Mayoral Candidates Speak Out on Library Plans

The two men running for the Pittsburgh Mayor’s office as independents have come out against the Pittsburgh public library closures announced Tuesday. The Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh says it will close five of its 19 branches next year to cover a projected $1.2 million budget deficit. Much of the blame was laid at the feet of the city, which gives the library system $40-thousand a year. The mayor’s response was to note how much money the library gets from the Regional Asset District tax and to call for an audit of the library’s spending. Candidate Kevin Acklin says it is “unconscionable that the city spends the minimum set out by Andrew Carnegie” more than 100 years ago. Acklin says his budget proposal calls for 1-million dollars for the libraries over the next 4 years. He says he was shocked to learn that the city spends more on dog food than it does on libraries. He says the libraries have become de-facto community centers. He says many neighborhoods have seen their senior centers and pools close. Acklin says, “If you go into these libraries on any given day you will see seniors writing emails to their grandchildren and kids doing their homework.” “These libraries are not just book depositories… In many instances they’re anchors in struggling business districts,” says Acklin.
The other independent candidate, Franco Dok Harris, says this is not about books, it is about giving people a place to go. He says he was teaching a class at Westinghouse today and a student asked him where she is supposed to go other than the street corner if the library closes. Harris says, “The city should have been partnering with the library system all along to ensure that residents…. don’t have to take two to three buses just to get to a computer to write a resume.” Harris says he would like to have seen the mayor respond by saying he would fill the void by using abandon and blighted properties as community centers. Harris says he would make that a priority in his administration and he feels it would not break the city’s budget.