Almost any proposed reduction in services will raise objections by someone. Some cuts are better than others and it is our responsibility to go beyond just opposing any proposed service reduction with alternative areas for cost reduction. With 80% of the City budget going for Public Safety and Education we have to expect intelligent cuts in these areas. IF these cuts are made intelligently -- such as by reducing unnecessary staffing, non-performing/unnecessary administrators and even non-performing police/fire/education personnel -- we can all benefit by saving such silly reductions in library hours.

However, it is necessary for those who oppose library closings to determine how many people use these services and whether or not such services are really serving the community.

The City proposed precisely these types of cuts so that the public recoils in horror and is more willing to accept bloated budgets and wasteful spending.

But simply opposing any and all cuts proposed is not a viable option. I have seen petitions to oppose the closing of some district's fire station on the grounds that this will reduce response to fires. Considering that the vast majority of calls to the fire department are not for structure fires this is an untenable position and reflects the general attitude of opposition to any meaningful cuts in services

For anyone new on SeeClickFix -- To vote, leave a comment in the text box below and click "Post."

Or, at the top right hand side of the page on the gray bar underneath where it says "#86403 Petition to Restore Library Hours in New Haven", click "Vote to Fix."

You can also vote by text message. Text "ISSUE 86403" to 41411.

Libraries are places of refuge for kids without access to a home library. This isn't the first time NHPL hours have been cut. Not only should they be restoted to the most recent levels, a discussion should begin to determine how to restore them to allow for significantly more use - particularly at the branches.

Libraries are places of refuge for kids without access to a home library. This isn't the first time NHPL hours have been cut. Not only should they be restoted to the most recent levels, a discussion should begin to determine how to restore them to allow for significantly more use - particularly at the branches.

Teachers, Cops, Libraries - what's next? How about the bigwigs cut their pay and bring back our criticals? Gawd forbid should they try to survive on a more reasonable paycheck to help our community.

Few things are more important to communities than the public library! At our branches youth groups meet, children get homework help, elders use the computers, and people of all ages access books, videos, magazines, newspapers and assistance with research. As vital contributors to a positive quality of life in New Haven, our libraries must be preserved! They are NOT a luxury, but a necessity!
Terry F., Fair Haven

If nothing else, Saturday hours are critical!

I agree 100% with everything stated here about libraries, but PLEASE, make this constructive and suggest an alternative way to save money. If we keep the library hours, what other thing do we cut? Cutting library hours and firing teachers goes against the mayors greater goal of advancing New Haven education and New Haven youth, but the fact is New Haven is broke.

The total operating expenses- including salaries- of the New Haven Free Public Library account for 1.2% of the New Haven City budget, yet over the past 10 years library staff has been reduced by 75%. In the past it has been easy for the mayor to chip away at the public library as no one notices things that don't affect them personally. This petition is too little, too late. There are not enough librarians left to run the institution- the recent layoffs were 12 part-time non-union workers whom the library, over time, has been forced to rely upon heavily- and it is already in the process of incurring long-term systemic damage from the staff reductions that began long before the economic downturn. The quality of the collection and services of the New Haven Library will continue to degrade unless more librarians are hired or, ironically, one or more branches are closed permanently.

The state of affairs at the library is particularly shameful considering the educational level of many New Haven residents and the world-class, multi-billion dollar endowed educational facility at the center of New Haven, in my opinion.

How does the city not have any community centers or schools open on the weekends for kids, and now is closing libraries on Saturdays? Where does the mayor expect kids to go use computers or get books for research projects or homework on the weekends? The librarians also offer free homework help, girl scouts, teen activities and even bilingual playgroups for young parents. Computer training, literacy volunteers, book discussion groups, and even job help for the homeless and/ or unemployed. If we are cutting back on police...let's offer positive options to keep New Haveners safe and off the streets!!

I brought my kids to the neighborhood branch of the library after school and found it dark, locked, and abandoned. As in shut down for half the week and on weekends. I'm finding this deeply disturbing -- it makes me sad and frankly, it scares me.

The library is part of the soul of a neighborhood. When it's standing dark and shut down mid-day, mid-week, it's a monument to the abandonment of our community. It's a sign of a ghost town. Alas we have given up.

The library serves a number of vital practical purposes that others have posted on. But it also represents things to us and to our children. The local branch of the public library embodies the importance of community, the love of reading, the pursuit of knowledge. So when the library is abandoned and left dark and locked half the time we are sending our kids (and ourselves) a message that these things are just not particularly important to us. Community. Reading. Knowledge. Disposable? Frivilous perhaps? Not worth investing our limited funds in.

And Mayor -- it is exactly during these dark times of financial crisis that we need to INCREASE community support and comraderie and help maintain the venues through which that is cultivated. We need to INCREASE the distribution of knowledge and access to information resources. And we need to READ and show our children the world of encouragement, wonder and inspiration that still exists in our literature no matter how challenging the times are.

All our library branches should be open every day and on Saturdays. They are part of the soul of our community and when the lights are on and the doors open, we are still alive despite these trying times.

Property taxes contribute $223,000,000 to the City's 2011 budget.

The library budget was recently cut by 5%, or about $200,000. So, it seems that taking away $1 out of every $1,000 that currently goes towards all city programs funded by property taxes would keep the library hours open, if the story at http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/to_save_libraries_alderman_targets_spokesman/ is correct.

