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Library Closings Back on the Table in OaklandA proposal to close seven of Oakland, California’s, 15 library branches, rejected by the city council in February, is once again under consideration. City Manager Robert Bobb included the cuts on a preliminary list of measures under consideration to close the city’s $46.5-million budget gap. The plan would close one branch in each council district and reduce hours at the remaining branches, the Oakland Tribune reported April 17. “We are just outraged,” Tracey Scott, chair of the Library Advisory Commission, told the newspaper. “We can’t cut the library budget anymore. We heard loudly last time that it’s not acceptable. We are passed bare bones already—we are about to be crippled.” Libraries are by no means singled out in the proposed cuts: The list also includes closing fire stations and recreation centers, freezing police positions despite a rising crime rate, and eliminating as many as 350 jobs, the San Francisco Chronicle reported April 17. One proposal would close all city buildings, including libraries, for up to two days a month or during the Christmas holidays. Posted April 21, 2003. |
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