"Boston library branches could close amid cuts" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | February 17, 2010
Steep cuts in state funding for the Boston Public Library are forcing officials to contemplate the most drastic cost-saving measures in decades, including the possible closing of neighborhood branches....
a potential $3.6 million budget shortfall....
Other potential cost savings include dramatically reducing hours at all 27 locations and streamlining behind-the-scenes administrative operations. At Copley Square, officials may reduce the 20 walk-in service points where users meet face-to-face with staff or close the main branch on Sunday on five holiday weekends, a move that would save about $45,000. Library officials explored the Sunday closings last year, but doors remained open when two trustees paid out of their own pockets....
Boston has already made some significant library cuts that have included the elimination of 37 positions, resulting in the layoff of 13 staff members. Officials slashed the book budget from $6 million in 2009 to $4.5 million this year....
Last year about 300,000 Bostonians used library cards, including 40,000 residents who signed up for new cards, a 20 percent surge from the previous year. Circulation has spiked 31 percent over the last three years, following a well-established trend that library use increases as the economy heads south....
But the library’s major problem is state funding. Governor Deval Patrick’s proposed budget calls for slashing $1.6 million next year from Boston’s libraries....
Related: The Massachusetts State Budget
Right, we don't have any money and can't find a few million.
Despite circulation highs across Massachusetts that set new records each of the past 10 years, state funding for libraries dropped 39 percent, from $34.6 million in 2001 to the proposed $21.1 million in 2011....
Translation: Even if a SERVICE is NEEDED and WANTED by the taxpaying public, the government can't even do that right. You see where all our tax money is coming from and going, readers.
--more--""Library may cut 10 of its branches; Boston weighs layoff of quarter of staff" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | February 18, 2010
The Boston Public Library is considering closing up to 10 of its neighborhood branches and laying off one-quarter of its staff, cuts that would irrevocably alter America’s oldest municipally funded library system.
Amy E. Ryan, the library’s president, said yesterday that because of steep budget cuts the only alternative to closings would be slashing hours at 18 library branches, with the smallest facilities open only one to three days a week.
“As we think about the shortfall, there is a sense of urgency,’’ Ryan told a board of trustees meeting packed with more than 80 people. “The status quo can’t work. We cannot sustain the system as it is currently configured.’’
Ryan’s proposal also calls for significant cuts at the library’s headquarters in Copley Square and in behind-the-scenes administrative offices.
But the most visible impact would be in the city’s 26 neighborhood libraries, a system which has outposts from Hyde Park to Charlestown and includes the nation’s first branch library, established in East Boston in 1869.
“Closing branches should be our last resort,’’ said Mayor Thomas M. Menino, who met for three hours earlier this week with the library president. “But I think the library also has to have a transformation in how they serve the public. . . . In the last 25 years, technology has become a more important factor.’’
Menino pointed out that some branches were built close together, long before the Internet, and added that library hours need to evolve to meet the changing needs of families with working parents....
Right, as if that was who the government really served.
Library officials say they face a $3.6 million shortfall next year because of anticipated state budget cuts and a small reduction in funding from the city....
Several trustees said the expected funding cuts, which include a proposed 73 percent drop in state aid since 2009, have forced officials to rethink how the 162-year-old library delivers services.
“We’re broke,’’ said Jeffrey B. Rudman, chairman of the board of trustees. “We are $3.6 million in the hole, and that’s a gap we have to close.’’
He added, “It is possible today that we are overbricked, overmortared, and underwired.’’
How sad for America that even a librarian feels that way.
Related: Convicted Mass. librarian wants to keep pension
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FLASHBACK:
"Convicted Mass. librarian wants to keep pension
BEVERLY, Mass. --The former director of the Beverly Public Library who pleaded guilty to possessing child pornography wants to keep his $31,000 annual public pension.
You are LUCKY to KEEP YOUR HEAD, pervert!!!!!!!!!!!
Thomas Scully has filed a lawsuit in Salem Superior Court claiming the city Retirement Board has no right to revoke his pension on the grounds of "moral turpitude." Scully's suit filed Friday claims he would suffer "severe financial loss" if he loses his pension because he is unlikely to land another job in his field.
NOR SHOULD HE BE ALLOWED TO!!!
Scully's pension was approved in May 2005, after his arrest, but his lawyer tells The Salem News the decision can't be undone despite his subsequent conviction.
