the rix mix

Main branch of Camden public library set to close

CAMDEN — Today is the final day for Camden's main public library, another victim of the impoverished city's budget crunch.

Last summer, it looked as if all three of the city's branches might close. But the Camden County library system stepped in to partially save them.

One small branch closed already.

A second, modern branch is being taken over by the county system as of next week.

And the main library downtown is closing.

Perhaps even more than mass layoff of cops & firefighters, & a proposed 23% tax hike the city council was wise enough to know was nothing more than a temporary Band Aid on a bullet wound, this signals the tragic city is nearing the bottom of the abyss. One of the last remaining sources of light & hope snuffed out. Unlike the Rutgers campus, Cooper Hospital, & the waterfront attractions, the public library is a particularly local symbol of a city's pride & culture.

Newark has struggled mightily - & had some success - at maintaining their treasure of a central library, despite cutbacks in staffing & hours. My city's main library - a venerable Carnegie building - is undergoing an exterior renovation.

Any "solution" for Camden's woes has to be so radical & visionary that no typical Jersey politician would support it. Ironically, Jersey's ascendant Democratic bosses are based in the Camden machine, & they must accept some of the blame.  Maybe a lot of the blame.