Author Cory Doctorow.
A grassroots campaign is under way to save the Free Library of Philadelphia system, prompted in part by a large banner across the library's website announcing the closure of all libraries on October 2 if the city doesn't get help from the state. Since the banner appeared, the plight of the library system has attracted widespread internet attention on Facebook and Twitter.
The man most responsible for getting the word out is author Cory Doctorow, whose blog post on the Free Library is cited repeatedly on Twitter, where he has approximately 28,000 followers:
Picture an entire city, a modern, wealthy place, in the richest country in the world, in which the vital services provided by libraries are withdrawn due to political brinksmanship and an unwillingness to spare one banker's bonus worth of tax-dollars to sustain an entire region's connection with human culture and knowledge and community.
People have been re-tweeting Doctorow's post all morning, hundreds of times an hour.
Doctorow isn't the only one who is decrying the potential demise of the Free Library. After the library placed the banner across its homepage, its Facebook page has received posts of support from as far away as Bournemouth, England (although it's not nearly as much attention, so far, as the Doctorow post has attracted on Twitter).
The banner, and its physical counterparts on each library in the city, went up last week, according to Sandra Horrocks, the Free Library's Vice President for Communications and Development. Horrocks says the goal of the campaign is to get concerned citizens to contact their representatives in Harrisburg. "We can't pass the budget, but they can," she says "We need this legislation… we need a budget."
The libraries have been close to dead before. Do they have another comeback in them?
I don't think libraries should be used as a pawn in this budget game. It's going to assure that they are regularly trotted out as a pawn every time the city wants money from the state. The truth is that Rendell wants to veto the state budget, and that antagonized even the supporters of the sales tax hike legislation. Nutter risks having to follow through on his baseless threat to close libraries when the sales tax hike is delayed, and chances are good that the bill will be delayed just like the state budget has been. Do advocates realize that the target of their campaign will have to be the city, next?— CleanupPhilly- Horrocks even misstates what is going on. The state is not voting on a budget for Philly. "They," meaning the state legislature, can't "pass the budget." Philly doesn't even have a real budget. The city hasn't done it. The budget that was handed to PICA is too flawed to be used, so it is still unknown what the budget will truly look like and that is solely in the hands of Nutter and Council. Horrocks states "we need this [sales tax hike and pension reform] legislation," then states "we need this budget." But what budget is she referring to? Not the state budget. The city budget is drawn up by the city, and the city has to allocate what the Free Library gets. Make sure you are lobbying the right people. The Free Library is going to have to lobby that the city go after the sources of funding available to it -- that means collecting the overdue property taxes, collecting the forfeit bail, implementing the actual value initiative with a revenue positive millage change, and all the hard work and political heavy lifting Nutter and Council avoided while they hoped for the ease and comfort of the sales tax hike. It's the new day.— CleanupPhilly
- This goes for the press too. If the press wants libraries, the press is going to have to start covering why the city hasn't collected the overdue property taxes owed the city of $425 million at sheriff sale foreclosure. The press is going to have to print the quote of Council when they say that they'd "rather close libraries" than have the city foreclose on houses to collect what it is owed. Same with the forfeit bail of $1 billion owed the city. The press is going to have to print the statements of the obfuscationists who won't collect this money and would rather shut down libraries. Those people are the true enemies of the libraries, and they have the key to library funding. Not the state.— CleanupPhilly
- When are we going to face who is supposed to pay for our local libraries, and the reasons why this money is languishing unpaid as we try to raise taxes still further?— CleanupPhilly
- We need to update the structure of our libraries to a 21st century model, then they won't be money pits and they will get more use.— rockwell
- You mean like offering wireless access (which they already do), online access to databases (again, we already do it), and electronic books (you guessed it, already doing it)? Also, remember that the library is the source for using the internet for people who do not have home computers.— Library Spinster
- It's pretty scary that I have more faith in the comments left by Cleanupphilly than of our Mayor & City(Drop)council. Cleanupphilly hit's it right on the head AGAIN. The city has to at least start to attempt to recover some of the 1.5mil+ owed to them. They need to run a ruthlessly efficient operation like the PPA does. Btw as mayor Nutter said himself a couple of years ago, that some of the facilities we have are set up for a city of 2 million. We are now only a city of 1.5 million so maybe it wouldn’t be the end of the world if we closed a library or rec center or two. The answer is NOT higher taxes.— Kennedy
- if we close the free libraries, where will the homeless bathe if they can't use the bathrooms?— alfred von tirpitz
- CUP overflows with mistaken information! 1. RE: libraries as budget pawns, sorry that's economic reality. Without sufficient revenue, services get cut. In poor cities, good things like libraries, arts, and parks funding get cut because so much misery would happen if police, fire, and health centers were cut. 2. Since May, unlike the Commonwealth, the City has passed a real budget through both its executive and legislative branches. That budget is contingent on State approval of a sales tax increase and pension fund payment deferral. The State has been uncommonly slow in voting up or down on these proposals. The government of the Commonwealth has yet to come together on a budget agreement. It is the only the State in the country without a budget, two and a half months into the fiscal year.— Wurm
