Overlooked during the discussion on the branches, is the unfortunate fact that the library's collection budget for books, periodicals and a/v has been cut by over $129,000 or 22%.
Ms. Keenan, I'm certainly under no illusions that the Main Library may lose a day of operations next year. Depending on how the predicted-to-be gloomy outlook ends up, this year's proposal to shutter for one day a week might even be optimistic.
I don't like the possibility, but I'm not sure I know what in the budget could be cut in its stead. And frankly, neither do you. If you did, you might have proposed it this year.
You fail to convince me that "Evanston doesn't value libraries." In the opening sentence of that paragraph you describe the reaction to a single day's weekly closure at the Main Library as "an uproar significant enough to put the branches back on the chopping block." How is that uproar not a signifier of value? I think it showed quite clearly that Evanston does value libraries: The Main Library. (And why wouldn't they? Seventy-five percent of library traffic goes through the Main Library.) It seems like cause: close the Main Library for one day a week; and effect: uproar significant enough to put that idea to rest. What is Evanston, if not its citizens? Government for the people, by the people.
Just to be perfectly clear -- if the branch libraries close, it's not as if the City is suddenly going to take the money from the budget that the branches used to represent and put it towards the Main so that it's 'the best it can be.' The budget for main will stay what it was for this year, less whatever cuts the City Mgr decides for next year.
Clearly libraries are not important to the City [while the citizens feel differently] and THAT has been painfully evident as the library system on the whole has been woefully underfunded in Evanston for years. The Library’s budget represents 5.6% of the
General Fund budget, the branches represent 1/2 of 1%, yet a disproportionate number of staff being cut, 17 of the 36 (47%) work at the Library. Eight of those employees jobs will be saved if the branches are funded.
The suggestion to close Main for a day caused an uproar significant enough to get the branches back on the chopping block. But let's think for a minute, once the branches are gone, where will next year's library budget cuts necessarily come from, the new 'best it can be' Main library? Closing the branches doesn't mean another nickel will go to Main -- it only means that Evanston doesn't value libraries.
They proposed a day's closure at Main this year, don't think they won't do it again next year once those pesky branch libraries are gone and the perennial budget scapegoat is out of the Council's hair once and for all.
Due to bad weather, ETHS PTSA is canceling its Tues., Feb. 9, 7:30pm program: "Social and Emotional
Adjustment of High School Students" which was to be held at ETHS in the Terrace Room and Room A-241.
We will re-schedule, but must confirm a new date with panel presenters:
Julie Portnoy, Bridges Early Childhood and Adolescent Program of the
Northshore University Health System
Susan Risch, The Family Institute at Northwestern University
Jeff Simon, ETHS Social Worker
Sarah Gross, Metropolitan Family Services' Children and Adolescent
Mental Health Program
Megan DeCarlo, PEER Services Substance Abuse Prevention Program
Melissa Summers, PEER Services Adolescent Treatment Program
David Chan, ETHS Technology Dept. - Internet safety
MaryJo Boyer, Pat Alfredson, June Cathcart-Smith PTSA Co-Presidents
Traci Jones-Richardson, Programs Director
Oh, now Durbin, Schakowsky and Mayor Tisdahl think shaming banks will solve the foreclosure crisis as if the banks are at fault for the inability of homeowners to pay their mortgages.
In case anyone hasn't noticed, banks are closing on us left and right.
As these Democrats continue to raise our taxes, grow government, spend us into endless debt and capitulate to unsustainable union demands, they demonize the private sector - banks, insurance companies, financial corporations, etc. Schakowsky wants to end the private health insurance industry and allow the government total control of our healthcare system.
There have been five recent affordable housing projects in Evanston that have failed, forcing the city to bail them out. Now, Evanston is participating with it's handpicked developer, Brinshore, to spend $18 million in stimulus money to buy up vacant and foreclosed homes, rehab them and build NEW properties for low income rentals and purchases.
Anyone care to venture what that will do to the existing homes on the market that are not short sales or foreclosures?
BTW-the homeowner that Durbin, Schakowsky and Tisdahl were speaking to and using an example for the need of the $18 million stimulus money does not have her home on the market yet! So, how does she know she will face difficulty selling her brick, 2-flat building until she puts it on the market? Properties are selling if they're priced right.
