CRITICAL QUESTIONS!!!

From our last post, it may have seemed like the heat on the library budget issue has subsided a bit. We’ve continued to try to sort out the story as it evolves.

Make no mistake- there is still a major threat that we will lose vital library services and a large, fully functioning Main Library in downtown Long Beach!

The City Manager, Pat West, has said publicly

"What we’re proposing is not to shutter Main Library until we have a satellite
facility up and ready to go. Once we do that, then we would take the Main
Library down.”

However, nothing has been put in writing, no revisions have been proposed for the budget (which currently calls for complete closure to save a net of $1.8 million) and no plan for a temporary library has been put in place.

The public must be VIGILANT about attending critical budget meetings and continuing to flood City Council and the Mayor with questions and concerns about the proposed budget cut.

We don’t know about you, but to us, the issue has been made extremely complex and City Hall has been incredibly vague and elusive. More questions are arising than answers. We’ve tried to organize the questions below. The public and press must ask these questions and demand answers, before the City Council votes to irrevocably close Main Library, leaving us with slashed services and a very uncertain future for our Long Beach Public Library system.

ISSUE #1:

STATE OF THE CURRENT BUILDING:

• Why can’t the Main Library stay open until a new, permanent building is ready?
• Why hasn’t the City made public any documentation regarding the immediate health and safety dangers of the current building?
• If it’s so dangerous, why are employees being allowed to stay?
• Why did the City deliberately defer maintenance for so many years?
• Why won’t the City address the report from Public Works last year that recommended the building could be fixed for $3 million dollars? (Read the report yourself by clicking HERE)
• What has changed since last summer?
• Why did the money that was set aside to fix the building “disappear”?
  

ISSUE #2:

THE POSSIBILITY OF A SATELLITE FACILITY:

• What is the definition of a satellite facility?
• Will it include ALL the core library services in one place and continue to meet the needs of the community?
• How big will it be?
• Will it be located close to the current building?
• How long will it take to open?
• How will it be funded?
• How long is “temporary”?
• What will ensure we aren’t stuck with a temporary facility indefinitely?
• What will happen to all of the books and staff that don’t fit in the satellite facility?
  

ISSUE #3:

THE FUTURE OF MAIN LIBRARY:

The money for a new library is supposed to come from the proposed Infrastructure Parcel Tax.

• How much of the total will be allocated to a new Main Library?
• Is it the $20 million dollar amount that has been reported by the press?
• Is this amount enough for a comparable Main Library?
• Is there any guarantee that the Parcel Tax will fund a new Main Library?
• What priority will the Main Library have with regards to all the other projects on the infrastructure list?
• When will the new library be built?
  

The Mayor has been quoted saying that a new Main Library will be much smaller.

• How MUCH smaller?
• Will the new Main Library still be big enough to be a MAIN LIBRARY or will we be left with just a downtown branch library?
• Where will it be located?

What if the bond doesn’t pass?
What will ensure that we get a new library?

We just don’t understand the urgency of moving forward to close Main Library with no comprehensive plan in place to make sure that the City of Long Beach will have a fully functional Main Library.

Our greatest concern is that this budget recommendation will be approved by the City Council with nothing more than “promises” that the City will take care of our library needs. If that were to happen, our community might be left without a Main Library or with something that doesn’t meet any of our needs or expectations.

PLEASE participate and demand transparency in this budget process.

Don’t let the City close our Main Library and move forward without knowing EXACTLY what we’re getting in its place. Once this current Main Library closes, we may never get a comparable library back!

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

Email your concerns (again!) to all City Council members and the Mayor. Write letters to all of the newspapers. (We know that in several cases, the papers are not publishing your letters, but keep writing them to ALL of the papers. And send them to us, we’ll publish them!)

PLEASE, show up to the budget meetings. There is one on August 19th, and we have been told that SEPT 2ND, 3:30PM will be completely dedicated to the library issue and it may carry over into the evening City Council session. We really need as many speakers as possible to attend both parts (afternoon and evening) to share how important Main Library is to you and to raise these questions with City Hall.

