THIS is OUR house!
Congratulations to 2nd State Films for winning the Audience Choice Award at the Lake Effect Film Festival! This was a labor of love with all the time and money donated by 2nd State. If you missed the festival, you can watch here: “Save Blasco!” Thank you to Cayce Mell and 2nd State Films for the continued support of our cause!
“The most honest form of filmmaking is to make a film for yourself.”
~Peter Jackson
The story of the award-winning “Save Blasco” documentary, which will be shown at the Lake Effect Film Festival 5Iron this Saturday, September 13th at 11am, is told by Liz Allen in the Erie Reader (pages 6-8). Please make sure that you pick up your free copy of the Erie Reader (locations in the link) before a local politician has the chance (IYKYK).
Here’s the link: Signs of our Times. Please share!
“Freedom of the press is not just important to democracy; it is democracy.”
~Walter Cronkite
This week it was announce that the Pennsylvania Fishing and Boat Commission (PFBC) is opening a laboratory in Fairview, PA–right in Erie County–to study the water of Lake Erie.
PFBC Celebrates Opening of New Lake Erie Research Unit Facility
PFBC opens new research facility in Erie to help study lake
Sounds a bit like Project NePTWNE, doesn’t it? There are a few differences, however:
Maybe Gannon didn’t need the space in the library. Maybe they just wanted the space, seeing as there is a lab studying the water of Lake Erie right down the road.
“It’s like Deja vu all over again.”
~Yogi Berra
Here is the schedule for the Lake Effect Film Festival, September 11-13: Rhoxon Productions. “Save Blasco” will have a screening on Saturday, September 13 at 11 am at 5 Iron.
Even though all proceeds from tickets go to the film festival, it’s incredibly important to support the festival. KOLP has not gotten much support from the local media, so this helps spread the word about Gannon’s occupation of the library and our fight to stop it. And, if you want to donate to our legal fund, you can use the button below.
A reminder that this documentary was also selected for the Defense of Democracy Film Festival, and the documentary was a labor of love by 2nd State Films. No donations were used for the documentary–all donations go to our legal fund to fight the Gannon lease.
“Film festivals are a great vehicle for gaining an audience for your film, for exposure for the talent in the film and for the film makers to leverage opportunities for their films. I love the energy that film festivals bring.”
~Jamie Hector
This morning on his re-election Facebook page, the country executive made what he considers to be a humorous attempt to claim that Project NepTWNE will be testing for fecal matter. Cool story, Brenton, but as everyone who has been following the story knows, the program tests for nanoplastics–not fecal matter, and it doesn’t have to be on Lake Erie to do it. The water samples can and are transported by (gasp!) cars and trucks at almost every lab that already does this research. Did he really give away part of our library without knowing the purpose? There’s some fecal matter to be detected here, but in this case, it’s not in the lake.
“Never be afraid to raise your voice for honesty and truth and compassion against injustice and lying and greed.”
~William Faulkner
No, we’re not talking about the weather here. We’re talking about “Save Blasco” being selected for the Lake Effect Film Festival, September 11-13, 2025 at the Tom Ridge Environmental Center (TREC).
A reminder that this documentary was also selected for the Defense of Democracy Film Festival, and the documentary was a labor of love by 2nd State Films. No donations were used for the documentary–all donations go to our legal fund to fight the Gannon lease.
“If you compromise what you’re trying to do a little bit, you’ll end up compromising a little more the next day or the next week, and when you lift your head you’re suddenly really far away from where you’re trying to go.”
~Spike Jonze
Congratulations to the Benedictine Sisters of Erie for being awarded the National Democracy Award: Benedictine Sisters Win National Democracy Award. The sisters have always been strong moral compass for our area. It seems like a good time to remember when one of the sisters called out the Gannon lease: ‘Immoral deal’ why Gannon’s Blasco lease is an economic, political and religious failure.
“You have to follow your moral compass: it’s a good guide of telling you what is right and wrong.”
~Cailee Spaeny
How it started…
How it’s going…
Do you think he had a change of heart about reading and libraries, or do you think it’s because it’s an election year? Way to show efficiency by using taxpayers’ resources for his photo ops rather than spending his own campaign funds.
“I can’t believe what you say, because I see what you do.”
~James A. Baldwin
The space at the Blasco Library is giving Gannon a new profit center. For those of you who may be saying, but Gannon is a non-profit, yes, they are a 501c3. I invite you, however, to explore our Taxpayer Facts page that has links to Gannon’s Form 990, tuition, and tax-free properties in the city. In addition to the marketing advantage of having a university “on the lake,” it came to light during the depositions that Gannon has plans to offer some sessions of their summer camps in the library. That would be a further money-making opportunity, and it would limit public access to the space that Gannon has claimed would be open to the public. Below is an example of one of the current camps held on the [real] Gannon campus.
A library SHOULD be a profit center, but it should be a profit center of non-monetary return; a place where a COMMUNITY can learn and grow, regardless of the money those individuals have to spend. It’s an investment in the public at large–not private institutions.
“A library is the only single place you can go to learn something new, to be comforted, terrified, thrilled, saddened, overjoyed, or excited all in one day. And all for free.”
~Amy Neftzger
While Gannon is using their to ask for money for Erie Gives Day, it would be good to remember their true financial state: Taxpayer Facts.
They have plenty of money and space, but they claim to need our library. Maybe in honor of Erie Gives Day, they should give our library back. Please help support our lawsuit instead:
“Since you get more joy out of giving joy to others, you should put a good deal of thought into the happiness you are able to give.”
~Eleanor Roosevelt
Keep Our Library Public!