Category: West Burlington

Falcon:

I use the genealogy department at the Burlington Library quite frequently and can’t help but notice the lengthy down time on the film readers and associated equipment one of which has been down for good year.

There are two banks of film readers I’ll call the North Row and the South Row.  I generally use the South Row on a regular basis.  The west most South Row machine has been unusable for a good year with no apparent attempts by the library to get it fixed or replaced.  The next two machines will not print because the printer is constantly jammed which at times causes the film readers themselves incapable of aligning the page on the viewer.  This printer problem has been a thorn in the side of customers for a good month and impacts the use of three pieces of equipment.  Two film readers (possibly three) and one printer basically inoperative unless the jam is removed from the printer which apparently needs something cleaned or repaired since it can’t fix itself.  Could also be a badly worn out part in the vicinity of where the sheet of paper exits the machine.

I can see no reason for these machines being in such poor condition since they are a vital part of the genealogy department and are a must for taxpayers when doing research of past newspapers and other film recorded historical records.

We in Burlington pay a tax double to what the rest of the state pays for library service and in many cases are not getting our monies worth at all.

Another problem area is the newspapers where those taxpayers who go to the library in Burlington have only one Hawk-Eye available to read, on a daily basis.  If they have other local papers there not made available to those taxed to support the library.  In my opinion there should be more than one local paper for reading by the taxpayers many of which can’t wait in line in hopes of reading the paper.  To me this is no different than having only one computer to service the daily crowds that currently use computers at the library.  It’s much easier to get a computer to use than read the local paper.  There are four banks of computers for use in one spot and others spread around the library and yet only one local paper in the whole of the library out and seldom available to read without a wait period.  Taxpayers can also being their own computer for free wireless Internet if desired.

Even the parking can be a challenge at the library because of the smallness and layout of the lot.  This lot is not near big enough to service the many meeting rooms and general library use at the same time.  To me the library is in the worst of all locations because of limited parking and constant shaking as trucks go by on the freeway.  A library wedged into the side of a hill just leads one to believe better choices had to be available but that’s water over the damn now.  The taxpayers voted against the library twice but we end up with it anyway costing us twice what most Iowa towns and cities layout for library service.

DW

Falcon:

I think the Burlington High School has had an armed policeman patroling the halls for years now in order to keep the schools safe from whoever may be threatening those there trying to get an education.  It’s my understanding there are also social workers on the premises.

On top of that I’d suggest the mental health industry be a bit more thorough in keeping mentally ill people off the streets in order to protect the normal population.   It’s hard to find one of these mass murderers that aren’t messed up and known to be dangerous but released from mental hospitals or never committed at all and not taking their meds because of those in the mental health industry who believe in the process of political correct thinking.  In many previous cases it was found that they system failed over and over again to protect the general population when it comes to these mentally messed up people.

When it’s all said and done it will more than likely be found this guy in Connecticut was a known risk to the general public but ignored or passed through the system and released although still mentally challanged because a normal human being would never do what this guy did.

FD