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Founding sociologists speculated that the best way to unite a group would be to present them with a common enemy. A Dallas City Council committee confirmed that theory on Tuesday morning.
A collection of council members who so often seem opposed in their views on how best to run the city found themselves enraged and aligned Tuesday morning during a briefing on proposed library closures. The presentation, given by Library Director Manya Shorr and Chief Data Officer Brita Andercheck, recommended closing four library branches across the city as a first step toward the city’s move to a regional library model. The officials suggested the Renner Frankford, Skyline, Oak Lawn and Arcadia Park library branches be closed by the end of the fiscal year.
Shorr and Andercheck said that an “unbiased” data analysis that weighted community need, accessibility and library usage was used to identify the branches recommended for closure. But council members argued that data can’t account for issues like equity or historical relevance. The council’s Quality of Life, Arts, and Culture Committee did not approve that plan, instead voting to defer the issue until March to give library officials more time to incorporate the committee’s feedback into the proposal.
Council members whose districts are affected by the proposed closures expressed frustration with the plan, which Shorr said had not been shared with the city’s Municipal Library Board for feedback before Tuesday. While Shorr has publicly stated that she believed branch closures would be necessary this year, last Friday was the first time the affected facilities were named publicly, when the presentation was shared in an online city manager memorandum.
Council member Zarin Gracey, who chairs the committee that was briefed on Tuesday, suggested that the manner in which the closures were made public tainted the day’s meeting by overshadowing the intended conversation about the future of Dallas Public Libraries.
“We all found out about this on social media. That should have never happened. That right there is a huge problem,” said Gracey. “I’m very disappointed about that because we didn’t even have an opportunity to prepare our community.”
Shorr emphasized that while the closures are not an easy topic for communities to accept, the recommendation comes on the heels of budgetary constraints. Last fall, the City Council approved the closure of the Skillman Southwest Branch Library, whose fate had been uncertain for years.
After the Skillman closure, city officials announced that the Dallas Public Library system would move toward a regional model — in which specific library branches are selected for extended operating hours and programming, while smaller facilities are shuttered — to better serve modern library needs and cut costs.
Tuesday’s plan highlights five branches that will be named “flagship” regional campuses. But as several council members noted, the presentation failed to get into the financial nitty-gritty of the plan, instead highlighting only the budgetary pressures the library system has been under in recent years. A look at the savings expected to come from the closures was not included in the briefing.
Other concerns included the effect the closures would have on voter turnout (the Oak Lawn and Skyline libraries regularly see significant ballot counts during elections) and accessibility. Shorr noted that the regional plan would put most Dallas residents within a 15-minute drive of a flagship branch, but council members said that level of access may not be sufficient.
“You talk about libraries being important to provide safe space for kids after school, but how are those kids going to get to a library that’s a 15-minute drive away?” asked council member Paul Ridley, who described Tuesday’s briefing as “seriously flawed.”
“Why are you purposely not engaging the communities where you’re planning to close the libraries?” he added, irked by the presentation’s suggestion that community meetings will be held at the proposed flagship branches as opposed to the branches slated for closure.
The plan also did not address plans for the downtown central library. Shorr said she anticipated presenting a briefing on plans to “reimagine” the facility later this spring.
Council member Adam Bazaldua described the briefing as “a really, really half-assed plan” that had developed into a “PR nightmare” for the city. Still, he assured Shorr that his frustrations with the situation ultimately rested elsewhere.
“Where my concern is is above your head. I believe you were asked to do a budgetary exercise … [when] ultimately the decision is purse strings, which falls on this body,” Bazaldua told Shorr. “I think that the city manager failed in not bringing this to us in a timely manner… with this being clearly a policy decision.”
