mdoneil writes “The talk today at my local PL was the slashing of the Buffalo & Erie County Public library by 19 million dollars to just under 5 million.
We have read and heard rumors that all branches in the city of Buffalo will close except the main branch. This would be a tragedy. Heck I’d even move to Buffalo and work for my crappy salary to keep thier libraries open.
An article from the 11/15 Buffalo Evening News (Showing my age it is the Buffalo News now that it comes out in the morning) details the problem (and is more authoratative than the rumors at work).”
Buffalo Library advocacy page .
Does Snow Cause This?
I seriously am wondering whether this is related to rock salt expenses. Buffalo & Erie County falls within the Lake Erie Primary Snow Belt just like Erie County in Pennsylvania and Ashtabula County in Ohio. All the snow belt counties are facing financial crunches and problems.
Just a thought, I suppose.
King Joel’s Reign
As a student in the LIS program here in Buffalo, many of my classes have discussed what our Erie county Executive, Joel Giambra, is doing to our program. Because of Buffalo’s huge deficit of some 100 million or more, King Joel (a nick-name some in the media has given him) has decided to do an absolute slash-and-burn budget strategy. In fact, we may not even have any libraries in Erie County because of his budget. Though, this could be a ploy to make the Governer send more aid to Erie County. Hopefully, the Governer will call the bluff, because King Joel can be quite brutal when he needs to be.
I heard one official said that we do not even have the money for a “clean” exit from the libraries. Which mean it might be the fall of saigon in the Erie county library system. To be truthful, Erie County, especially Buffalo, needed cuts in services. We still have services and workers that should of been cut a long time ago, but that would of been seen as unpopular.
But then again, its hard to decide whether we want the library when its possible emergency medical services could be cut for it.
King Joel, Salt and Books
I’ve been following this library thing here (I’m a Buffalonian) rather closely, even wrote to all the elected morons I could.
kingjoel summed things up rather well. Western New York is shrinking (in most areas) and the Govt. isn’t adapting well. The “red budget” will never be passed because it essentially eliminates everything the county does. What I don’t get is why all he could come up with was raising taxes or killing off everything. I also don’t understand what the heck they’re doing with my money, and why there’s a seperate line for “libraries” on my taxes and yet they can close the libraries and my taxes don’t change.
My guess would be yes, the weather has a rather big effect on spending, I’m sure it’s been along time since mdoneil has seen a snow plow in his ‘hood, but maybe there’s costs us Yankees don’t know about down where the snow never flies? Winter is hard on us in this area, and it’s not cheap keeping things cleaned up. I was amazed at the reaction to just a few inches of snow down in Columbus when I lived there.
The good thing about living here is if you can find a job you can live cheap, and if you like skiing it’s not so bad in the winter, and we have close to 10% of the worlds fresh water surrounding us thanks to Erie and Ontario, which is nice in the summer. Sadly without family to drag me back would’ve left Buffalo and not come back.
Re:King Joel, Salt and Books
I heard that plowing will be cut from the budget. Though, I seriously wonder how much our legislative body here in Erie has been reduced per the decrese in population.
-But without new industries and major businesses moving into the area, I really do not see any future for Buffalo.
-I am very interested in what security measures will be taken to insure items in the libraries will not be vadalized or stolen. If there are no measures taken, I wonder what the community can do to help insure that if the libraries are closed, we would still have books and the like if the libraries are ever reopened.
Re:King Joel, Salt and Books
I miss Buffalo and if my family still lived there I would probably move back sooner rather than later. The only one left up there is one grandmother. I may never make it back there for more than a visit before I am planted in the cemetary next to OLV in the family plot.
I know the snow plowing expenses Buffalo has are certainly part of the budget, then again so is debris removal from hurricaines in Florida, except FEMA pays for most of that and FEMA doesn’t plow. But I think a lot of the problem is the high cost of government workers and government contracts – costs that unions have kept artificially high. My sister in law worked at Harrison Radiator making $15 bucks an hour in the early 80’s. Compare that to a librarian in a non union area today. I barely make more than that.
While that is comparing apples with oranges, compare the salary of a laborer (utilities -water and sewer- worker) in my county government at $11.14 to 16.40 per hour to Buffalo’s (a pdf)Supervisor of Grounds I (a landscaper)at $41 to 50K for jobs that are truly manual labor.
I realize that people deserve a living wage, but is 41 thousand a living wage for someone with a high school diploma who is a landscaper? In WNY it probably is a living wage because they are taxed to death, but it is a never ending circle. IF it weren’t for the absurd pay for civil service workers (any number of which are redundant) then taxes would be lower, but since taxes are not lower we have to pay the lawn guy 41K. I don’t have a solution to this but it really is out of hand.
Re:King Joel, Salt and Books
I’m a former Buffalonian and having practically grown up in the libraries of Buffalo, I read this in horror! The Crane library gave me all I needed until High school at which point I went downtown to the BIG Library for research.I have no one there anymore to pull me back, and I’m sorry for it.
Re:King Joel, Salt and Books
“What I don’t get is why all he could come up with was raising taxes or killing off everything.”
” “Promises made – promises kept. Joel Giambra promised to cut taxes 30 percent and reduce the size of government during his first term and he’s kept his promises. Under Joel’s leadership, the Erie County property tax levy has been cut 31 percent and the voters have overwhelming supported referendums to merge government services and end senseless duplication. Simply put, Giambra’s dollars and sense approach to government is working,â€? said Erie County Republican Chairman Bob Davis.”
I know nothing about your county gov’t, but sounds like the people reelected him based on past performance? Wondering what the people think the library duplicates? The internet?
Public libraries started out as volunteer organizations. They’ve always gotten the crumbs. What other city agency do you know that has a “Friends of. . .” in order to provide not just the extras, but many of the essentials? What other city agency relies on endowments to keep the essentials of the trade up and running? What other city agency has employees who are members of a national organization that ignores their plight and pleading for better salaries? If you’ve named parks and zoos, you’ll see they are usually cut too because they are considered extras, not essentials.