Community: October 2009 Archives

The Naperville Public Library is consistantly at the top of the list of best libraries in the country. But it has seen a reduction in its tax levy two years in a row, dropping 6 percent in 2009 and nearly 7 percent in 2010.

Officials are being asked by the city to cut $1.1 million from the library budget to help eliminate the city's deficit. The library is proposing to use $500,000 from its operations fund, as well as a request that the city waive the library paying $150,000 into Naperville's IMRF and health insurance fund. Other proposals include cutting Sunday hours, discontinuing 'premium pay' on Sundays, and cutting staff.

Previously the library had been forced to cut many programs, book clubs and other events many residents had enjoyed, along with buying fewer books and reducing time materials can be checked out.

What do you think of the proposed cuts to the library? Can it maintain its quality with all the reductions?

http://www.suburbanchicagonews.com/napervillesun/news/1827046,Library-officials-propose-cuts_NA101509.article

As we do here on occasion, this is an open topic for whatever is on your mind. But please, not something that's already being discussed elsewhere on a recent board.

We are repeatedly told that public transportation is the wave of the future. As population increases and emissions and pollution become more important in the public consciousness, we will need new ways to cope. Traffic jams are getting more frequent, and road construction is far behind and doesn't appear able to catch up.

However, few people use public transportation. Pace is considering cutting 51 suburban bus routes, including five in Naperville. Most people have never taken or rarely take a bus, though some depend on them. The waiting list for parking spots at the train station takes years to reach the bottom. Besides that, the train is only practical for those who work in Chicago or somewhere else along the rail line, and many towns are nowhere near a commuter rail line.

Planners say the future looks like the area around Naperville's downtown train station, with high density residential and commercial property where everyone lives close to public transportation. But it seems likely most people will continue to live far from such locations.

So what can be done to improve transportation in the Chicago area? Can buses and trains be the answer or do we need another option? What other options would you suggest? Do you ever take public transportation?