Al-Naqba!

We heard the rumors. We've known of this for several months now. We just didn't believe it would actually happen. It is happening. Tomorrow, March 1, 2007. Our Catastrophe. Dark days ahead.

Sometime last year, our smiling ubiquitous Mayor, Vee-rr-aye-go-saahh (Antonio Villaraigosa)--part of some campaign promise--felt that all branch libraries in the city (that's 63 for those counting; not including regional branches), should be open longer or "extended hours". This is great for the public/patrons/transients/weirdos. Not so good for us understaffed library personnel. Opening the branch for an extra 12hrs a week to serve the public--wonderful! Keep those kids off the streets--wonderful! So what's the problem you say? Well, I'm glad you asked. You see, like much else that comes out of City Hall--good intentions, devilish details. (Keep in mind that the Los Angeles Public Library system is one of the biggest in the country--perhaps the world).

Here are the dreaded details:

2006-2007 Adopted Budget for the Library Department:*

2006-2007 Employee Compensation Adjustment -$1,699,952
Salary Step Plan and Turnover Effect -$588,706
Change in Number of Working Days -$213,447
Full Funding for Partially Financed Positions -$115,078
Deletion of Funding for Resolution Authorities -$110,160
Deletion of One-Time Expense Funding -$2,400,000
Deletion of 2005-2006 Equipment -$839,619
Transportation Increase-$7,000
Technology Infrastructure Support -$20,952 (positions) - 5 (i)
Systems Staffing (positions) -2 (i)
Branch Equipment -$409,225
Library Books and Materials -$3,000,000
Expanded Service Hours -$815,728 (Positions) - 53 (ii)
Creation of Commissioners Positions Category (Positions) - (5)

Total Changes (From 2005-2006) - +$1,916,103

2006-07 Adopted Budget: $72,599,403

What does it all mean? The library department budget for 2006-2007 has increased nearly $2 million over the previous year. Wow! Curb thy enthusiasm, FY '04 budget was $71.7 million. There was actually a cut in the budget in 2005-06, so what we really have is an increase of less than $900k since '04. How about staffing you ask? Library staff surely should have increased over the past few years as well right? Wrong. In FY 03, the department had 1,184 regular employees. For FY 07, the department has 1,129 regular employees. Now 55 less staff may not seem like much, but think of it as one less clerk in practically every branch library. This is huge. Staff shortages is the biggest issue in the department. Ask your local (freak) book stamper if she/he could use another clerk. This equates to more desk time, less time for all the other tedious work we do.

Now if you take into account that since 2002-2003 (Key Indicators of Workload), the department has seen increases across the board. Below is a partial list of the estimated (2005-2006 numbers are very close) 2006-2007 indicators:

(Increases since 2002-2003)
Items Circulated - + nearly 1 million
Number of people visiting library facilities - + 2 million
Automated reserves placed - + 420,000 (iii)
Number of hits on LAPL website - + 39 million
Number of books, packages, letters sorted by staff - + 3.350 million

Again, I must emphasize that most branch libraries, particularly in the West San Fernando Valley are terribly understaffed, coupled with the fact that this region of the city has the highest circulation of library materials compared to any other part of the city. In real terms--if one clerks calls in sick that day in a 12hr day; we're screwed.

(i) On the issue of Library Technology Infrastructure Support and Systems staff, there are a total of 7. Total.

(ii) The Expanded Service Hours staff positions are supposed to see an increase of 53 regular employees according to the budget; 1. I haven't seen it. 2. It would still be less than FY 03 numbers.

(iii) I've written about "holds" before, here. Nothing more time/resource consuming than delivery/reserves. And an increase of 420,000 is huge. Takes 2-3hrs every morning to process the "holds".

Little known obscure part of the mayor's budget was to give every branch library an extra $1,000 to go towards new DVD movies! Small mercies. Turned the library into a video store. Okay, free movies are nice...so I shouldn't complain too much.

What to do? It's quite obvious. We need more staff. Now.

Okay, gotta be at the library tomorrow morning. Will let you know how it goes. At least we don't have to pay overdue fines and we've had a good run I guess...no more 12:30 openings and 5:30 closings...

Branch libraries to be open 4 nights a week 'til 8:00pm. Remaining 2 nights 'til 6:00pm. (No mention--as usual, on lapl.org).

*(All budget details from the Overview of 2006-2007 Adopted Budget for the City of Los Angeles: Prepared by the City Administrative Officer--available at your local library).

Why I love L.A. (Reason No. 818)

Every once and a while I'm reminded why I love Los Angeles so much. I think I've discovered the worlds greatest "reality" show. Move over José Luis Sin Censura. What's even better is that it's all filmed in the East SFV. 818. Telemundo! To the walls...

