Mayor saves sacred cows

• Reprints

Updated: May 9, 2012 10:12AM

Mayor Rahm Emanuel is proving not to be such a hard-nose after all.

Last Saturday, the mayor backed away from an earlier decision that closed branch libraries all day on Mondays.

Although the library stalemate was always about union jobs, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME) did a good job of making this an issue about the city denying its citizens access to knowledge.

Henry Bayer, executive director of AFSCME Council 31, stayed on the offensive, accusing the mayor of not making libraries “a big priority.” Bayer even suggested that Emanuel should go with hat in hand to corporate donors to get the $3 million needed to keep libraries open on Mondays.

For his part, Emanuel has accused the union of using libraries as a “bargaining chip” in an effort to restore budget cuts in other areas.

Apparently, what the mayor didn’t realize is that libraries are right up there with schools and churches.

Every neighborhood wants its own branch library even if that library is nothing more than a renovated storefront.

That is why libraries are being constructed even as the city scrambles to find new ways to pry money out of us and why aldermanic hackles were raised over the plan to shutter branch libraries all day on Mondays.

Never mind that few public facilities are open six days a week or that library workers often complain that patrons expect them to act like babysitters.

The story quickly changed when union jobs were at stake.

Then, branch libraries became a safe haven for kids, a place where students could get help with their homework and a valuable resource for job seekers.

For instance, Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) pointed out that “students from schools with ‘closet libraries’... descend on branch libraries to use computers, to get help with homework and to stay off dangerous city streets.”

But should the branch library really be a substitute for a decent school library? And should a librarian be an extension of a teacher or parent when it comes to homework and school projects?

Moreover, when did libraries become responsible for helping job seekers spruce up a resume or write a cover letter?

At the height of the debate, one librarian told City Hall Reporter Fran Spielman that on a Saturday she “helped three people search for jobs.”

“If there wasn’t anyone else working, I don’t know that I would have been able to access where those jobs are, fix their resumes and write their cover letters,” Sara Holtkamp said.

Also, while I understand why some homeless people spend hours in the library reading, should the branch library really be a daytime homeless shelter?

Obviously, no one wants to lose a job, but if Chicago is to get its financial house in order, the mayor will have to make the tough decisions and stick with them.

After months of public wrangling, the mayor was forced to take the libraries off the table. Under his new proposal, branch libraries will be open on Monday afternoon through Saturday.

The union leadership could portray this turn of events as the mayor coming around because some of the Monday afternoon staffers will be rehired union members.

Because the mayor is committed to keeping branch libraries open 48 hours during the 16 weeks that kids are out of school, and 44 hours when kids are in school, this is a good outcome.

But this solution will cost him. In restoring $2 million of the proposed $3 million budget cuts that affected libraries, the money will have to come from elsewhere.

Unfortunately, the union battles aren’t over.

It is too bad that these negotiations can’t be more honest.

After all, there was never a likelihood that the branch libraries would be decimated, causing children across the city to suffer.

Alarmist rhetoric won’t help to solve the city’s budget woes.