Opinion: Rethink Closing the Libraries
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When I had to move from Essex County a year ago to be near family I searched out a house I could stay in until I got old.
It had to be within walking distance of a NYC bus, a milk store and a library. After 7 months of looking I found it here in Middletown, 0.6 miles from the Navesink Library.
Imagine my horror when after I settled in and started paying attention I read in November that maybe the library would be closed!
After the holidays I went down to offer to volunteer and found out it was all over. The library was closing the end of January. I looked up the minutes of the Board of Trustees and found it was business as usually until November when there was a good amount of discussion about the pros and cons of shutting down libraries.
In 60 days from what seems to me to be preliminary discussions to a public statement that a decision has been formalized… in only 60 days.
Less than 2 years ago there was a $1.1 million dollar surplus in the library budget and now it is all gone. About half of that was given to the municipal budget along with reassurance form the mayor that this would not cause the library to close.
And yet that is what is happening.
When you say, “I am from Bayshore” or ‘I live in Navesink” it means something to you. According to urban design theory, it means that you have memories, present circumstances and future purposes that revolve around the places where you live. It is your personal geography.
Common places that are touchstones for personal geography are landmarks and sacred spaces. People use these special and unique spots to orient themselves, identify a place, for activities, and generally give meaning to their lives.
When a place is part of a common experience, like a library, then you have what is called a social space. It is created unselfconsciously and defined by society for a functional reason. It helps give you identity and connection to community. It helps define a community’s future.
I believe more discussion on the options possible with the limited funds available ought to take place before any final decisions are made about leaving empty public buildings as the future of Middletown.
Belford Bob
6:54 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Moved here a year ago and now an expert.
Joe
7:37 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Exactly. She's here a year and magically knows the condition of the library two years ago. What she needs is a real history lesson. Ok, here goes. The reason these branches are closing is because of the insane spending practices of the library in the past. They gave their workers 6% raises three years in a row, go on expensive trips, rreimburse employees for meals - all the while sticking the town for their pension costs. Finally, the library board has people who are putting a stop to this.
So before you start preaching, you may want to consider knowing what you are talking about first.
JasperRam
9:48 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Joe
I was the principal of Navesink School for many years
I don't know if your statements are accurate or not; however, the solution would seem to rest with fixing the abuses and allowing the libraries continue to serve the community.
You seem angry and abusive. The fact is Middletown is large and the main branch is out of range for many of our children. The 'history' I know of Navesink Library is that it was an incredibly valuable component of our community. I watched it function as a valuable instrument in developing children's literacy for many years.
Mark Calendar
9:54 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
It is an anachronism. Kindle. Get one.
Joe
11:09 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Quite true - it's a matter of public record. It appears that the current library board is trying to fix the abuses, but the years of such recklessness has taken a toll and the satellite branches are the casualties. I'll never get over giving the workers a 6% raise. And overtime for working on Sundays.
Lisa
5:04 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I've lived in Navesink for 46 years. I grew up using that library and so did many of my friends and neighbors. My daughter and her friends have used it too over the years. JasperRam is correct in noting that the main branch is out of range for many of our children. It is really a sin that the last year the board voted to give money to the township because they had a surplus of monies and now they are trying to shut down a vital resource to our small community.(I'm guessing a few board members have changed since last year). They had promised that this wouldn't happen. It's a disgrace! Lisa
07748
10:07 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Yes, what Middletown once was has been eroding over the last several years. We are experiencing becoming just another dot on a map, not a place where people want to move to. It is not the current financial state that has caused this. Rather, a single minded township committee not willing to listen to the residents. They spend money on needless projects, ie. swim club, now defunct, $12 million for an art center on contaminated ground and a money pit to run, they buy a marina that has yet to open after several years and has its own environmental issues. So to foot the bill for their many financial blunders they raid the library's coffers. The one institution that is to be above politics.
A school system with an out of control BOE, $2 million for astroturf fields, fires a principal because one BOE member was mad at him, hire new superintendents every few years, shuffles principals around, eliminate several forgein language classes, lays off many teachers, increases class sizes and offers less opportunities for the students than they did 15 years ago. The list goes on but as long as a committee is in place that has promised transparency but never delivered on that promise, the back room deal making will continue. Their cronies will get their no bid contracts and we will foot the bill.
Is it true our town committee missed out on $12 million in FEMA money for super storm Sandy cleanup? Some how I would not be surprised.
ASimon
10:25 pm on Tuesday, January 15, 2013
Well said 07748. The real history of Middletown over the past decade by someone who actually lives here.
Tom
7:09 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I thought the Library was the Only institution in the black a couple of years ago. So the township raided the Library's piggy bank. And all of a sudden, the library needs substantial cuts. Somehow, I don't imagine it was the 6% raises. After all, 6% of nothing is still nothing.
As far as the committee, how did they get there? Was it magic? Was it the wind? No, you voted for them. You keep voting the same, you'll get the same results.
jerseyswamps
10:37 am on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
I remember when the only library was a house on Kings Hwy. near the train station. It worked well. Residents should be thrilled with the very modern and large facility on New Monmouth Rd.
Polly Graf
2:17 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
"fires a principal because one BOE member was mad at him"
You have no idea what you are talking about, that never happened..
"hire new superintendents every few years"
Hello. The superintendents keep leaving because they can't work with our BOE,
JasperRam
6:12 pm on Wednesday, January 16, 2013
Just find a way of keeping these libraries especially those near the Title I schools like Navesink and Port Monmouth. The children of our town and their families use them and need them.
When the town was such that kids were able to walk on our streets for a mile or so - long time ago - one library may have been enough.
Pilgrim
10:08 pm on Wednesday, February 6, 2013
Joe, or is it Gerry, care to comment on theTOMSA pension and healthcare that Pat Parkinson (former Township Committee person and Executive Director of TOMSA) is enjoying in his retirement in North Carolina and the healthcare that Tom Stokes, TOMSA alternate, is enjoying in Florida six months of the year and the pension he will enjoy when he retires and pension and healthcare that Joan Smith former Township Committee person is also enjoying, with all of this is being paid for with Middletown taxpayer dollars.
There is far more evidence available to support that it is the financial mismanagement of the Township Committee that is accountable for the present financial condition of the Middletown Library: cell tower lease sales, the gross costs of building and maintaining the Middletown Arts Center; poorly planned property revaluations; underserved five figure bonus to the tax assessor; years of emergency appropriations (millions of dollars) for health care; engineering studies conducted by T&M Engineering for Shadow Lake dredging and turf fields; the original purchase of the Swim Club (with the very recent $1,000,000 appropriation for this asset that the Township no longer owns); the Conifer Project along with the recreation fields that Middletown taxpayers are paying for that will belong to Atlantic Highlands; years of bonding/debt service. This great recession brought all of this to light and and forced the Committee to take surplus and more from the Library budget.