Because of his recent comments about coming down on library services and stabs against a Toronto cultural icon, Spacing decided it was necessary to send a friendly reminder to Councillor Ford about the role local libraries play in our city (and also send a few gifts to expand his personal library). Though he was busy last week with the executive committee meetings, our package was received at Ford’s office on Friday and we hope that our letter will help Ford to understand that libraries are something that city leaders should never wish to cut “in a heartbeat”.
Dear Councillor Ford,
We at Spacing read with dismay your comments critical of Margaret Atwood’s support for Toronto’s public libraries.
We share Ms. Atwood’s view that libraries are vital public spaces for all Torontonians. In addition to their collections of books, music, and other materials, Toronto’s libraries serve as community gathering places and meeting facilities; sources of free, accessible, indoor programming for children and seniors (especially important given the extreme weather Toronto experiences); home bases for entrepreneurs and students in need of free wireless Internet access; and access points for new Canadians and others seeking support and information about living in our city.
We urge you to reconsider your position regarding any reduction to the number or services of Toronto’s libraries. And, as huge fans of Ms. Atwood, we also encourage you to familiarize yourself with her writing. With tongue firmly planted in cheek, we’ve included a few of her works to add to your personal collection.
Sincerely,
The Spacing magazine editorial team
10 comments
Man.. doesn’t anyone poses critical thinking anymore?
Ford is not closing all of the libraries in Toronto, so you can all relax.
He’s reexamining their distribution and location within the city to maximize their productivity, while reducing unnecessary overlap.
It’s called efficiency, not the decimation you make it out to be.
Couldn’t agree with you more Thomas. Well said!
What’s that Thomas? Facts? Oh, no need to bother with them. Much easier to demonize someone.
Thomas and Iain —
Demonize? Doug Ford said he would close a library in a heartbeat. I’ll gladly demonize him since he made this statement — as a political leader — without an ounce of fact that these libraries need to be “more efficient”. Libraries were a place that KPMG to save money, not because they are no longer useful or under performing.
On top of that, Doug Ford demonized a literary giant because she had the gall to mobilize her fanbase to stick up for libraries. She has every right to do that and Ford took the opportunity to demonize HER for having a different opinion than his. If you read his comment the next day he was back tracking knowing full-well that he had stepped on a landmine by speaking so ignorantly.
Moya hits the nail on the head here. Even if the system is full of inefficiencies, what kind of city leader would have no qualms about shutting down a library “in a heartbeat”? Aside from the fact that a City is only in the business of providing services to its citizens, it implies that he certainly is not capable of making informed decisions. You can’t Eeny, meeny, miny, moe your way through a budget.
In regards to Atwood, the Ford brothers have never shown qualms about siccing “Ford Nation” against their opposition. All Atwood did initially was promote a petition.
While it’s true that this issue is to some extent symbolic — a robust library system is a hallmark of any healthy, vibrant, progressive city — what we were trying to convey in our letter is that a city’s libraries are, to use the current rhetoric, “must-haves” rather than “nice-to-haves.” This is especially true of Toronto’s libraries, since the resources and services offered by our 98 branches go far above and beyond the borrowing and returning of books (though that, of course, is hugely important too).
In short, Toronto’s libraries have become part of the social safety net for many of the city’s most vulnerable residents — including low-income individuals, seniors, recent immigrants, and children. Exclusive bastions of the “urban elite” class so detested by Ford and co. they are not.
@Iain et.al.
Yes.. let’s not have any discussion about rearranging the library services to be more cost effective. Let’s keep the status quo.
And, when the city goes bankrupt because it’s spending more money then it takes in, then who will you blame when there are no libraries at all?
In case no one has been reading the papers, T.O. is approaching a financial crises along the lines of Spain and Greece. But, unlike Spain and Greece, we still have time to rectify the situation.
Cutting spending on programs/services and raising money through taxes and service fees is the only way to prevent this financial crises. Now, raising taxes is a difficult proposition… if you make it too expensive to live in the city because of high taxes, then the city dies. If you create service fees that are out of reach of the average citizen, then those services will die. Cutting too much spending on services and/or dialing back the level of services to the point where no one will use them will also kill off those services.
A fine balance needs to be met with service cuts, tax hikes, service fees, where everyone can be happy. Cutting the number and level of library services is part of the process, whether you like it or not.
Otherwise, be prepared to have your tax bill go through the roof in order to keep the level of services we currently have.
Thomas —
You are so wrong. If taxes went up with the rate of inflation this year, instead of a property tax freeze, there would’ve been upwards of $300 million in revenue. with the rate of inflation, a regular home’s tax bill would have gone up $26. Is that thru the roof? Toronto residents pay about 50% less that other GTA property tax bills.
And what about the removal of other revenues like the Vehicle Tax? Another $60-million lost. Or the $300-million surplus? Between the above mentioned tax revenues, there would be no “crisis”. This is all at the hands of the Ford’s bad, small minded idea of how to run a local government.
And even worse, Ford is making all of these decisions without an ounce of real data. The KPMG report only reports on COSTS, and does not in anyway try to understand VALUE for the taxes brought in.
Toronto is NOT going along the lines of Greece. We cannot carry a deficit. What we have is two levels of government above the City — the Feds and Province — that refuse to properly share the tax generated by city residents. While Harper’s budget annually has gone up anywhere from 7% to 11%, the City has been much more modest.
@Thomas:
“when the city goes bankrupt because it’s spending more money then it takes in, then who will you blame”
The guy who froze property taxes when he didn’t campaign on it using an inherited surplus, the guy who froze TTC fares when TTC costs went up, the guy who opted to forgo $60m of revenue without an alternate source, the guy who fired the TCHC CEO which would have triggered goodbye money and the stipend paid to Ootes, the guy who exposed the City to the costs of cancelling provincially funded LRT on Sheppard, the guy who wants to build a multi-billion dollar subway all the way to STC when all the evidence says taking it that far is madness given population/demand in the corridor, the guy who publicly dissed a festival where significant tourist dollars are spent with far lower policing costs than the one last weekend which he was happy to be photographed for and where the only shooting is with water pistols…
You know the guy I mean, right?
By the way, those who venerate the Miller era should recall he wasn’t shy of raiding reserve funds, water charges and service fees underwent increases from significant to massive, cancelling a bunch of capital projects so that the City could scrape together 2/3 of the streetcar order cost and he froze garbage fees for political reasons thus kicking that can down the road. So, y’know, don’t get too smug over there.
When looking at the efficiency of libraries, it’s not just about number of books, hours open, or square footage. The value in our library system is also about the number of branches. There is better service to have 2 branches, even when located close to eachother, than 1 large branch with the same number of books, hours, etc as the 2 branches. Why? Accessibility. Multiple locations means that the it is easier for people to get to it. For students, seniors, and children, a library within a short walking distance is incredibly important. If it’s not walking distance, even if its a grand, efficient library, it’s not going to serve those people.