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Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

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Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#51

Post by willmeyers »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #31
willmeyers wrote: post #14

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.

Personally I hate the fact that libraries have become de facto homeless shelters. It gives them a constant background noise of danger and a lot of these people just sit around watching softcore porn on youtube. I think you'd see more library attendance if the places felt safer to leave kids at alone

I see where you're coming from and I honestly don't like it either. Some are disruptive, shout, smell bad, ...etc. But of all the times I've been to the library (any maybe I'm just lucky), I can only count a few instances I felt uneasy about the people I was around. Of the few times they did act out or pulled up porn; they were escorted out. I think that's mostly a consequence of how our city deals homelessness and our city should do better, but that's complete tangent.

To me a library is a public service that should serve all. To this day, after a decade living here, I've yet to find a cafe, bar, or any place to get free internet, a laptop, shelter, and a decently maintained public bathroom.

I just want to reiterate I agree with your frustration. I want the NYPL to be better, but it needs to serve everybody.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#52

Post by stetrain »

gosub100 wrote: post #38
David_Axelrod wrote: post #3

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.

[flagged]

Good thing that libraries also provide digital information services, including digital book rentals and digital records and academic publication searches.

As well as facilities to access those services if you do not have an adequate computer, internet connection, or subscription access to these resources at home.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#53

Post by mschuster91 »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #27
gemstones wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Simple solution, imprison less people. NYC prisons are notorious for overcrowding for decades now [1] [2].

It's shocking for me as a German that this seems to have been a consistent fact of life that's just accepted by everyone and nothing is being done - no new prisons are built to offer more space for prisoners, and nothing is being done to reduce the amount of people heading towards prison.

[1] https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/prison-a...

[2] https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2021/10/new-york-post-photos...

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#55

Post by lapphi »

nostromo wrote: post #28
ziftface wrote: post #23

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.

Why does it cost so much? Seems strange that the city is unable to negotiate better rates if these hotels are struggling

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#56

Post by SoftTalker »

jstarfish wrote: post #6
SoftTalker wrote: post #2

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…

A library isn't a business, and even if you want to think about it that way, weekday closings for business are not that unusual. Barbers tradtionally take Mondays off. Dentists are often closed on Fridays. There are many other examples.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#57

Post by 2OEH8eoCRo0 »

shortrounddev2 wrote: post #31
willmeyers wrote: post #14

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.

Personally I hate the fact that libraries have become de facto homeless shelters. It gives them a constant background noise of danger and a lot of these people just sit around watching softcore porn on youtube. I think you'd see more library attendance if the places felt safer to leave kids at alone

I agree but libraries are not a daycare either.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#58

Post by freeopinion »

ilamont wrote: post #30

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…

> no city or state agency can come up with that kind of money

Every major city can come up with that kind of money. Spread it out over 20 years and raise taxes 10%. So sales tax goes from 6.25% to 6.875%, property tax goes from 0.1% to 0.11%. If a city with 675000 people needs to raise $24B, they just raise taxes $3500 per person per year for the life of the project.

You're not going to spend the $24B in a single year, so you don't have to raise the money in a single year.

MBTA claims a daily ridership of ~800,000. Raise the fair $0.25 per ride and you get an extra $50M/year.

I'm not saying you would be popular, but you could raise the money. Shutting down the subway wouldn't be popular either. Aren't those your options? Either it's worth the money or it isn't.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#59

Post by NovemberWhiskey »

mschuster91 wrote: post #53
NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

Simple solution, imprison less people. NYC prisons are notorious for overcrowding for decades now [1] [2]. It's shocking for me as a German that this seems to have been a consistent fact of life that's just accepted by everyone and nothing is being done - no new prisons are built to offer more space for prisoners, and nothing is being done to reduce the amount of people heading towards prison. [1] https://www.ojp.gov…

NYC average daily jail population has been decreasing almost continuously for the last 30 years. Conditions at Riker's Island are much more to do with the problems between the civilian oversight function and the COs unions than they are to do with an actual excess of inmates with respect to cells etc.

Re: Sunday service suspended at all NYPL locations

#60

Post by freeopinion »

NovemberWhiskey wrote: post #46
freeopinion wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well if that all it is, there's a simple solution. Make all the illegal immigrants legal. Then the budget for illegal immigrants goes to $0.

Firstly; that would be a Federal problem, not something that the City can do anything about. Secondly; even if they were illegal immigrants (which is undetermined at this point; most of them claim asylum and have had no determination made for their case) they would still have had the right to shelter under City law.

So you're saying that illegal immigration isn't really the problem?
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