A Healthy City Needs Libraries

There are many things in our city which have slowly watched their funding decline. One of these is our Libraries. Council has cut their funding in the last six years leaving libraries with 1.5% less funding than they had in 2007. While these cuts are not large they have had a huge impact upon our Libraries, one example is that this summer our libraries were not able to be open on weekends.

Now this may not seem like a problem to our city leaders but for too many of our city residents this is a tragedy. Libraries provide not only books but a safe haven in troubled neighborhoods. They are often the only place for children to have a safe place to go. Most importantly they are often the only computer access for many in our community. So for many looking for jobs, doing research, and applying for services Libraries are the only place to do this. These are essential resources for many of our most vulnerable for whom library access is essential to better their lives.

So it is odd that the council president who approved all these budget cuts is my opponent Lovely Warren. She talks about helping the neighborhoods but in her education plan there is no mention of libraries which often provide valuable school assistance.

Libraries should be a priority but they have not been so for Council President Warren nor Mayor Richards. If elected though they will be for me. It is time to consider funding our library system and as such I intend to restore weekend hours in the summer, restore lost hours on school holidays, and provide at least a quarter of a million more funds for library resources each year. All this will cost roughly a million dollars. Unfortunately councilwomen Warren seems to prefer spending money on building a marina and tax breaks for builders but I belief Libraries will help our citizens much more and that is my priority.

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A Healthy City Needs Libraries

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