WE'RE glad Mayor Jerry Brown and City
Manager Robert Bobb acted Tuesday to prevent Oakland's branch
libraries from closing or reducing their hours, a proposal that
had sounded alarms throughout the city the past two weeks.
By intervening at the 11th hour Tuesday, the mayor and manager
also saved the City Council from the embarrassment of what
promised to be a massive rally Friday when it meets for a budget
session.
We have to question the rationale that led to the proposal in
the first place, however. The history of Oakland is replete with
failed attempts to reduce services to the libraries.
Even the attempt to persuade the citizenry that the city
planned to develop a regional plan for the libraries fell on older
and more skeptical ears, which had heard the same tune 25 to 30
years ago. Way back then, the citizenry told city officials loud
and clear they like and want to keep smaller branch libraries so
children can walk to them and use their resources. That's still
true.
Bobb came up with the latest proposal to help offset a big
budget deficit, but we think he shot himself in the foot by
picking on the libraries.
Since Bobb's plan was announced, it seems the entire city has
howled in outrage. Numerous community meetings were called and
e-mails and phone calls exchanged -- all in the name of saving the
libraries from cuts.
The city manager quickly back-pedaled on his original plan to
close down seven branches, and came up with three alternatives,
all of which would result in the loss of 60 library jobs and
substantial reductions in the hours and days branches stay open.
The community reaction to those alternatives was just as swift to
the original proposal: "None of the above!"
City Auditor Roland Smith offered a sound argument for looking
elsewhere in the city's general fund budget for the reductions. In
his report he ranked spending increases by city departments during
the past two years, targeting departments that grew the most.
Significantly, among departments with very small increases were
the libraries and parks and recreation programs.
The report named Bobb's office as the biggest spender, with a
72 percent increase from 2000 to 2002. This brought an angry
retort from Bobb, who called the report misleading because he had
brought several departments under his wing last year that weren't
there before.
Be that as it may, the report shows eight departments that
spent almost 13 percent more than they did two years ago. It found
the city attorney's office in second place with a 43.8 percent
increase, the mayor with a 37.7 percent jump and public works with
28.5 percent rise. Police logged a 24.1 percent increase.
The City Council should take a closer look at those departments
and elsewhere before making painful cuts to parks and recreation
services, which principally serve the city's youths. They also
should consider not making cuts of 11 positions in the main
library. After all, voters already chose to tax themselves for the
library by passing Measure O.
The council also should reflect on two expenditures it approved
the week before Christmas, which totaled almost $22 million --
approximately the amount it must reduce to balance the budget.
Unfortunately, the spending was for two contracts that likely
are legally binding. The largest was $20 million to Motorola for a
new system of shared police and fire data. The second contract was
$1.2 million to a firm that will tell the city what to do in case
of a catastrophe, such as a major earthquake. As if we wouldn't
know or didn't have any experiences with earthquakes, fires and
floods.
Wouldn't the council have been more prudent to take up those
expensive contracts in a budget session instead of the last
meeting before Christmas?
We say kudos to
Councilmembers Jane Brunner, Nancy Nadel and Jean Quan who have
been working out front and behind the scenes to keep libraries
safe from cuts.
It's good to see some elected officials supporting community
efforts. We hope the others follow their lead during the rest of
the budget sessions.