You gotta be s***ing me! Only in Massachusetts!!!!
The board is investigating whether to revoke the pension. Scully pleaded guilty in January and was sentenced to two years probation.
That's IT?!! Two years PROBATION for KIDDIE PORN?
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Also see: Ssssshhhhhh!: Pension Being Drawn
I'm sure that isn't helping matters.
Circulation in the system has risen 31 percent over the last three years. But library officials are paying particular attention to the surging popularity of electronic offerings, from its website to downloadable audio books.
Trustees said yesterday that they would prefer closing branches to slashing hours.
“There are two very bad options on the table,’’ said trustee Paul A. La Camera, who also expressed skepticism that the shortfall would ultimately be $3.6 million. “No one could ever be excited about closing a branch library, but the [other] option is just a suggestion of weakness. I can’t imagine running a system that would be diminished to that extent.’’
Trustee Donna M. DePrisco agreed that the plan to slash hours would be “so convoluted and confusing.’’
“Is it Monday? Is it Tuesday? Is it open? Is it closed?’’ she said. “No, it would never work.’’
A union leader scolded the trustees for focusing on budget numbers, reduced hours, and the prospect of closing branches and ignoring that the plan would cut up to 104 of the library’s 480 full time positions.
“Not once has there been a mention of the human impact . . . at the Boston Public Library,’’ said Elissa Cadillic, president of AFSCME 1526, one of the library’s two unions. “I find that disheartening.’’
Welcome to Boston, Massachusetts!
In addition to considering cuts at branches, library officials say other potential cuts include eliminating 38 full-time positions at the main library in Copley Square; closing five Sundays a year on holiday weekends; and further reducing hours in the children’s, teens’, and fine arts departments.
In the administrative offices, proposed reductions would eliminate up to another 31 full-time positions.
But we can pay off banks to the tune of $70 million a month for Big Dig debt and shovel hundreds of thousands of tax dollars at losing biotechs, greens and profitable Hollywood.
And you guys wonder why there is a shortfall in the budget?
"City foresees $42m budget shortfall; Agencies are asked to cut 1%; layoffs hinted" by Andrew Ryan, Globe Staff | February 27, 2010
Despite new taxes, an improving economy, and staffing cuts, Boston is still facing a $42 million shortfall in the next budget year that could require more pink slips at City Hall, city officials said yesterday.
After you were told the increased taxes would prevent such things, Bostonians.
And the authorities wonder why the hell we are angry?
To close the gap, major city agencies have been asked to trim budgets by 1 percent, cuts that “may require layoffs,’’ said Lisa Calise Signori, the city’s director of administration and finance.
“Everything has to be on the table,’’ Signori said.
Except corporate welfare.
The city’s financial picture has improved, though, thanks in part to new revenue from an increase in local meals and hotel taxes.
The Menino administration gathered more than 100 union officials in Faneuil Hall yesterday morning to outline its budget outlook for the next fiscal year, which begins July 1. The presentation, beneath a bust of John Adams, marked the opening bell of what are sure to be contentious labor negotiations over the next few months with the majority of the city’s 44 unions.
Half of the unions have already agreed to postpone scheduled raises until the end of this fiscal year, which closes June 30. And the predicted $42 million budget shortfall does not account for any new pay increases for workers heading to the bargaining table.
Elissa Cadillic, president of AFSCME Local 1526, which represents 270 clerical and other employees at the library, said she was dismayed to hear that the city is considering further layoffs.
“My members are wondering why we accepted a wage freeze,’’ she said. “We were told at the time that the wage freeze was saving our members. I’m not necessarily sure that’s true.’’
What, government lied to you?
You're kidding!??
************************
The budget numbers released yesterday do not detail specific cuts, such as a proposal at the library to shutter up to 10 neighborhood branches and lay off nearly a quarter of the staff. But the figures offered a glimpse of what may come when the mayor submits his budget to the City Council April 14.
The financial picture is not as dire as expected, however, and budget writers see some bright spots on the horizon. The improving economy and new taxes are expected to increase revenue, while prior cuts that slashed nearly 800 employees from the city payroll have trimmed expenses....
Yeah, keep deluding yourselves:
State Wears Rose-Colored Glasses When Looking at Revenue
Yeah, we have bright spots emerging but still need to slash jobs and budgets.
Are you sik of being lied to yet, Bay Staters?
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