The Kids United Will Never Be Divided: City Judge Places Temporary Injunction Against Library Closings
Woohoo! Judge Idee Fox, we could kiss ya right now:
Mayor Nutter cannot close 11 branches without first getting Philadelphia city council approval.
The end result, all of the branches slated to be permanently closed as of New Years Eve will remain open.
[...]The judge focused her entire case on an ordinance from 1988, a section in an ordinance, section 16-43, that says any city owned building cannot be abandoned or closed without city council approval.
C’mon, Bizarro Nutter: It’s 8 million bucks. There’s totally another way. A new way, if you will. For a new day. Didn’t you used to talk about things like that?
Also, this is on Drudge right now. Awesome.
KYW: Let Us Now Go To Local Libraries And Do Google Image Searches For “Hot Librarians” All Day In Celebration
December 30th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
such great news!
December 30th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Yeah, but they weren’t going to be “abandoned or closed” as BUILDINGS, so this won’t hold up. They are going to be re-opened & re-classified as Learning Centers, which is basically a library with a smaller staff and therefore BUDGET. If we want full service libraries we have to be prepared for cuts in other areas, and I don’t think that is what we want.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:40 pm
yes, some of the buildings will be reopened as Learning Centers, but not by the City. By community groups, private donors and citizens. Some might not even have books in circulation. These “learning centers” are still in the planning phase, and all of these details have yet to be flushed out.
December 30th, 2008 at 5:57 pm
Have there been good proposals for how to make up the budget shortfall gap that would have been eliminated by closing these libraries? Please post links if you have seen them.
No matter what the cuts are in discretionary city spending, Philadelphians will feel the pain. I am not convinced that advocating for the maintenance of these libraries without solid alternate proposals makes good sense. City and state governments are facing serious shortfalls–what are we really willing to sacrifice? “Nothing” is not an acceptable answer.
December 30th, 2008 at 7:40 pm
dont think i’d feel any pain if the eagles actually coughed up their 8milli
http://youngphillypolitics.com/movie_eagles_owe_city_8_million_dollars
http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-blinq/libraries.html?viewAll=Y&text=
December 31st, 2008 at 10:24 am
I bet the people who think the library closings are no big deal don’t live near one of them.
December 31st, 2008 at 11:27 am
Common Pleas Court Judge Idee C. Fox ruled that Nutter needed City Council’s approval to shut the libraries and that they must stay open until Council or a court says otherwise. Nutter had ordered 11 of 54 libraries closed as part of a plan to address a projected $1 billion, five-year budget deficit. The closings were to save $8 million annually.
December 31st, 2008 at 12:07 pm
A lawsuit is just going to cost the city more money it doesn’t have. Yes, it is a good cause, but I think this is one of those circumstances where you have to step back and say it’s not the right time to fight for this now. At least alternative learning centers are a good compromise worth exploring.
December 31st, 2008 at 3:58 pm
re: “If we want full service libraries we have to be prepared for cuts in other areas, and I don’t think that is what we want.”
You’re wrong. “One-Term Nutter” has yet to give any hard numbers regarding his budget and proposed cuts.
@CityMaps
Here’s another example of O.T.N. forgetting his main campaign plank of “transparancy in government”…
from the Inquirer:
Grant to orchestra lifts a few eyebrows
Last spring, as city revenue projections began to look shaky, Mayor Nutter met privately with Harold Sorgenti, chairman of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and agreed to provide a $250,000 unscheduled grant to the city’s premier music ensemble.
No announcement of the gift was made, and no funds had been previously budgeted for the orchestra. Where would the money come from, officials wondered. They decided that the city’s allocation for the Philadelphia Cultural Fund could be tapped without a problem.
It’s a decision that has riled some members of the fund’s board, who argue that the Nutter administration, while generous to the arts, has now undermined the integrity of an arts-funding process that was explicitly designed to steer clear of the muddying influence of politics.
“My understanding is that the amount of money decided on for the orchestra was a decision that the City of Philadelphia made,” said Cheryl McClenney-Brooker, president of the board of the Cultural Fund, which is an independent nonprofit entity.
“That was outside of our process,” she said. “We were told about it, and there were board members who took exception with that.”
excerpt from
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/magazine/20081230_Grant_to_orchestra_lifts_a_few_eyebrows.html
December 31st, 2008 at 4:04 pm
addendum…
if that reply seemed a little long here’s the synopsis from ArtsJournal:
“Last spring … Mayor Nutter met privately with Harold Sorgenti, chairman of the Philadelphia Orchestra Association, and agreed to provide a $250,000 unscheduled grant to the city’s premier music ensemble.”
The funding was taken from the Philadelphia Cultural Fund, some of whose board members “argue that the Nutter administration … has now undermined the integrity of an arts-funding process that was explicitly designed to steer clear of the muddying influence of politics.”
http://www.artsjournal.com/music.shtml