The remarks by these Democrats are duplicitous and appallingly arrogant.
Perhaps Evanstonians should shame Durbin, Shakowsky, Mayor Tisdahl and city aldermen for raising taxes in the past few years in a severe Recession, causing many people problems in paying their taxes - some of whom actually and ironically take out equity loans to pay their property taxes.
Folks, getting angry is not enough. Get involved and do something or else it will be the same old shameful display of poor, fiscally irresponsible and inept governance in an area that totally lacks political diversity.
End the arrogance of the one-party system. Shame these Democrats in the voting booth this November.
I encourage all of Evanston to follow this process. This kind of nonsense must be stopped. Alderman Rainey's approach to follow through on the pizza guy hold up should serve as an example of the impact that citizen involvement can have on bringing an end to this lawless behavior.
The city has a nuisance property ordinance and a vacant buildings ordinance which they don't seem to be too aggressive in using.
"Shaming the banks" is likely to be ineffective. Bankers will not see them and--as we've seen with the government bailout of these banks--the big banks don't seem to have much shame.
If a property is out of compliance with property maintenance, the city should actually start enforcing its own ordinances.
This $18bn "grant" is a travesty for property owners since basically the city is going to reappropriate foreclosed properties, give them to a developer who will then saturate the market with below-market housing, bringing down the value of other property owners.
The city is already in compliance with the state's affordable housing requirement, so this effort seems like a colossal waste of resources.
You don't need to ask EPL if they are available on inter-library loan. On the bottom of the search page you can click " All CCS Libraries" it will tell you if the system has it. If not then you can ask and they will search further---you can also search http://www.worldcat.org/.
Once I asked about a DVD that CCS did not have. They got it from a library in New Jersey !
I am puzzled by Fiske's comments about the fees for transcripts for ZBA appeals. If I heard her correctly, she believes that the intention of the fees was to prevent 'frivolous' appeals by 'developers', not appeals by 'concerned residents' (or whatever euphemism she chose to use for NIMBYs).
Who is the judge of which ZBA appeals are 'frivolous' and which ones are 'legitimate'? Is she suggesting that fees are OK for 'developers', but that they should be waived for people whose cause she supports?
The City has a right to charge fees for preparation of documents - transcripts, FOI, whatever...these fees should be no more (and no less) than what is necessary to cover costs.
I don't want my tax money going to subsidize these 'concerned residents' who are trying to shut down Northwestern's dining hall. They should pay their own fees for their ZBA appeal.
From what I've read, the pension benefits are dictated by state law. Therefore, the City does not have the ability to just switch to a 401k-type (defined contribution) plan. So, basically the whole system is set up to screw over the taxpayers for the benefit of the largely-unionized municipal employees.
Now who do you think lobbied for that state law mandating pension benefits for all municipal employees? Hmmmmm......
Yes, the series is still in print. No, no interlibrary loan was offered. No, I haven't called other libraries to find out whether I can obtain them in some other municipality. No, I didn't ask my child's librarian but I am absolutely certain that I would get a BIG horse laugh on that inquiry.
You seem to be focused on how to find these books. That's certainly a nice thought. But I'm concerned about the incompetence that 36 missing books suggests. They are listed in the catalog but none of them are where they are supposed to be?
Again, excuses, excuses for incompetence. Maybe I should volunteer at the library just so I can get the story on why 36 books disappeared. Oh, wait -- I already have a full time job and don't need a part-time job of finding 36 missing books for what is supposed to be a professional operation supported by tax revenue.
And the City Council wants to keep the branch libraries open for six more months? It appears that the Main Library needs all of the resources that are being spent on the branches.
Are you very sure that this series of books is still in print and available to purchase by libraries? If they were printed only in paperback and not reprinted then after the books were "read to shreds" then a library cannot replace them. Those elementary chapter books are printed on the cheapest paper there is.
Did the Librarian offer you interlibrary loan? Did you look up to see if they were available at other libraries in the North Suburban system? It only takes a couple of days to get them. Did you call the Skokie Library, your card works there, as well as the Wilmette Library.
