We Did It, We Saved LAPL!

Citizens using the tools provided by this website from mid-April to mid-May 2008 have made a difference in the future of the Los Angeles Public Library. Even before the LAPL budget went in front of the City Council, a proposed $1-per-book inter-branch transfer fee was withdrawn in favor of a nickel increase in daily late fines, and a book buying fund was created by the Library Foundation.

More than 1300 people visited this website and sent passionate messages of support for the Library, messages that went directly to the Mayor, the Budget & Finance Committee of the City Council, and the City Librarian. Embarrassed by the uproar over the proposed $1 fee suggested as a partial solution to his cuts of the library's budget, Mayor Villaraigosa tried to pass that unwanted buck, declaring "I didn't make that proposal. The library commission did." Actress Julie Andrews wrote an Op-Ed in the L.A. Times. And when it came time to review the Mayor's budget, the Library was front and center in the Committee's mind because of your emails.

Based on the recommendations made on May 14, the proposed Sunday closures of the eight regional branch libraries will not be happening, and 36.5 library jobs have been saved! $2,000,000 is being restored to the library's book buying budget, from $7.7 million to $9.7 million! Watch this space for further information as it is released.

These were the threats facing LAPL if the Mayor's budget went through without change, threats that have been neutralized due in part to the efforts of this grassroots website, the people who used its tools, and the City Councilmembers who listened to the public will:

1. The eight regional branch libraries would be closed on Sundays, eliminating 36.5 staff positions. The branches effected are North Hollywood, Mid-Valley Regional, Arroyo Seco, West Los Angeles, Hollywood (Goldwyn Branch), Exposition Park, San Pedro and West Valley.
2. The book buying budget will be slashed by $2 million, to $7.7 million for all branches for the entire fiscal year (July to June). This represents a 22% cut from last year’s book budget of $9.8 million (which ran out in February), and a 33% cut from the $11.4 million book budget of two years ago. Please note that as of 2006, before these cuts, Los Angeles was already among the poorest performing North American cities with populations over one million when it came to library expenditures per citizen, spending just $2.56 per capita. See CHART. Since 2006, LA has fallen from #19 to #23 on this list of 25 cities. Compare LA to New York ($3.90), San Diego ($3.92), Broward County ($4.14), Chicago ($4.29), Hawaii ($4.92), Philadelphia ($5.13), Las Vegas ($6.73) and King County, WA ($8.84) and it’s obvious how woefully under-funded LAPL has been and continues to be.
3. All civilian city employees, which includes Library staff, will be subject to “short-term layoff,” which according to the Mayor, “could take the form of mandatory furlough days or reduced work weeks.” In light of this plan, an additional $1.4 million is being deducted from the library budget.

The Mayor’s budget went before City Council’s Budget & Finance Committee beginning April 28. The Library’s initial budget hearing was held on May 1, and the matter was then discussed in private hearings. The budget, with the committee recommendations made on May 14, will go to the full Council the week of May 19. June 13 is the deadline for adoption of the budget by the Mayor and Council.