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November 19, 2010 in City
Vestal: Worth of a library weighed
Rebecca Pippenger reads an East Side Library book titled “10 Little Rubber Ducks” by Eric Carle, to 3-year-old students at the Southeast Day Care Center on Thursday. Children from the day care visit the library, which is just steps away, once a week. The city of Spokane is considering closing the branch. “We will have some very sad kids,” Pippenger said. Listening to the story are, from left, Azaryiah Hernandez, Adrian Brian, Kristina Gonzales, Tyree Lay (pointing), Ethan Koplan (in red) and Oscar Overholser (front).
(Full-size photo)
The kids at Southeast Day Care Center likely aren’t very tuned in to the economic woes threatening their next-door neighbor, the East Side Library.
But they were sure tuned in Thursday to “How Do Dinosaurs Say Good-Night?” And today they’ll make the short walk across the parking lot for their weekly trip to the library. Every Friday – unless the Library Board closes the branch.
If that happens, “we will have some very sad kids,” said teacher Rebecca Pippenger.
The center’s director, Sug Villella, says if the city closes East Side, it won’t be a simple matter of residents driving downtown to the main library. She certainly won’t be walking 50 kids there every Friday. And many families in the neighborhood – one of the city’s poorest – don’t have the time, money or wherewithal to go downtown or to the South Hill branch.
There has been a lot of discussion, and likely will be more, about the future of the East Side branch. At a board meeting Tuesday, the Kumbaya was strong: liberals and conservatives, teachers and nurses, grizzled men in flannel and professional women in heels, all begging the board, sometimes tearfully, to do something, anything, to keep the branch open.
But it seems that there is a certain something that could be done.
A certain very obvious something.
It would take about $150,000 to keep the branch open another year. There’s more than $200,000 budgeted for pay raises for library staff that have yet to be finalized. More than $123,000 of that is for non-union workers; in other words, those raises would be at the discretion of the Library Board.
I dislike arguing, yet again, against a pocketbook issue for city employees, and I understand that it’s complicated, involving union negotiations and the board wanting to treat non-unionized workers fairly. But if we hand out raises while closing this branch, everyone involved ought to be ashamed.
Somehow, this has not been the focus of the debate. Rather, the question seems to be whether the Indian Trail branch, in a relatively affluent neighborhood, ought to be closed instead.
Library officials identified East Side for possible closure because it has the lowest usage of any branch, slightly below Indian Trail, and because a new computer center is going to open in the community center there, replacing some services the library now provides.
But Villella and others argue that the board needs to consider the socioeconomic picture. According to 2000 census data, a fifth of East Central families lived in poverty, about twice the city’s average. In the census tract surrounding the branch, at 524 S. Stone St., that figure was even higher – 27.5 percent.
“The poor get poorer and the rich get richer,” Villella said. “There’s something wrong with that – just intrinsically wrong.”
This is a historic recession. The actual unemployment rate is probably approaching 20 percent. Almost a third of all the workers in the country suffered some sort of giveback last year, whether it was unpaid furloughs or pay cuts or outright layoffs. Layoffs are bearing down on agencies across the state like a train on the tracks.
Keeping your job at the current level of pay is a win.
Library director Pat Partovi said a 5 percent increase is in the budget as a “space holder” to cover any increases coming from union negotiations. She notes that library workers have forgone a raise for six months this year. The non-union management and professional workers for the system are one of the only such groups in the city, and treating them fairly is important, she said.
Partovi said the Library Board would have to wrestle with these issues when it finalizes its budget in the coming weeks. Board president Jack Fallis said there remains a lot of uncertainty.
“It’s a horrible decision to have to make,” he said. “It’s heartbreaking to be in this situation.”
But what’s on paper right now is a proposal and a rationale for closing that branch. And what Fallis told the crowd at Tuesday’s meeting was that the “metrics” pointed toward the need to shut down a branch.
“To achieve the cost savings we need to balance the budget, we have to close a facility,” he said.
I’m no math genius, but when I look at the budget figures, I keep seeing this other way.
The libraries have been buffeted by cuts and uncertainty. Most notably, 2005 was a bloodbath, when library hours were cut almost in half and staffers laid off. Partovi argues persuasively that we need a better way to fund libraries, such as the creation of a municipal library district tied to property taxes.
Councilman Richard Rush painted with a broad brush when he addressed the crowd at Tuesday’s board meeting – scolding a few conservatives in the audience for daring to support a service, while giving a speech about the state’s regressive tax system. And yet he said he was unaware of the budgeted raises, and how conveniently similar they are to the shortfall.
