The Cheese Stands (Almost) Alone

Tuesday night, Erie County Council voted 7-0 to limit the county executive’s actions on the county’s social media.

Erie Co. Council votes Tuesday night on usage of county Facebook account.

Erie County Council Votes to Ban Partisan Posts on Official County Social Media Page

His behavior on the Erie County, Pennsylvania Facebook page has been so controversial that even the three council members that usually condone his behavior couldn’t justify it this time. It’s too bad that they didn’t reach this epiphany sooner–such as the vote to override the veto rescinding the library lease. Prior to the social media vote, the county executive turned off commenting, and deleted all posts prior to his administration on the county Facebook page. Immediately following the vote, the county executive deleted the entire page. The page is now up again, with no comments by taxpayers permitted and a new rant about council. And it’s funny how he has so much time to spend so much time on Facebook, but doesn’t have time to respond to our discovery requests. After the 7-0 vote, it appears the one friend he might have left is Gannon, and he had to give away a large chunk of our library to get them. Help us make sure he finally stands alone by donating to our legal fund.

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“The cheese stands alone.
“The cheese stands alone.
“Hi-ho, the derry-o!
“The cheese stands alone.”

~Traditional

By the Numbers

Part of the narrative that the county executive and Council Members Bayle, Shauerman, and Winarski put forth is that the number of people that signed our petition to rescind the county’s lease with Gannon wasn’t a big enough representation of Erie County. Since candidates for elected office we recently canvassing with petitions, it’s worth taking a look at how many signatures are needed on a petition for an elected official. A petition to run for county executive requires 250 signatures. A petition to run for county council requires 10 signatures. Our petition to rescind the lease of Blasco to Gannon had over 6000 signatures. Let that sink in. That’s around the same number of followers as the county Facebook page.

2023 Information about Running for Office

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“The world is built upon the power of numbers.”

~Pythagoras

Litigation by Procrastination, part 2

Yesterday, the county executive settled the lawsuit that Diverse Erie brought against him. He will have to release the exact amount or American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money that was allocated to the organization back in January 2024, which means he spent unnecessary legal fees, paid by the taxpayers, instead of doing what he was legally obligated to do.

Diverse Erie to receive $1.5 million in legal settlement with Executive Brenton Davis

Diverse Erie wins lawsuit against over ARP funds

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“Leadership is an action, not a position.”

~Donald McGannon

Litigation by Procrastination

As we’ve repeatedly said in asking for your help, attorneys are expensive. The are also expensive for the county executive as well. And who is footing that bill? You, the taxpayer! Erie County government is embroiled in lawsuits. How much is it costing taxpayers? Filing legal action is not something to be taken lightly, and is a decision that the plaintiffs–including KOLP–took after every other option to get the county executive to follow the law was exhausted. He has either settled, refused to accept the judge’s ruling, and, in our case, delayed to avoid the inevitable. He has asked for two extensions for our discovery requests, and then submitted inadequate discovery. He only included some emails–none of which included the responses Right to Know Requests that our members submitted prior to the lawsuit. He also didn’t include text messages as requested. Apparently, litigation by procrastination is the only strategy he has. He is trying to delay the case in the hopes of draining our legal fund, but at the same time, he’s also draining taxpayer dollars. Remember how we have been saying he has breached his fiduciary duty to the taxpayers in the lease with Gannon? He continues to do so in his response to our lawsuit.

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“You can tell a bully from a leader by how they treat people who disagree with them.”

~Miles Davis

A Video is Worth 3200 Square Feet, too, Part 2

The purpose of a library is to build community. A recent article in the Erie Daily-Times detailed how poverty rates in the City of Erie are increasing: Erie’s child poverty rate is the highest among PA’s 10 big cities. Why it’s increasing. Yet the county executive chose to lease 3200 square feet of space of our library to a private, religious, tax-exempt university: Gannon Tuition. This doesn’t serve the part of the community that needs it most.

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“One of the marvelous things about community is that it enables us to welcome and help people in a way we couldn’t as individuals.”

~Jean Vanier

A Video is Worth 3200 Square Feet, too

2nd State Films has released the first episode of Save Blasco, “The Power of Minerva!” Thank you to 2nd State Films for producing this documentary at no cost to KOLP. Thank you also to Julio Reyes who hosted the premier at the Maennerchor Plaza at no cost to KOLP. Below is the link to the YouTube video and the link to “The Power of Minerva” on the Keep Our Library Public website.

Videos

Please share, share, share these links with your friends, family, and neighbors to make sure our story is told!

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“We live in a world in which we need to share responsibility. It’s easy to say, ‘It’s not my child, not my community, not my world, not my problem.’ Then there are those who see the need and respond. I consider those people my heroes.

~Fred Rogers

A Picture is Worth 3200 Square Feet, part 2

After Brenton Davis repeatedly saying that Project NepTWNE would have no impact on library services, this is where we are…

This is where 156 shelves of books once stood. Where did they go?

To the dumpster. The county executive seems to have a thing for dumpsters. Hopefully, a number of them made their way to the Friends of the Library for the Great American Book Sale.

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“He who destroys a good book kills reason itself.”

~Milton

Happy Library Lovers Day!

From some front page worthy people! Please help keep our library 100% public by giving in honor of Library Lovers Day!

Protesters ‘not giving up’ opposition to Gannon aquatic center at Blasco Library

Gannon’s aquatic center at Blasco Library moves forward amid protests ― and a lawsuit

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“A library is not a luxury but one of the necessities of life.”

~Henry Ward Beecher

Under Cover of Darkness

After months of radio silence about construction plans from both Gannon and the county executive, construction began last night at Blasco Library. Let’s think about that. If this is such a wonderful project and is so good for the library, why was it commenced under the cover of darkness with no announcement? Why the timing? Could it have something to do with the deadline (that has been extended) for handing over discovery materials in our lawsuit that the county executive has rapidly approaching at the end of this week? A coincidence, right?

Construction may have started, but this fight isn’t over. Please give to our legal fund to help us continue our legal battle to keep our library public.

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Meredith: Under the cover of darkness, people do things they never do under the harsh glare of day. Decisions feel wiser. People feel older. But, when the sun rises, you have to take responsibility for what you did in the dark. And face yourself under the cold harsh light of day.

~”Grey’s Anatomy”