4 ms·

I guess on the one hand many libraries are underfunded by the state. Having private money come in to give them new life and make them a place people want to be,

I guess on the one hand many libraries are underfunded by the state. Having private money come in to give them new life and make them a place people want to be, giving adults a place to learn/hang out, could be really great. On the other hand, private money means that access will inevitably become inequitable. Hopefully we can find a way to strike a good balance - I think giving people a forum to spend time learning/talking to others about what they've learned is about as good of an idea as they come!

acdha 5y ago
The right way to get private money is to restore tax rates to sustainable levels, rolling back decades of cuts justified on debunked trickle-down economics theories. Public service has inherently different goals than a for-profit company and trying to pair the two almost always ends up costing more for worse service.
- lambic 5y ago
  Exactly this. The libraries in my city are fantastic well-maintained places, but we pay fairly high (compared to the US at least) taxes for that privilege.
  - acdha 5y ago
    The sad thing is that we don’t really pay that much less in taxes once you factor in the cost of equivalent private healthcare. The top incomes are higher but, for example, a Danish friend noted that once you add up all levels of taxes & healthcare it’s within a percentage points of Denmark, but with lower quality of service due to all of the baked-in inefficiencies.
- deleted 5y ago
  [deleted]
- jmeister 5y ago
  To play the devil’s advocate: there is no competitive market pressure to keep such public entities efficient. What if these libraries really are run horribly, by unaccountable, unfireable people? From the article: >Yeah, so the company goes in and says, look, your library is one of the things that’s sapping all of this money from your budget, and we can fix that for you. And we can increase your services. And then, of course, that is partially true, in terms of this company has a record of going into a public library, taking over management of it, and reducing the amount of money that the county has to spend, or the city has to spend. But all of that is on the backs of workers. I do not know what the solution is. Money cannot be the only issue(e.g. the private entities are usually forced to agree to guarantee certain employee pay levels and benefits before taking over). People point to California, and SF in particular, and ask, where the hell is all the tax revenue going? Progressives like Ezra Klein have accepted the problem, and are thinking about solutions: “California Is Making Liberals Squirm If progressivism can’t work there, why should the country believe it can work anywhere else?” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/opinion/california-san-francisco-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/opinion/california-san-fr... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/opinion/supply-side-progressivism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/opinion/supply-side-progr...
s1artibartfast 5y ago
There is. No private money. They are contracting services.

acdha 5y ago

The right way to get private money is to restore tax rates to sustainable levels, rolling back decades of cuts justified on debunked trickle-down economics theories. Public service has inherently different goals than a for-profit company and trying to pair the two almost always ends up costing more for worse service.

lambic 5y ago
Exactly this. The libraries in my city are fantastic well-maintained places, but we pay fairly high (compared to the US at least) taxes for that privilege.
- acdha 5y ago
  The sad thing is that we don’t really pay that much less in taxes once you factor in the cost of equivalent private healthcare. The top incomes are higher but, for example, a Danish friend noted that once you add up all levels of taxes & healthcare it’s within a percentage points of Denmark, but with lower quality of service due to all of the baked-in inefficiencies.
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
jmeister 5y ago
To play the devil’s advocate: there is no competitive market pressure to keep such public entities efficient. What if these libraries really are run horribly, by unaccountable, unfireable people? From the article: >Yeah, so the company goes in and says, look, your library is one of the things that’s sapping all of this money from your budget, and we can fix that for you. And we can increase your services. And then, of course, that is partially true, in terms of this company has a record of going into a public library, taking over management of it, and reducing the amount of money that the county has to spend, or the city has to spend. But all of that is on the backs of workers. I do not know what the solution is. Money cannot be the only issue(e.g. the private entities are usually forced to agree to guarantee certain employee pay levels and benefits before taking over). People point to California, and SF in particular, and ask, where the hell is all the tax revenue going? Progressives like Ezra Klein have accepted the problem, and are thinking about solutions: “California Is Making Liberals Squirm If progressivism can’t work there, why should the country believe it can work anywhere else?” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/opinion/california-san-francisco-schools.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/02/11/opinion/california-san-fr... https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/opinion/supply-side-progressivism.html https://www.nytimes.com/2021/09/19/opinion/supply-side-progr...

s1artibartfast 5y ago

There is. No private money. They are contracting services.