It’s true that a sustainable way to fund libraries would be nice. And it’s true that we could have a fairer tax system. And it’s true that it would be super-cool and amazing if money just rained from the sky into our laps.
But what’s also true, as well as relevant right now, is that there’s one very apparent way to keep the East Side branch open for at least another year.
Even Sug Villella’s toddlers could see what it is.
Shawn Vestal can be reached at (509) 459-5431 or shawnv@spokesman.com.
The draw of the unknowable 
oneanddone on November 19 at 3:34 a.m.
I don’t understand why the first and only liberal solution to nearly every problem in the US is to increase taxes on the everyday schmo. The plain and simple fact of life is no one can have everything they want. If this library branch is used the least, and finances dictate, it should be the one closed. Any other decision is ridiculous. And no business, such as Villella’s, should expect the taxpayer to provide services that aren’t paid for. For FAR too long business has had a free ride in this country.
dukkandpooh on November 19 at 5:53 a.m.
It seems to be a trend these days to demonize the (by your statistics) the 80% who are employed. So what happens after a year? Let’s say these folks do “the right thing” and give up a nominal pay increase to keep a branch open, but that provides funding for one year. It is not a long term solution. Then what? They take pay cuts just because they should be grateful that they are employed? Then cuts in hours? Then benefits? The library should be closed if the funding is not there…period.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 19 at 6:07 a.m.
What kind loving hearts and concern for the poor who live in east central spokane we have here…. j
madscientist on November 19 at 7:02 a.m.
There are several other libraries in the vicinity. If the facility is not being used to its full potential then close it.
hawken on November 19 at 7:23 a.m.
Oh yes…. it’s always the “poor”,,,, the “kids”…. the “puppies” … that liberals use to justify more tax and spend….
Or, as justification for NOT cutting government.
It’s called an “appeal to emotion”…. fallacy.
Didn’t I read somewhere that the city is so deep in dept they don’t know WHAT to do?
How about the other city employees whom are losing their jobs? Maybe a few of those could be saved by closing this branch.
Close the library… there are others.
mikeln on November 19 at 7:56 a.m.
I keep seeing proproganda by the oil companies saying they need to be part of the communities that they “serve”, what a joke. These oil companies have and will never help the communities that they “serve”. Underfunded public service like the libraries need help and these oil companies are no where to be seen. And when someone says that keeping their jobs with no cost of living increases is a win is also a joke. It is hard going to a job every day knowing you and your family are just not worth a livable wage. There are certain groups of people in this country that are destroying our educational system and most of them have way to much money. Educated people would never put a republican in power and we need to quit listening to the preistcraft and start having thoughts of our own instead of just repeating their talking points.
Guy_Fawkes on November 19 at 7:58 a.m.
Taking the emotion out of the equation, the library branch should be closed if it can not be financially supported.
The fact that the library employees are due raises and it wouldn’t be “fair” to forgo those raises is LAUGHABLE.
Those of us who work in the private sector have forgone salary increases for OVER 2 years now (in my case), and yet the cost of living has not stayed flat…am I entitled to a raise? No…I’d like to think the work I provide is worthy of recognition/a pay raise, but it’s NOT a given.
The lack of fiscal responsibility at all levels of government is pathetic. Business and family’s continue to tighten their belt and make difficult decisions.
The salary increases should be taken off the table…or go ahead and pay the raises, then shut the branch down and layoff the employees who will enjoy those pay raises they were awarded for a pay period or two.
arliacne on November 19 at 8:06 a.m.
I am not 100% sure, but I believe that the statistic gleaned from library usage is based off circulation. Circulation is the count of how much material, books, DVDs, magazines, etc. flow through the library’s checkout desk. I certainly cannot ascertain why people in the lower East Side are not checking out material for home use, but I am fairly confident that this number does not take into account the physical number of people who walk in and out the doors of the library.
A library tends to be a corner stone of a community, much like the particular anchor store in a mall. The library is a place to retreat from daily life. Research for that next job. Discover a new author. Listen to stories. The library represents the cultural growth of the community it serves. The library also becomes a meeting place for many grass roots organizations as well as centers for self help, tax preparation, civic and community education.
Even if there were some method for the families of the lower East Side to make the trek to the South Hill branch or the Main library downtown, their neighborhood culture would not follow.
