31–40 of 76 posts
Shutting down NYPL on Sunday is almost akin to shutting down homeless and rec centers on Sunday. It only hurts the disenfranchised who need the shelter and resources the most.
Of 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.
But Library management wants to host cool friends AND generate angry voters.
I see this pattern often in government budget showdowns; the tiniest cuts produce outsized service impacts.
Sunday 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…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
New 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?
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/nyregion/adams-nyc-migran...
A 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 age…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
Wonder why they don't include AirBnB in that? Oh, yeah, I forgot, they're totally not a hotel, right?
So the hotels are full of migrants, not tourists, and there are few other options, which further hurts the local economy.
Of 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.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In what way has a migrant surge affected the budget?
NYC has a "right to housing" law that requires the government to provide a roof for anyone who needs it, including migrants. With the recent influx of migrants this is causing unforeseen spending that will total $5bn in 2023. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/09/nyregion/adams-nyc-migran...
Not a law, a consent decree, and Adams just suspended it.
Of 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.