I wish they'd can Wednesday instead of Sunday.
Sunday is when people have time off to use something like a library. If they're going to cut a day, cut mid-week.
Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
21–30 of 76 posts
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#22Sunday seems like a poor choice. Sunday was always a prime homework day for me when I was in school. Typically not a lot else going on, so there was time for quiet, focused work. Why not close on Tuesday or Wednesday? Unless it's also about staffing difficulty on weekends.
> Why not close on Tuesday or Wednesday? Library near my parents' house used to be closed or would close early on select weekdays. It really, really sucked for getting schoolwork/research projects done. We expect businesses to be open during the workweek. We do not always expect them to be open on weekends. I don't understand why they don't open late 7 days a week. Who goes to the library before noon? The kids are al…
>Who goes to the library before noon?
Parents with young kids/toddlers. Story Time at my local public library (not NY) is very well-attended.
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#23New York's budget is a disaster and it's only getting worse. They spent like Covid stimulus would never end, and didn't expect the migrant surge to ever reach their doorstep. Open libraries on Sundays does seem like a reasonable thing to cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see additional cuts or closures in the coming months.
In what way has a migrant surge affected the budget?
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#24Sunday seems like a poor choice. Sunday was always a prime homework day for me when I was in school. Typically not a lot else going on, so there was time for quiet, focused work. Why not close on Tuesday or Wednesday? Unless it's also about staffing difficulty on weekends.
> Why not close on Tuesday or Wednesday? Library near my parents' house used to be closed or would close early on select weekdays. It really, really sucked for getting schoolwork/research projects done. We expect businesses to be open during the workweek. We do not always expect them to be open on weekends. I don't understand why they don't open late 7 days a week. Who goes to the library before noon? The kids are al…
>Who goes to the library before noon?
I know several older people who use it as an opportunity to get out of the house. They get their coffee and head to the library to read the newspapers.
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#25Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Why not close on Tuesday or Wednesday? Library near my parents' house used to be closed or would close early on select weekdays. It really, really sucked for getting schoolwork/research projects done. We expect businesses to be open during the workweek. We do not always expect them to be open on weekends. I don't understand why they don't open late 7 days a week. Who goes to the library before noon? The kids are al…
>Who goes to the library before noon? Parents with young kids/toddlers. Story Time at my local public library (not NY) is very well-attended.
Well, shit. Guess not all the kids are at school then.
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#26New York's budget is a disaster and it's only getting worse. They spent like Covid stimulus would never end, and didn't expect the migrant surge to ever reach their doorstep. Open libraries on Sundays does seem like a reasonable thing to cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see additional cuts or closures in the coming months.
In what way has a migrant surge affected the budget?
Spitballing, but I think they provided shelter for a lot of them. No idea if that would significantly impact NYC's budget
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#27Of course no one is happy about cuts to vital services like the library. But people are also unhappy with a 3% minimum city income tax and a $5 billion budget shortfall. Stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Oh man, I didn’t realize it was 3%! NYC has a ton of people at the top of their fields in a really dense setting. I wonder what city services cause such a big shortfall! On paper it should be easier to finance NYC than any other big city, so I wonder where the money goes. Or an I incorrect and the city is poorer than I think? Perhaps Long Island sucks more incomes away from the city than I thought?
Everything in NYC is expensive. We spend almost $40,000 per year on each public school student. Construction is hugely expensive. The Department of Corrections has 1.4 corrections officers for every person incarcerated.
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#28New York's budget is a disaster and it's only getting worse. They spent like Covid stimulus would never end, and didn't expect the migrant surge to ever reach their doorstep. Open libraries on Sundays does seem like a reasonable thing to cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see additional cuts or closures in the coming months.
In what way has a migrant surge affected the budget?
NYC is housing migrants in hotel rooms that it pays for.
https://www.morningstar.com/news/marketwatch/20230926176/hou...
Some hotels are charging the city $300 a night.
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-06-09/nyc-migra...
A billion here, a billion there... pretty soon you're talking real money.
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#29New York's budget is a disaster and it's only getting worse. They spent like Covid stimulus would never end, and didn't expect the migrant surge to ever reach their doorstep. Open libraries on Sundays does seem like a reasonable thing to cut. I wouldn't be surprised to see additional cuts or closures in the coming months.
In what way has a migrant surge affected the budget?
Any quick googling will return numerous stories about this. Here is one that estimates it at $5,000,000 a day that NYC is spending.
https://nypost.com/2023/03/03/bidens-migrant-mess-costing-ne...
Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations
#30A lot of American cities are experiencing budget shortfalls thanks to the WFH trend and other factors, and it will exacerbate problems with many important and popular services.
Here in Boston, we just found out that the estimated cost for fixing the subway system is $24.5 Billion (https://www.universalhub.com/2023/maybe-if-we-held-bake-sale...). It's been neglected and mismanaged for years, and no city or state agency can come up with that kind of money (it's about half of the commonwealth's annual budget).
The NYC subway is in a similar situation, but at a much larger scale. There are similar problems all over the country - see "America’s Trains and Buses Are Speeding Toward a Cliff"(https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2023/05/americas-mass-transi...)