People who live in Spokane need to look at the facilities such as the library, the schools and the outreach centers as investments in the future of the community in which they live. Unfortunately that costs money. We are all a part of this world and more closely a part of the communities in which we live. How can you look at building up your resources as a luxury when you are talking about positive growth towards a hopefully better future?
509ifyourlucky on November 19 at 8:07 a.m.
It costs more to keep that location open than just giving up pay raises. Electricity,water costs not to mention updating library material books, news papers and so - on. Save the money close the low usage locations.
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on November 19 at 9:39 a.m.
I grew up in a pretty bad neighborhood in Seattle, and the local library branch was about the only place a kid could go and be safe. (Back in the day, “safe” mostly meant safe from getting picked on by bigger kids, but try telling an 8-year-old that that’s not a big deal.) The parks were not safe, the school playgrounds after school were not safe. I’m sure the city lost a lot of money on that branch, but to my family it was a lifesaver. (Well, not an actual lifesaver - but definitely a quality-of-life saver.)
Yeah yeah, I know - I’m a bleeding-heart liberal who thinks that higher taxes & bigger government is the solution to everything…
johno on November 19 at 9:49 a.m.
As a regular user of the library, but not this one, it really breaks my heart that the neighborhood kids won’t have a safe place where they can learn about all the wonders of the world, of the great people, the great thinkers, the great writers and poets, who are the very foundation of our culture. My uncle who raised me use to tell how when he was growing up he had no where to go but the library. He loved it. He eventually grew up to speak seven languages and be a well respected scholar and college professor and a wonderful influence and mentor to many of his students. Now when I go into the library I see many kids who have only this sacred place and I’m grateful they have it. The reality is, yes there are other libraries, but how are low-income people and kids supposed to get to them with no transporation.
hawken on November 19 at 10:08 a.m.
There are other, better options with closure.
“If the branch closes, Partovi said the building could house a computer lab the community center plans to open with a federal grant.”
http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2010/oct/28/residents-rally-for-library-branch/
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on November 19 at 10:17 a.m.
A computer lab is not as good as a library.
tarokka on November 19 at 10:30 a.m.
For the record, the library employees have gone without a raise for 18 months, not six as this article inaccurately states.
Also for the record, this is something that only library employees were willing to do. Not fire. Not police. Not city hall. Not even the Mayor.
Might I point Shawn Vestal to the Spokesman article dated September 22, 2010 which states:
“For example, after receiving a 10.9-percent wage hike in 2009 this year the city’s finance director is picking up another 9.6-percent increase to bring his salary up to $108,000.
In comparison several of the city’s attorneys fared the tough economic times pretty well. Five assistant city attorneys received 32-percent pay raises last year and 14-percent pay raises this year, putting their individual annual salaries well above $100,000.”
You are making librarians the villain while they are simply trying to make the best of a bad hand that they have been dealt by the mayor and city council.
This article is nothing but an irresponsible smear piece and the Spokesman should be ashamed of running it.
tarokka on November 19 at 11:02 a.m.
Correction: The quote comes from a KXLY article. Found here: http://www.kxly.com/news/25122615/detail.html
shawnv on November 19 at 11:43 a.m.
Those city attorneys didn’t get 32 percent raises — another attorney was added to the office, which raised the line item. This figure was circulated by the Police Guild earlier this year, among other mistaken figures that included comparisons between partial years and full years, etc. The KXLY report took incorrect figures and reported them —a reporter and I sat down that day with city officials and went over the budget books to check these “raises.” A couple were accurate (including the one you cite for the finance director); most were not.
Gato on November 19 at 11:44 a.m.
Just another example of a greedy day-care center and a tax-hungry library. It’s the nanny state frittering away our money on useless children.
sworley on November 19 at 12:09 p.m.
I am a parent of one of the kids that attend East Central Daycare Center and she would be absolutely crushed if she didn’t get to go to “Library” on Friday mornings. It is the highlight of her week to be able to go outside and walk over there to listen to a story, even if it is only a half hour that they are there. During the summer I was fortunate enough to be able to go with my daughter’s class on Fridays. It is something that not only the older kids enjoy but my 2-year-old and myself. It is teaching them more than how to sit still for a story. The fact that this branch may be closing is going to be hard for my daughter to understand. She isn’t going to get that she CAN’T go to library on Friday’s anymore. It is an outlet for the kids to be able to interact with other classes as well. I know that my daughter’s class(“the 2’s”) goes with the one year old class and sometime the three year old class. It gives siblings a chance to see one another during the day and interact with other kids. In my personal opinion, this would not be a good thing for any of the kids let alone the residents of the lower south hill. I don’t want to see any library closed but least of all this one.
tarokka on November 19 at 12:30 p.m.
