Closing all Libraries:
Salinas, California, birthplace and muse of John Steinbeck, is closing its three public libraries. The city claims a severe budget shortfall, which has already led to the closing of a rec. center and civil servant wage cuts, as the reason. In November, voters turned down a half-cent sales tax increase that would have funded the library systems. The citizens of Salinas, a mostly working class argicultural town with a large Latino population, rely on the library system for computer access, literacy and job resources.
So what’s the take away lesson here? Several.
1) Read your ballot at election time. You never know what you’re voting for. Or against.
2) Libraries are no longer dim book warehouses where grumpy librarians say “shhhh.” In the 21st century, libraries are community centers, information resources, and one of the few great equalizers in an increasingly expensive digital age. The poor, kids, the homeless and the elderly depend upon libraries for job leads, access to municipal services, homework help and Internet access when they can’t afford computers at home. Just because you don’t think need them, doesn’t mean someone else does.
3) Nobody likes to pay taxes. Nobody thinks government is any good at managing money. That said, society needs money to run and the way the system works is that everybody pays in. If you’d prefer a setup where everybody only pays what they use, fine. Then starting tomorrow, I will no longer pay public school taxes since I have no children. I will no longer pay into veterans funds because I’ve never served in war. I won’t pay highway taxes since I don’t commute and won’t pay for the free clinic in my neighborhood that provides health care to the poor since I’m not poor.
See how fast this logic unravels? Does this sound like the society you want?
This sucks. It just plain sucks (via Readerville).