Sunday, June 11, 2023

Here We Go Again: Library Edition

 The Eudora Welty Library closed yet again due to a lack of air conditioning.   WLBT reported: 

The JHLS Board of Directors recently voted to close the Eudora Welty Library at least until the end of the summer, or until further notice from the board, said JHLS Executive Director Floyd Council.

“The board looked at temperature studies through the summer and we recommended following OSHA. If it’s colder than 65 or hotter than 78, we have to close out of an abundance of caution for our staff and patrons.”

Welty, which is located at 300 North State St., was closed multiple times in the summer of 2022 for the same reason. At that time, officials with the city said they were looking to get the building’s air conditioning units repaired.

However, no HVAC repairs have been completed.

“The public knows now the city has committed to not doing additional repairs on the building,” Council said. “We just can’t have staff and patrons in a building that’s too hot every day.”...

Other branches also are facing structural issues. The Richard Wright Library remains closed, while just one of the two air conditioning units at the Medgar Evers Library is operational....

The Willie Morris Library recently reopened after repairs but has just one bathroom, and patrons have to ask for a key to access it..... Rest of article.

Perhaps it would be news it the city actually fixed the libraries instead of allowing them to fall apart.  It's almost as if the Jackson libraries were water treatment plants.  


36 comments:

Anonymous said...

Kingfish
Remind me did Patty Furr (a white female) end up settling the wrongful term i lawsuit against these people? They fired her bc she was white… seems they all have 2 things in common currently all are incompetent and same skin color. How these incompetent people are appointed I will never understand and they’re only obsessed with skin color.

Anonymous said...

Proof again that Jackson city management is worthless, especially that POS mayor.

Anonymous said...

Maybe Henifin can take control of the library and institute a fine or tax based on page length of the book being checked out.

Anonymous said...

most of jackson has never thought about going to a library.

Anonymous said...

Can’t call it surprising but still how can a City fail at so many things. If somehow Jackson elected a good Mayor, it would take years just to get back to even.
Take a realistic at the City, where it’s trending and reduce/eliminate the State’s presence. Tax dollars are wasted there

Anonymous said...

Libraries in Jackson MS are free day care and a place for the homeless to get out of the heat... nothing more.

Anonymous said...

“The board looked at temperature studies through the summer and we recommended following OSHA. If it’s colder than 65 or hotter than 78, we have to close out of an abundance of caution for our staff and patrons.”

That could be any given day in the Spring and Fall of Mississippi as well. Hell, for the most part, following those guidelines, they woul donly be open a few hours a day in the Spring, Fall, and some parts of the winter as well.

Also, Per OSHA there is no mandate.

"The U.S. does not have a mandated workplace temperature standard, but the general recommendation is for employers to keep the thermostat between 68℉ and 76℉. Generally, workplace temperature is often set based on the preference of senior leaders and business owners."

Anonymous said...

Any sane Jackson Leadership conversation would include shutting unnecessary expenditures down like libraries, pools and zoos.

But we no longer live in a society that tolerates going without luxuries.

The minimum expectations for all include, iPhones, new cars, travel budgets etc.

Growing up we had none of that, until we were financially sound.

Jackson is just a larger scale example of the broken household, living with no savings or ability to prioritize needs over wants.

Anonymous said...

why would the city or mayor care about the library, can't have their constituents actually gaining knowledge and realizing how chitty a job they are doing with the town. I visited the Welty library when i first moved to belhaven to find out that the only other visitors were those without homes.

Anonymous said...

Gentrification is the only thing that will turn Jackson around.

Anonymous said...

Close the libraries and the zoo---

The Mayor said...

Library, we don't need no stinking library.

Anonymous said...

Richard Wright branch closed the first week of March 2020 -- before Covid.
It has not reopened since.

mansplain said...

City/county Libraries, like many smaller Zoos, are becoming a thing of the past. No need to spend a ton of money on either, start consolidating them.

Anonymous said...

Anyone remember watching the Mississippi ETV show “Tomes and Talismans”
in school in the 1980s?
Remember how the illiterate and violent “Wipers” destroyed the Earth and all the literate people fled to another planet to escape their destruction?

Anonymous said...

"Welty, which is located at 300 North State St., was closed multiple times in the summer of 2022 for the same reason."
Go to the link in this quote and read that, according to the news article this links to, as of July 11, 2022, the Welty branch had been closed "for nearly two months."
The Welty branch was not really "closed multiple times" last summer -- it was actually closed all summer.
Welty remained closed until October 2022, around the time that the Tisdale branch building was demolished.
According to another WLBT news article, the Welty branch was reopening from the summer on October 17, 2022.

Anonymous said...

I loved in Biloxi and Gulfport for a few years. Both libraries had become a favorite hangout for the homeless. This meant you couldn’t take your children in their and let them safely roam the aisles. That also meant the place smelled awful. Rankin and Madison do a good job of keeping the homeless out. Usually they dump them at the library in Jackson.

