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July 11, 2009

Herald News: The Tome Wars

Saturday, July 11, 2009
Herald News
Editorial
SEE DICK. See Jane. See Dick from Haledon take out a book from the library. See Jane from Prospect Park being told, "No book for you."

What should have been an example of cooperative governance between the boroughs of Prospect Park and Haledon is a sad, familiar tale of the myopic, shall we say flat-out dumbness, of some of the people who hold positions of authority in New Jersey.

Prospect Park used to have an agreement with Hawthorne, allowing Prospect Park residents the option of joining the Hawthorne library for $50 a year. The borough entered into a new agreement with Haledon because it offered a fixed cost of $2.25 annually per resident, with a 25-cent annual increase. The Haledon library is also closer.

All was fine until a turf war started between the Haledon library board and borough officials. The library board wants a written guarantee that the new funds will be controlled by its board. The borough says, "no way." The result is that Prospect Park residents who want to borrow a book in Haledon cannot.

This is ridiculous. We do not know which entity has the legal claim on controlling the money. We would allow lawyers to hash that out. But we do not need a lawyer to recognize that in the interim, the borough of Haledon and its library board will not be the worse off by allowing readers from Prospect Park to borrow books.

This isn't rocket science. This isn't even a lot of money. If it takes a few weeks to sort out which petty bureaucrat gets to say, "I won, I won, I won," we couldn't care less. Or we couldn't care less until the next election. But what we care about is the accessibility of public libraries. Clearly, some Haledon officials are taking the "Hamlet" quote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," to an extreme.

Prospect Park officials are considering a return to Hawthorne. If the battle of the books cannot be resolved quickly, Prospect Park should leave the bureaucrats of Haledon to stew on their own. Rather than be concerned about who gets control of Prospect Park's library money, they can spend time reading a primer in common sense government.

See Dick. See Jane. See Dick and Jane throw their hands up in disgust.

SEE DICK. See Jane. See Dick from Haledon take out a book from the library. See Jane from Prospect Park being told, "No book for you."

What should have been an example of cooperative governance between the boroughs of Prospect Park and Haledon is a sad, familiar tale of the myopic, shall we say flat-out dumbness, of some of the people who hold positions of authority in New Jersey.

Prospect Park used to have an agreement with Hawthorne, allowing Prospect Park residents the option of joining the Hawthorne library for $50 a year. The borough entered into a new agreement with Haledon because it offered a fixed cost of $2.25 annually per resident, with a 25-cent annual increase. The Haledon library is also closer.

All was fine until a turf war started between the Haledon library board and borough officials. The library board wants a written guarantee that the new funds will be controlled by its board. The borough says, "no way." The result is that Prospect Park residents who want to borrow a book in Haledon cannot.

This is ridiculous. We do not know which entity has the legal claim on controlling the money. We would allow lawyers to hash that out. But we do not need a lawyer to recognize that in the interim, the borough of Haledon and its library board will not be the worse off by allowing readers from Prospect Park to borrow books.

This isn't rocket science. This isn't even a lot of money. If it takes a few weeks to sort out which petty bureaucrat gets to say, "I won, I won, I won," we couldn't care less. Or we couldn't care less until the next election. But what we care about is the accessibility of public libraries. Clearly, some Haledon officials are taking the "Hamlet" quote, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be," to an extreme.

Prospect Park officials are considering a return to Hawthorne. If the battle of the books cannot be resolved quickly, Prospect Park should leave the bureaucrats of Haledon to stew on their own. Rather than be concerned about who gets control of Prospect Park's library money, they can spend time reading a primer in common sense government.

See Dick. See Jane. See Dick and Jane throw their hands up in disgust.

Posted by tumulty at July 11, 2009 11:42 PM

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