From: tessemily	Date: July 25th, 2008 02:46 pm (UTC)		(link)

awwww. that's adorable.

	From: tessemily	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:13 pm (UTC)		(link)

i sent this to a co worker, who then told me that this very same thing happened in her neighborhood and IT REALLY TICKED HER OFF. she didn't take it in stride at all.

	From: neil_scott	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:40 pm (UTC)		(link)

Yeah, I hate the fact that public libraries all close at 5pm - purposefully excluding 70% of the public.

	From: tessemily	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:59 pm (UTC)		(link)

hey though! check this out. our library:
* Monday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
* Tuesday & Wednesday: 10 a.m.–8 p.m.
* Thursday–Saturday: 10 a.m.–6 p.m.
* Sunday: noon–5 p.m.

so tuesdays and wednesdays, man!

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:37 pm (UTC)		(link)

The would-be scandal is that Monday through Thursday, the library will now close at 8pm instead of 9pm, because no one was using it then. FRONT PAGE NEWS, RIGHT?

	From: bird	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:43 pm (UTC)		(link)

we do not want to upset the transplants from the OC. we dont want to have real news, that would upset the illusion of paradise we are working on here.

the best part is that they could have replaced the first 3 words with ANYTHING and it would have applied. except if it said something like: "New laws making house ownership available to all..."

i love how i bitch so much, but i would fight to the death to live here. hypocrisy is my skill, yo.

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:45 pm (UTC)		(link)

But bitching about [transplants (hi!)/Wendy McCaw/any newspaper/overprotection of salamander subspecies/what constitutes "bad" weather] here is a treasured local pastime! I have learned that much.

Haha, subsidized homeownership, not that is a dicier dinner party conversation topic than sex, religion, or even Atkins vs. veganism!

	From: bird	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:56 pm (UTC)		(link)

you are not a transplant. you are a Santa Barbara native that was somehow born somewhere else because you can bi-locate like St. Martin de Porres.

yeah, saying "subsidized housing" will get you shot in almost any location in town. DO NOT TRY IT IN GELSONS.

From: rroseselavyoui	Date: July 25th, 2008 03:48 pm (UTC)		(link)

Married to someone who is a journalist at a similar kind of paper, some reporters (not Stacy though, he's got his hands full to overflowing with tough stuff) are sort of mandated to write fluff. Also, this could be a puffed-up press release from (is it a city/county library or private) the institution to inform the patrons of the earlier closing.
Also, did you know it's the editors that write the headlines usually? Many times a perfectly good, serious story is totally marred by some goofy, puny headline that someone else thought was catchy. It would drive me crazy to have headlines like that over my name.

Also, as someone who had a brief stint of working in a public library - the hours the place is open is such a huge deal because you've got folks who absolutely NEED to check their Ebay/Myspace/Mail Order Brides (totally not making that up - he printed out pictures and everything) accounts immediately...several times a day....everyday.
Ugh. That was the worst part of it all - that it was just a glorified free internet cafe.
But it was nice to see all the moms come in with their kids each getting ten picutre books to read over night.

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:40 pm (UTC)		(link)

The article consisted of the reporter interviewing library patrons (in the middle of the day) and asking them how upset they were about the library's decision to close at 9pm instead of 8pm, M-F. None of them were the least bit bothered by this. That was the whole article. Oh, and a librarian saying that it was because no one was really using the library at that hour.

We make heavy use of the children's section!

From: rroseselavyoui	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:46 pm (UTC)		(link)

Yay for the Children's section! Have you seen how much picture books cost? Geesh.

Okay, that IS a bit much. One hour early is no big deal especially if they've done the numbers and it's dead.

I swear, I think the people who write the headlines don't even read the articles.

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:51 pm (UTC)		(link)

Yeah, it is almost like a parody of an Onion headline in the "bit much" department.

I think they have maybe ... one full-time reporter now? Ever since Wendy fired everyone who didn't quit first.

From: rroseselavyoui	Date: July 25th, 2008 07:11 pm (UTC)		(link)

Eeek.
Newspapers are a dying breed. I know Stac is thinking about jumping ship into - ick, of all things, P.R. But it makes more money and it isn't dying a long slow death like print media is. :(

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 11:31 pm (UTC)		(link)

Oh, but the News-Press exodus is waaaay different than print slowly dying (which will never happen here because that's a death knell being sounded by the young, whereas S.B. is getting grayer by the millisecond). It really was just about the entire staff leaving at once, with the choral refrain of "Fuck you, Travis!"

http://www.independent.com/news/newspress-mess/

I'm embarrassed that we still get it, but my boss thinks it's important because of my position.

	From: cataptromancer	Date: July 25th, 2008 04:39 pm (UTC)		(link)

I think the word "mostly" could really deflate any headline.

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:46 pm (UTC)		(link)

The journalistic standards at the N-P are stellar, as you can tell.

	From: internought	Date: July 25th, 2008 05:32 pm (UTC)		(link)

"Raging seasonal firestorms mildly distressing for inhabitants"

	From: scythrop	Date: July 25th, 2008 06:49 pm (UTC)		(link)

"Long-term residents occasionally forget the Chumash Casino even exists"

	From: personofporlock	Date: July 27th, 2008 01:28 pm (UTC)		(link)

That is GREAT. I'd be making my picket signs for the next city council meeting RIGHT NOW if that happened to me!

	From: scythrop	Date: July 28th, 2008 09:46 pm (UTC)		(link)

The best part is that the hours in question are 8-9pm on four weekdays, and the reporter only polled patrons who were there on their lunch hour!!

	From: kore	Date: July 29th, 2008 08:24 pm (UTC)		(link)

OXNARD! that's why.