Anonymous said...

You need to bounce. We Jacktown. We ain't need no stinkin' books no way.

Anonymous said...

So sad that 50 years ago civil rights activists fought and finally won the “right” to use these libraries, only now to see the buildings fall apart due to apathy, mismanagement, and non-usage. Guess JPS is doing a good enough job of educating our “young scholars “ and libraries aren’t needed anymore.

Anonymous said...

Willie Morris branch is closing for the day right now because of problems with the air condition system -- it's too cold to stay open.

Anonymous said...

They settled with Furr for wrongful termination for $190,000. Maybe that could have been spent on AC repairs.

Anonymous said...

Back in the day I managed to evade cops that were looking for me by running to a library and casually walking in. Watched out the window as they passed back and forth for about 30 minutes looking. Good times

Anonymous said...

Patty Furr has a **** eating grin on her face right now.

Anonymous said...

You can pay me $190,000 for nothing in exchange for closing every branch due to neglect. Pretty good gig!

Anonymous said...

Why do we even have a Hinds-Jackson library system? Let Jackson have it’s own. Screw job for everybody n Hinds County not in Jackson.

Anonymous said...

The building needs to be demolished. Thankfully the emergency management folks are getting out of there!

Anonymous said...

I wish Willie Morris was here to write a chapter about this.

Anonymous said...

Page one of minutes, Jackson Fire Marshal's opinion of Welty Library in 2020.

https://jhlibrary.org/storage/2020/05/Approved.-Minutes.022520.Board-Mtg.pdf

Anonymous said...

Meanwhile, libraries out in the exurbs face demands to censor content. This is on top of the fact that the publishing industry has already become censored-beyond-belief. Once printed material has passed through the various Left Wing filters, and the various Right Wing filters, there's nothing much left. I've bought one book, in the last decade (and regret it, the writing was so trite), and apart from two issues of Delta Magazine which featured some family members' homes, I haven't bought a magazine since around '08. We used to be voracious readers. But now, our Decorator and Publicist can't even find enough printed material for the "casual stacks" of books & mags they used to place at key points in our homes. "Did you guys stop reading, around 2008?" (yes, basically...)

Now, with Internet Freedom on the verge of being shut-down, I don't know what we'll do.

Anonymous said...

50 years ago was 1973. Please cite your reference for claiming there was a civil rights struggle then over the use of libraries.

Anonymous said...

"50 years ago was 1973. Please cite your reference for claiming there was a civil rights struggle then over the use of libraries." June 13, 2023 at 8:53 AM

Excellent observation! It was more like SIXTY years ago... or a tad longer. That's how far in the past, was the "struggle". That's how far back the Grievance Industry has to go, to dredge-up "wrongs" to justify its existence/salaries/relevance.



Anonymous said...

That is a small world you live in 1:21pm

Eudora Would Gasp.. said...

Is the property large enough to become another soup kitchen? If so, there's grant money available to retrofit it for that particular purpose..you know..like Calvary Baptist and several other nice properties that were converted to flop houses, soup kitchens and various community development venues under the guise of being related to religious salvation efforts.

Anonymous said...

5:57, what the hell? Calvary Baptist still meets every Sunday. They serve the community they are in. They did not flee to escape poor people or black people. It is a church. They are doing exactly what Jesus called believers to do. Imagine that. Yours might be the shittiest comment on JJ this decade, and that says a lot.

Please enlighten me on your venom directed at such a CHURCH.

Anonymous said...

7:48 - I was married in that church in '69, back when it was a church. Don't preach to me, you heathen. The whole three-mile strip is nothing more than a replica of an L.A. slum.

Free The Hood!

Anonymous said...

7:48 sounds pretty judgey. Maybe 'what the Hell' to you too.

Tell me more about the big bad white skins than ran from the black man? Is that still the reason Jackson cannot thrive? Sounds like you have some real hate for white people but you also want us to come back and save you?

The black people that live in all three houses beside me are all quite successful and certainly don't need my pale self to help them. And I we rarely run from each other.


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In the spirit of helping those who are less fortunate, Trollfest '09 adopts a cause for which a portion of the proceeds and donations will be donated: Keeping Frank Melton in his home. The “Keep Frank Melton From Being Homeless” booth will sell chances for five dollars to pin the tail on the jackass. John Reeves has graciously volunteered to be the jackass for this honorable excursion into saving Frank's ass. What's an ass between two friends after all? If Mr. Reeves is unable to um, perform, Speaker Billy McCoy has also volunteered as when the word “jackass” was mentioned he immediately ran as fast as he could to sign up.


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If you get tired come relax at the Fox News Tent. To gain admittance to the VIP section, bring either your Republican Party ID card or a Rebel Flag. Bringing both will entitle you to free drinks.Get your tickets now. Since this is an event for trolls, no ID is required, just bring the hate. Bring the family, Trollfest '07 is for EVERYONE!!!

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