Fun Facts

If you are a City of Erie resident, you might want to attend the city council meeting on July 2nd at 9am. The council is voting on a resolution to loan Gannon University $1 million dollars. Fun fact, this is close to the amount that Gannon would pay for a PILOT (Payment in Lieu of Taxes) Program, if they chose to participate, which they do not. 2024 Erie PA City Council Budget Workbook with Tax-Exempt Properties

Another fun fact, if you work in the City of Erie and overpay your income tax, you don’t get a refund because the city is a “distressed community,” but it has the money to loan to a private tax-exempt entity.

Taxpayers of Erie County already gave Gannon $1.5 million in ARPA funds are are being told to hand over 3200 square feet of the Blasco Library. It doesn’t seem fair, does it?

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“It is not fair to ask of others what you are not willing to do yourself.”

~Eleanor Roosevelt

A Place of Privilege

The recent heat wave where the weather was close to 100 degrees and several social media posts gave me a lot to think about last week. A lot of us are lucky and have air conditioning at work and at home.. In fact, I sometimes complain about it being too cold at work. Not everyone can say the same. If you don’t have air conditioning, in extreme heat, where can you go if you live in the city? Let me rephrase that—where can you go without spending or being expected to spend money? The Blasco Library! Think about it–it’s pretty much the only free, indoor, air conditioned space left on the bayfront in Erie. But the county is giving a large chunk of space to a private university that is already privileged enough to have air conditioning on their campus.

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“Those who have the privilege to know have the duty to act.”

~Albert Einstein

Thank you!

Thank you to everyone who helped to make out Bingo event such a success. What a crowd! If you worked at the entrance table, donated an auction basket or raffle item, sold advance tickets, or even attended, you were part of the team that helped to raise just over $6300 toward our legal fund! Most especially, thank you to Patty and Kathe for organizing the event and leading the team! Thank you also to our host, JPTF Bingo.

Even with that success, we still have a way to go to reach our goal. Please click on the donate button to help keep the momentum going!

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“Collaboration is multiplication.”

~John C. Maxwell

Whelp, It’s Certainly an Election Year!

June 7th kicked off the Summer Reading Program at Blasco. If you haven’t signed up yet, you should! Information is here: Color Our World.

The county executive–in one of his very rare library visits–made sure to turn it into a photo-op for his re-election campaign and made sure his picture was posted to at least 3 public Facebook pages. Don’t be fooled. This is how he really feels about the library:

But hey, he’s trying to keep his job now.

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“Change will not come if we wait for some other person or some other time. We are the ones we’ve been waiting for. We are the change we seek.”

~President Barack Obama

The Scholastic Book Fair for Grown-ups!

The Great American Book Sale is set for June 15-20 at the Flo Fabrizio Ice Center, 423 W. 38th St.

Sale hours are 10 a.m.-8 p.m. June 15-19 and 10 a.m.-3 p.m. June 20.

June is Great American Book Sale month in Erie. Everything to know about the 6-day event.

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“Reality doesn’t always give us the life that we desire, but we can always find what we desire between the pages of books.”
~Adelise M. Cullens, Dead Bunnies Make All Eight Of Me Cry

Out of his Depth

The two most recent additions to the county executive’s list of “greatest hits”:

‘Not properly appointed’: State court faults county policy, voids tax sale of Erie house

Erie County Council moves to halt unapproved spending by Davis. Why they did so

Do you really think someone so out of his depth in the day-to-day here and now should be deciding the future of our library for the next 25-45 years?  “Forward-thinking”—a frequent ingredient in the county executive’s word salad–doesn’t mean locking up space in our library for an entire generation or more.

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“Knowing the edge of your competency is important. If you think you know more than you do, you will get in trouble. “

~ Warren Buffett

Oops, He Did It Again, to Paraphrase Britney Spears

Hey, remember when the county executive accused ECGRA of mismanaging funds?  The results of the PA Auditor General’s audit showed that not only was ECGRA in compliance with all commonwealth laws, but that the county executive had not paid ECGRA $538,000 the county owes the authority.

From the many lawsuits, to the false accusations against ECGRA, to the farmland in West County, to the out of balanced budget, to the record tax increase, to the unapproved spending, to the Blasco lease fiasco (and probably not everything is captured here), Davis has proven again and again that he is out of his depth.  And he continues to point fingers at others and deny any wrongdoing. This is not a way to lead Erie County. Please help us with our lawsuit to dissolve the Blasco lease, and please vote him out in November.

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“Blowing out someone else’s candle doesn’t make yours shine any brighter.”

~Unknown

If the previous administration had done it…

..everyone would have loved it. This is the major lament we always here from the county executive in commenting on the library lease. He implies that opposition to the Gannon lease is a personal attack on him or somehow political, when KOLP has members from all political affiliations.

But here’s the thing–the previous administration did do it! Keep in mind that the Blasco Idea Lab & classroom were opened in 2017, when library programs broke all past attendance records. Here’s the difference–this major renovation to Blasco was done to benefit EVERYONE, not just Gannon!

Erie County Public Library Opens Idea Lab to Public

The opposition to the lease is not personal or a political attack. It’s concern for the future growth of library programs that benefit all library users and all taxpayers.

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“To build an effective community, everyone must realize that their community is bigger than them.”

~Idowu Koyenikan