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The Economist picks up the "Nutter crisis" beat
Is that the whole Philadelphia story? economist.com
The Economist picks up the "Nutter crisis" beat
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| Is that the whole Philadelphia story? |
| economist.com |
I know this is a little late, but I still think it's important to get out there: A number of national publications have deemed Philly's budget crisis worthy (or bizarre, or depressing) enough to cover in the past month.
The New York Times and The Economist are among them, with the latter's piece being an overly simplistic summary of the library fiasco. (Unlike our boy Isaiah Thompson's coverage, which is far more complex. Hooray local papers.)
The most interesting aspect of The Economist's article is the accompanying graph, pictured here. It paints the city of Philadelphia as essentially selfish — we've always had more libraries per person than other major U.S. cities, and we'd still have more even if Mayor Michael Nutter made his proposed cuts.
Funny thing is, the graph is straight from the Nutter's office. And despite giving prime real estate to Nutter's side, The Economist does little to explain his opposition. The writer basically says that the public is "overwhelmingly unhappy about the cutbacks," and ends it with that.
Of course, we've heard the other side of the argument before. But to Economist readers outside of Philly, it's likely one they're not familiar with. As Amy Dougherty, executive director of Friends of the Free Library, says, "This talking point ignores that in six of the nine cities to which the Nutter administration is comparing Philadelphia — Los Angeles, Houston, San Antonio, San Diego, Dallas and San Jose — all public schools have libraries staffed by trained professionals … in Philadelphia, by contrast, about half of our public schools have no libraries."
Whatever side you're on, it's an important point to remember. Unfortunately, not everyone's had the chance to hear it.
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