Philly mayor to appeal libraries ruling

PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Philadelphia's mayor says he will appeal a judge's order blocking plans to shut down 11 city libraries Wednesday.

Mayor Michael Nutter said Tuesday's ruling in Common Pleas Court violated his authority to keep the city running.

The judge said the libraries would remain open until Nutter received approval for his budget-trimming plan from the 18-member city council, a requirement that Nutter indicated might be impossible to fulfill even with Philadelphia in dire need of the $8 million in savings the closures would bring.

"Someone has to ultimately make a decision and it cannot be 18 people," Nutter told the Philadelphia Inquirer. "This has nothing to do about libraries. It has to do with competently running the city."

A trio of council members who sought the injunction to keep the libraries open dismissed Nutter's criticism and told the Inquirer that the mayor should have been working with the council from the start.