who want to manage the >library, next election, run for Library Board. Until then work on >sewers and trash. > >And for you council members who think you can't give up the council for >something else, it was even done not that long ago. Remember Walt >Dziedzic? He moved on to the Park Board. > >Minneapolis should adopt the St. Paul model and not raise property >taxes. While we're being fiscally responsible, don't bond (i.e. send >the kid's the bill) for the deficit in the city pension plans. Let the >city do what each of us needs to do on an individual basis: Live within >our means (hint: that means cash going out can't exceed cash coming in >plus whatever cash we had to start with). > >If the city doesn't have any money why is the mayor proposing that the >number of IT employees go up over 25% from 81.85 to 103.1 FTEs >http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/citywork/city-coordinator/finance/services-budget/docs/budgetbook2003/Section6.pdf#page=61 > >And does it really take 81 people to run the city IT department? Me >thinks a 10% increase in the IT budget is a bit much when the budgets >are tight. Okay everyone ... find some unneeded spending in the city >budget and help out the mayor and council by letting them know. > >Hmmm ... maybe the council has a strategy in this library delay stuff. >Maybe, just maybe, they figure that if they delay the library until >Block E gets paid for, people will go to the Block E book store and >keep it in business so that the city doesn't get stuck with an empty >Block E (again). No ... that gives them to much credit, they're not >that creative. > > > >Then Lydia Howell comes along and says: > >"There's something really obscene about buying a billionaire a >stadium,while short-changing kids..." > >[TB] See what I told you, the problem is all these kids. Hey folks: >No more kids!! > >Now explain to me why its better to spend money on your kid than some >billionaire. At least the billionaire behaves him/herself in public. > >[Howell] Given the big cuts to public schools this year ($35M to Mpls >alone & yet another tuition hike for UM students), based on budget >shortfall, > >[TB] You've been listening to the teachers union to much. > >A quick look at the Minnesota Department of CHILDREN (that's kids) >Families and Learning website squashes that myth. > >ESTIMATED REVENUES, 1998-99 TO 2002-03 >http://cfl.state.mn.us/dpf/Endof2002SessionFIVEYR.xls > > Budget Year Mpls Amt. >FY 1999 396,368,533 >FY 2000 426,713,222 >FY 2001 442,746,031 >FY 2002 CURRENT 445,811,733 >FY 2003 CURRENT 448,299,939 > >Clearly the rate of increase has gone down, but there is more money >this year than last year or the year before that or .... Okay, MPS >didn't get as much money as they wanted (I don't know how much they >really need) but then alot of us don't get everything we want. > > > >Terrell Brown >Loring Park (where 2000 census data says there are 191 people age 14 >and under (2.5% of the total population) if the rest of the city could >meet that standard we wouldn't have the education funding problem. And >BTW 62.5% of the population is in the kid producing age range of 20-44) > > > >__________________________________________________ >Do you Yahoo!? >Faith Hill - Exclusive Performances, Videos & More >http://faith.yahoo.com >_______________________________________ > >Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy >Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls > _______________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Subscribe, Unsubscribe, Digest, and more: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
