Samantha Smart wrote:
I see open and excellent libraries as the bottom line, with the only question
being, how to achieve this from the disastrous level to which we have been sunk?
The other question is this: Who has the power to change this overall
situation? As an untested newcomer to the board, how would you get your
co-directors support? One example: Laura Waterman Wittstock will most
probably be your co-director. She's been on the board for 4 years and
has never wavered from what she said in her latest post. Have you her
commitment to your program? A board is not a Lone Ranger kinda deal.
While I realize that this is not specifically a Library Board issue, a member of
the Board sits on the Board of Estimate & Taxation and can surely have
influence on this situation.
The Bd. of E&T does not have the power to raise the mil rate by itself.
The last time the library board and director asked for a rise in the mil
rate for libraries, it was the mayor and city council who somehow put
the kibosh on it. Does anyone remember how that went down?
2) Elders are not losing their homes because of libraries! People are not getting forced on to the street because of libraries!
Whoa, Nellie! I take personal exception to this line of argument. When
the new taxes for the library referendum appear next year (and continue
for 20 years, I think) it very well may be that the accumulated taxes
and assessments will cost me my home. Most of my friends are in their
fifties, sixties, and seventies. They are also so close to the edge it
isn't funny. Many of them have far more complex and more expensive
health issues than I do. We are being driven out of town.
3) Yes, Wizard, with regard to a Building Impact Fee, books & materials are
considered Capital, according to precendents set around the country (see Thomas
Hennen, Jr., author of Public Library PLanning).
But not here. With all the other points of your program, this one will
be yet another change for which you will need lots of friends in high
places to get movement, let alone agreement.
4) C. Lee - the St. Paul library system is open full time (7 days), with award-winning
adult and children's programming, an Outreach Library specifically for working with
"new American" communities, a bookmobile and transportation for the poor and
disabled, and a new Rondo library with low-income housing, because they have organized a
Citizen-based Advocacy Group for 13 years now to not only assist in creating each years'
library budget (see www.thefriends.org) but lobbying the Mayor and City Council to make
sure that the budget is fully adopted. Our Board both catalyzed such a group (the
Community Participation Initiative) and terminated it!
Yes, St. Paul appears to have had excellent leadership for a long period
of time, but I do remember a time when it, too, seemed to be
languishing. There have been a series of changes in St. Paul that have
been going on since at least 1977 that I can attest to. Have you 28
years to devote to this issue?
You are asking yourself and the voters to undergo huge changes here and
I respect every change you are proposing and agree with most of them.
But you are saying that you, Samantha Smart, are able to convince the
other members of the board, the employees of the library (who always
bear the brunt of working out edicts from above), and the citizens to
jointly engage in a massive struggle against a hostile federal
government, a hostile legislature, an elsewhere occupied city council, a
mayor, and the taxpayers during an expensive war overseas and with the
competing issues being food, shelter, employment, health care,
education, and public safety.
However, before you put your name out there for the library board, I had
never heard your name and I keep my ear pretty close to the ground on
the southside of Mpls. Where are your troops? Who are your allies in
this massive undertaking? Otherwise, Ms. Smart, it would be pointless
to vote for you because you would wind up being frustrated,
accomplishing nothing, and causing the board to get into such a snarl it
would be a mess.
Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
I would love to be able to vote for you, but every post you send makes
it more difficult.
WizardMarks, Central
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
REMINDERS:
1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If
you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL
PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list.
2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait.
For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html
For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract
________________________________
Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn
E-Democracy
Post messages to: mailto:[email protected]
Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
