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Menino: City will build new East Boston library with or without state funds
By adamg on Wed, 07/27/2011 - 6:45pm
The East Boston Times-Free Press reports the mayor is vowing to go ahead with the $11.3-million project even without the $8-million state grant the city had applied for, but probably won't get.
Last year, BPL trustees had targeted the Orient Heights branch for closure, in part on the assumption the city would build an entirely new branch to replace the tiny building and the neighborhood's other branch.
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Comments
tool
and where does the money think its going to come from. Is Mumbles a magician? Can he make it come out of thin air?
So we CLOSED library branches last year? And now we want to build a new one?
WHERE IS THIS MONEY COMING FROM, WE'RE BROKE. HELLO? Anyone listening?
*eye roll* he really is a tool.
Hey
Votes don't come cheap.
Actually, no library branches closed last year
And this new branch seems like a good idea, replacing two small inadequate ones with a bigger one.
BPL East Boston
Just the other day, the Parker Hill branch posted a list of the libraries to be funded. The money is for construction. The MA Library Assoc is the grantor. I was angered to see very affluent towns getting funds before E.Borton including 2 on the Vinyard which will cater to the children of the super rich 5 mos of the year. If u are interested to see how badly the Boston Public Library was screwed up by Menino - go see East Boston's branches. Eastie MUST have a new library. It serves the highest numbes of ESL learnes & new Americans. If somebody would kindly take photos of these branches and post them we might be able to force Menino into retirement where he should.
Screwed up by menino?
They may be screwed up, which you have not established, but you would have a hard time pinning it on him.
Boston IS rich
Boston is one of the wealthiest communities in the state - the problem is they just keep spending. The budget has gone up about 20% more than the rate of inflation for the last 10 years. The problem is that employee compensation has gone up 20% greater than the rate of the budget increases which is why we have no choice for the foreseeable future that this continues but to lay off about 100 employees per year until we hit a wall and really start cutting muscle in the city workforce. Even I'll admit we have very little fat left. And according to the firefighters union that looked into this as of last year we had about $1 billion sitting in various accounts. Never saw this in the paper but somehow they came up with $82 million in FY 2011 to supplement shortfalls in the pension fund. I couldn't get a straight answer when I asked where this came from - some mysterious reserve. I don't think they put this in the original budget when everyone was looking last June - I think it was a mid-year supplemental budget approval probably made to look like a routine event at a city council meeting - could be wrong but I'm guessing somebody would have noticed the giant line item discrepancy in "Department Revenues" when it went up by 140%.
city employees as the middle class
For many years politicians have seen city employment as a way to keep or grow the middle class within Boston. Did that money come from residents or from the state/feds and now it's drying up?
Impossible to tell
The answer I got is "pension reserve" - the source unknown or possibly unknowable. My question is that by all accounts we have a huge pension shortfall, so why do we have a pension reserve rather than just put this money in the pension fund?
City budget comes from three sources - two thirds from property taxes, a shrinking amount from state aid and the balance from a hogmosh of small items - fees, fines, interest etc. The only other major source of funds (excluding bonds for capital exepenses) is - the "external funds" budget - but most of that is fairly strictly earmarked so that's not a likely source - although creative accounting can allow you to free up cash in the general fund if you reallocate operating resources to these programs - at least until those funds dry up.
So the bottom line - I don't know - nor do I know why we had tens of millions of dollars lying around in some back room instead of doing what they were supposed to be doing.
Waiting for a grant?
What a joke. Still waiting for somebody to explain to me why we're still a part of Massachusetts.
Dear Mayor Menino
Dear Mayor Menino,
A quick lesson in the art of negotiation. Rule #1: don't show your cards. If the other party knows you can afford it, they will be less inclined to budge on price.
You may find this and many more tips by consulting with a local preschooler.
Sincerely,
Your constituents
What's happening with the independent Chinatown Public Library?
What's happening with the independent Chinatown Public Library project in Boston?... it was run better than branches of BPL !