The Mummers' Parade and libraries received 11th-hour aid, ensuring they will keep going.
Tuesday, a judge ruled against the mayor's decision to close 11 library branches, including the Fumo Family Branch on Broad Street. Staff Photo by Greg Bezanis
The Mummers and libraries have faced unexpected challenges this year, but as 2008 comes to a close, the City has attempted to soften the blow of its budget-cutting that left the former minus prize money and city services and the latter with 11 closing branches.
Two weeks before the annual New Year's Day tradition, Mayor Michael Nutter came through with $300,000 and several others tossed donations into the ring to save the Mummers' Parade. Making this year's event possible are Verizon ($10,000); Geno's owner Joey Vento ($40,000); the Electric Factory ($10,000 a year for 10 years); Forman Mills ($22,000); and the Delaware Valley Regional Economic Development Fund ($100,000), according to www.mummers.com. The group also solicited private donations on the Web site savethemummers.com, as well as bucket collections on city streets.
An 11th-hour reprieve also came the libraries way, as well, in the form of somewhat-preserved after-school services, as well as an injunction issued in three councilmembers' court action against the mayor and library system.
Prior to Judge Idee Fox's ruling Tuesday against Nutter's decision to close 11 branches, the mayor, Siobhan Reardon, president/director of the Free Library of Philadelphia, and Don Schwarz, deputy mayor for Health and Opportunities, issued a compromise a day earlier in regard to the citywide closures with after-school services at the affected branches to continue at other locations. Locally, two branches were slated to be shut down: The Fumo Family Branch at 2437 S. Broad St. and Queen Memorial at 1201 S. 23rd St.
Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership (LEAP) programs will open as-scheduled Jan. 12, preserving after-school homework and computer help, technical workshops, mentoring programs and other activities for 80,000 first- through 12th-graders, a press release following the City Hall briefing stated.
"As soon the economic crisis forced us to make difficult spending reductions in our libraries, we began looking for ways to preserve some of their most important services -- especially those for our young people -- in the neighborhoods affected," Nutter said in the statement. "I know from our Town Hall meetings that many people shared my concerns about after-school programming and I'm pleased to report that on Jan. 12 every child who wants after-school homework help or just a safe place to go will continue to have a LEAP program in their community."
The locations were to be within three blocks of their former sites and no program was to be more than eight blocks away. LEAP programs at the Fumo and Queen branches were expected to run Jan. 12 to June 26 from 3 to 6 p.m. Mondays and Wednesdays and 3 to 5 p.m. Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Fumo's LEAP was slated for the Philadelphia Performing Arts Charter School, 2600 S. Broad; and Queen's at John Gloucester House, 2147 Manton St.
Monday's briefing came on the heels of a class-action lawsuit filed Dec. 23 by plaintiffs AFSCME, the union to which Philadelphia librarians belong, as well as seven residents representing citizens affected by the closures. The following day, Councilmen Bill Green and Jack Kelly, along with Councilwoman Jannie Blackwell, filed a separate lawsuit. The two suits sought to prevent the mayor and the library system from closing city-owned buildings without Council authorization.
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