Though flawed, I’m happy the New York Times decided to do an article on our library takeover/privatization matter. Aside from blowing up the City’s notion that our libraries were in imminent threat of collapse (“Cracks are forming people!” screamed Marsha McLean), the article talked more about LSSI, the company we’ve hired to take over our three libraries starting July 1, 2011.
For instance, we got a nice character profile of Frank Pezzanite, the CEO of LSSI who -apologies in advance, there’s no way to put this nicely- comes off as a real asshole in the article. Here’s what the guy the City of Santa Clarita has chosen to entrust with our public goods had to say about library workers:
“A lot of libraries are atrocious,” Mr. Pezzanite said. “Their policies are all about job security. That’s why the profession is nervous about us. You can go to a library for 35 years and never have to do anything and then have your retirement. We’re not running our company that way. You come to us, you’re going to have to work.”
Does anyone in the SCV who has visited a library think our librarians our lazy and shiftless? Whenever I step into the Valencia library, I see staff extremely busy, checking items in and out, helping patrons find materials, escorting and teaching children about libraries and such, and being friendly and helpful.
Are they well-paid? Do they have nice pensions? Sure. But that doesn’t bother me. In fact, I want more jobs like that right here in the SCV and the City says it does too, but the lazy government worker meme is apparently Mr. Pezzanite’s main selling point when he swoops into communities and sells gullible local governments on the miracles of privatization.
I wish the New York Times had described in more detail how much our librarians are paid now and how much the LSSI workers who will run our libraries next year will be paid. Alas, they didn’t go there.
But maybe they didn’t have to. Paying the workers less is kind of the point, it’s the reason for the whole deal. An NY Times commenter on the story brings up a great point:
So to be clear, this privatization scheme is about one thing and one thing only: steal the salaries and pensions of public employees and turn them into private profits.
Pretty much. When the Council carefully debated this issue, considering options and asking many in-depth questions bulldozed their way to a decision back in August (Bob Kellar excepted), they were careful to emphasize that the library takeover was not about the employees, who we all love and respect. Laurene Weste in particular said “We all love our librarians. This isn’t about them.”
Right. We love them so much that by July 1, 2011, we’re going to make them apply to get their old jobs back working for a guy who thinks a priori that they’re lazy and shiftless. That’s how we do it in the SCV, the land of library lovers.
Quick show of hands: who wants to line up and give free volunteer hours to Frank Pezzanite’s for-profit SCV Library system?
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