Police union opposes library measure on March 8 ballot

The Los Angeles Police Protective League will oppose a measure on the March 8 ballot intended to create more revenue for the city’s cash-strapped libraries, an initiative that has drawn a broad coalition of support among the city’s elected officials and labor unions.

League President Paul M. Weber said in a statement that the measure was “ballot-box budgeting” that would “create more problems than it solves” by diverting a greater share of the city’s property tax revenue to libraries without creating a stream of money to replace it.    

Under the City Charter, libraries are allocated at least 0.0175% of the city’s property tax revenue. Measure L would guarantee nearly double that share without creating any new taxes, meaning the money would have to come from other city services.

City Council President Eric Garcetti and council members Tom LaBonge, Bernard C. Parks and Jan Perry, among others, have been campaigning for the measure, arguing that it would shield the department from the deep cuts it has faced over the last few years, which have led to layoffs of librarians and reduced hours.

Proponents of Measure L have raised at least $150,000 for their campaign, primarily from the Library Foundation of Los Angeles, according to records filed with the city Ethics Commission. The league, which represents about 9,900 rank-and-file officers, has not said how much money it will spend, if any, to defeat the measure.

Weber said the Measure L campaign has concealed what the true effect of the proposal would be. By sidestepping the normal budget process, he said, leaders could achieve “an increase to library funding without the unpleasant and unpopular tax hikes needed to fund it, and without discussing how it would impact other city departments."

“Measure L simply mandates the movement of money from one pot to another and restricts its use. It does not solve any of the financial problems plaguing the city of Los Angeles,” Weber said in his statement. “If this measure passes, residents should expect to see further interruptions to police and fire services, and more cuts to parks and recreation, street services and other priority municipal services.”

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-- Maeve Reston

Comments

[CityWatch]

Paul M. Weber's Los Angeles Police Protective League honored Dodger co-owner Frank McCourt and then accepted 40,000 free tickets to Dodger games. Perhaps proponents of Measure L should offer Weber and the PPL 40,000 free library books for their support.

[TwoCents]

Great....another way to cut more emergency services. Where is it written that all library services have to be free? Why can't there be a small, reasonable rental fee for books and materials...maybe 10 cents per book for children or seniors, and 25 cents for others? It might not sound like much, but it could go quite a ways towards helping the libraries budget...and I don't think the cost would "break" most people.

[SP Jose]

Take a look at how much cops and firemen make over library clerks and librarians. Not even close. I for one will definitely vote yes on the Library measure. Cops do a great job, but you see them out there just giving dumb tickets because they need to justify their existence.

[Steve]

People still need the library with the internet around? What's more shocking is that some of these librarians make more money than cops. Why not have more volunteers at the library to reduce costs.

[sadiegrrrl]

i work for LAPL and frankly i am shocked and offended that the police union would stoop to the "it's the library or police" argument. are they really arguing that if the library goes from getting .0175% of the budget to .03% of the city budget...which is pennies PENNIES on the dollar that somehow the police department will be disrupted? when they're a part of public safety that gets 70% of the city budget? i find that completely illogical and insulting.

the library was cut by nearly 30% last year. we have watched our patrons be turned away two days a week and we had to watch our coworkers be escorted from their branches when they were laid off. we have been making due with less, living and working with depression era mindsets. the police department has hardly been impacted by the financial crisis at all. the mayor has already said that he plans to cut parks and rec and the library again and that LAPD will continue to be sacrosanct. furthermore the library's budget is already a part of the city charter and the amount LAPL receives hasn't been changed to match inflation. i wonder what the police department will think when the libraries are cut further and have to close for even more weekdays and there are teens just hanging out after school?

we aren't demanding anything unreasonable, we're asking, begging really, for the public to give us just a little bit more so that we can restore our services. no one is going to make money off of this. however the public will get 6 days of service instead of 5, then they will get 4 nights of service instead of 2 and finally they will get 7 days of service instead of 6. if you consider citizens making a statement about where they would like their money to go and how they want their tax dollars to be spent "budgeting from the ballot box" then yes, that's what the library is after.

the police union offends me. they know that they will most likely NEVER have to face any sort of budget crisis while this mayor is in power but they begrudge another departments efforts to try and save themselves and the services they provide to the citizens of this city.

[Kent Ried]

The Library's budget will increase over four years from slightly less than 2% of the total City budget to slightly more than 2%. Although the difference will be significant for the Library Department, it's impact to the total budget will be tiny. Chief Beck, all fifteen Councilpersons, and the Mayor have endorsed Measure L. They know that this is no threat to the Police Department budget - and that open libraries actually contribute to a safer City.

[h.r.]

Dollars that are spent on a library system are dollars that DO NOT NEED to be spent on police, because open libraries reduce crime. Talk about cutting off their nose to spite their face!

The amount the library system wants is negligible. From .017% to .03% of every 100 property tax dollars collected? That percentage sign isn't a mistake! This will be a huge boon to the library system, and a drop in the bucket for the police.

Maybe I would be more sympathetic with the police views if I could turn around in my neighborhood without tripping over a cop car hidden behind a bush pointing a radar gun at traffic. Frankly, in my neighborhood I see no shortage of cops.

