Besieged by nearly 1,000 complaints from the public, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has backed away from buck-a-book plan proposed by the Board of Library Commissioners.
The proposal -- subject of an item here last week -- would have required borrowers to pay $1 for every book moved to their local library for pickup from another library. That was the keystone to the whole effort to rebuild L.A. public library system around small, neighborhood facilities.
The mayor, according to David Zahniser at the Lost Angeles Times, reportedly distanced himself from the idiotic proposal and the Library Commission is ready to pretend the whole thing never happened.
Take heart Angelenos, the system will run for cover at the slightest indication that the community is aroused. So get aroused and stop taking crap from City Hall. It's your town, your taxes, organize and empower yourselves and see what a difference it makes.
A teacher's comment worth reading:
I was listening to a radio show while flipping channels and the DJ asked people to call in and tell what they did for a living and how much they made.
A guy who drives a street cleaning truck for LA called in, gleeful, and said he makes $65,000 a year as a street sweeper.
I immediately thought to myself, "I could do that for a living. I could run a street sweeper."
Ah, but I am only a lowly teacher/real estate agent/single mom of 3/and amateur writer. None of my four jobs has ever paid me that much in my life.
Can someone PLEASE tell me why the guys who scrub our streets are thought to be more valuable human beings (if value is based on salary) than people like me who teach and watch over our kids?
It's easy to blame the unions, and believe me, I know many of them are poorly managed, but the problem truly lies in the deep and massive need for a paradigm shift in attitudes.
The street sweeper must admit that maybe, just maybe, he can survive on $65K for the next 2 or3 years and doesn't really need that raise.
The parents need to decide their kids' teachers are worth more than $45K a year and be willing to pay slightly higher taxes to care for their kids.
And the mayor needs to stop worrying about what rung on the ladder he wants to climb next and actually govern and run this city just as he promised he would do. Less smiling, more work.
Maybe he's just going to leave the mess for someone else to take care of? That's not what he said he was going to do, but people change their minds, don't they?
You're right about the attitudes among a lot of unionized employees. They are sometimes concerned only about themselves. They don't care about other workers coming in and they don't care about the big picture. However, I still believe in unions.
-- Spiffy
Ron Kaye is the former editor of the Los Angeles Daily News where he spent 23 years helping to make the newspaper the voice of the San Fernando Valley and fighting for a city government that serves the people and not special interests.
Twice in recent years, Los Angeles Magazine listed Kaye among the city’s most influential people, specifically in the area of politics. Kaye has been variously described in the media as the “accidental anarchist,” “the Patrick Henry of the San Fernando Valley” and a “passionate populist.” He is now committed to
carrying on his crusade for a greater Los Angeles as an ordinary citizen. Previously, Ron worked at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner,
Associated Press, Cleveland Plain Dealer and The Australian as well as papers
in Fairbanks, Alaska and Yakima, Wash. He also wrote for Newsweek magazine, The Guardian in London and the National Enquirer.
Let this be a warning to them, do not mess with our libraries - they are not broken. DO NOT TREAD ON ME!
It's amazing how a dollar fee on a library card can ignite more people than a General Plan Update community meeting on one of the most important issues in the city.
Hi Ron,
I was listening to a radio show while flipping channels and the DJ asked people to call in and tell what they did for a living and how much they made.
A guy who drives a street cleaning truck for LA called in, gleeful, and said he makes $65,000 a year as a street sweeper.
I immediately thought to myself, "I could do that for a living. I could run a street sweeper."
Ah, but I am only a lowly teacher/real estate agent/single mom of 3/and amateur writer. None of my four jobs has ever paid me that much in my life.
Can someone PLEASE tell me why the guys who scrub our streets are thought to be more valuable human beings (if value is based on salary) than people like me who teach and watch over our kids?
It's easy to blame the unions, and believe me, I know many of them are poorly managed, but the problem truly lies in the deep and massive need for a paradigm shift in attitudes.
The street sweeper must admit that maybe, just maybe, he can survive on $65K for the next 2 or3 years and doesn't really need that raise.
The parents need to decide their kids' teachers are worth more than $45K a year and be willing to pay slightly higher taxes to care for their kids.
And the mayor needs to stop worrying about what rung on the ladder he wants to climb next and actually govern and run this city just as he promised he would do. Less smiling, more work.
Maybe he's just going to leave the mess for someone else to take care of? That's not what he said he was going to do, but people change their minds, don't they?
You're right about the attitudes among a lot of unionized employees. They are sometimes concerned only about themselves. They don't care about other workers coming in and they don't care about the big picture. However, I still believe in unions.