Banned!

Libraries all across the country are facing challenges. There are book bans, closures, and farming out library spaces for other uses (sound familiar?), among other tactics to limit people’s access to literature and the free exchange of ideas. Here are some resources to help you observe Banned Books Week from September 22-28, 2024:

As an act of rebellion against restriction of free speech, pick up one of the books mentioned, and read it! Books are a wonderful way for kids and adults to not only see themselves, but to see others.

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https://www.etsy.com/listing/1495197378/a-book-worth-banning-book-lover

“A book worth banning is a book worth reading.”

~Issac Asimov

How Things Are Done in Ohio, part 2

A member that is a former Cleveland resident found yet another example of how they do things in Ohio. If you remember from our first Ohio post, the country executive holds Ohio in very high esteem when it comes to an example of how things should be done.

Cuyahoga County Public Library announces October groundbreaking for new Parma Heights branch

The new Parma Heights branch of the Cuyahoga County Public Library was designed after public feedback (WHAT?!) from 3 (YES, 3!!!) public input sessions on a “shovel-ready site” (yet another favorite catchphrase of the county executive that he wrongly attributes to himself–like below).

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“Let’s get to work.”

~President Barak Obama, November 9, 2012

Pick a number, any number

Fair season is coming to a close in NW PA, and if you’re missing the opportunity to play games of chance on the midway, you can still pick your lucky number, and Blasco Library can be the winner. Our RallyUp donation site has the option of recurring donations–along with remaining anonymous–so you can pick a smaller amount to continue giving every month. None of us is independently wealthy. It’s this grassroots effort that will help our legal fund continue to grow.

So what’s your lucky number?

  • $7 for the price Gannon is paying per square foot?
  • $10.90 for the percentage our property taxes increase?
  • $25 for the length of the lease?
  • $27.99–the average cost of a hardcover book?
  • $51 for the number of properties Gannon owns in the city of Erie?
  • $115 for the number of properties Gannon owns in Erie County?
  • $160–the address of Blasco Library?
  • $1913–the amount of monthly rent Gannon will be paying that is not even close to the going rate for Bayfront property?
  • Number of books you read?

Or you can choose your own lucky number. Just don’t choose the amount of property taxes that Gannon pays. Games of chance are fun, but we can’t take chances with our library. To set up a recurring donation, please use the RallyUp! button below. You can also make a one-time donation by going to our donate page.

RallyUp!

“It is not often that someone comes along who is a true friend and a good writer.”

~E.B. White, Charlotte’s Web

How Things Are Done in Ohio

If you’ve ever spent any time on the Erie County Executive’s Facebook re-election page (and you have my sympathy because life is short, and you will never get that time back), you’ll know that he is constantly holding up Ohio as a shining example of how things “should” be done in Erie County.

One of KOLP’s members (and this is why I love this group–so much input on library issues) recently shared that the Mentor, OH Public Library has plans to enhance its main branch. Here is the link to those plans: Future of MPL’s Main Branch – FAQ. A few key takeaways from these enhancements: there is no space being leased to outside, tax-exempt, religious organizations, there is a plan to improve traffic flow, and the enhancements are based on the strategic plan which was created with public input: Mentor Public Library Strategic Plan. Can anyone say, “Irony?”

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“How can any man judge, unless his mind has been opened and enlarged by reading.”

~John Adams

A Tale of Two Cities

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Heck, it was a pandemic…it was the worst of times.

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.

This has since morphed into a display at the Blasco Erie County Library instead of a research lab: https://www.gannon.edu/about-gannon/initiatives/project-neptwne/great-lakes-education-and-research-center/. Although Gannon’s marketing campaign states that it will include a NOAA Science on a Sphere, the lengthy application process was not started as of the public meetings for Project NepTWNE back in August.

Another project in town (Grow Erie at Savocchio Park. Urban agriculture site takes shape at Savocchio Park. When will it be ready?) was denied $750,000 by the county executive (Loss of funding puts Savocchio Park’s community garden ‘on the backburner’) Grow Erie is projected to generate $748,000 annually and create employment in a neighborhood that needs jobs and needed these funds. The people in this neighborhood didn’t have an endowment to fall back on during the pandemic.

So, we have a tale of two cities–one on the west side that could operate during the pandemic, one on the east side that could not. One that has an endowment, one that does not. One that got ARPA funds, the other that did not.

Please donate to fund our lawsuit.

