2nd State Films is making a documentary on KOLP’s efforts to save the Blasco! You can watch the trailer here.
“The best films of any kind, narrative or documentary, provoke questions.”
~Edward Norton
Coming Attractions
The Math Ain’t Mathing, Folks!
One of our contentions in our lawsuit against the county executive is that the lease with Gannon breached his fiduciary duty to the taxpayers of Erie County. In keeping with that pattern, his proposed 2025 is, well, I don’t think I can say it better than Erie County Council: Erie County Council: Davis’ budget has $700,000 of extra deficits. And while the county executive is politicizing public safety by making claims on his re-election Facebook page that council is refusing to fund a county EMS authority, it was revealed during today’s (November 19th) budget hearing that EMS and municipal GAP funding was authorized in 2024, but the county executive didn’t utilize those funds. Most of the funds still remain the account! November 19, 2024 County Council Second Public Budget Hearing (1:12:45). There was also discussion about ARPA funds and how they are to be use for people that truly need the funds. Don’t forget that the county executive made sure that Project NepTWNE received $1.5 million, however–just $1 million less than he has budgeted for the EMS authority. You can learn more about the budget at the Jefferson Educational Society tomorrow (November 20th): Making Sense of Erie County Residents’ Dollars and Cents
This pattern of behavior is why we are suing to dissolve the lease of Blasco Library. For the good of Erie County, this lack of fiscal irresponsibility can’t be allowed to continue.
“The essence of math is not to make simple things complicated, but to make complicated things simple.”
~Stan Gudder
Priorities, Part 2
The past couple of weeks have been quite harrowing for the firefighters in our area due to drought conditions and high winds. These men and women are true hometown heroes and give so much of their time and energy to keep us safe. Please support our local volunteer fire companies! The county executive has issued a burning ban and said how important the volunteer fire companies are during his photo ops. However, actions speak louder than words. Let’s compare what the local public service entities received in ARPA funds vs what Project NepTWNE received.
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were designed to help the country recover from the effects of the pandemic. For more information on how ARPA grants were to be distributed and the qualifications: State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Project NepTWNE was granted $1.5 million in ARPA funds to build a water research lab in the Union Fish Building as the ordinance was written: https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/faqs/#erie-county-documents-regarding-the-1-5-million-grant-to-gannon. Keep in mind these funds were granted to a private, religious university with a large endowment. Gannon still had remote classes during the pandemic: Gannon to pay $1.1 million to settle class-action suit over COVID-era remote instruction.
As is shown in the comparison, most of the fire departments were given less than 1% of what was given to Gannon, which at the end of the 2022 school year had an endowment of $71 million. And Gannon got a lease of the taxpayer funded library on top of it? And the county executive wants to take over the 911 system when he feels that a private university deserves more funding than our local volunteer firefighters? This is why we need to hold him accountable when it comes to taxpayer money!
“They say in every library there is a single book that can answer the question that burns like a fire in the mind.”
~Lemony Snicket
Are You a Responsible Employer?
“Wait! What? Me? I’m not an employer!” you may be saying. But as a taxpayer and citizen you are. There has been a lot said lately that if you don’t like the job an elected official is doing, then vote them out. Voting is extremely important—and I hope you exercise your franchise on Tuesday–that’s not enough, however. A lot of damage can be done in four years. Think about the amount of damage a toddler can do in four years—and yes, that’s a very deliberate comparison—let alone someone that has access to millions of dollars in funds and assets. If the country executive is not leveraging taxpayer assets—such as farmland or a library—in a way that is beneficial to taxpayers and citizens, then taxpayers need to give feedback—just as a good employer would. That’s why it’s so important to stay engaged.
The county executive is calling the Human Relations Commission a duplication of effort and telling citizens that they need to travel to Pittsburgh or Harrisburg to get assistance. What if they don’t have transportation? What if they aren’t familiar with Pittsburgh driving? It’s not for the faint of heart. The irony here is that Gannon officials argued at their “public input sessions” that Blasco Library was a better location for Project NepTWNE than the Tom Ridge Environmental Center (TREC) because it was too hard to get transportation to TREC, but TREC is still in the same city and not 2-4 hours away. Why the concern for convenience for a so-called tourist attraction, but not for basic services?
The 2025 budget is so far out of wack that the county executive is simply taking millions of dollars from the reserve fund. That’s the rainy day fund. If it looks like rain, it’s only because he’s seeding the clouds. This is so that he can blame council if a tax hike or cuts are needed.
He is eliminating 74 positions with the excuse that these positions aren’t filled. Why aren’t they filled? Why is there such turnover in his administration?
Elected officials serve at the pleasure of the taxpayers. Yes, vote, but in the meantime, between elections, let officials know your opinions and if necessary, take legal action if there are no other remedies, such as the KOLP lawsuit. Be a responsible employer. Protect county funds and assets, and make sure they work for the taxpayers, not the county executive.
“With great power comes great responsibility.”
~Uncle Ben, Spiderman
Priorities
One of the “highlights” of the county executive on his countywide budget tour is how the allocation of ARPA funds are helping the municipalities of Erie county fund infrastructure projects that they otherwise couldn’t fund. Although there are other allocations of ARPA money, let’s compare the municipal funds with what was given to Gannon University for Project NepTWNE ($1.5 million), since the municipalities are where the county executive purports to prioritize. The source is here: Erie County, Pa. has spent roughly $41 million in ARPA funds. Where did the funds go?