AND PLEASE keep collecting signatures! Our current deadline will be to collect them all in time to present them at the Sept 2nd Council Meeting.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR CONTINUED ATTENTION AND SUPPORT! WE NEED ALL LIBRARY SUPPORTERS, WE CAN’T DO THIS ALONE!

AN UPDATE!

Forgive us for the pause in communication, we’ve been trying to regroup and wrap our heads around the messages coming from City Hall. The story seems to be changing everyday.

THE LATEST:

In Tuesday’s public budget hearing meeting, the City Manager, Pat West, said clearly that the City did not intend to “shutter” Main Library without some sort of temporary, “satellite” facility up and running first. The Mayor insisted that there is no development deal for the Civic Center Complex.

Pat West said that he had created a task force of department heads and would include representatives from the Friends of the Long Beach Public Library and the Long Beach Public Library Foundation (who have been contacted and plan to attend) to explore options of what the temporary location would look like and which services it might offer.

Councilmembers B. Lowenthal, S. Lowenthal, R. Gabelich, T. Reyes Uranga, and G. Schipske all spoke out as being opposed to a complete closure of Main Library. S. Lowenthal stated that this was the first she had heard of a “satellite” temporary library, but that she liked the idea, hoped we would think creatively about making it a model that would work, and could even possibly transition into a new library. S. Lowenthal alluded to the fact that there is a big difference between some kind of “tent” and a functioning temporary library that would be in place for several years while a new permanent solution for the building can be found.

The District Weekly has several articles updating the public on the meeting, and clarifying the story as it has evolved.

WHAT NOW?

While this was a positive step in the right direction, the threat to Main Library’s services is still very real, and communication and support needs to continue throughout the budget process. There is a very big difference between some kind of temporary “trailer or kiosk” and a functioning temporary library. The public must be vigilant in expressing their needs and expectations to the Council.

(1) Please keep writing your Councilmembers and the Mayor. Tell them about the services you use at Main, why you use them, and which ones you need and expect in a temporary facility.

(2) Continue to collect signatures of supporters. We are up to 2,000 signatures!! We are going to present these at a future budget hearing meeting.

(3) PLEASE make sure you attend next Tuesday’s budget meeting at 3:30PM at City Hall. We have buttons and signs of support, and the Council NEEDS to hear your voices and concerns as they continue to try and balance the budget and make decisions about the future of the library.

Thank you for your support!

Where We Stand.

There has been some confusion about exactly what our group of supporters is opposing, what we're suggesting and where we stand.

To quote today's Press Telegram Editorial, "Let's get facts straight."

Yes let's. Let's start talking from the same page. Let's be perfectly clear on what this is all about. We've heard that the plan to close Main is "fiscally responsible," and stops sinking "operational overhead costs" into a facility that's "outdated," "dilapidated" and "hardly used."

Let's address each claim we've heard one by one, and try to simplify the issue.

1. THE CITY CLAIMS:

The Main Library must be closed due to the state of the building, which includes seismic, piping and leak issues.

OUR RESPONSE: We've not seen ANY public document stating that the Main Library is "condemned" for any health and safety reason. There is nothing that says this building HAS to be shut NOW for health and safety reasons. There are seismic reports that City Hall is in worse shape, and yet there is no plan to immediately shut that building. Under the Freedom of Information Act, we have placed a formal public information request to obtain copies of any documents having to do with the state of the building. We'll let you know what we hear.

2. THE CITY CLAIMS:

The Main Library would take $10 Million dollars to fix.

OUR RESPONSE: This convenient number so easily quoted by the Mayor, the City Manager and the Press is actually the highest price for fixing Main Library. Last summer, the Department of Public Works put out a report that recommended three alternatives for fixing Main. The one they recommended, which would have addressed seismic issues and piping, was THREE MILLION DOLLARS. The least expensive option, which would have addressed piping issues was $800,000. Interestingly enough the item was "pulled" from the City Council agenda, never voted on, and in the meeting supporters had with Pat West, he admitted that the money that was set aside for that proposal "went away" to deal with the massive overspending issues.

3. THE PRESS REPORTS:

Hardly anyone uses Main Library anyway.

