LibrarianActivist.org

With Toronto’s financial woes are continuing on unabated, and the provincial government merely using the opportunity for some pre-election politicking, Torontonians are taking matters into their own hands at a local level.

While citizen and lobby groups in Toronto are lobbying hard on both sides, LA is here to provide information on saving TPL and other essential community services from the chopping block.

A website has been launched by the city to provide more information on the proposed tax. Here are a few highlights from the fairtaxes.ca.

Every major city in the world has fair taxes that grow with the economy — except Toronto

For every dollar of taxes Torontonians pay (income, sales, property taxes and other taxes), only 6 cents goes to your municipal government

Toronto recently ranked fifth as the world’s most livable city (1)

The average Toronto household buys and sells a home once every 15 to 20 years (or five to seven per cent of the population at any given time) (2)

Toronto’s housing market is at an all time high, with record sales and homes selling in record time (3)

The City of Toronto has the lowest municipal property tax rates in the Greater Toronto Area (2)

Municipal property taxes provide 24-hour, 7-day services like police, fire, ambulance, road repair and parks as well as libraries, recreation programs, and community centres, at a cost of about $180 a month for the average Toronto household. (2) That same household may spend $200 a month for car insurance and $150 a month for phone, Internet and television services

Sources:
1. The Economist Magazine (August, 2007)
2. City of Toronto
3. Toronto Real Estate Board press release (August 17, 2007)

Just to recap, after Mayor Miller’s proposed land transfer and vehicle registration taxes were deferred for further consideration at the first vote, libraries were the first to be hit up for service cuts which went into effect this month. TPL has posted this on their website regarding the services cuts. The ‘high priority’ neighbourhoods will continue to open on Sundays .

These TPL cuts are just the tip of the iceberg compared to what may be coming, as community centres closed on Monday earlier this week. And let’s not forget about the smaller, less-likely-to-grab-a-headline players in the arts and culture communities. The Toronto Arts Coalition - a new organization whose mission is to raise the profile of the role and importance of the arts in Toronto - while not explicitly supporting the new taxes, is providing some advocacy tools to lobby the various levels of government to support the arts. Is it just me, or does is not make your life a bit easier when folks like this give you a helping hand with your advocacy tasks?

So what you can do:

If you’re in favour of supporting the new taxes at the October 22nd council vote, here’s who you want to drop an email to:

clerk AT toronto DOT ca

In the subject line write:
“Yes to land transfer tax. Please copy to Mayor and City Councillors (arts and libraries)”

cc’d to:
dmcguinty.mpp.co AT liberal.ola.org
hhampton-qp AT ndp.on.ca
john.tory AT pc.ola.org

Include a paragraph (such as this one) into the body of the email (or make up your own):

“Dear Mayor Miller and City Councillors:

My Toronto includes:

the arts
libraries
community centres
recreation programs
public health services
museums
and the TTC

To protect my city, I support the land transfer tax as an immediate solution to Toronto’s financial crisis.

your name
address
postal code

Even MORE quick and dirty is the email form provided through Miller’s recently launched website, fairtaxes.ca. There is still room for your comments, like how community services are the bread and butter of social inclusion and a liveable, vibrant, cosmopolitan city.

thanks, Siue Moffat for forwarding the draft email and arts links

-PC-

Thanks to the PLG listserv for this bit of news about library innovation in Venezuela.

Here’s an excerpt:

Diving for books

A break came when it was my turn to ride a mule. I enjoyed a great view of the valley but held on tight as Chiquito veered close to the edge.

Hot and slightly bothered after two hours, we reached Calembe, the first village on this path.

Anyone who was not out working the fields - tending the celery that is the main crop here - was waiting for our arrival. The 23 children at the little school were very excited.

“Bibilomu-u-u-u-las,” they shouted as the bags of books were unstrapped. They dived in eagerly, keen to grab the best titles and within minutes were being read to by Christina and Juana, two of the project leaders.

“Spreading the joy of reading is our main aim,” Christina Vieras told me.

“But it’s more than that. We’re helping educate people about other important things like the environment. All the children are planting trees. Anything to improve the quality of life and connect these communities.”

And the full story through BBC News.

