Pittsburgh Council President Doug Shields announced today that he will propose a $600,000 grant to the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh this year, and an identical amount next year, in return for an agreement to keep neighborhood branches open for a year.

Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato then announced his intention to push for state legislation that would dedicate all city table games revenue to the Carnegie Libraries, and all county table games revenue to the Allegheny County Library Association.

Carnegie and ACLA libraries "are just critical parts of the community," said county spokesman Kevin Evanto. "ACLA is constantly facing funding issues for all of its libraries throughout the county."

State Sen. Jay Costa said he's trying to build legislative consensus around a plan to pledge half of the eventual revenue from proposed table games at casinos to libraries.

"It's not a done deal yet," Mr. Costa stressed. "There's a 50-50 chance that when we do table games, there will be a local share."

The library's board of trustees has voted to close the Beechview, Hazelwood, Lawrenceville and West End branches, plus merge the Carrick and Knoxville branches and move the Mount Washington branch.

Mr. Shields said that, next week, he will introduce legislation to shift $600,000 from the city's fuel account, which is flush because of lower-than-expected fuel prices. The second payment would be part of the 2010 budget, which council can amend after it gets it from Mayor Luke Ravenstahl early next month.

He said the funding should temporarily fill what library officials have characterized as a $1.2 million shortfall, until the General Assembly can set up a long-term funding fix.

"Libraries are not luxury items," he said. "In Hazelwood, it's one of the few institutions that's left there that's available to the public."

Mr. Costa praised council.

"They appear to be the first group, the only group at this point, that's bringing resources to the table, and I applaud them for doing that," he said.

City Councilman Patrick Dowd said Mr. Shields' proposal doesn't reflect any broad consensus. "I don't know why anybody would jump out with a proposal right now that is not sustainable," he said.

He said he's been part of an informal coalition of elected officials, including Mayor Luke Ravenstahl, that has focused on a three-stage effort to save the threatened libraries.

The first step would be calculating the library system's need. The second would be finding stopgap funding. The third would be securing a long-term commitment of funding.

Library spokeswoman Suzanne Thinnes had no immediate comment.

This morning, library officials met with the Post-Gazette editorial board and a reporter.

Lou Testoni, financial committee chair, alluded to stopgap funding as just that this morning. Without a permanent, "sustainable" increase in revenue, the branches will be closed eventually, he said.

The deck is stacked against them based on population and operating costs, he said. The Lawrenceville branch needs millions of dollars in repair work, while the West End and Mt. Washington buildings are unsuited to today's handicapped access laws.

Any quick fix would only buy time to "continue the dialogue," Mr. Testoni said.

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