The sword is mightier than the pen
Mayor Emanuel cuts library staff and drives out the system's biggest advocate
By Ben Joravsky @joravben
Here's how old I am—I actually remember when Mary Dempsey took over as commissioner of Chicago's library system.
That was in 1994, when then-mayor Richard Daley picked the librarian/corporate lawyer/wife of legendary personal injury attorney Phil Corboy for the gig.
Corboy, as it happened, was also a good buddy of Daley's. Something tells me the connection didn't hurt Dempsey's chances of getting the job.
Let's take a time out to extol Phil Corboy. Pound for pound, he's the best personal injury lawyer I've seen. One time I saw him convince a jury to make an airline pay thousands and thousands of dollars in damages to a judge because the judge was bumped from a flight he planned to take to Kentucky to watch his prized mare give birth.
Or maybe get inseminated. You know, my memory's not what it used to be.
Hey, hold on—this is supposed to be an article about the wife, not the husband.
So as I was saying, when Dempsey got the gig I wrote an article called "Checking out the new library boss." It came out February 3, 1994, when half the people who are now reading, editing, or tweeting this article were still watching Sesame Street.
Give Dempsey credit—she came in swinging. She issued declarations like: "I'm willing to do what it takes to build a world-class library system." And: "I will fight for more staff." And: "I don't think corporate leaders have been as vocal as they could have been when we faced cuts." And: "Volunteers are great, but you cannot depend on them to operate a system."
I won't lie to you—over the years I had my share of run-ins with Dempsey over her often heavy-handed attempts at centralizing the system.
But I'll say this—she loved building libraries and promoting books.
As did her mentor, Mayor Daley. Together they built 44 new neighborhood branches and instituted the One Book, One Chicago program, which actually encouraged people to read real books, as opposed to tweeting their thoughts of the day.
Dempsey had so much clout, I'd never thought she'd leave the way she did—basically shoved out the door by Mayor Rahm Emanuel, who seems to be much more of a Twitter kind of guy.
In his first budget, Emanuel proposed to cut the already woefully understaffed library system by 363 positions.
Dempsey let it be known in terse comments at October's budget hearings that she was not happy with those cuts.
The mayor backed off and restored 251 of the jobs. This prompted his aldermanic flunkies to fall to their knees and thank him for funding the libraries even though the libraries actually had dozens fewer employees than they did before.
Obviously, Emanuel wasn't pleased with the whole concept of dissent, even from the well-connected wife of one of the city's great personal injury lawyers.
Wait a second—I just remembered something about lawyers. As brilliant as Corboy is, I think he may actually be the second-greatest trial lawyer I've ever seen. Shout out to the late Eugene Pincham, one of the finest courtroom orators of my lifetime.
Anyway, it was only a matter of time before the inevitable occurred. On January 25, Mayor Emanuel announced that Dempsey was stepping down to be replaced by a 37-year-old librarian out of San Francisco named Brian Bannon.
Comments (13)
Showing 1-13 of 13
Thank you Ben for covering this issue. I am disgusted to see that public workers are losing their positions for lack of funding while the city takes public funds and invests in private companies, particularly Experimur, a vivisection company.
Joseph T. Espinosa, BS, MSW, LCSW
like
dislikeThanks Ben for covering this issue. I am disgusted to see public workers losing their positions for lack of funding while the city invests public money in private companies, especially Experimur, a vivisection company.
Joseph T. Espinosa, BS, BS, MSW, LCSW
Not a great idea to antagonize a connected first rate local trial lawyer. What if someone files a Freedom of Information Act request for all the documents about the preachers bribing homeless people to shill for school closings, including emails between CPS and Mayors Office. A good lawyer could clean their clocks with that one.
Thx Ben (Mr. Joravsky?) I was one of those $11 an hour guys who got laid off. Twice! Once by Daley in 2009 and again in 2011. We all (pages) were only allowed part time hours, no benefits and I netted about $700 a month. (WHOOAA!)