-PC-

Mayor Miller’s recently defeated proposal for two new municiple taxes didn’t take long to fall onto Toronto Public Library.

Spacing Wire reposts a piece from Eye Magazine on the issue.

The cuts are deep. If this is on some level a device to call attention to a crisis in funding for public libraries (and Toronto in general), it’s a good one. First came a threat to close the most recently built TTC subway line. Now the library and the police have been ordered by the city trim the ‘fat’ (as in, essential services).

To be expected, there are a few comments in response to the Eye article that suggest that the library needs to generate its own revenue. Fortunately user fees got shouted down - Adam Chaleff-Freudenthaler quickly pointed out that they are “forbidden under section 23(1) of Ontario’s Public Libraries Act, 1990.” He also posted the reference to the Act.

Highlights as reported by Eye Weekly:

• a hiring freeze, which will affect staffing of service desks, program delivery, training sessions and branch closures. For example, the planned re-opening of the Jane-Dundas branch (which received 11,500 visitors a month) won’t happen until 2008 now.

• the elimination of Sunday service in all libraries, excluding those in priority neighbourhoods.

• a $330,000 cut to the library materials budget (which is equivalent to the entire adult book budget for 12 branches, or the entire children’s book budget for 25 branches).

TPL is the second most used public library system in the world, second only to Hong Kong. One of the Eye comments pointed out that TPL is one of Toronto’s unadulterated successes. In the midst of T.O.’s ongoing fumbling of such issues as waterfront development and unabashed condo development in the absence of affordable housing, the library deserves to shine as a pillar of this community.

If the province doesn’t pony up with some funding, this will mark a major blow to community services for the entire GTA.

****** Addendum. July 26.07

Now magazine reacts to the public service cuts in this column, comments on politicking with the province. All complete with Shakespearean references and a nod to Oscar Wilde.

At Quillblog, it’s mentioned that the municipality of Ottawa is also having budget problems.

****** Addendum #2. July 31.07

I’d hate for the folks in Calgary to think we’re neglecting them when we’re talking about municiple funding shortages. This Toronto Star article
outlines a similar battle by Calgary’s mayor from the province of Alberta. (Where the heritage fund is reportedly $16.6 billion).

Call me nostalgic, but does anyone remember the New Deal for Cities?

-PC-

The worldwide series of concerts known as Live Earth have started today in Australia and Japan and will be moving around the world for the next 24 hours.

Although not directly related to Live Earth, there are a couple relevant sites you might want to check out:

• Earth Charter is “a declaration of fundamental principles for building a just, sustainable, and peaceful global society for the 21st century. Created by the largest global consultation process ever associated with an international declaration, endorsed by thousands of organizations representing millions of individuals, the Earth Charter seeks to inspire in all peoples a sense of global interdependence and shared responsibility for the well-being of the human family and the larger living world. The Earth Charter is an expression of hope and a call to help create a global partnership at a critical juncture in history. ”
• The Earth Portal is “a comprehensive resource for timely, objective, science-based information about the environment. It is a means for the global scientific community to come together to produce the first free, expert-driven, massively scaleable information resource on the environment, and to engage civil society in a public dialogue on the role of environmental issues in human affairs. It contains no commercial advertising and reaches a large global audience.”
• And as always, there are pledges to be found - the good folks at Avaaz have one which they’re trying to get 50 000 signatures on (27 055 at this point).

- JH

As Mr. Kleinman noted in this comment to the LAblog, spirited debate is a good thing. Agreed.

Misrepresenting information, however, does not in the least contribute to spirited debate.

The discussion and information posted to this blog concerning Internet filtering at the London Public Library has been in reference to Internet filtering at adult terminals only.

Mr. Kleinman makes reference to a recent ACLU case, ACLU vs. Gonzales. This case refers to the ACLU’s fight to replace a draconian censorship law with Internet Filtering as a means to protect children from inappropriate online content. The purpose of this lawsuit was to protect content producers (such as artists, online dating websites, etc.) from unfair criminal prosecution.

If this blog’s readers are interested in the ACLU’s position on Internet filtering in public libraries for adults, this would be the case that is actually relevant to the issue. As you can see, the ACLU supports the right of the (adult) public to access information freely through the internet in a public library setting, as do we (in case you didn’t already catch that … ).

-PC-