Friday, October 08, 2010

Help Save the Lower Mills Library! Part 2

As we had previously posted, the Trustees of the Boston Public Library are threatening to close the Lower Mills Branch. Where they should be finding ways to equally distribute the budget issues caused by the poor economy across the system, instead they are targeting a vibrant part of our community for closure. There will be an important public working session on Monday October 25 at 6:30 pm at the Lower Mills Branch (27 Richmond Street in Dorchester) and we encourage everyone to come and make their voice heard.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

it's not a hearing...it's suppose to be a working session where people come and actually do work - not just bitch about their branch closing. it will be what you make of it lower mills so don't waste it by refusing to participate.

Christopher Martell said...

Although we disagree with the implication that Lower Mills residents are merely complaining about the branch closing, we do agree it is important for all to attend these "sessions" and we have corrected the language from the original post.

For a description of this meeting, the following comes from the Boston Globe:

At the meetings for the four branches on the chopping block, library officials will include in the discussion details of the respective timelines of each branch’s closing, according to a library spokeswoman, as well as a review of how the decision to close each branch was made.

However, library president Amy Ryan said in an interview Friday that the focus of those four meetings will be to focus on determining which services each neighborhood values most and then developing "creative partnerships" to keep services - for example, a place for students to study and do homework after school - available in those communities.

The seven “strategic planning” meetings are designed to layout a system-wide framework, which could be adopted by year’s end, and remain in place for "at least the next few years," Ryan said. That framework will guide the nation’s oldest public library in such decision-making as work and service plans and fund-raising initiatives.