FACT. In the fiscal year for 2007, 459,880 visits occurred at Main Library. Where does that number come from? From Main Library gate exit counts. (A machine that counts the number of people exiting the library.) And they aren't counted twice, only when they leave. (And no, staff takes another door.) Hardly a small figure. We've heard arguments that those are school children being "bussed in" and we can "bus them to ANY library." Local third graders DO take field trips to see City Hall and the Main Library in order to learn about city government and city resources. They come to Main because it's the best library, the largest, has the best collection and has enough space and a story theater for the kids. But we're talking about roughly 1,200 kids a year for that specific program. So that still leaves a HUGE number of visitations to Main. Real people, all different ethnicities, income levels and zip codes from all over the Long Beach, who use the resources at Main to help them with school, life, work and even the pure joy of browsing the stacks and reading a good book.

4. THE CITY CLAIMS:

The Main Library isn't a "Core Service" and its services could easily be absorbed by extending hours at other branches and moving books.

OUR RESPONSE: The Main Library is 132,000 square feet and houses 464,000 items. In comparison, the average size of the branches (other than the new Mark Twain) is 7,500 square feet and each has a collection 1/10 the size. All of the eleven branches have a total COMBINED collection of 541,000 items. There would be no physical space for more books, and the branches are already struggling with overcrowding. To our knowledge, the City conducted no formal analysis or planning to see if this solution was even viable.

To conclude,

1. We are strongly opposed to "shuttering" Main Library, with ANY "gap in services." We feel that the City Council should not take such a drastic step to balance the budget without a well thought out plan for how services will continue in the interim.

2. We are not trying to SAVE the Main Library building. We are VERY supportive and excited about the potential for a new Main Library! However, concrete plans for a new building should be in place and (land purchased, architect plans, etc,) BEFORE we CLOSE the current Main Library.

3. We don't believe that the City's recommendation took into account the real impacts and all the data available from the Department of Library Services. The recommendation does not consider the true nature of the operations and the internal efficiencies for the way the library system works.

4. Closing down a Main Library in a city of half a million people (the 5th largest in the State) is an outrage! It shows a complete disregard for the vital role a library plays in meeting the needs of our community. It's appalling that the library fell this low on the City's list of priorities. No one would dream of "shuttering" City Hall, the fire station downtown, or the police headquarters for an "indefinite time" with a "gap in service for several years" while a "plan is created" to deal with the building. It just doesn't make sense.

We hope to see as many of you as possible at the budget hearing meetings in the City Council Chambers at 3:30PM.

TODAY: 3:30PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 12th 3:30PM
TUESDAY, AUGUST 19th 3:30PM

Mayor Foster Announces 2009 Budget Proposal!

The Mayor has released the 2009 budget! In his comments, he states:

"The Manager's recommendation to shutter the Main Library will allow us to enhance services at all 11 neighborhood branches to 7 days a week and expand hours of operations to levels greater than before the 2004 service cut. The computer and homework center services of Main will be temporarily re-located in Downtown to meet the most pressing needs of the community. In sum, this measure saves $1.86 million annually by not sinking overhead operations costs into an outdated and broken facility- and removes a $10 million anticipated burden from the general fund to replace a leaking roof and damaged plumbing systems."

Read the full recommendations and budget HERE.

We've heard that the City Manager, Pat West, has invited the leaders of some of the library support organizations who oppose the closure of Main to a meeting on Monday. He referred to this meeting in a recent Grunion Gazette article.

According to these organizations, they have agreed to meet with him to attempt to clarify major concerns and issues that have arisen. They have not provided input to a "satellite library" as Pat West suggests in the article.

We are still receiving emails of support, and it is clear that we all feel that the proposal to close Main Library has not been fully thought out. The NEEDS of the community are being ignored. We do not feel that a "temporary facility" will be sufficient in replacing the vital services provided by Main Library.

City Hall has created more questions than answers, and we must make our concerns heard!!

Please keep writing ALL of the City Council members to ask them about their proposal and urge them to find a better alternative!!

Keep collecting signatures, today we passed the 1,000 mark!!!!

Please plan to attend the budget meeting at 3:30PM at City Hall on Tuesday. Come early!

Thank you for your support!!

Ghost Town?!

There has been a lively debate going on among people leaving comments online in response to the Press Telegram and District articles about the proposal to close main library.

