Friday, May 21, 2010

Lots of libraries may be out of luck

From the Daily News:

The bad news keeps coming for the Queens Library.

The latest city budget cuts could end up shuttering 14 branches for good, and another 34 libraries may be open only two or three days a week.

And more than 300 employees were handed pink slips on Friday, preparing them for possible layoffs in August.

Mayor Bloomberg's latest budget calls for almost $17 million in cuts to the Queens Library. Those numbers, however, are contingent on negotiations with the City Council.

To make matters worse, the city isn't even sure how much money it has to restore until the overdue state budget is approved.

"Given the series of deep budget reductions over the past 18 months and the enormity of the new cuts on the table, we had no choice but to make the very difficult decision to issue 90-day layoff notifications to more than 300 employees," said Queens Library CEO Thomas Galante.

"These are the people who make libraries great in every Queens community," he said. "It would be a shame to lose them."

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Sheer insanity. They just reopened the Sunnyside branch after extensive renovations, and now they want to shut it down. That library is always packed.
Successful capitalism depends on an easily-exploited, undereducated, underemployed, scared, ignorant and hungry populace to do the dirty work. That's why libraries and schools are always the first to be cut in hard times.

Anonymous said...

No need for libraries.

In fact the clubhouse hates them.

A tweeded borough depends on ignorant voters.

Just read Ackerman's "Queens Tribune" and you can get all the education they want you to have plus a rub down by those Asian whores that Garry & the 2 Mikes love to visit!

Now if you really want to slum, read Vicky Schnapp's wedding news rag..."The Courier"!

That old bitch has got to be at least 82 by now.

Anonymous said...

will they get rid of the New American's Program? now the Chinese people and other immigrants will just have to work somewhere else.

too bad, sorry but now they will know what it's like to not have a job.

Anonymous said...

Where will the kids go after school. Close down the libraries and mothers will lose their babysitters. Where is the parental outrage?

Anonymous said...

Why don't they just cut out the bi-lingual education program and take those millions that will be saved and put it towards the libraries? This way kids will learn English and the libraries will be an aide to do this. Most bi-lingual programs teach the kids in their native tongue and they never master English. Immersion is the key and it's less expensive.

Donna said...

please save the queens libraries
http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=terryballard#p/a/u/1/Vu2a4UEqZsU