In traveling to the Blasco with all the construction both on the Bayfront and State St., you know it’s been a chore to get to the library lately. This could impact library usage numbers, which in turn gives the county executive an excuse to make cuts to the library budget. On Thursday, May 29th, from 3-6pm, PennDOT will be having an open house question and answer session at the Erie-Western PA Port Authority regarding the closure of the Bayfront Parkway for a one year period and giving an update on the project. This will have a big impact on library numbers. Please attend if you can, and please offer input. PennDOT to host open house, answer questions regarding Bayfront Parkway project

PS–Don’t let the present or future construction stop you! Keep those library numbers up!

“Roads were made for journeys not destinations.”

~Confucius

Imagine, you’re an incumbent running unopposed for re-election, and 785 members of your own party take the time and effort to show up at the polls to write in any other candidate but you. The thing speaks for itself.

“To be persuasive, one must be believable; to be believable, one must be credible; to be credible, one must be truthful.”

~Edward. R. Murrow

So in response to his loss in court when the judge refused to dismiss part of our lawsuit, the county executive put together a video about the construction for Project NepTWNE in the library on the Erie County Facebook page because as we know, he loves a photo op. The reason he gives for this extremely rare visit to the Blasco Library is that “there is a lot of misinformation out there.” Once again, he doesn’t clarify that he is the main source of the misinformation. I would give a link to the video, but there’s no way to put a trigger warning on it through our website, and you might be enjoying a meal, and I don’t want to ruin that for you. As per usual, he’s shut off the comments because he doesn’t care what taxpayers have to say.

He proceeds to say how this earns money for the taxpayers–never mind that taxpayers paid for the $1.5 million ARPA grant that is paying for this construction or the fact that the 25 year lease is for $7 an square foot and never increases with the cost of inflation over those 25 years, and can be extended up to 45 years. He claims that he negotiated the lease, when he revealed during his deposition that he just left everything up to the lawyers.

No matter how he spins this, and how shiny and new things may look, this is still an occupation of our library that only benefits Gannon and not the taxpayers. If he every took the time to visit the library for anything other than a photo op, he would know that. He created the video–spending even more of the work day on Facebook–because in his opinion, he’s always right and the court system is always wrong. And he shuts off the comments because he doesn’t want to hear otherwise.

Help us continue our fight and show him that he is the one who is wrong.

“A library is a delivery room for the birth of ideas, a place where history comes to life.”

~Norman Cousins

A goal of $100,000 sounds a bit ominous. But you know what is even more ominous? Having a library that isn’t entirely free and open to the public.

Let’s break this down. To reach goal of $100,000.00:

• 20 people giving $5,000
• 50 people giving $2,000
• 100 people giving $1,000.
• 200 people giving $500.00
• 500 people giving $200.00
• 1,000 people giving $100.00
• 2,000 people giving $50.00
• 2,500 people giving $40.00
• 5,000 people giving $20.00

When it’s broken up that way, it’s much more manageable. There are also anonymous giving and payment options on our donation page. Please take a step toward defending the Blasco!

“A journey of 1000 miles begins with a single step.”

~Chinese Proverb

You have the opportunity this week to support the Friends of the Library and support the Blasco at the same time! The Spring into Spring Book Sale starts this Thursday. The Friends are also holding a book drive at the same time, so you can make room for all the books you’ll bring home from the sale.

While you’re there, make sure to visit the main part of the library as well to keep visitation and circulation numbers up!

“You can’t buy happiness, but you can buy books and that’s kind of the same thing.”

~Anonymous

And we’ll just leave it at that, because that headline is enough to annoy the county executive. Check out these links below from GoErie and YourErie more information. Erie News Now has apparently left the chat.

Judge denies Gannon, county motion to quash parts of ‘Keep Our Library Public’ lawsuit

Lawsuit moves forward against Project NePTWNE lease

We need to keep raising money if we are to continue the fight. Please consider giving a donation.

~“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.”

Martin Luther King, Jr.