Our City, Our Budget: an update on the struggle to save Philly libraries and all city services

by Paul Walker

When Mayor Nutter organized the Town Hall Meetings in December of last year, the last thing he had on his mind was transparency in government, let alone input into the budgeting process. What he was really doing was laying it out plain to the people of Philadelphia: buck up, you lose. Boy did he get an earful. I’ll never forget the look on his face as hundreds of residents of Southwest Philly lined up to take a turn at the mic, letting him know just how pissed they were, while the crowds in the seats taunted and cajoled the Mayor, Library Director Siobhan Reardon and the panel of cronies they had brought along with them.

Children stood with their mothers and told the Mayor why they simply couldn’t afford to lose the libraries, rec centers and fire engines. One after the other they held the facts up in his face: cuts to public services would mean more illiteracy, more gun violence, more incarceration. The Mayor just shrugged. Another message that was repeated over and over was that  nobody had been talked to – there had been no input.

Around this time, the Coalition to Save the Libraries formed, showing its strength at the court injunction which ultimately stopped Nutter from carrying out his planned closure of 11 neighborhood branch libraries. Other victories followed. We thwarted library director Siobhan Reardon’s attempt to wreak havoc on the library system by increasing staffing requirements during the unfolding crisis. Then we brought it home to a cozy Love Your Library Valentine’s Day Event at 7 of the 11 branches, showing the powers that be what we need our libraries for: education, community and empowerment.

The Penn Project for Civic Engagement’s budget meetings were the Mayor’s answer to an overwhelming cry for accountability and input into the budget process. Four meetings held in opposite corners of the city (no meetings were held in Kensington, Frankford, Fishtown, North Philly, or Southwest Philly, to name a few neighborhoods deeply affected by proposed budget cuts) drew nearly 500 people each to come out and participate.

The Coalition for Essential Services formed in response to these proposed  Budget Meetings and the need to break out of the “eat your young” model that would leave us all fighting for scraps, and choose instead to rely on solidarity and mutual self-interest to bring us together and develop some real power. It was a perfect moment for a coalition to form, and in the wake of a victorious (though unfinished!) library struggle, there was the momentum to pull it off.  The Essential Services Coalition, initially made up of Neighborhood Networks and The Coalition to Save the Libraries put forward a bare bones platform: no cuts to essential city services: find the money. The firefighters, working up their own protest movement, signed on, as well as the City’s white collar union and as the February meetings progressed and as people got to talking it started to snowball: Casino Free Philly, ACORN, Justice for Janitors, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, Philadelphia Student Union, Acorn and numerous other community organizations.

More than an exercise in democracy, the meetings were an exercise in bureaucracy. People were given a worksheet with options of cuts and revenue options. Each choice was given a point value, approximately $2 million per point so that if your group, through scuttling services and raising taxes, reached 100 points you had (supposedly) balanced the budget. The meetings were divided into groups of 15 to 20 people who were thus tasked.   
Instead of working within these stark confines, we put together a flier which proposed holding corporations accountable to the city: ending the tax abatements, instituting Pilot Programs (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) so tax-exempt companies like Verizon or UPenn would be forced to make cash payments to the city to offset the services they use. We proposed raising the wage tax with a rebate for low income workers and closing a corporate tax loophole which has earned PA the monicker of “the sucker state”.
We hit it hard with the fliers and were vocal in our breakout groups, putting these options on the table, often with equally militant resistance from the moderators. At each of the three meetings I attended, my experiences differed. At the first meeting, the whole group (with the exception of two who decided to leave for another group) consensed to make no cuts and decided instead to only discuss revenue options. In the second group I was a voice in the wilderness, aggressively silenced once the moderators figured me out. The third group only managed to cut the streets department (a bad idea, I think – ever heard of the bubonic plague?) and administrative expenses, while protecting police, fire, libraries, recreation, and more.

I think that the meetings had a variety of purposes. One, to conduct an extensive survey of some of the more vocal segments of Philly as to what cuts and taxes would be palatable. Two, to provide cover for any such action and three, to provide the appearance of public involvement. What was amazing to me, much like the rest of the Library Coalition movement, was watching the dialogue shift from the opening meeting to the final one. What happened, is that we won. It was a limited victory, but aren’t they all?

I felt a slight sense of awe as I sat in that last church auditorium while the moderator held up the flyer we had spent the last weeks handing out in the thousands, and addressed a panel of policy makers. “What about tax abatements?” “What about the PiLoT program?” “Do we really need to make cuts?” Those were the questions we had put on the table and they were being addressed to the people directly responsible for making the budget.

The future of this struggle is uncertain. As the library doors remain open and the Mayor backpedals under attack it seems as if the pressure has begun to diminish. The real fight is still ahead of us. The Mayor only committed to keep the libraries open until June when the budget is decided. On March 19th, as we go to press, the Mayor will present his budget to City Council, whose responsibility it is to finalize and sign the budget.

At this stage it is vital that we show City Council that our neighborhoods and our movements have teeth, that we can mobilize in our self-interest and that we can make things messy if they try and strip away vital services. To this end the Save the Libraries Coalition is working on holding a series of neighborhood meetings at Library branches at the end of April where community members can discuss the impact of potential cuts as well as alternatives and ways to mobilize to save our essential services and impact the city budget. 

The Library Coalition has open meetings most Saturdays. For more info, and to get involved contact save.11.libraries@gmail.com or call 1 866 962 7796

There are meetings happening citywide around many of the threatened services – keep your ear to the ground, stay involved or get involved! This is a great time to step up and fight for the future of our city!

Other folks fighting the cuts:

Neighborhood Networks: 215.568.4990
www.phillynn.org

Firefighters Local 22
www.savepfd.com