Detroit News: Detroit library could close most of its branches

[detroitbob66]

That is a GREAT idea, because then after the libraries all close, they can look like this!





A Detroit Public Library 2011

[English]

The main branch is a beautiful location and absolutely requires a certain level of maintenance and renovation, but appearances are often very harmful. Education is not a value in 2011 America, so the libraries really need to be wise in their decisions.

I agree. You know, the DPL pre-renovation may have even been a candidate for private redesign, such as those featured on Extreme Home Makeover. I love the Main Branch and always have, but I also loved the Parkman and Richard Branches in my neighborhood, which even 15 years ago were immaculate. Floors perfectly polished, not a speck of dust anywhere...

[Meddle]

Yet they can buy $1,000 chairs, $5,000 fireplaces and $500 light fixtures:

Last Updated: April 26. 2011 1:00AM
Library feeling heat over buying $1K chairs
Christine MacDonald / The Detroit News

Detroit — A Livonia furniture dealer is defending the Detroit Public Library's purchase of lounge chairs that cost $1,092 and have become a symbol of extravagance for a system considering closing 18 branches.

The Allermuir brand chairs normally retail for $1,984 apiece and are popular with municipalities, schools and universities, said Paul Gingell, who is the company's Michigan sales representative.

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He said Detroiters deserve to sit comfortably in the chairs, which are part of a $2.3 million renovation of the main library's south wing. The rehab set to open soon includes two alcohol-burning fireplaces that cost $5,000 apiece and 24 pendant light fixtures that cost $531 each.

"How about the young mother with several children that looks forward to a weekly trek through the snow/sleet to improve their reading skills and are hopeful that a spot near the fireplaces will be open, because the warmth provided is greater than what they experience at home?" Gingell, of W. E. Gingell Associates Inc., asked in an email.

"How about the elderly person that the highlight of [[his or her) week is to find a book or newspaper and snuggle into a comfortable chair near a window?"

The library didn't buy the 20 chairs from Gingell.

But even administrators say the purchase was a mistake.

The system faces an $11 million shortfall and could close 18 of 23 neighborhood branches and lay off as many as 191 of 333 workers. The south wing overhaul grew from a $300,000 update.

Jo Anne Mondowney, the library executive director who has been on the job for 19 months, said her staff tried unsuccessfully to return the chairs after learning how much they cost. Construction was approved by the library board the same month she started the job, but commission minutes show a $624,000 contract for furniture and shelving was OK'd under her watch in May.

Gerald Dajnowicz, 68, who has had a Detroit library card since he was a child, called the chairs the "squandering of scarce funds."

"What has happened through the years is it's become almost a castle down there," Dajnowicz said of the main library. "There aren't $2,000 chairs in the branch libraries, believe me."

http://detnews.com/article/20110426/...351/1408/LOCAL

[begingri]

$1,100 trash cans part of Detroit library fixup

Review of work at cash-strapped facility continues

http://detnews.com/article/20110428/...#ixzz1KnE5DR50

[bailey]

Machie said she wouldn't have approved the chairs because they can be easily damaged. She said she has had to remove new leather chairs from the Skillman branch downtown and replace them with wooden ones after homeless people defecated on them.

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110422/...#ixzz1Kp7cwCEa

Huh... maybe keeping the place free of homeless might help?

[Bham1982]

This really sucks because I am such a believer in libraries, especially in poorer areas.

We have to find a way to keep these libraries open, but management sucks and cannot be trusted with additional public dollars. They need to be removed if they're buying $1,100 trash cans.

[old guy]

This really sucks because I am such a believer in libraries, especially in poorer areas.

I agree wholeheartedly. In some ways I think the branch libraries are more important than main libraries. On the other hand the Detroit main library and the Chicago main library are two of my favorites.
When I was growing up, our family was really poor. We had a small branch library about six blocks from our house that was really basic, in an old store front that had been converted. That was the most important place for me as a kid. I can't imagine how many books I read, mostly because it was the only form of entertainment I could afford. I doubt there have been many other things that have had such an impact on my life as the local library.

The popular notion that every home now has a computer and good internet access is in my opinion a false one. Especially during these tough economic times. You'd have a hard time convincing me there aren't a number of kids from economically challenged families that don't benefit greatly from branch libraries. In return, I believe they benefit our society.

[Rocko]

April 28. 2011 2:12PM Detroit library staff ordered to reduce number of branch closures

From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110428/...#ixzz1Kqf5wtUi

[Wesley Mouch]

Perhaps the staff and administration can give back the 6% in total raises they got the past 2 years in order to attempt to reconcile income with expenditures? [/FONT]

You're joking. They got 6% in current Detroit with current economy? Both administrators and union bosses should be ashamed, and not very surprised at the result.

[Zacha341]

Yes! Who was the person[[s) who choose and ok'd the lavish "bling-bling" junk that ran the budget of the main library refurb off the cliff! Just crazy -- yet not surprising!

http://www.myfoxdetroit.com/dpp/news...ns-20110428-mr

$1,100 trash cans part of Detroit library fixup

Review of work at cash-strapped facility continues

http://detnews.com/article/20110428/...#ixzz1KnE5DR50

[socks_mahoney]

That is a GREAT idea, because then after the libraries all close, they can look like this!





A Detroit Public Library 2011

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times". These photos say it all.

[Wesley Mouch]

...Perhaps the staff and administration can give back the 6% in total raises they got the past 2 years in order to attempt to reconcile income with expenditures? [/FONT]

You're kidding. 6% over two [[2) years? In our current situation in Detroit, the administration and the Union should both be ashamed.

[SWMAP]

See that the detroit News is reporting today that the DPL has become another "friends and family" patronage mecca. As a matter of fact the HR Director has two of her children working for the DPS. This is her version of things with my emphasis:

Human resource director Trinee Moore argued that their staffers are qualified and that safeguards have been implemented to prevent preferential treatment. A committee of managers makes hires, and layoffs come by seniority, she said.
Moore said she had no role in the hiring of her children, and the library isn't different than other workplaces where employees refer relatives.
"As a rule, it's always been a point of fact that when a family member gets on with Chrysler or Ford or the library or with the city, they'd tell their family," Moore said. "Generally if you are an excellent person, you are probably keeping company with excellent people."


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110506/METRO01/105060383/Nepotism-rampant-at-Detroit-Public-Library#ixzz1LZzxRZYr

[bailey]

See that the detroit News is reporting today that the DPL has become another "friends and family" patronage mecca. As a matter of fact the HR Director has two of her children working for the DPS. This is her version of things with my emphasis:

Human resource director Trinee Moore argued that their staffers are qualified and that safeguards have been implemented to prevent preferential treatment. A committee of managers makes hires, and layoffs come by seniority, she said.
Moore said she had no role in the hiring of her children, and the library isn't different than other workplaces where employees refer relatives.
"As a rule, it's always been a point of fact that when a family member gets on with Chrysler or Ford or the library or with the city, they'd tell their family," Moore said. "Generally if you are an excellent person, you are probably keeping company with excellent people."


From The Detroit News: http://detnews.com/article/20110506/METRO01/105060383/Nepotism-rampant-at-Detroit-Public-Library#ixzz1LZzxRZYr

Bring on the EFM

[rjk]

"Moore said she had no role in the hiring of her children, and the library isn't different than other workplaces where employees refer relatives."

I wonder if she was able to say that without laughing?

In the private sector if a buisness owner wants to hire his/her nephew who might be inept he/she suffers the consequences and might go out of buisness. If Trinee's kids are inept in their job it's the tax payers that suffer. .

[Bong-Man]

Personally, I feel that nepotism stat of 1 out of 6 is quite low, especially in comparison to other local institutions. I'm also surprised that this issue isn't given more of a spotlight locally. I keep hearing how this area has changed over the last 40 years since the civil disturbance. In fact, the same issues of lilly white that confronted the city years ago, has now moved out into the suburbs. The demographics of suburbia are changing fast, but the work-force and hiring practices have not.