¿Quienes son Operación Repo?

Operación Repo es un equipo innovador de hombres y mujeres, localizado en el Valle de San Fernando, incluyendo las ciudades de San Fernando, Sylmar, Pacoima y en ocasiones hasta el área de Compton. Este equipo se encarga de embargar los carros de todos los deudores que no han hecho los pagos debidos a su línea de crédito (banco, compañía financiera, etc.). Estas compañías contratan a Operación Repo para hacer lo que nosotros llamamos el trabajo sucio de embargar, ya que el equipo tiene que enfrentarse a las personas embargadas que en ocasiones los han recibido pistola en mano, con cuchillos, etc.

Body Scrollin'

Safe graffiti passages...

Front page photo from the LA Times today. (Video) Graffiti Mars Media Event. Bus carrying officials is tagged during tour to show off new stop closer to campus so students can avoid gang area.

Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and other officials trumpeted a new tactic to ease the fears: locating a bus stop directly behind the school so students don't have to navigate through a gang-plagued neighborhood.

But just as officials were applauding their accomplishment, they got a fresh perspective on campus security problems when their bus got tagged.

While the crowded Metro bus carrying Brewer, Villaraigosa and a crowd of journalists was stopped at Washington Boulevard and Maple Avenue, an unidentified youth believed to be a Santee student dashed up and scrawled graffiti on a side window.

I love LA!

Solidarity with Britney

Today, in a show of solidarity with dear Britney, I too have shaved my head...we'll not exactly shaved, I used a No.2 clip. I look good. I mean really good. No more lice or rehab.


Body Scrollin'

Late nite music...

U.N.C.L.E. featuring Ian Brown (ok, so I gotta thing for Ian Brown). Be There...tension in London Underground....

Beyond Local News

Watching CSUN: Valley View News right now on the LA36 Local/Public Access Channel. Newsanchor team comprises of two hot Latina (Vanessa & Cassie) news anchors, another Latina entertainment reporter, another Latina beat reporter, some total weirdo reporting on a Wiccan gypsy psychic fortune teller Serena in Sherman Oaks and some dude that does sports (boo!). This is the first time I've seen this, I'm totally fascinated...it's a full half hour news program. From the Department of Journalism 455 Class at Cal State University Northridge. Stories include local, national, international, sports, and entertainment. No weather! Only the local "feel-good" stories are actually covered by their reporters. Production values are lacking but I actually watched the entire program! Hell, I can't watch more than 2 minutes of the Fox News Channel!

I'm searching the LA36 Channel website now, it looks like this was the premiere of CSUN: Valley View News program for the spring semester.

Update: I found the VVN archive webcast! Watch the entire program here.

Carve. Slice. Peel. Drop.

Kacie Chatuparisoot (fruits of her labor)
Chef/Owner De Royale, LLC
Boulder, Colo. (Food Network)

Watching this show called Food Challenge on the Food Network...teams of 2 compete with one another in a Fantasy Fruit Sculpture contest. Grand price is $10,000. This competition is about food carving with a tropical theme. The teams have 8 hrs to create an intricate, really spectacular fruit sculpture. 4 teams go head-to-head. Group of 3 Judges. Sounds pretty straight forward right? Here's where it all goes downhill. After hrs of hrs of work, the final part of the competition is to move your fruit sculpture from your work table to the judging table which is...like 4 feet away! So you have a sculpture measuring 4-5ft high, weighing over 100lbs, which you must move (the website says the sculptures weigh upwards of 300lbs--who the hell can lift 300lbs?!). The only women in the competition (see above)--two sweet little Thai ladies, were the first to move their piece. So what do you suppose happened...you guessed it, It dropped, along with their hopes and dreams! Kacie C's assistant, a 4' 8" Thai girl couldn't lift the glorious tower of produce. Sad. I'm convinced they would have won. But i can't help ask myself, WHY?! WHY O' WHY?! WHAT WAS THE POINT OF HAVING TO MOVE YOUR WORK A COUPLE FEET AWAY FROM WHERE IT WAS?! WHAT DOES THAT PROVE?! WHY NOT JUST HAVE THEM HOG-TIED? HOP ON ONE LEG? THIS ISN'T THE WORLDS STRONGEST MAN COMPETITION! Small consolation---the women were allowed 15 minutes to "fix" their piece before official judging. Of course, they couldn't' get it back to the way it was in such a limited time and were essentially disqualified. Tears flowed. Food judges suck. I'm convinced the judges had a anti-Thai bias! I'm seriously thinking about a personal boycott of The Food Network. Who's with me?

