Detroits Good Use of Taxpayer Funds....

[chefdennis]

Gerg keeps talking about the city of Detroit screwing with the libraries, but h#ll they can't read so tey mst not have used them much in the past to begin with, so who cares...well obviously Greg and the Library board....either way, its a waste and just sending money they don't have, couldn't raise through fundraising, but can continue to bilk the taxpayers of the state out of...isn't and hasn't Detroit been run by the Lib Dems for almost a half a century!?!? And wasn't it the "model city" for the libs and President johnsons "urban planning" for his "great society" movement....

Personally, i think looking at Detroit today is what the rest of the country will be like in the not too distant future if the whin'in libs keep up their progressive "share the wealth" theft from those that work to "help those that don;t have"....but hey, its only fair...

Paper Chase

Library pays $6,500 for business cards for all

Christine MacDonald / / The Detroit News
Last Updated: May 05. 2011 2:32PM
http://www.detnews.com/article/20110505/METRO01/105050382/1409/Library-pays-$6-500-for-business-cards-for-all

The paper

A purchase order from March 2010 showing the cash-strapped Detroit Public Library spent more than $6,500 to buy business cards for all its employees — including clerks and janitors who questioned why they need them.

Library spokesman A.J. Funchess said each employee got 250 cards "to be an ambassador to their communities."

"It shows everyone matters here at the library," Funchess said. "Everyone is representing the library."

"As employees, we are all a part of the same system."

Many of the cards quickly became obsolete. One year later, the library has lost 71 staffers to layoffs and retirements. Dozens more of the remaining 376 staffers could soon be laid off as the system is grappling with an $11 million shortfall and could close at least 10 of its 23 neighborhood branches.

Todd Kelly, president of American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Local 1259 that represents 125 workers, including clerks, janitors and security staffers, said many staffers who never come in contact with the public got the cards.

"Everybody didn't need them," Kelly said. "For the entire staff to get them it seems a little overboard."

"Many who received them have no idea why they got them in the first place nor what to do with them."

The chase

The expense is the latest in a series that has some questioning library leadership.

Unions and even some commissioners contend the library wasted money on a $2.3 million renovation of the Main Library's South Wing that includes 20 European-designed chairs that cost $1,100 apiece, eight stainless steel trash cans that cost $1,110 each and two fireplaces that ran $5,000 a pop.

The expense follows a fundraising plan two years ago that didn't go as planned. The taxpayer-supported system spent $200,000 in hopes of raising $20 million.

Instead, less than $100 was raised, The News reported in February

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[LDB]

One could play devil's advocate and argue the cards were to increase library use by the public so the more cards the greater the potential increase. The flaw is that more library usage doesn't translate to more revenue for the library, only more expense.

 

[greg334]

Personally, i think looking at Detroit today is what the rest of the country will be like in the not too distant future if the whin'in libs keep up their progressive "share the wealth" theft from those that work to "help those that don;t have"....but hey, its only fair....

Hey didn't know you cared.

BUT if you look at Detroit as the model of the country of our near future, hate to break the news to you bucko but our country has turned into Detroit.

As for the library, there is a point to be made that once the Library went off on their own by cutting out the suburb access, and state aid was cut AFTER that, it went down hill. A good example is they had a great historical collection of book in the stacks. while their mismanagement led to water line breaks (poor maintenance) and flooding of the lower stacks, these books (with some really one of a kind and first additions) went the way of the dumpster. No one seems to care that the 1823 first edition of Andrew Jackson's biography with his signature was tossed into the dumpster because it was water damaged due to the fact no one understood the importance of maintaining things at the library but to make sure people are paid those high wages.

 

[LDB]

A good example is they had a great historical collection of book in the stacks. while their mismanagement led to water line breaks (poor maintenance) and flooding of the lower stacks, these books (with some really one of a kind and first additions) went the way of the dumpster. No one seems to care that the 1823 first edition of Andrew Jackson's biography with his signature was tossed into the dumpster because it was water damaged due to the fact no one understood the importance of maintaining things at the library but to make sure people are paid those high wages.

That is close to a capital crime or at least should be.