Some people have expressed that Main library is a "ghost town." We have to wonder if they've visited recently. The conference rooms were full all week with seminars and community groups, the "Jelly Bean Book Club" has a lively following and over 800 kids are already signed up for the "Catch the Reading Bug" summer reading program. Chairs are full of readers on a daily basis, the computers are always taken and the disability center is heavily used.

Last Saturday, volunteers came down to collect signatures before Main Library opened the doors for the day. Below is a picture of the line that had formed waiting for the doors to open.

A steady stream of men, women, children and senior citizens, several people in wheelchairs, made up of all different cultural ethnicities, from all parts of the city, went into Main Library.

In just four short days, our support groups and networks have collected 767 signatures!!! Fantastic work!

These are people signing that they do not want to see the Main Library close its doors to the public to balance the budget- not even temporarily. Keep turning in your signatures, we would LOVE to get 5,000 signatures- just 1% of the 500,000 visitations to Main Library each year!

Hardly a "ghost town."

The Voice of the People

As the news has had time to settle, the support has begun to pour in.

We received the following letter from a Long Beach young woman which moved many of us to tears!

For those that would like to send us additional comments and support, please see the instructions below Christee's letter. We've also updated the HELP page to include upcoming meetings on the budget that allow public comment. We really need everyone to show up to these meetings to provide feedback on the budget to the Mayor, City Manager and City Council.

"I need your help. I am twenty four years old. I grew up downtown, and the Main Library saved me from becoming a typical inner city kid. We lived on 7th and Linden- I remember a drive by right outside my apartment. It was not an easy area to grow up in. The Main Library allowed me access to an escape- reading. I would check out literally 15-17 books at a time. I spent much of my summers and weekends there, learning about our city's history on microfilm archives. I spent hours reading in the padded bathtub and cushions in the children's section. As I got older I researched magic tricks and ventriloquism, ghost sightings and marine biology. I spent my time learning about the world instead of getting caught up in it.

Sure I had a library at my school, but we were only allowed two books a week- hardly enough to keep me occupied. I read the entire Nancy Drew series in 4th grade. I literally must have read 2/3 of the books in the children's and junior's sections by the time I was 14. By the age of 12 I was already reading several adult research and fiction books along with my more comfortable high school level books. As my mother was on welfare she could afford to buy one or two books from the book order a month for me, but that was about it. Without the Main Library I would not be who I am today, and don't even like to imagine what I would have become. I was a very smart kid, and smart kids without an outlet tend to get into trouble. The library kept me off the streets and in a safe environment. It allowed me to reach beyond my upbringing. I now attend college and plan on applying to UC Santa Cruz's Philosophy department, and have the goal of a PhD in mind.

This library is so imperative to kids like me. I know you are concerned about this. I would like to share my story with the council, with the mayor if necessary, but I'm not sure how to go about it. That is why I need your help. I'm prepared to publicly protest if necessary. This library cannot close. It is discrimination against inner city kids. They need help to get out of that environment, not be stuck in it. I now live all the way by Long Beach City College, and there are many libraries close by. I know the difference in resources between these small neighborhood libraries and the Main Library. The proposal to build another library downtown like these libraries is a shame- it couldn't compare. To save money for the city now to spend it on a new library makes no sense when so much would be lost. This library needs to be saved, and I'll do anything I can to help with that cause. Please let me know what I can do."

Most Sincerely,
Christee Kee
Lifelong Long Beach Resident

To post a comment:
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After you type your comment, it will ask you to copy over a security word. Just type it in as you see it, this is to protect against spam and computer generated comments. Last, it asks you for your identity. If you don't have a google account, the easiest choice is to select "anonymous" (just make sure you include your name in your comment if you would like to). If you leave a phone number or email, we will take it out before posting your comment.

The last button, which looks like an envelope allows you to email a copy of a post to a friend. It opens a window and asks for your information, their information, and a short message.

You also can email comments directly to savelbpl@yahoo.com

We look forward to hearing from you!

"War on Books"

Here's another article in Long Beach's District that talks about the closure of Main Library. Please send us your comments and share your opinions using the comment feature.

We need to spread the word to make sure the people are heard. Now is the time to start acting!