Staff Blog
BREAKING NEWS: Library advocates win injunction
Talk about dramatic: With just over 24 hours before the doors of 11 branch libraries were to be shuttered, locks changed and keys reposessed from library staff (that's according to a librarian), Court of Common Pleas Judge Idee Fox granted an injunction that prohibits the city from closing the libraries after all. Apparently — and we'll have more on this later — the judge also specifically ordered that the injunction would stay in place during the appeals process.
And there can be almost no doubt the city will appeal: In granting the injunction, the judge essentially upheld a City Council ordinance that prohibits the mayor from closing any city building without approval from Council. But Mayor Michael Nutter's office contests the legality of that ordinance.
And if you think Nutter was stubborn about the libraries, you can be sure his administration will fight for their right to make such decisions without having to go through Council.
What does all of this mean for the libraries? Who knows.
One the one hand, the ruling is great news for the libraries: Nutter may have to balance the budget by other means, and doing so would bolster the argument that closing branches isn't necessary. (In recent articles, I've questioned the amount of money actually being saved by closing them.)
On the other hand, though, I wonder if the libraries haven't been caught up in a much bloodier political battle. To fight an attempt by Council members to limit his powers, will Nutter and his administration insist on closing the libraries — even if money is found elsewhere?
Hopefully. the outcome will be decided soon: Library staff at the beleaguered branches have already seen their accounts frozen, their programming cut, their collections reduced. Staff members are understandably tired, and — until half an hour ago, anyway — somewhat demoralized. That can't be easy.
We'll have more on the ruling soon.
Isn’t it preverse that Nutter, Philly and the famous philanthropists, Pew, Annenberg and Lenfest, can subsidize The bizarre and unpopular $400mn Barnes Foundation Move that no one seems to want; but, they can’t come up with the measley $8mn to support the libraries that our City’s kids desperately need as a safe haven from drugs and as a road out of poverty.
Nutter and Philly’s Business elite should be ashamed of themselves. They are spending hundreds of millions in philanthropic & PA taxpayer funds to dismantle one of the Nation’s greatest places of Peace, Philadelphia’s Monticello, The Barnes in Merion, to anchor a Parkway Barnes Luxury Condo Tower Development.
But, at the same time, they may be taking the most vulnerable and poorest of our population to the Appellate Court to block our kids’ access to both the books and the Peace that can be found in Philly’s community libraries. (Talk about uncool Nutter, taking a Power Play against a bunch of librarians, families and kids who are trying to better themselves.)
The good Dr. Barnes, a true Philadelphia, must be rolling over in his grave. KEEP THE BARNES IN MERION! Barnesfriends.org Artjail.org
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[...] The move keeps the administration from having to spar with library advocates in Commonwealth court late next month, when the fight would have continued regarding a lesser court ruling that demanded the libraries remain open. [...]