And yet the library is closed on a school day.

[Yuval Kremer]

Council President Eric Garcetti, Jan Perry, Tom LaBonge, and others are openly supporting Measure L b/c no politician wants to appear "anti-library" (that's political suicide) and it makes them look good. No local politician is opposing Measure L, to my knowledge. The local politicians were in a lose-lose situation...cut the library department as much as other departments or protect libraries by cutting deeper into other city services. So, instead of making the tough budgeting decisions, for which they are highly paid, they are supporting the "feel good" Measure L. They look good (many of them are running in the March election, Hahn is running for US Congress, Alarcon is running for State Legislature, Perry is running for Mayor and Garcetti probably is too, Zine is probably running for Controller, Greuel may run for Mayor, etc, etc), and they'll deal with the horrible consequences later (they'll close city services down on Fridays, they'll sell off our parking meters, they'll reduce cops on the street, and close some firestations, they'll eliminate more DASH routes, they'll kill more dogs and cats at the city "shelters", etc, etc).

The public needs to understand three things. First, this Measure raises NO new revenue to pay for the increased funding to the Library department. Second, the City is broke and has been making round after round of cuts to department budgets and making furloughs across the board, so if the Libraries are protected from further cuts, other departments and services will be cut deeper; this Measure proposes INCREASED funding to the libraries, which only adds salt to the wound. Third, this measure is UNNECESSARY...all of the politicians supporting it (seems unanimous) could just increase the budget to the library department without your vote...but they want you to make the decision, b/c they're wusses.

I love libraries too (I use them every week)...but I know that if this measure passes, the city will kill more dogs and cats (the Animal Services Department, which runs the city "shelters", is the lowest budgeting priority to almost all of these politicians...and you thought they were good guys), eliminate the Fairfax DASH sooner, and take more cops off the street (already cops are working desks b/c of civilian furloughs and cutbacks at stations, and 90 cops have been taken off patrol to staff the new Metropolitan Detention Center b/c the City is broke).

Vote for Bernard Parks and Stephen Box (if you live in their council districts...Parks' opponent and LaBonge are in bed with the DWP Union and a vote for them is a vote for the ridiculous pensions that have gotten us into this mess), but vote NO on Measure L. By the way, the LA Daily News (the Valley paper) has already told its readers to vote NO on Measure L.

[no hope]

Hey Steve, you simple minded moron.

Maybe you haven't noticed that not everyone in LA is rich. Maybe there are some people who can't afford the internet or a computer...or even know how to use a computer. The library offers free internet access, computer classes, free WiFi, after school programs, literacy, and wait a minute...books! Oh yeah, maybe you haven't heard that there is a high percentage of unemployment in Los Angeles. They are welcome to come to the library and look for jobs!

Librarians make more money than police? when did that happen? Isn't it the police who are able to and are more than willing to work plenty of overtime? yes that's right. Librarians work their 8 hour day there is no overtime. The Mayor has already laid off librarians and library staff and given leftovers work furloughs (that's work with no pay Steve).

So, why don't you do some research before you make your ignornant pathetic attempt at knocking down an institution actually been beneficial to our city.

And if the cops are worried about "public safety..." I hope they are prepared for mobs of angry teens - more street gangs - more unemployed Angelinos - and more homeless on the streets of LA. Good Luck Steve - If the Measure doesn't go through - you won't be able to leave your house. Unless, you get a volunteer to escort you.

[solidarity]

Just cannot help but comment on the Police Union opposing library measure L... Yesterday, around Pershing Square Farmers market, there were two brand new SEGWAYS recently acquired by LAPD. What's the use from segways??? can they chase anybody while on a ssegway? sure, not... The policemen were cruising around like kids who just got a new toy and they were happy to show people how it operates, etc. LAPD found money for this while library cannot afford p-slips and the proverbial golf pencils... and now this "solidarity" from the Police Union... sad times...

[Oleg K.]

"People still need the library with the internet around? "

I've answered this ridiculous charge so often I'm just going to copy straight from my blog:

"Obviously, whoever says this knows very little about the information landscape. Other than when it comes to ready reference (quick questions like birth dates, simple how-to, directory info, basic research info), the internet (or more accurately, the World Wide Web) is hit-or-miss. Anybody who does any real research knows that search engines only skim the surface of the internet. The true depth of information is available in the deep web (Google it) which is provided in a limited capacity to regular people by, yes, you guessed it, subscriptions through libraries, and an information professional’s knowledge.

A simple example of what I mean is finding scholarly criticism on the classic novel Winesburg, Ohio by Sherwood Anderson. The Wikipedia entry for this fairly important book is sorely lacking, and the rest of the web does not do much better. Sorry, folks, but when your kids need to do the research, they’ll be out of luck. "

Other things that can't be found on the web:
- A history of haiku in Russia.
- Most of the lyrics/texts of Last Poets work.
- The full text of most copyrighted books.
- My phone number.
- Anything that won't bring in a whole lot of revenue or an enthusiast didn't put up. That leaves A LOT of gaps as any librarian could tell you.