MAYOR NUTTER BLOWS OFF LIBRARY SUPPORTERS
As I’ve written a few times, Philadelphia is facing a budget shortage of $1 billion dollars over five years. In response, the Mayor is cutting services, including closing 63 of 72 community pools, 11 branches of the Free Library (most of which are in low-income neighborhoods), and even the city’s nature centers. Meanwhile, despite ample opportunity to take to the bully pulpit, the Mayor has not said a word about the Philadelphia Eagles, who are shamefully welching on a $10 million dollar debt to the city. The same is true of debts owed by Sunoco. Only one of our newspapers has issued one single editorial decrying the way the Eagles are stiffing our city.
Well today, the Mayor stiffed us as well. I joined a group of neighbors, council persons, state representatives, and friends of the Library from all over the city to to rally at the main branch, march to City Hall, and deliver thousands of signatures to the Mayor or his representatives.
When we arrived at City Hall, the organizers held a large stack of petitions up and announced that they were heading up to the mayor’s office, and would return shortly with any response they were given. We cheered as they entered the building, but within seconds they were back. Although they had called well in advance, neither the mayor nor his representatives were available. In fact, the mayor and his entire staff had gone to the Army-Navy football game, which he expects to bid competitively on next year. Screw you and your library, Philadelphia, there’s some football to watch!
I turned my head and looked north at the Comcast building, towering over Center City. For now, it’s the tallest building in the city, but the mayor and City Council worked furiously to enable the construction of something taller. There’s money for that.
I looked south toward the Gallery, where the Mayor bent over backwards to put slots parlors in the city’s underground shopping mall, through which thousands of kids walk every day. That’s a priority.
And I thought about how the community wasn’t involved at all in the budget cut decisions, it was just all dumped on our heads, and wondered again why the Mayor wasn’t publicly calling on Comcast, Verizon, Bristol-Myers-Squibb, and other corporate neighbors to each contribute $3 million measly bucks out of their multi-billion dollar revenues to keep the pools open. I wondered why he’s not on the news every night pointing out that the Philadelphia Eagles still owe us $8 million, which is more than enough to keep the libraries open, using the bully pulpit to shame this corporate deadbeat into meeting its responsibilities. I wondered the same about Sunoco, who still owes the city $1.8 million dollars: why aren’t they being called out publicly on television news and talk radio?
I’m not the only one making alternative suggestions: city council just announced hearings to delay the library closings, but the buildings are still scheduled to be shut. It is as if the mayor has made up his mind, and he’s not interested in listening to alternative ideas.
And now we know that for a fact: Mayor Michael Nutter couldn’t even be bothered to leave a representative to accept signatures representing thousands of Philadelphians who want to keep our crucial public resource, the Library. We get to talk to the hand, while the Mayor watches football in the Deadbeat Stadium, which was funded with $200 million public dollars.
Thanks pal, everyone appreciates your transparent and inclusive leadership, especially the way you’re transparently and inclusively shoving devastating cuts down our throats, taking away the very resources our struggling communities need to achieve parity with our wealthier neighbors. Funny how you seem to be sure Philly can afford to bid on the Army Navy game next year, which is quite illustrative of your priorities. Thanks a lot buddy.
We have a school district with no books, so we might as well have a library with no branches. Then we can be a city with no future!
December 8th, 2008 at 6:54 pm
I’m so glad you brought up this subject. I found out last week that our city is getting ready to break ground on a new football stadium for the only High School in the district. The High School already has a stadium, a nice one in my opinion, but they for some reason see the need for a brand spankin’ new one. An eight million dollar one. Eight million fucking dollars during a recession. They can’t afford an orchestra program though. Nor can they afford more teachers, since there are almost thirty kids to a classroom.
It doesn’t matter how mad I get, or how loud I scream, It falls on deaf ears. Because the beloved FOOTBALL always takes front seat. ALWAYS! The more I protest, the bigger of an idiot I look like.
This has always been a sore spot for me, but during a recession, when it looks like it could get much worse, this is very bad.
Good luck trumping the football. I’ll be following your progress.
December 8th, 2008 at 7:44 pm
and ya know, I fucking love football. just not that much!