Anonymous's blog

“Not the computers, not the high-tech, not the downloadables,” said Boston resident Maria Rodriguez at a March 9 Boston Public Library board meeting. “Libraries are about books and librarians. I didn’t hear anything about that in your vision.” Rodriguez was one of nearly 400 people who came for details about the planned closure of as many as 10 of the city’s 26 library branches and the layoff of up to 25% of the staff in order to address a $3.6-million budget shortfall for FY2011, the Boston Globe reported March 10. [...]

Menino's budget puts councillors on the spot:

Anthony Paciulli, the president of Meetinghouse Bank who delivered 4,000 signatures to library officials to keep the Lower Mills branch open, noted that the councillors have the power to veto the budget, which is due for a vote by June. [...]

“No community should be forced to give up its library,” added Richard O’Mara, a member of the Lower Mills Civic Association. [...]

Claire Hughes ... said she did not understand why the relatively modern branch should be shut. Lower Mills, which opened in 1875 and moved to a new facility in the 1980s, was renovated in 2005.

Menino lays out $2.5b plan
By Gintautas Dumcius, News Editor DORCHESTER REPORTER
Apr. 15, 2010

Mayor Thomas Menino yesterday laid out a $2.5 billion spending plan for fiscal 2011 that includes

• 250 fewer [city] jobs
• four fewer libraries
• eight fewer community centers
• while expanding education funding and grappling with rising health care costs.

The plan, increasing by 2.5 percent from the fiscal 2010 budget, depends on using $45 million from the city’s reserves.

Make it $48 million from reserves and don't close the libraries.

The mayor also submitted a capital budget that includes funds for renovating

• several school libraries and media labs,
• playgrounds
• courts in nine parks
• a new branch library in East Boston
• resurfacing 21 miles of roadways
• revamping of four Dorchester Ave. intersections, which has become a fixture of the capital budget, also continues

.

The meltdown of the financial sector of the US economy in 2008 devastated most other sectors of the economy as well as state and local governments, and now government is right to address re-regulation head on no matter how hard moneyed interests like investment banks on Wall Street fight against it.

Where does Sen Scott Brown stand on the issue? KBusch writes:

And why can't Senator Brown support a bill to prevent a repeat of the Savings and Loan Crisis and the Great Recession of 2008?

It's going to be an extra layer of regulation, and it's clearly being used by the [Obama] administration to drive a wedge and use it for political fodder — and I think that's wrong.

read more

Don't they have to be a sovereign nation (and be able to write a melody) to have a national anthem?

Boston Public Library closing four branches
By Chelsea Feinstein, DAILY FREE PRESS

The Boston Public Library Board of Trustees approved a budget plan Friday for the upcoming fiscal year that will close four of the 26 BPL branches in order to reduce a looming $3.6 million budget gap.

In the meeting, the board voted in favor of a $38.9 million budget that will result in the closing of the Faneuil, Lower Mills, Orient Heights and Washington Village branches.

“After much study, the board has come to what I deeply believe to be a judicious and prudent decision for the Boston Public Library in a difficult time,” said Board of Trustees Chairman Jeffrey B. Rudman in a press release.

BPL President Amy Ryan said the budget plan was a positive step in helping the library system move forward.

“While we understand the natural attachment that people have to the branch with which they are familiar, all of the efficiencies in this plan will lead to a more robust, sustainable and modern library system,” she said in the release. link

Tina Fey reprised her impression of Sarah Palin on "Saturday Night Live" while hosting the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday night. It was Fey's first performance as the former Alaska governor since her iconic impressions during the 2008 presidential campaign when Palin was the Republican vice presidential candidate.

Fey appeared as Palin in a sketch introducing a mock "Sarah Palin Network," satirizing Palin's entry into media. Palin recently launched the program "Real American Stories" on Fox News Channel and will soon begin production on "Sarah Palin's Alaska," an eight-part series for TLC. link

Related: We have a simple plan to counter protest Sarah Palin

We need a majority of the Boston City Council to veto the budget and demand that at least $3.6 million be added to the budget for BPL.

Click here to find you city councilor. Click here to write you city councilor and ask her or him to veto the budget and demand at least $3.6 million more be added for BPL to save all of our BPL libraries.

There are four City Councilors at large; Felix G. Arroyo, John R. Connolly, Stephen J. Murphy, Ayanna Pressley. Write them too.