Seattle Times sez: Mayor Announces 30 Layoffs, Will Close Libraries For a Week.
That’s it. I’m totally fucking voting for Savage.
(Thanks to Will in Seattle for the tip.)
Oh, No He Didn’t
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Seattle Times sez: Mayor Announces 30 Layoffs, Will Close Libraries For a Week.
That’s it. I’m totally fucking voting for Savage.
(Thanks to Will in Seattle for the tip.)
Comments are closed.
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FUCK.
YOU.
(Clarification: Mayor McFuckingFatAss, not Paul or Will).
Is Dan back in the race?
A whole week? In the one of the top most literate cities in the country? Jesus Christ, Nickels, you’ve really done it now — the bookworms are coming for your ass! You never had my vote, but now I’m going to actively campaign against you.
At first I was miffed, until I remembered I never use the library. So then I had to admit that I had no genuine emotional reaction one way or the other, just a vague intellectual objection.
Hmmm… we are paying Robert Mak $160,000 a year to spin doctor Nickels. Are any of these cuts from the Mayor’s own staff? Is he making any sacrifice or pretending to make a geture?
Didn’t they also do this back in 2002 or so? I don’t mind all that much. Better than closing branches for good.
I noticed a sign on the Greenwood SPL branch that said something like, “DUE TO HISTORIC LOW USAGE, ALL LIBRARIES WILL BE CLOSED ON SUNDAY, APRIL 12. EASTER.” Did they mean historic low usage on that day, historically, or historic low usage in general? Either way, I was struck by its rather pissy tone.
Yes, we did. It’s just one of the periodic reminders to library staff that (a) you’re at the bottom of the pyramid and (b) your half-billion-worth of shiny new buildings matter more than you or the service you provide.
Grrr.
Yes, they closed the libraries the week of Dec 17th, 2002:
http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.c…
Are you blaming the mayor for that one too?
@8, that sign just means that people don’t turn up on Easter very much, so they close. Not quite the same as a mandatory week off with no pay.
Any reason why they can’t close one day a week for seven weeks? This is going to be really painful for anyone who relies on the library. I’ll just be short a few DVDs for a week. What about people who are searching for a job?
@8: That means that Easter is historically a low-usage day. Library usage is way, way up this year.
I bet Nickels has good internal polling to back this up. The priorities of the people of Seattle were aired quite accurately back when it snowed. And they will still have their fancy library system to brag about even if it isn’t open.
How can we not find anyone better to run than Nickels? It would seem to be one of the easiest things ever.
meh, we’ll live.
I thought libraries were closed on holidays anyway….
This is lame, btw.
Considering Nickels didn’t reduce other spending on social programs much if at all (comparatively) or on police, I’m actually willing to deal with a week of closed libraries.
I’m still not voting for Nickels, but it’s a sensible budget.
@17, Easter isn’t a holiday.
I wonder how they’re going to manage dealing with people who have books due during the week the library is closed.
It should be.
Let me see, $160k for Mak, plus bennies, … that’s about $400k … hey, we could hire a lot of library staff for that!
I say, close city hall for a week instead. People can actually use the libraries.
@10, interesting bit from that 2002 article: “We hope we can get people to write the mayor and City Council so maybe we can get some money shifted back to the library…”
Sounds like it was a similar stunt/ploy, pulled in advance of a budget being announced with similar spending cuts. “You want us to make cuts? We’ll just cut or threaten to cut the most visible stuff you see and then generate some supportive outrage…!”
I count my blessings each day I do not live in King County. Martin Luther King would be rolling over in his grave if he knew he his likeness was associated with these idiots.
@20 At our library, we tell our big library computer brain to block the days that the library is closed when issuing due dates for materials. For example, if a book was checked out two weeks prior to Thanksgiving, then it wouldn’t be due the Thursday of Thanksgiving. Rather, it would be due the next day that the library is open, most likely that Saturday.
… which means that if your materials are due sometime during that week, you get a free pass for a few more days.
Closing the library for a week is better than firing librarians. It sucks, but its the right thing to do.
One week of library closure is NOT bad. No human services or public safety is cut? Could Savage do a better job? What would he cut?
Most Seattleites won’t even notice. That wouldn’t be the case if the police/fire depts were closed for a week. That’s the reality.
Wow.
That’s brutal.
The libraries here in Tuckahoochie, Alabama are never closed.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lNFRLrP0…
Seattle,
Your Welfare State is bankrupt and collapsing. Prepare for the chaos that will follow as your shithole consumes itself in a bonfire of violence.
KCLS 4 LIFE, BITCHES. REPRESENT!
I don’t know if anyone has noticed, but lately the Capitol Hill Branch is always packed. Probably due to all of us unemployed people taking advantage of the free DVDs and computers. Closing all the branches for a week is going to piss off a lot of people.