Issue: Funding MPL A lot has been made of the amount of MONEY per capita spent on libraries. I even posted a quote that showed Minneapolis outspending its neighbors. But we have been shown figures from other states that appear to show that there are some states that spend more on libraries. I'm not sure those figure reflect the impact of universal state budget deficits, which may make them unrepresentative.
But here's a question of mine. Since WHEN can we infer quality from sheer mass of dollars? By that standard, the Pentagon must be the TEMPLE of quality because it uses money by the trainload. Well, let me be the first to tell you that gross expenditures is never a safe benchmark of quality. Often, it is a benchmark of lack of vigilance in spending dollars. After all, politics and patronage are joined at the hip, and patronage can run up bills faster than anything I know. Frankly, I'd rather see some OTHER index of quality than just "how much we spend per capita". In fact, I would think librarians would have a more meaningful statistic than that, despite the fact that they may LIKE gross expenditures (everybody likes to play with other people's money, don't they?) I care about my library. I'm a veteran user. That does not translate, in my case, to a simple desire to double or triple their appropriation (UNLESS I can transfer the money from the Pentagon. And then I would be for it to simply get the money away from an operation that is about mischief and nothing else). I tend to be unsentimental when it comes to spending money. I've never believed you could tell which child a parent loved the most by how much spending they lavish. So I think its the same with government agencies. I want libraries to do what they are there to do and do it the best way they can. Simply heaping up the pile of money is not by any stretch the way to insure that. Issue:Homophobic rantings When I lived in NE Mpls in the 80's, I read the Northeaster every month. Anyway, there was an individual who wrote inflammatory letters that the Northeaster published. And then responses would come in from the community for months afterwards. I wish I could remember his name. I'm sure Margo Ashmore could remember it. And now I'm wondering if he's found ANOTHER method of "publishing". So, if we could get Margo to come back to our list, she might have some insight. ===== Jim Mork Cooper Neighborhood Longfellow Community Minneapolis A great town, which can and WILL BE greater! __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! DSL - Now only $29.95 per month! http://sbc.yahoo.com TEMPORARY REMINDER: 1. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. 2. If you don't like what's being discussed here, don't complain - change the subject (Mpls-specific, of course.) ________________________________ 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