The Fruit That Fell
by Celia Moodie

The grass
Flat with fallen fruit
Bruised -
Folded and matted
In your shadow.
Behind your head
With your wild eye
Staring upward
At the mottled light
Of clouds and sun
Through leaves
And branches
You are hungry.
But the fruit is fallen
And you will never
Starve.
So you leave the fruit
Where it will surely rot.
Browning the grass
For another season.

I stand behind another tree
And watch you.
I touch the rough bark
With my cheek.
I am hungry too
But I have eaten that fruit.
Soft and wet in the grass.
Tasting of moss-green
Forest fungus.
I hallucinate from the
Wild forest floor
As I reach for you
My arms extend - retract -
I cannot touch you.
Starved as I am
My body falls
And I sound like a tree
In the woods.

That no one hears
Crash down

(Poems on Life)

(p.s. this poem has nothing to do with fruit and the white guy won)

Top Gear goes South. Deep South.

Top Gear (perhaps the worlds greatest car show --UK's BBC2) pulled this hilarious and frightening skit/prank/show in the Yellowhammer State (Al'Bama). Just to be fair, I fondly remember the rest stop off Interstate 10 outside of Mobile as being the cleanest/prettiest rest stop in the country. As for the folks...see what happens!

Save me Ace!

David Roberts writing in Grist:

"24 reflects a warped, adolescent view of violence and human nature. It reeks of macho fantasies, born of insecurity, entitlement, and above all fear. No problem arises on the show that cannot be solved with more force, more brutality. Anyone attempting to mitigate that brutality is an effete, naive bureaucrat. In the world of 24, torture is always necessary, and it always works."

A Republican said these things?

Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas) before the House of Representatives, Feb. 6:

Don’t Do It, Mr. President

It’s a bad idea.
There’s no need for it.
There’s great danger in doing it.
America is against it, and Congress should be.
The United Nations is against it.
The Russians, the Chinese, the Indians, and the Pakistanis are against it.
The whole world is against it.
Our allies are against it.
Our enemies are against it.
The Arabs are against it.
The Europeans are against it.
The Muslims are against it.
We don’t need to do this.
The threat is overblown.
The plan is an hysterical reaction to a problem that does not yet exist.
Hysteria is never a good basis for foreign policy.
Don’t we ever learn?
Have we already forgotten Iraq?
The plan defies common sense.
If it’s carried out, the Middle East, and possibly the world, will explode.
Oil will soar to over $100 a barrel, and gasoline will be over $5 a gallon.
Despite what some think, it won’t serve the interests of Israel.
Besides — it’s illegal.
It’s unconstitutional.
And you have no moral authority to do it.
We don’t need it.
We don’t want it.
So, Mr. President, don’t do it.
Don’t bomb Iran!

The moral of the story, Mr. Speaker, is this: if you don’t have a nuke, we’ll threaten to attack you. If you do have a nuke, we’ll leave you alone. In fact, we’ll probably subsidize you. What makes us think Iran does not understand this?

Wow. I can't imagine any other congressman/senator on either side of the isle speaking so candidly as this. Bravo.

How are you celebrating Black History Month?

Paul Robeson performing (reclaiming more appropriately) That's Why Darkies Were Born from 1931. For context and a thorough explanation of the history and the controversy surrounding this song visit Quid nomen illius? (A post from 2004).

Brothers, sisters, when this world began,
There was work to be done
And it seems that someone
Left it to the colored man.

Brothers, sisters, what must be, must be.
Though the balance is wrong,
Still, your faith must be strong:
Accept your destiny.

Brothers, listen to me:

Someone had to pick the cotton,
Someone had to pick the corn,
Someone had to slave and be able to sing,
That's why darkies were born.

Someone had to laugh at trouble,
Though he was tired and worn,
Had to be contented with any old thing,
That's why darkies were born.

Sing, sing,
sing when you're weary and sing when you're blue,
Sing, sing,
that's what you taught all them white folks to do.

Someone had to fight the Devil,
Shout about Gabriel's Horn,
Someone had to stoke that old train that would bring
God's children to green pastures:
That's why darkies were born.

Are grumpy workers the best workers?

"Recent research shows it could be the grumpy workers who are actually a company's most creative problem-solvers, said Jing Zhou, associate professor of management at the Jesse H. Jones Graduate School of Management at Rice University.

It's the happy, cheerful folks who tend to think things are going well and that there are no problems to be solved, she said. They're less likely to be pondering potential pitfalls and often don't see problems until there is a crisis".

The exception of course being government/city employees.

