On March 4, 2010, Mayor Thomas M. Menino held his annual address to the Municipal Research Bureau, traditionally an event where he unveils the grandest of his schemes for the city of Boston. This year, however, in Menino’s fifth term, his latest greatest plan consists of a proposal to close as many as 8-10 branch libraries and some of its 46 community centers and pools throughout the city of Boston.

The way Menino and his cronies will decide which libraries to close is to be based on details about each of the buildings, taking into account energy efficiency, handicapped accessibility, foot traffic, proximity to buses and subway, and level of service provided. This will pit neighborhood against neighborhood and the poorest will be hit where it hurts: "The very communities with the lowest circulation numbers...likely need library services the most. They are the communities least likely to have home computers, easy mobility, or quality schools-or bookstores, for that matter" ("Trouble balancing the books," by Renee Loth, Boston Globe)

Menino’s budget proposal also contains $50 million in cuts to the public school system’s budget, making this the third consecutive year of cuts in the city‘s school system. These cuts were unanimously approved by the city’s School Committee on March 24th.

In response to criticisms from the public, Menino’s spokeswoman Dot Joyce said that the Mayor is reevaluating how the city delivers all its services in tough economic times.

Workers are already paying for these "tough economic times" in the form of layoffs, furloughs, stagnant wages and an ever shrinking job market, and now we are expected to pay for it with cuts in our public services too! These cuts mean jobs lost and hours slashed in the public sector as well, which only serves to exacerbate the problems which are not of our making.

Enough is enough. Community members and workers will not sit idly by and take these cuts lying down! We need to take action to defend our libraries, schools and community centers while there are still services left to defend. We need to work with community groups and unions to build, expand and support existing actions against these savage cuts, while clearly putting forward alternatives that don’t involve higher taxation of working people or cuts in their services elsewhere.

A longer version of this article will appear on socialistalternative.org and other websites.