OUT: 2008 Town Meeting Farces , IN: 2009 City Council Hearings

Dear Councilpeople Green, Blackwell and Kelly,

Thank you for your efforts to save libraries; it's not really
libraries we are saving- it's people.

Here's hoping the New Year begins differently than the last one
ended: farcical town meetings at which the Mayor trotted out his
cabinet not to hear citizens but to justify, among other things,
a decision he already made to close eleven branch libraries.
Sadly, it has taken lawsuits and now a court order to stop the
closings - at least until citizens can be heard in City Council
hearings.

(Sadly your fellow councilpersons Greenlee, Kenney, DeCicco,Verna and Tasco voted against your 12/4/08 resolution, passed 12 to 5, urging the Mayor to delay closings and hold hearings. Shame on them especially Greenlee who, despite co-introducing the motion to name the David Cohen (Ogontz)  branch could not muster the courage to give it a stay of execution)

I am asking that this letter be made part of that
hearing record. It's likely I'll have more to say later!

I demand a detailed analysis of the decision not to close our own
Chestnut Hill branch library. A large, well-stocked and
hospitable Borders bookstore with long hours stands practically
next door to the branch; the excellent Lovett library branch in
Mount Airy, not slated for closure, is as close as a mile away;
the Jenks public school has a staffed, albeit less than glorious,
library; and a relatively higher proportion of Chestnut Hill
library visitors already have Internet access at home.

My belief is that on the whole, Chestnut Hill would be impacted
far less than the distressed communities like Mantua where the
branch library is on the chopping block. Might closing the
Chestnut Hill branch be a fraction little less stupid than
closing other branches, except, perhaps, from the Mayor's
perspective on his political future?

I challenge the high IQ Nutter administration to quantify the
hidden economic costs of attempting to govern without the due
process of the hearings that have now been judicially mandated. I
challenge the administration, also, to quantify the true economic
cost of closing libraries which, in the era of gated communities,
private schools, private clubs, are among the dwindling number
of public places which anchor our American experiment in democracy.

Brian "It is Good to be Green" Rudnick
Member, Green Party
Board Director, Chestnut Hill Community Association