- Philly politicians have tried to have a system where free or low cost campaign workers and votes came from a system where property taxes were based on dollars from a time gone by, and where you don't have to pay if you don't want to. Ditto bail if you don't show. The city posts 90% of city bail, and never comes after those who don't show. This system of cheap votes isn't cheap. It means that schools and libraries in Philly are grotesquely underfunded. Liberals who apologize for the Philly Dems doing business this way cause this system to continue to underfund libraries and schools. When is someone going to say that the Emperor has no clothes?— CleanupPhilly
- It is no mistake when I write that the city is not collecting property taxes. It comes from the article by Patrick Kerkstra, et al., of the Inquirer, who points out that the city is owed $425 million in overdue property taxes and that property tax collection and payment in Philadelphia is "optional." His word. The link to the article is on the face page of Philly.com.— CleanupPhilly
- This property that owes property taxes can all be sent to sheriff sale. All of it. Philly property has really never been more valuable, taken as a whole. The city chooses not to because it is controversial and costs votes and contributions from owners who are politically generous. Other cities refer to this as "graft." In Philly, it is known as "tradition." It is no mistake that the reason libraries have no money is that the city won't break this "tradition" of graft and collect this money at foreclosure. Of this $425 million, 60% would pay for schools, so $255 million would go to the Philly school system. That leaves $170 million for critical local government programs like libraries.— CleanupPhilly
- The definition of budget is revenue and expenses. The expenses are real. The revenue has to be real for the budget to be considered real, and both PICA and anyone who knows what a budget is knows that if you budget in revenue that does not exist, it is not a real budget. What's to stop the city from now on in submitting a "budget" to PICA that is based on the state passing a tax on people who enjoy sunshine, and claiming that if the state only passes the legislation, Philly will have the money it needs? It's not a budget. It's a fantasy.— CleanupPhilly
- Dear Philly.com, Can you put a limit on how much "One" person can post per day. Warmest regards, BK-Scholar— BKScholar
- There has been nothing at all slow about the state's response to Philly's budget request, especially as it coincides with the state budget approval. It is false to suggest that the state has been slow to consider the sales tax hike. It was rapid, in fact, as the press and unions stated. What the Philly Dems want is a fall guy. They want people to not notice that they did nothing all last year while other cities did cuts, collections, fees, fines, assessments, etc, Philly focused on a failed plastic bag ban and a cell phone ban that deprived the city of state highway funds. If you want libraries to get funding, you have to force the local Democrats to do the political heavy lifting of going after the money to pay for libraries. That is who controls the budget, that is where the money comes from. Passing the buck to the state is a fantasy.— CleanupPhilly
21 comments | View All Comments | View All By Latest
View comments: 1
|
2
About It's Our Money
Every year, city government spends slightly more than
$4 billion. Where does all that money come from? More importantly,
where does it go? Are we getting the most bang for our tax buck?
“It's Our Money” is a joint project between
Philadelphia Daily News and WHYY, funded by the William
Penn Foundation, designed to answer these questions.
MONEY AND JUSTICE DON'T MIX
WILL THE NEW COUNCIL GIVE YOU A SAY?
MONEY AND JUSTICE DON'T MIX
Imagine you're appearing in
court, about a matter that's very important to you. You've never seen
the judge before. But the attorney for the opposition has given his
Honor thousands of dollars in campaign donations, which helped the
judge become a judge in the first place.
WILL THE NEW COUNCIL GIVE YOU A SAY?
On this week's It's Our
Money podcast, we talk with Zack Stalberg, president of government
watchdog Committee of Seventy, about public comment in Council.
Tips? Comments? Questions?
Contact:
Doron Taussig:
215-854-5307
doron.taussig@gmail.com
@dorontaussig
Holly Otterbein:
215-854-5809
hm.otterbein@gmail.com
@hollyotterbein
Juliana Reyes:
215-854-5855
juliana.f.reyes@gmail.com
@juliana_f_reyes
 | Follow on Twitter |
- Philly Clout
- Metropolis
- Attytood
- Heard in the Hall
- Commonwealth Confidential
- Philebrity
- Phawker
- Young Philly Politics
- OurPhiladelphia
- Capitol Ideas
- Grassroots PA
- PA Policy Blog
- Media Mobilizing Project
- The Notebook
- Dave Davies Off Mic
- Committee of Seventy
- The Independent
- Naked City
- Plan Philly
Blog Roll
Get it now
- February
- January
- December 2011
- November 2011
- October 2011
- September 2011
- August 2011
- July 2011
- June 2011
- May 2011
- April 2011
- March 2011
- February 2011
- January 2011
- December 2010
- November 2010
- October 2010
- September 2010
- August 2010
- July 2010
- June 2010
- May 2010
- April 2010
- March 2010
- February 2010
- January 2010
- December 2009
- November 2009
- October 2009
- September 2009
- August 2009
- July 2009
- June 2009
- May 2009
- April 2009
- March 2009
- February 2009
- January 2009
- December 2008
- November 2008
- October 2008
- September 2008
Archives
Philly.com Promotions
- News | Sports | Business | What's Happening | Restaurants & Food | Entertainment | Living | Marketplace | Jobs
Site Services:
Classifieds:
Partners:
Local Services:
