fbpx

Book Blues

To slash or not to slash, that is the question – whether it is better to let the library services of Miami-Dade County (including Pinecrest’s) dwindle and fade away, or to challenge the county commission and thereby find the funds to maintain the system.

As it stands, funding for the county library system will drop to $30 million this year, down from the $64 million that library advocates say is required. The budget was actually already cut to $30 million two years ago, but has been kept at $50 million a year using dollars remaining from a capital fund set aside a decade ago to build new branches. That money is now gone.

“This will be a drastic cut, and completely annihilates everything that has been put together,” says Ellen Book, co-founder and chair of Community Advocates for Libraries in Miami (CALM). “A great majority of librarians will be laid off, with some being hired back at part time.”

Book, who is also a senior librarian in the Pinecrest branch, notes that library hours in Pinecrest have already been cut from eight and a half hours six days a week, to eight hours a day five days a week. The new cuts, if applied to Pinecrest, could reduce library hours to four hours a day, four days a week.

“We have to do everything we can to stop this,” Pinecrest Mayor Cindy Lerner told members of the Pinecrest Business Association at their monthly luncheon in April. “Libraries are the cornerstone of civilization.”

Whereas online research and e-books have challenged the role of printed books in recent years, Book and others note that library services are still needed for people of limited income (such as the elderly) and actually do provide access to Google, legal forms, language programs and – for those who still read offline – books for people of all ages. 

The issue is where to find the money. Currently, county homeowners pay $17 each year per $100,000 of property value for library services. For what libraries need, another $18 will have to be assessed. That would mean the owner of a $500,000 home would have to pay about $29 a month instead of the current $14 a month.

While county commissioners can vote to invoke this change (favored by Pinecrest area Commissioner Xavier Suarez), Miami-Dade Mayor Carlos Gimenez is so concerned with voter reaction to any sort of tax increase that he has suggested staging a countywide referendum on the matter this summer. 

 

 

You May Also Like
8th Annual Sculpture in Motion Takes Center Stage at Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens

The event will showcase art, craftmanship and high-fashion.

Read More
Ann Norton Sculpture Gardens
Restaurants at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Offering Thanksgiving Specials

There are plenty of options to choose from.

Read More
Thanksgiving Specials
Kasumi Makes Grand Debut at Waterstone Resort & Marina in Boca Raton

The dining experience fuses tradition with innovation.

Read More
Kasumi
Experience the Perfect Getaway at Pier House Resort & Spa in Key West

The Ernest Hemingway Museum is a short walk away.

Read More
Pier House Resort Spa
Other Posts
MOSQUITO FEVER

At first glance, Evaristo Miqueli has one of the least attractive jobs in Broward. Among his other duties as Natural Resources Officer is to monitor mosquito levels in a given locale by sticking his arm out to see how many of the pests land and try to bite him in a 60-second period.  If more

Read More
The Last Oasis

Independent plant nurseries were once a common sight in South Florida, back when land was less expensive. Some were just an open lot stacked with bags of mulch and rows of potted plants, others more complex, enclosed compounds with exotic palms and flowering shrubs. Every weekend gardener had his or her favorite.  Today, local gardeners have basically

Read More
Culture Hub

When the Village of Pinecrest purchased Parrott Jungle in 2002, the idea was to make it the central park of Pinecrest. After all, Pinecrest didn’t (and still doesn’t) have a downtown, or even a cozy village square where citizens can gather in a public space. At first the Jungle, renamed Pinecrest Gardens, was used for

Read More
A Hard Copy, Please

Just when you thought there was no room for another good idea comes Polaroid Fotobar, a new company poised to go national with its concept; already its stores in Delray, Orlando and Miami are going gangbusters. The idea, developed by founding CEO Warren Struhl, seems obvious now that it’s out of the bag: Though we

Read More