I didn't get called back but wouldn't be able to go anyway, (not that I would want to after being completely devalued and used as a pawn in a political game) I'm in too much debt from doing my part time library service, waiting for them to reopen better library positions. Unfortunately this is one bibliophile CPL has lost for good.
One correction and one addition: Under Mary Dempsey's tenure, Chicago didn't add 44 "new neighborhood branches." It built -- "or renovated" -- that many branch library BUILDINGS. True, they are newer, bigger buildings, with meeting rooms and computers. But the number of actual neighborhood branch libraries is approximately the same as it was 18 or 20 years ago, while the number of staff working in them to help people has FALLEN by MORE THAN HALF. Also, in this otherwise fine article, Mr. Joravsky omitted to mention that the library does not receive all of the money collected for it through its own separate property tax line (just like the schools and the parks). Why? TIFs, of course, plus the strange fact that the library, even though it has its own tax base and its own board, operates as a city department and intertwines its finances with that of the City of Chicago. Just a portion of this TIF money would be more than enough to restore this year's library staff cuts.
"It's all part of the larger philosophy, shared by Daley and Emanuel, that money paid to bond lawyers, developers, and construction trade guys to build things like libraries is prudent economic investment, while money paid to employ people to work in libraries is waste."
You hit it on the head right there. Everyone loves their spanking new neighborhood branch but they don't seem to grasp that it is kept afloat by (*boo! hiss!*) unionized government workers.
Nice article but just one thing. Before you judge Bannon just because of his age and who hired him, why not give him a chance. See what he can do. If you ask those in the library world's who's who, Bannon is extremely talented. Rumor has it Mary gave the mayor a list of possible successors...as I said, a rumor but one that I hope is the case. Mary was a great commissioner and library advocate but no one can deny that CPL is way behind other library systems in terms of technology. Not her fault really. Large system that was a complete mess prior to her arrival. She did was she came in to do...now let's give the new guy a chance. As a CPL employee I am sad to see Mary go but somewhat excited to see what Bannon may bring.
I don't like what the mayor has done anymore than you but goodness, enough with the doom and gloom.
"You never, ever say anything bad about the boss in public, even when the mayor's leading the city over the cliff."
Ha-ha! Rich!
seems like Rahm is tacking to the right to posture for a 2016 national campaign. Makes sense for an urban ballerina/friend of Barack. Now he can say he slashed wasteful libraries, abolished the job-killing City Dept of Environment, and shut down traitorous protesters getting in the way of his photo-op with Merkel and Sarkozy. . .
Ben, please check out the Marion County Library in Indianapolis. There patrons check out books themselves using terminals with bar code scanners. The libraries in Dublin and Columbus, Ohio and Novi, MI have patrons check out their own material including DVD's and audio books. Reserved materials are placed on shelves in alphabetical order and patrons retrieve them without assistance of librarians. I was very happy with the service that I got at all these libraries while working away from home.
Corina
and now rather than just hiring the laid off staff back, the mayor is paying overtime to the staff working mondays (because they will be working a six day workweek). how does that make any sense?
First, no one gets appointed unless one sees eye to eye with the appointer. Sure, give him a chance,but know his starting point.
Second, how can anybody be honest when talking to employers, colleges, and parents about 'doing it for the kids' when having access to the tools to help oneself are denied? To go from a staff of 2400 to 1011 only lengthens the time it takes to serve the paying public, discouraging them to return.
Third, small cities may be able to get away with self-checkout, but none of those mentioned strike me as diverse as some neighborhoods here.
Fourth, couldn't TIF beneficiaries (United, Willis, Boeing, etc.) donate to CPL for part-timers?
Lastly, how is it that one sub-entity is the source for the larger entity's budget woes?
Friends of CPL, unite!
Thanks for another thoughtful article Ben. The problem we have in Chicago is, who is there to replace these crooks like Emanuel and Daley?
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