Alright then Shawn. I stand corrected. I’ll take your word for it. The fact remains that the city attorney’s office added positions and therefore still added that cost to the budget. I’m sure that everyone would agree that our city needs more lawyers and less librarians. But that is a different story…
I just take great offense to the fact that you demonizing librarians and expecting them to be held to a different standard than everyone else in the city government. Furthermore, you are attempting to paint as greedy a group of individuals who have been forced to do more with less for almost a decade. Might I add that this is something they have consistently done with a smile on their face.
Finally, your article offers no answers for the long term. Just keep it open “one more year.” What happens next year? The year after that? The library is, in the humble opinion of this reader, making the best decision with the horrible hand that they have been dealt.
Dazzeetrader11 on November 19 at 1:06 p.m.
Gus says..”What kind loving hearts and concern for the poor who live in east central spokane we have here…. j”..
This isn’t the point. Nobody has anything against the poor. This isn’t about the poor. Stop that! This is about libraries. I fully agree libraries should be funded.
Rid Spokane of these crazy unions wages, eliminate the bosses in the unions ( who do nothing but collect obscen salaries on top of their normal duties) and there’s plenty of money for the libraries.
It’s simple mismanagement. Verner needs to go and take her union friends with her. Kids and teaching them generate good futures. It’s not the liberal cry” you’re beating up on the poor” Garbage Gus. just garbage. Go after your union friends and all the financial trouble goes away. Have Verner sell her $12 million in real estate and the shortfall becomes a windfall.
Mismangement abounds. It’s all passed along as a crisis when there is no crisis. Remebr the liberal cry???” never lets a good crisis go to waste”. Why now///why the fear mongering? SHe needs this settled before election time. Fund the libraries or have the unions do it.
shawnv on November 19 at 2:14 p.m.
tarroka —
I am sorry you think I’m demonizing librarians or calling them greedy. I don’t believe I used those terms, but I won’t argue them with you. I hope this doesn’t seem like I’m trying to steal the last word from you — i just want to explain a bit more about where I’m coming from.
As for city priorities and past raises, I’m sure there’s 200,000 in past mistakes to be found somewhere — but right now, this minute, there’s a budget crisis that will be resolved in the next few weeks. And closing that branch is simply not the only option.
In my mind, keeping the library open for a year is better than nothing. A better long-term solution needs to be found. I agree. But that doesn’t mean we can’t take steps to find a short-term fix in the meantime.
I love libraries and I like librarians. My hometown library was a vital lifeline for me growing up. I’m not singling out library workers. I have written repeatedly this fall that I think city workers ought to forgo raises to preserve services — police, firefighters, everyone. It appears the firefighters are going to do so. The budget is horrible, and when we’re looking at cutting essential services — libraries, fire stations, scores of employees, police officers — I can’t find it in my heart to support pay raises. Many of us in the private sector have taken big pay cuts recently — it’s just hard to view maintaining your salary at the same level as a horrible consequence, compared to the closure of a library.
I wish you the best. I hope we figure out a better way to have good libraries for everyone without annual crises and skirmishes.
MrNatural on November 19 at 2:34 p.m.
It’s sad. I don’t know the solution to this but it is sad. I believe that extra outreach efforts to the economic demographic in this area of the city are necessary. I think proximity which helps promote encouragement to use the library is a big issue as well. Maybe it’s sad that we are so strapped as a community or even as a nation that we cannot provide anymore the activities that are positive aspects of community life. Regardless it is just plain sad.
tarokka on November 19 at 3:20 p.m.
Shawn -
Fair enough. Thank you for the explanation. Libraries played a huge role in my youth as well. They helped me learn, grow, and develop the skills that I use today in the private sector. I can’t count the number of hours that I spent in the Manito and (yes) East Side branches as a child. The last thing I want is to see that branch closed. I feel fairly safe in saying that is also the last thing I think that any librarian would want either.
From my perspective I see this: If you were to take a tour of the libraries and ask the people behind the desk if they would be willing to take a pay cut for one year to solve the problem, I would guess that the overwhelming answer would be yes. That is just how librarians are in my experience. If that was all it would take, I can safely say that they would do it. I think the reality here is that they would simply be delaying the inevitable.