I know this isn't completely accurate statement but it gives one a rough idea of the magnitude of the library cuts.

i am reporting this issue because,i do not
think that the new haven public library
should have less hours on a week-end,
because a lot of people would like to go
there especially on a saturday

The Hill Youth Actions Team; meets at this library on wedendays from 4-6 p.m because the library hours where longer. Due the budget cuts in the city; the library hours where cut. This will effect our dream as HYAT(Hill Youth Action Team) to better the hill community because the hours will take out the time and planning we started as a group since the summer of 2010. We ask everybody who reads this to vote and help save this library! Thank you for your support.
From a Hill Youth Actions Team Member

u shild not close down the library because i come her to do my homework and i get
a lot of books here

The Hill Youth Action Team has been coming to this library since it opened. We have held our summer programs here for the past 2 years. My younger brother & sister used to come here to use the computer, & do there homework on the days it was available. The Library is the home to the Hill Youth Action Team, so it needs to remain open. Everybody comes here. So keep iht OPEN !!

Wilson Library is very essential to myself and as well as to others.

I think that this library is a good thing becuase you can check out books that you truely like or rent a movie. It's good that people all over new haven comes over to the wilson library. So that is what i think about the library.

keep wilson library open.

I have seen the Wilson Library host the Mothers for Justice, afterschool for youth leaders, gatherings for Latino moms and their babies, children busy with homework, young people getting help on a research paper, VITA groups of adults getting help with taxes, major events led by the Hill Neighborhood Forum and the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, or a movie night to watch "Blindside" about racial prejudice hosted by the Hill Youth Action Team - high school leaders in the Hill - over the past 6 years!

WE NEED NEIGHBORHOOD COMMUNITY LIBRARIES! THEY FUNCTION AS FULL SERVICE COMMUNITY CENTERS AND PULL IN FOLKS FROM ALL ACROSS THE ECONOMIC SPECTRUM.

LIBRARIES ARE A PRIORITY IF WE REALLY BELIEVE IN A HEALTHY SMART ECONOMICALLY-THRIVING NEW HAVEN COMMUNITY.

I sincerely hope that the city alders and decision-makers can find a way to increase the hours at the invaluable neighborhood libraries, especially in the Hill - where no other community facilities are open to the public without extra charges (e.g. we must pay custodians to use the school spaces for afterschool activity or any evening meetings).

PLEASE RECONSIDER THE REDUCTION IN LIBRARY HOURS.

Thank you for listening,
D. Stewart

well said, d. stewart!

i completely agree. libraries are immeasurably valuable to a community, and we should definitely come together and fight this.

Please re-establish weekend hours for all branches. I work full-time and have a 5-year-old child. It's difficult for us to get to a library in the evenings after 5pm. Saturdays were really the only (and best) time for us to share library time together. She loves "typing" on the computer and playing games. I love being able to relax in a comfortable atmosphere. read, and help her with her computer skills and look at books.

There are over 100 signatories at this point on this petition, which is impressive given that there has been little effort to publicize or distribute it (I know that a few folks have shared it or brought it around the library, but there's not a "campaign" to do so that I'm aware of). Surely with more efforts from volunteers, there would be more people signing it.

What are some good next steps to take towards resolving this issue?

Does anyone here want to volunteer to call, email and/or send this to each of the members of the Board of Aldermen, just to make sure that they are aware of it?

i'd be glad to contact the members of the BOA. i'll be in touch soon.

I can't believe they are taking out the Saturday hours.
What about the children who like to go to the library on
their day off from school?

Thank you, Juli! A few other Alders / citizens mentioned they were interested, and I've made them aware of this petition. We'll stay in touch with updates here.

Hello SeeClickFixers!

We recently wrote about this issue on our blog. Keep us posted on your progress! You can check it out here! http://seeclickfix.blogspot.com/2011/03/restoring-library-hours-with-just-one.html

Team SeeClickFix

Please keep libraries open more often!

Each library is VITAL to each of our communities! We are telling children that libraries and reading are not important when such cuts are made. We are cutting some people off from the only access to computers that they have- impacting homework assignments, job searches and research. We are also limiting access to books! I am so saddened by this. PLEASE RESTORE OUR LIBRARY HOURS!!!

nothing will happen

Yes, I believe the library should strongly expand their hours. It is not just for learning many people use it for meetings, practice of amendements and to deny that is wrong.Guests speakers can come
and be launched, with new ideas, artists, poets, civili servants, professional and amateur job seekers. Mom look forward to "time out" with childrens hour an

d story time, as well i.e advice. shelagh.brennan@yahoo.com

The Public Library is a vital resource in this city and as such it's hours should not be cut. Our difficult economic time require that we add hours instead to help our citizens to find jobs and to keep the ones that they have. Knowledge, such as as the library provides, means economic power for those who have the lease in our society.

Thank you, Dolores. I agree that libraries are essential for that purpose. Have you spoken with your fellow Alderpersons about this issue?

I hear that money has been added back into the budget for library hours. Can someone confirm?

Hey Mark,
I just saw this in the New Haven Independent: "In good news for bookworms, the amendment included the surprise restoration of $120,000 in library funding. That means neighborhood branches will be able to stay open on weekends"

Source: http://www.newhavenindependent.org/index.php/archives/entry/budget-shaping_begins/

"Fixed?"