Did you ask your child's school librarian if they had the books?
Or, maybe, they really are unavailable. It happens with books more than you can imagine. However, if you really want these specific titles, go to freecycle and post about them. There might be a shelf of them in someone's house who would be thrilled to give them to you.
Comparing FTE's across years can be very misleading. Who knows what services are now being contracted for that were provided by employees 30 years ago. Given State pension craziness, I would suggest continuing to contract out services and let the contractors deal with employee benefits.
Scott Lee Cohen is both a terrific example and a poor example of of the electorate. A poor example because the electorate was not well informed prior to the election. A terrific example showing the power of the electorate. The problem was that of timing and probably the unfortunate minimalization of the importance of the Lt. Governor position.
One can always use an extreme for the purpose of making a point, but the extremes rairly reflect the facts.
Kudos to the City Manager for tackling the budget deficit. Big savings can only come from reducing staff.
According to United Taxpayers of Illinois, 3,597 former Illinois government employees receive over $100,000 per year in pensions. Many retire at age 55.
Can someone tell me how to get the smaller garbage cart?
I did not see this on the City of Evanston web site, I admit I looked quickly
Just the order form for the $75 cart
many thanks
Manon Kavesky
Reply:
Once the City Council approves the plan, I suspect we'll be bombarded with info about it. The city plans to order 5K of the new 65-gallon carts -- so they'll want to get them distributed.
-- Bill
All non union staff will absorb pay cuts, and all of them will be faced with doing significantly more work for reduced pay. This can lead to an exodus. Keep this in mind when staff is unable to respond to requests in a timely manner, or when programs that you dearly love quietly dissappear. Less experienced folks, while cheaper, tend to take a while to come up to speed, so you tend to get less productivity out of them until they figure things out. And recruiting costs money.
5% pay cut? Big deal. I know plenty of people who lost their jobs in the private sector. I know even more people in the private sector who have 20% and 30% paycuts for the past 12 months. Maybe the City employees should get some perspective.
Given the pension plan is in deficit, it is probably not possible to switch existing employees to a 401k until the plan is funded.
However can all new employees be put under a 401k instead of a pension ? Private companies have been using and even switching employees for years. Government employees should be able to do so also.
These managers can always be replaced by newer, less expensive managers. With unemployment at 10%, there will be plenty of highly-qualified applicants for these positions. These applicants will be willing to work for a 25% or greater discount to what the current managers are paid.
Alternatively, we may learn that it is not even necessary to replace some of these positions, as we may find that the workload of the retiring managers could easily be absorbed by others. This will save the taxpayers 100% of the retiring manager's compensation.
The only negative impact that I can see is the huge pension obligation burden these retiring employees will have on the City Budget due to their extraordinarily-high pension benefits. This pension problem will be solved down the road via one or more of the following avenues: Chapter 9 bankruptcy, amendment of the state constitution, or a special punitive tax on pensions exceeding a certain annual dollar amount.
For the short to mid term, however, I predict that the departure of these managers will have zero measurable impact on the quality of life of the residents of Evanston.
Let's assume that you are correct -- the library is short of money and staff. How does that justify throwing books away? Wouldn't that mean that even tattered books are kept because they can't afford to buy a new set? Patch them up!
If a family is short of money, the family does not throw essential items (say, for example, pots and pans or towels) into the trash simply because they are not brand new. It's called getting by. Aren't books essential to a library?
If the staff can throw away extremely popular books despite the library's limited resources, they have very poor judgment and too much time on their hands.
Excuses, excuses for waste and bad decisions. Taxpayers are tired of them. Many of us are not rolling in money right now and we cannot afford to pay for city staff to make bad decisions with our money. Try to economize as the rest of the world has had to do.
Overlooked during the discussion on the branches, is the unfortunate fact that the library's collection budget for books, periodicals and a/v has been cut by over $129,000 or 22%.
Ms. Keenan, I'm certainly under no illusions that the Main Library may lose a day of operations next year. Depending on how the predicted-to-be gloomy outlook ends up, this year's proposal to shutter for one day a week might even be optimistic.