I once had a supervisor mention that there was nothing against the law about hiring a relative. I mentioned that there wasn't a law that I had to wash my hands after defecating.....it's called common courtesy.

[SWMAP]

What other tax-payer supported institutions that must close virtually all their offices due to misused funds [[this is the story that the Detroit News has been reporting for two weeks) have higher nepotism rates in your experience? I'd love to know. Due tell, so we can absolve the Library's Board and leadership because it is a common practice. But don't say the city of Detroit and City Council - we know about them already and how's that working out for us?
As to your next comment I keep hearing how this area has changed over the last 40 years since the civil disturbance. In fact, the same issues of lilly white that confronted the city years ago, has now moved out into the suburbs - what does that mean? Are you saying that the work-forces in the suburbs are too white? You should relax. Suburban work-forces will eventually reflect the changed demographics of the communities when positions become available through retirement, etc. But they will probably have a drug test requirement and a clean record requirement. i understand these are stumbling blocks for City of Detroit hiring - hardly any applicants can pass a drug test, it is said.

[Bong-Man]

Suburban work-forces will eventually reflect the changing demographics of their communities when an outside entity steps in and forces them too....not before.

[Bham1982]

Suburban work-forces will eventually reflect the changing demographics of their communities when an outside entity steps in and forces them too....not before.

IMO, this sort of stone-age thinking is what limits the region.

There is no such thing as "suburban work forces". There is only one regional workforce. There are no walls surrounding the city proper, and folks of all backgrounds live and work all over the place.

[Bong-Man]

So then what you're saying is, there is no truth to the nepotism charges at Detroit's libraries, and the same couldn't possibly be currently happening in institutions in the suburbs.

What was once blatant, is now subtle, and it accomplishes the same goal.

[Bham1982]

So then what you're saying is, there is no truth to the nepotism charges at Detroit's libraries, and the same couldn't possibly be currently happening in institutions in the suburbs.

What was once blatant, is now subtle, and it accomplishes the same goal.

Nepotism is a totally different issue. You were talking about demographics within the workplace, and the suburban workforce as separate from the city workforce.

In my professional experience [[both private and public sector), there are pretty strict guidelines [[especially re. disclosure) regarding hiring of relatives. The library article does not appear to reference typical workforce hiring procedures. It appears to be dysfunctional, and the culprits appear unapologetic.

[SWMAP]

I think there is a closer question that people are mixing up: it's one thing to be on a municipal road crew and hear about a job opening that your strapping nephew could fill, tell him about, tell him who to call and even encourage his hiring. That happens all the time. but that's not "nepotism. " Nepotism is someone in authority to make hiring decisions then hiring his or her own nephew - or, in this case, children or the unqualified children of a Board officer [[remember that the CEO works for and reports to the Board).

[kraig]

Oddly enough, the article doesn't seem to highlight that the Board of Library Commissioners are appointed by the Detroit School Board and why Antony Adams is on the commission [[He's the ex-officio). That, in and of itself, should go a long way in explaining the mess that the library is in. If you look at who's been involved with the library commission over the past few years, you'll see a lot of the same familiar names that are always involved in some type of bullshit. Sigh, the level of greed and dishonesty is getting worse by the minute.

http://detnews.com/article/20110506/...#ixzz1LZzxRZYr

[SWMAP]

Thanks for that revelation! I think really helpful to get what happened.
Let's throw a parade for the EFM when he/she arrives.

[kraig]

Thanks for that revelation! I think really helpful to get what happened.
Let's throw a parade for the EFM when he/she arrives.

The problem with that is that the same mentality is in effect with the choosing of the EFM's. EFM's are being appointed to bust up union contracts and dole out no bid contracts to a new set of friends and family.

Without any experience or training, I can cut and contract away a deficit. But that doesn't make the situation better. What really needs to be discussed is whether a Library Commission is necessary, and if so, how should the members be selected. And that's just for starters