Greatest song ever?

I Wanna Be Adored by the Stone Roses very well may be the greatest pop song every recorded. Okay, maybe the second best.

Ian Brown is...what can I say about Ian...I love his simian arse. This is a live performance from T in the Park festival. At one point, he gets into it with the poor camera guy. Body Scrollin'?! How are things going? I can't figure out what he's saying...just checked this English slang website, couldn't find it there. In the end, Ian will probably be remembered for his clothes/hair which have influenced every "hip" Brit in the past 2 decades. Gotta give the Monkey King his due.

Great quote from our friends at the NME in a review of a Gus Gus single: The world needs disco Christianity like Ian Brown needs a parking space at MENSA. A reference to a "incident" involving the Ian and a female flight attendant a few years back.


Is How you feel?

Musafar makes it BIG...

Play on words?

"Welcome to the Web site for Shelf Awareness: Daily Enlightenment for the Book Trade, the free e-mail newsletter dedicated to helping the people in stores, in libraries and on the Web buy, sell and lend books most wisely."

Yea I don't get it either.

Welcome to the 21st Century (Weekly Roundup)

Eventful week it's been for the Bookstamper...been laptopless for the past five days as I left the wall charger in San Diego (watched Superbowl XLI there), thanks big sister for mailing it back to me via Priority Mail, although it would have gotten here just as fast with First Class mail. San Diego may very well be the greatest city in country (second only to Los Angeles of course). Perfect weather year 'round, resurgence of the downtown area, friendly folks without temptation.

Yet another Morrissey Gig. There was a time when Moz gigs were few and far between (or is that far and few in-between?), now we get to see Morrissey, (onetime L.A. resident/scenester) ever six months it seems. Three sold out nites at the Pasadena Auditorium (seldom used venue for rock/pop shows). I've always found something peculiar about seeing an aging English homosexual who occasionally peddles in con-trov-osy, play to a mostly Whittier representin' Chicano crowd--singing along to lines like..."And spit upon the name of Oliver Cromwell, and denounce this royal line..." Who the hell is Oliver Cromwell?! I mean really, no one in Whittier knows or cares! And then to go into National Front Disco. The National Front? I hear those guys are swell. I would totally disco with those guys. They like Paki's right? Morrissey's new (rebelesque non grata) khaki trousers sporting, shaved headed "band" seemed out-of-place playing behind him (Boz, with what's left of his hair being the exception). Low point of the evening was hearing a miserably uninspired How Soon Is Now. Hard to believe I've seen him a dozen times now. Am I finally over Morrissey? These things take time.
(Steven Patrick and his photoshop-enhanced eyes even grazed the cover of our "Alternative" LA Weekly last week with a piece entitled Moz The Cat).

Monday nite, sweet young Lilly Allen (and her rather bulbous forehead) in Hollywood, fresh from her debut appearance on SNL. She's got quite the mouth I hear. Typical Hollywood "first" crowd--industry types, guest lists, white folk. As for the show itself, it was okay. Mostly forgettable. Don't know if she will make it stateside. Our friends at MTV have been pumping her hard (!) lately...wait and see we shall. I will be sending her a written complaint letter however, that simply states..."You wouldn't make fun of a guy in a wheelchair would you?!" It's not the size of the hammer, it's the nail you're throwing at. Now that makes me Smile. You're Not Big yet lass.

Another day the branch. Dear patron who had $11 in overdue fees a couple days ago was upset that we did not accept debit cards as payment. Angrily he declared, So I wasted a trip coming here. Welcome to the 21st Century. Your friendly neighborhood Bookstamper smiled and helped the next patron in line. Later, he prayed god would strike this patron down. God is great.

In other branch news--someone, some kid tagged up our pristine branch premises in no less than nine different places. Sad day indeed. Worse part is that it wasn't even good! Pretty amateurish actually. Two different colors, a blue and gold. He was kind enough however to spare the brick exterior and focused on the cement/newsstand/doors...so it will clean up rather easily. I pray he finds Jesus.

Be my baby!

(AP Photo/Damian Dovarganes) 2005

Phil Spector trial to be televised! Maybe. Presiding Superior Court Judge Larry Paul Fidler reckons, "This is a trial of public interest." Will keep you updated on Phil's 'do...to think he was once godhead...yea.

Condi Couture

Are You Ready for Condi Couture? [Princess Sparkle Pony]

The search continues...

Brother Marc is a local L.A. ABC7 newscaster...watch him @ 4, 6 and 11p.m. co-anchor with that Tuzee woman. See Marc's bio here. I wonder how O.J.'s search for the real killers is coming along...