I don't like the possibility, but I'm not sure I know what in the budget could be cut in its stead. And frankly, neither do you. If you did, you might have proposed it this year.
You fail to convince me that "Evanston doesn't value libraries." In the opening sentence of that paragraph you describe the reaction to a single day's weekly closure at the Main Library as "an uproar significant enough to put the branches back on the chopping block." How is that uproar not a signifier of value? I think it showed quite clearly that Evanston does value libraries: The Main Library. (And why wouldn't they? Seventy-five percent of library traffic goes through the Main Library.) It seems like cause: close the Main Library for one day a week; and effect: uproar significant enough to put that idea to rest. What is Evanston, if not its citizens? Government for the people, by the people.
Just to be perfectly clear -- if the branch libraries close, it's not as if the City is suddenly going to take the money from the budget that the branches used to represent and put it towards the Main so that it's 'the best it can be.' The budget for main will stay what it was for this year, less whatever cuts the City Mgr decides for next year.
Clearly libraries are not important to the City [while the citizens feel differently] and THAT has been painfully evident as the library system on the whole has been woefully underfunded in Evanston for years. The Library’s budget represents 5.6% of the
General Fund budget, the branches represent 1/2 of 1%, yet a disproportionate number of staff being cut, 17 of the 36 (47%) work at the Library. Eight of those employees jobs will be saved if the branches are funded.
The suggestion to close Main for a day caused an uproar significant enough to get the branches back on the chopping block. But let's think for a minute, once the branches are gone, where will next year's library budget cuts necessarily come from, the new 'best it can be' Main library? Closing the branches doesn't mean another nickel will go to Main -- it only means that Evanston doesn't value libraries.
They proposed a day's closure at Main this year, don't think they won't do it again next year once those pesky branch libraries are gone and the perennial budget scapegoat is out of the Council's hair once and for all.
Due to bad weather, ETHS PTSA is canceling its Tues., Feb. 9, 7:30pm program: "Social and Emotional
Adjustment of High School Students" which was to be held at ETHS in the Terrace Room and Room A-241.
We will re-schedule, but must confirm a new date with panel presenters:
Julie Portnoy, Bridges Early Childhood and Adolescent Program of the
Northshore University Health System
Susan Risch, The Family Institute at Northwestern University
Jeff Simon, ETHS Social Worker
Sarah Gross, Metropolitan Family Services' Children and Adolescent
Mental Health Program
Megan DeCarlo, PEER Services Substance Abuse Prevention Program
Melissa Summers, PEER Services Adolescent Treatment Program
David Chan, ETHS Technology Dept. - Internet safety
MaryJo Boyer, Pat Alfredson, June Cathcart-Smith PTSA Co-Presidents
Traci Jones-Richardson, Programs Director
A classless thought and act if pursued. To shame the banks?
Focus on the problem, not the retribution. Think ahead, not behind.
Just a classic example of the tone of Washington - pure retribution and attack.
I am embarrased that our Mayor actually brought this to light.
And anything coming from the brilliant minds of Durbin and Schakowsky should be discarded - look at D.C. today.
Evanston is better than this. Why even make the effort to create and execute a campaign to shame the banks.
Perhaps one of the most ridiculous things I have heard and a classic example of misplaced ideologies, priorities and if executed, expenditures.
Oh, now Durbin, Schakowsky and Mayor Tisdahl think shaming banks will solve the foreclosure crisis as if the banks are at fault for the inability of homeowners to pay their mortgages.
In case anyone hasn't noticed, banks are closing on us left and right.
As these Democrats continue to raise our taxes, grow government, spend us into endless debt and capitulate to unsustainable union demands, they demonize the private sector - banks, insurance companies, financial corporations, etc. Schakowsky wants to end the private health insurance industry and allow the government total control of our healthcare system.
There have been five recent affordable housing projects in Evanston that have failed, forcing the city to bail them out. Now, Evanston is participating with it's handpicked developer, Brinshore, to spend $18 million in stimulus money to buy up vacant and foreclosed homes, rehab them and build NEW properties for low income rentals and purchases.
Anyone care to venture what that will do to the existing homes on the market that are not short sales or foreclosures?
