Measure L in Los Angeles Coming to a Vote, But Major Papers Say “Vote No”

LA Weekly: Due to drastically reduced library hours and staff, which were caused by severe, City Hall-approved budget cuts children’s librarian Terri Markson says her outreach work to local schools has been diminished, it’s very difficult to arrange student field trips to the Fairfax Branch, and the library is now closed on Mondays — a crucial day that starts off a student’s academic week.

“The library is where (kids) type up their homework,” says Markson, noting that many students from low- to middle-income families don’t own a computer and printer and go to a library to use those things.

It’s a shocking situation, in which politicians have quickly turned one of the largest and most respected library systems in the country into an institution that’s now less kid-friendly, less student-friendly, and less family-friendly. But Measure L, an initiative authored by L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks, seeks to help those kids and families by better funding L.A.’s public libraries.

The ballot measure will not increase taxes, but dedicates a slightly larger slice of existing money in the city’s general fund to the library system.

LA Weekly: Due to drastically reduced library hours and staff, which were caused by severe, City Hall-approved budget cuts children’s librarian Terri Markson says her outreach work to local schools has been diminished, it’s very difficult to arrange student field trips to the Fairfax Branch, and the library is now closed on Mondays — a crucial day that starts off a student’s academic week.

“The library is where (kids) type up their homework,” says Markson, noting that many students from low- to middle-income families don’t own a computer and printer and go to a library to use those things.

It’s a shocking situation, in which politicians have quickly turned one of the largest and most respected library systems in the country into an institution that’s now less kid-friendly, less student-friendly, and less family-friendly. But Measure L, an initiative authored by L.A. City Councilman Bernard Parks, seeks to help those kids and families by better funding L.A.’s public libraries.

The ballot measure will not increase taxes, but dedicates a slightly larger slice of existing money in the city’s general fund to the library system.

L.A. Weekly, in fact, uncovered these embarrassing truths in the widely-read feature story “City of Airheads” which outraged many L.A. residents. Both of the city’s major newspaper, the LA Times and the Daily News oppose the measure.