Phoenix envy

In the 'cities are broke' category, I learned about (via cryptogon) serious budget problems in Phoenix, which is forced to cut 10's of millions of dollars from its budget. This article doesn't give any details specific to library cuts, but based on what other city agencies are losing, I'm sure it won't be pleasant.

This is also the first article for which I'm finally adding tags. I don't know why I never bothered to before. Probably because 2 people read this blog. Anyway, maybe I'll go back and add them to some older articles as well.

There's not always money in Philadelphia

I learned of the inevitability of the closing of Philadelphia's libraries on October 2 via a library listerv I subscribe to, and after looking into it very briefly I realized the problem goes well beyond just libraries. Serious cuts to fire and police services, not to mention garbage pickup and daycare (after living through this for 6 weeks here, I can only imagine if it became permanent - even though these are just cuts and not a total cancellation).

I was drawn to the story because it relates to libraries, which I think are an essential and fundamental part of any city - they serve as active cultural centres and also repositories of a community or society's cultural memories. They also often act as a key gateway to information for many people, from books & CDs to internet service. However, it's clear that the city of Philadelphia has problems beyond just access to information, and when you're cutting police and fire, I can understand that it's hard to justify keeping libraries open. I don't know enough yet about the details of the situation, so I don't have any real commentary or insight to offer, but it is a shame that any city would reach the point of cuts to so many essential services. It is frightening to think how much the loss of these services will hurt the quality of life for the people of the city. I wonder how widespread this sort of situation is across the United States.

For the record, here is a more or less complete list of what's being cut.