BTW-the homeowner that Durbin, Schakowsky and Tisdahl were speaking to and using an example for the need of the $18 million stimulus money does not have her home on the market yet! So, how does she know she will face difficulty selling her brick, 2-flat building until she puts it on the market? Properties are selling if they're priced right.
The remarks by these Democrats are duplicitous and appallingly arrogant.
Perhaps Evanstonians should shame Durbin, Shakowsky, Mayor Tisdahl and city aldermen for raising taxes in the past few years in a severe Recession, causing many people problems in paying their taxes - some of whom actually and ironically take out equity loans to pay their property taxes.
Folks, getting angry is not enough. Get involved and do something or else it will be the same old shameful display of poor, fiscally irresponsible and inept governance in an area that totally lacks political diversity.
End the arrogance of the one-party system. Shame these Democrats in the voting booth this November.
I encourage all of Evanston to follow this process. This kind of nonsense must be stopped. Alderman Rainey's approach to follow through on the pizza guy hold up should serve as an example of the impact that citizen involvement can have on bringing an end to this lawless behavior.
The city has a nuisance property ordinance and a vacant buildings ordinance which they don't seem to be too aggressive in using.
"Shaming the banks" is likely to be ineffective. Bankers will not see them and--as we've seen with the government bailout of these banks--the big banks don't seem to have much shame.
If a property is out of compliance with property maintenance, the city should actually start enforcing its own ordinances.
This $18bn "grant" is a travesty for property owners since basically the city is going to reappropriate foreclosed properties, give them to a developer who will then saturate the market with below-market housing, bringing down the value of other property owners.
The city is already in compliance with the state's affordable housing requirement, so this effort seems like a colossal waste of resources.
You don't need to ask EPL if they are available on inter-library loan. On the bottom of the search page you can click " All CCS Libraries" it will tell you if the system has it. If not then you can ask and they will search further---you can also search http://www.worldcat.org/.
Once I asked about a DVD that CCS did not have. They got it from a library in New Jersey !
Oh, get over it! Pride should not get in the way of progress.
I am puzzled by Fiske's comments about the fees for transcripts for ZBA appeals. If I heard her correctly, she believes that the intention of the fees was to prevent 'frivolous' appeals by 'developers', not appeals by 'concerned residents' (or whatever euphemism she chose to use for NIMBYs).
Who is the judge of which ZBA appeals are 'frivolous' and which ones are 'legitimate'? Is she suggesting that fees are OK for 'developers', but that they should be waived for people whose cause she supports?
The City has a right to charge fees for preparation of documents - transcripts, FOI, whatever...these fees should be no more (and no less) than what is necessary to cover costs.
I don't want my tax money going to subsidize these 'concerned residents' who are trying to shut down Northwestern's dining hall. They should pay their own fees for their ZBA appeal.
From what I've read, the pension benefits are dictated by state law. Therefore, the City does not have the ability to just switch to a 401k-type (defined contribution) plan. So, basically the whole system is set up to screw over the taxpayers for the benefit of the largely-unionized municipal employees.
Now who do you think lobbied for that state law mandating pension benefits for all municipal employees? Hmmmmm......
Yes, the series is still in print. No, no interlibrary loan was offered. No, I haven't called other libraries to find out whether I can obtain them in some other municipality. No, I didn't ask my child's librarian but I am absolutely certain that I would get a BIG horse laugh on that inquiry.
You seem to be focused on how to find these books. That's certainly a nice thought. But I'm concerned about the incompetence that 36 missing books suggests. They are listed in the catalog but none of them are where they are supposed to be?
Again, excuses, excuses for incompetence. Maybe I should volunteer at the library just so I can get the story on why 36 books disappeared. Oh, wait -- I already have a full time job and don't need a part-time job of finding 36 missing books for what is supposed to be a professional operation supported by tax revenue.
And the City Council wants to keep the branch libraries open for six more months? It appears that the Main Library needs all of the resources that are being spent on the branches.
Are you very sure that this series of books is still in print and available to purchase by libraries? If they were printed only in paperback and not reprinted then after the books were "read to shreds" then a library cannot replace them. Those elementary chapter books are printed on the cheapest paper there is.