American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds were designed to help the country recover from the effects of the pandemic. For more information on how ARPA grants were to be distributed and the qualifications: State and Local Fiscal Recovery Funds. Project NepTWNE was granted $1.5 million in ARPA funds to build a water research lab in the Union Fish Building as the ordinance was written: https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/faqs/#erie-county-documents-regarding-the-1-5-million-grant-to-gannon. Keep in mind these funds were granted to a private, religious university with a large endowment. Gannon still had remote classes during the pandemic: Gannon to pay $1.1 million to settle class-action suit over COVID-era remote instruction.
As is shown in the comparison, each of these municipalities received a fraction of what was given to Gannon, which at the end of the 2022 school year had an endowment of $71 million. If, as the county executive contends, these municipalities are so desperate for money for basic services, then why was one of the largest chunks of it given to an entity that wasn’t so desperate? And then Gannon got a lease of the taxpayer funded library on top of it? You might also want to check the article for public safety grants and how those were prioritized considering the country executive has ideas about the county 911 system.
“Fairness does not mean everyone gets the same. Fairness means everyone gets what they need.”
~Rick Riordan
S-BOOK-TACULAR Sale
Support the Friends of the Library! The S-BOOKTACULAR Sale is from Thursday, Oct. 17 through Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024 at Blasco Library. Also, at the Bayfront Bookshelf, all Stephen King and Anne Rice titles are on sale through October 28! Make sure you visit the library itself while you are there and keep those numbers up!
And speaking scary things, make sure you review the proposed 2025 Erie County budget and bring any concerns you may have to your council rep.
“There is something at work in my soul, which I do not understand.”
~Mary Shelley, Frankenstein
The Library as a Lighthouse
Have you visited the library lately? Have you borrowed any books or media? Declining numbers are a way to justify cuts to the library, so it is critical to keep those numbers up. If you need a reason to visit, Saturday is Lighthouse to the Bayfront Day right next door to the library, so please make plans to visit the Blasco if you are taking a tour. This event isn’t sponsored by the library, but what a cool metaphor for the library and what a great excuse to swing by the library either before or after a tour and check out a book! The Blasco is truly a lighthouse of our community and a wonderful piece of our bayfront that everyone can enjoy. It provides a powerful light for all of us. Please make sure it continues as a beacon for generations to come!
“To be a lighthouse, you must be strong enough to resist every kind of storm, to every kind of loneliness and you must have a powerful light inside you!”
~Mehmet Murat Ildan
Don’t Be Like Bonnie Tyler
Unless you are a Gen Xer or older, you may not have heard of Bonnie Tyler. It is possible you may have heard her hit song this past summer in conjunction with the eclipse, “Total Eclipse of the Heart.” One of her hit songs from the 80s is from the movie, Footloose,—the original, not the remake (to Gen X, the only Footloose). It’s called “Holding Out for a Hero.” Well, KOLPers, that something we don’t have the luxury of doing. No one is coming to save us or our beloved Blasco Library. This is something we must do ourselves. We have to be our own heroes. If you have already donated to our legal fund, thank you and please consider giving again. If you haven’t donated, be your own hero and donate today. Otherwise, you might discover another one of Bonnie Tyler’s hits: “It’s a Heartache.” We’ve raised $30k so far. Let’s keep that momentum going!
For those younger than Gen X, our hair really did look like that in the 80s, and MTV really had music videos like these.
Don’t hold out for a hero. Be your own hero and please donate to our legal fund.
“Heroes are ordinary people who make themselves extraordinary.”
~Gerard Way
Word of Wisdom from Jimmy Kimmel
I shared this in one of our original KOLP newsletters, and recycling is a good thing, right? Things have been a little heavy lately, and sometimes you need a good laugh to keep you going, so please watch and enjoy: Let’s Not Throw Librarians in Jail!
If you had a laugh and it made you think, please consider donating to our legal fund to dissolve the lease at the Blasco Memorial Library.
“Shhhhhhh!”
~A Librarian
Promises
So true. “Promises” by public officials include their official actions: laws, ordinances, codes…and dedications. When leaders live up to their promises, it helps to build trust all the way around.
The public trust is non-negotiable. “Inviolable,” you might say. Back at Christmastime 1996, we placed OUR trust in a large group of Erie area leaders, including the Bishop of the Erie Diocese and the President of Gannon University, who gathered to dedicate the newly built Blasco Memorial Library. Funded partly by generous donations, the Blasco Library is held in trust by elected officials, but it belongs to all of us.
Believing that the public trust was violated by the 2023 lease of the Blasco Library to Gannon University, we formed “Keep Our Library Public” (KOLP), and have sued to have the lease invalidated. Unchecked, it will certainly have future negative implications for libraries and other public spaces in Erie County. While we don’t presume to tell librarians how to run the library, we DO take exception to the people who are trying to give the library away to a private entity.
Erie County citizens can take a cue from other communities, who have joined together to defend their libraries, in some cases raising millions of dollars. Please join us. You can show your support especially by making a donation today to the KOLP Library legal defense fund. Join us today!
You can also help spread the word by downloaded flyers here: Promises flyers
“The whole point of promises is to build TRUST. If there’s no trust, none of this is possible. No libraries, no roads, no power lines.”
~Mom, “Bluey” episode : Promises
Keep Our Library Public! 