----- Original Message ----- From: Wojtek Sokolowski To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org Sent: Thursday, December 30, 2004 8:24 AM Subject: RE: [lbo-talk] Salinas (Calif) to Close Libraries 'Indefinitely'
Salinas to close public libraries "indefinitely" after New Year
WS: It is very sad, indeed, but reflects a popular trend. Fewer and fewer people, especially young, read books or - for that matter - are capable of communicating in writing. Reading is very uncool and can subject the perpetrator to a serious loss of popularity among his/her peers. Written communication becomes scarcer, as more and more people communicate in pictograms, monosyllables and grunts (cf. instant messaging).
However, even more disturbing is that distinction between literati and illiterate coincides with those between social classes. The upper class kids go to elite schools and participate in a whole gamut of extracurricular activities designed to enhance their intellectual potential while the lower class kids go to schools that teach them mainly how to put marks on standardized tests (no writing or reasoning skills required - just picking the right item from a short list supplied by authority figures), and otherwise immersed themselves in a pictorial monosyllabic "culcha" where anything "educational" is extremely uncool.
It looks like this country is going back to the middle ages, where the skills of reading, writing and reasoning were confined to a small elite, while the illiterate masses were told all they needed to know in pictures displayed in churches.
Wojtek
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According to every reading I've done on this story, the funding is being reduced to the point where the Salinas public library is refusing to operate at funding levels below those which are already allocated. Citing safety amongst other concerns, they are shuttering the facilities, and laying off the pages and staff. (but not managers?)
But it seems that they *could* remain physically open.
(For what it's worth, I think they will... if the insurance is covered.)
The Salinas public library is PR slamming the government.
A similar situation happened with Salinas's Yellow Cab a few years back.
The government wanted Salinas Yellow Cab to keep track of their drivers like they were employees... w-2s, 4s and all. Bad for the company... worse still for the independent drivers.
The company told the state that the cost of operation would put them out of biz. The state wasn't compromising.
On the day the law went into effect, Salinas Yellow Cab took the "phone off the hook", and all the calls from LiftLine and other customers and government entities went unanswered.
LiftLine was calling my company's office in Watsonville for cars but really... we were busy right then (cf. Camarillo Brillo - Zappa).
They tried Monterey... Santa Cruz... Sooory too busy. (cf. ibid)
By that afternoon, the state had backed off, and the company resumed operation with the drivers as owner-ops, instead of taxed employees (or independent contractor).
Whether this type of (strongarm) strategy will work for Salinas's public library system remains to be seen.... I'm skeptical.
L
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