Public Employee Press

DC 37 campaign: secure funding for public libraries

By GREGORY N. HEIRES

The union has launched a campaign to establish a funding floor for the city's three cashstrapped public library systems.

District Council 37 - working with its four union locals that represent library workers - is pressing for legislation to make the city dedicate 2.5 percent of its property tax assessments to public libraries. During the past four years, the city has slashed its library spending by $67 million, or more than 20 percent.

"A permanent funding stream would free the library systems, staff and patrons from annual round of budget cuts and restorations and provide a more stable delivery of services to communities citywide that are using public libraries at an increasing rate," said DC 37 Executive Director Lillian Roberts.

"Adequate funding to keep the gates of knowledge open to one and all should be a major priority for our elected officials, now and for the future," said New York Public Library Guild Local 1930 President Valentin Colon.

But as library advocates press for stable financing, Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg's latest proposed budget allocates just $193 million to libraries - an astounding 35 percent cut to $106 million below the current funding.

"Libraries represent hope and opportunity for millions of New Yorkers," said City Council Libraries Committee Chair Jimmy Van Bramer, who joined the union when it announced the so-called baseline funding proposal March 13 at City Hall. "They are an essential city service and must be fully funded. The irresponsible $106 million cut would prove devastating if enacted."

DC 37 Associate Director Henry Garrido, who is coordinating the campaign with Roberts and the four library locals, said the legislation would be part of a broad drive to support public libraries.

The campaign will include budget lobbying, pressing for capital projects, community outreach, public relations and participating in a pro-budget rally in May, Garrido said. The union's present goal is to work with City Council allies on the baseline funding legislation with the hope of having it introduced this year and to take effect in 2014.

Bloomberg's legacy: library defunding

Other council members who stood with DC 37 at the news conference included Deputy Majority Leader Leroy Comrie, Charles Barron, Gale Brewer, Danny Dromm, Vincent Gentile Jr., Sara Gonzalez, Letitia James, Stephen Levin, Michael Nelson, James Vacca and Ruben Wills. The billionaire mayor's yearly budget cuts have led his critics to charge that defunding libraries will be one of his worst legacies.

"Branches of Opportunity," a report by the Center for an Urban Future, a New York City think tank devoted to public policy issues, documents the consequences of the inadequate funding:

• Frontline library staff is down significantly since 2002. Since then, the staff of the library systems has declined 20 percent.
• Libraries have been forced to cut services to an average of five days a week, down from six in 2008. New York City libraries are typically open 43 hours a week, while those in Chicago and Boston are open for 50 hours.
• The three library systems face $1.5 billion in construction needs. Queens has deferred $647 million in maintenance projects needed by its 67 branches.
• Tight budgets have forced libraries to curtail spending on books and other materials.
• Responding to budget uncertainty, the Brooklyn Public Library and New York Public Library, which services Manhattan, Staten Island and the Bronx, are looking to sell properties, which has stirred up community opposition.