The problem lies in the fact that city hall has shown the libraries very little commitment to services. As you recall, Mayor Verner slated the library for a “targeted cut” back in May. The library was the first thing on her chopping block. Verner wanted the libraries to scale back in a huge way. She feels that “public safety” is more important. One less library branch? Well… That is just what Mary Verner’s Spokane looks like.
Believe me, I hope that an 11th hour solution can be found here… If nothing else, I hope that this discussion has helped people realize the importance that libraries play in our society.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 19 at 3:42 p.m.
FYI …. the next “closest” Library is Downtown…. and these kids have not got a way of walking or transporting themselves….all that way to get to a Library….. I live with a Librarian… 40 years of Librarian…. and we are both appalled that the relatively well off youth on the south hill, and Indian Canyon will continue to have their services unabated…. circulation statistics are not an accurate base of the value of a good library to a community… and this is one of if not the poorest communities in the city… I know cause i go to church there regularly…. every sunday… it is about Peace and Justice…. not about Statistics ….. I am ashamed that the people that are making this decision are so linear and cold and not responsive to an “unstatistical need”…. The folks at St Augustine, or the Cathedral, or the Parish right across the street from the South Hill Library could take a special offering and come up with the money if they had the heart and soul to do it…. John Olsen St Ann’s Parish Member
Dazzeetrader11 on November 19 at 7:03 p.m.
Leave all libraries alone. SImple.
cogpv on November 19 at 9:14 p.m.
Which library would you be willing to sacrifice?
Numbers don’t always tell the whole story. East Central may be closest to downtown and may have the lowest attendance but it’s geographically isolated and the neighborhood desparately needs a library. What would work better is to close the South Hill Library. It would save more money and there’s another library up on Moran Prairie at 59th and Regal a couple miles away. The South Hill patrons could either go there or down to the East Central Library. Or they could go downtown.
We manage to visit many of the libraries around the region and will travel to that library to pick a particular item. I often pass right by a library on many of my riades with the Spokane Bicycle Club. It’s not unusual for me to pick up something in the Spokane Valley or Deer Park and drop it off in Cheney or Airway Heights. And I live one mile from the Downtown Library which I bike up to frequently because it’s easier than taking a car downtown.
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 20 at 6:15 a.m.
Mr. Greenwood…. thank you for your comments… I laughed out loud at the prospect of the South Hill Library being closed or altered… I too use many of the libraries in our City and County system.. ( one wonders why there are two systems of course)… I am a bus rider and can get to any of them very easily in town… and most of the County one’s…. Yet… Yet .. the children and adults that live in East Central do NOT have bus fare… and are too young to be putting around on mass transit these days… the Hillyard Library was an Oasis in my youth in 1940’s and 50’s.. my mother at age 90 still uses the county system that brings books to her at her retirement facility and plows through two to three books a week.. Monkey See Monkey Do…. my personal library is very small… but my “Book Collection” is as big as all out doors… Books are a potent path to a world outside our meager environment we grew up in. John Olsen
ChefGus/ John Olsen on November 20 at 6:16 a.m.
Perhaps some wealthy benefactor could give free bus passes to the kids that use the Library at East Central? and help out some… j
Bruce (aka thatoneguy) on November 20 at 10:21 a.m.
Oh my goodness, I may actually agree with Daisy on something. I think I need to go lie down. :~p
bibliophile_90 on November 30 at 1:14 p.m.
Although I may be slightly biased, as can be witnessed by my screen name, I find a lot of the comments on this story to be lacking in finesse and forethought.
Perhaps there comes a time in the life of any public building when its usefulness runs out and the time comes to close its doors. However, I believe libraries are an integral and necessary part of any thriving community.
Reading through many of the comments here, it seems to me as though many of you have not spent much time at all reading, otherwise you might have learned a bit about English grammar and spelling. Libraries afford a chance for our youth to learn that which we have neglected to learn. Why should we take away the opportunity for them to find out new things about this world in which we live?
So what if we have to pay a bit more in terms of taxes to keep a library open. I hate to say it, but we already spend some of our tax money on these very libraries. I have little sympathy for people who are greedy enough to relegate someone to the ill-written and poorly sited information on blogs and websites today when they could have had access to a library full of fact-checked and fully edited books filled with helpful and useful information.
I am hardly liberal, but taxes are a necessary evil. Man up and think of someone else before yourself. You never know what might happen.