Did the Librarian offer you interlibrary loan? Did you look up to see if they were available at other libraries in the North Suburban system? It only takes a couple of days to get them. Did you call the Skokie Library, your card works there, as well as the Wilmette Library.
Did you ask your child's school librarian if they had the books?
Or, maybe, they really are unavailable. It happens with books more than you can imagine. However, if you really want these specific titles, go to freecycle and post about them. There might be a shelf of them in someone's house who would be thrilled to give them to you.
Comparing FTE's across years can be very misleading. Who knows what services are now being contracted for that were provided by employees 30 years ago. Given State pension craziness, I would suggest continuing to contract out services and let the contractors deal with employee benefits.
Scott Lee Cohen is both a terrific example and a poor example of of the electorate. A poor example because the electorate was not well informed prior to the election. A terrific example showing the power of the electorate. The problem was that of timing and probably the unfortunate minimalization of the importance of the Lt. Governor position.
One can always use an extreme for the purpose of making a point, but the extremes rairly reflect the facts.
I do appreciate your thoughtful comments, though.
Kudos to the City Manager for tackling the budget deficit. Big savings can only come from reducing staff.
According to United Taxpayers of Illinois, 3,597 former Illinois government employees receive over $100,000 per year in pensions. Many retire at age 55.
Can someone tell me how to get the smaller garbage cart?
I did not see this on the City of Evanston web site, I admit I looked quickly
Just the order form for the $75 cart
many thanks
Manon Kavesky
Reply:
Once the City Council approves the plan, I suspect we'll be bombarded with info about it. The city plans to order 5K of the new 65-gallon carts -- so they'll want to get them distributed.
-- Bill
all the more reason to close the branch libraries and put our limited resources into making the main library the best it can be
All non union staff will absorb pay cuts, and all of them will be faced with doing significantly more work for reduced pay. This can lead to an exodus. Keep this in mind when staff is unable to respond to requests in a timely manner, or when programs that you dearly love quietly dissappear. Less experienced folks, while cheaper, tend to take a while to come up to speed, so you tend to get less productivity out of them until they figure things out. And recruiting costs money.
5% pay cut? Big deal. I know plenty of people who lost their jobs in the private sector. I know even more people in the private sector who have 20% and 30% paycuts for the past 12 months. Maybe the City employees should get some perspective.
Given the pension plan is in deficit, it is probably not possible to switch existing employees to a 401k until the plan is funded.
However can all new employees be put under a 401k instead of a pension ? Private companies have been using and even switching employees for years. Government employees should be able to do so also.
Well Said!!!! Let's hope that they get off the gravy train.
These managers can always be replaced by newer, less expensive managers. With unemployment at 10%, there will be plenty of highly-qualified applicants for these positions. These applicants will be willing to work for a 25% or greater discount to what the current managers are paid.
Alternatively, we may learn that it is not even necessary to replace some of these positions, as we may find that the workload of the retiring managers could easily be absorbed by others. This will save the taxpayers 100% of the retiring manager's compensation.
The only negative impact that I can see is the huge pension obligation burden these retiring employees will have on the City Budget due to their extraordinarily-high pension benefits. This pension problem will be solved down the road via one or more of the following avenues: Chapter 9 bankruptcy, amendment of the state constitution, or a special punitive tax on pensions exceeding a certain annual dollar amount.
For the short to mid term, however, I predict that the departure of these managers will have zero measurable impact on the quality of life of the residents of Evanston.
Let's assume that you are correct -- the library is short of money and staff. How does that justify throwing books away? Wouldn't that mean that even tattered books are kept because they can't afford to buy a new set? Patch them up!
If a family is short of money, the family does not throw essential items (say, for example, pots and pans or towels) into the trash simply because they are not brand new. It's called getting by. Aren't books essential to a library?
If the staff can throw away extremely popular books despite the library's limited resources, they have very poor judgment and too much time on their hands.
Excuses, excuses for waste and bad decisions. Taxpayers are tired of them. Many of us are not rolling in money right now and we cannot afford to pay for city staff to make bad decisions with our money. Try to economize as the rest of the world has had to do.