“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way…”

~Charles Dickens

Reservations at the Library

Once Gannon gets their foot in the door…. They can book all the public meeting places in Blasco. They have full use of the entire library at no cost. They were given a lease which should have been approved by taxpayers AND the courts! Lawsuits are not free.
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https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/donate

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“Information helps you to see that you’re not alone. That there’s somebody in Mississippi and somebody in Tokyo who all have wept, who’ve all longed and lost, who’ve all been happy. So the library helps you to see, not only that you are not alone, but that you’re not really any different from everyone else.”

~Maya Angelou

Deja Vu

One of the treasures of the Erie region stands at the gateway to Presque Isle State Park. It’s the Tom Ridge Environmental Center. There are displays and exhibits, classrooms, dioramas, and more. It’s also a research center where scientists from across North America can study the Great Lakes Watershed. And, due to the location and the tower that offers views of Lake Erie, it is also tourist attraction. The TREC Big Green Screen Theater is a large auditorium with amphitheater seating that offers large format movies on nature and the environment. I have this really strange feeling that I’ve seen something almost exactly like this recently–maybe at some public meetings at the library? If an organization were truly concerned about the environment and sustainability, it would be counterintuitive to duplicate this wonderful facility that already exists, wouldn’t it?

Photos courtesy of Harriet S.

“It’s like Deja vu all over again.”

~Yogi Berra

To paraphrase Shakespeare, “Would restructuring under any other name smell as sweet?” Spoiler alert: NO

At this past Thursday’s finance committee meeting, we heard about the library staff restructuring plan, which would result in staffing cuts of $278, 240. Immediately following the announcement of these cuts, a staff member quit without notice.

Two important meetings take place this week:

Monday, August 19th at noon via Zoom–Library Advisory Board

Please email dcooper@eriecountypa.gov if you intend to speak during public comment.

08-LAB-Agenda-August-2024Download

Tuesday, August 29th at 6pm at the Erie County Courthouse–Erie County Council Meeting

8-20-24 Regular Agenda PacketDownload

If you have not signed up to be on the agenda for the council meeting, you have 3 minutes to speak.

We were promised no cuts because of the Gannon lease, and at the end of 2023, several positions were barely saved from a line-item veto by the county executive. Despite claims that the lease will bring more library visitors, now there are cuts–because that’s what they are no matter what they are called–in staff that are supposed to serve those alleged higher numbers of library users. Even if you aren’t speaking, please plan on attending both of these meetings to let elected officials know we are watching and supporting our library and the library staff.

And don’t forget to email Erie County Council: Stay Engaged.

“A rose, by any other name, would smell as sweet.”

~William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet (Spoiler Alert: Did not have a happy ending.)

Surprise! Surprise! (Sarcasm Intended)

After having to listen to the narrative from the county executive, the members of county council that refused to override the veto to rescind the lease, and Gannon that the lease would not reduce library staff or programming, we can see on page 26 of the agenda packet for the upcoming finance committee meeting on Thursday, August 15th at 4:00pm that there is a “$278,420 Reorganization of Library Staff.” “Reorganization” = cuts. In other words, empty positions will not be filled, and other positions will be re-classified.

If you can’t attend in person, you can attend via Zoom or phone:

Join Via Zoom:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/83547212987?pwd=U1laQ1pBcGJlSjdTTHBMUnUrYmUzdz09
Meeting ID: 835 4721 2987
Passcode: 081524
Or call in: 1 929 205 6099

Contact Erie County Council and let them know that this is not acceptable, no matter the spin that is put on it. Contact information is here: Stay Engaged

8-15-24 Finance Agenda PacketDownload

“When I was an unhappy little boy, going to the library changed my life. It may even have saved it. Amazing as it sounds, literature can do that for you. Books are your ticket to the whole world. They’re a free ticket to the entire eart.”

~Billy Connolly

KOLP Statement Regarding Preliminary Objections by the County Executive

On August 8th, the county executive issued preliminary objections in response to our complaint stating that Erie County (PA) Council and Gannon University should be included as defendants in our lawsuit. Whether or not the council and/or Gannon is involved in the lawsuit, our contention is that the lease at Blasco Memorial Library is still invalid. The preliminary objections are a stalling tactic. For further comment, we are represented by Alan Shuckrow and Alexis Wheeler with Strassburger McKenna Gutnick & Gefsky in Pittsburgh, PA.

For further information–including copies of the lease and our complaint, please go to https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/faqs/.

To see how the lease affects you as an Erie County PA taxpayer, please go to https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/taxpayer-facts/.

If you would like to help fund our fight, please go to https://keepourlibrarypublic.com/donate/.