Blame It on the 'Burbs

Not a Pretty Picture Anymore

Link to July 30 JSOnline article, "City employees challenge nursing, library cuts at budget hearing".


Excerpt:
[Mayor Tom] Barrett said libraries have an important role in society. But he said the difficulty of budgeting was demonstrated by the furious suburban reaction to what he called a relatively minor change this year, when the Milwaukee library stopped letting patrons place most DVDs and CDs on hold for them to pick up at their neighborhood and suburban libraries.

“If we’re not able to make that change, how can we make any changes at a time when people are losing their jobs and gas prices are going through the roof?” Barrett asked.

As a result of a directive from City of Milwaukee budget officials to "trim spending", the 2009 library budget proposal would lead to the closing of four neighborhood branches.

Is there any irony here that the overall city budget for 2009 would cut back on tree pruning?