Pulling at Your Heart-Strings – Use Your
Head
You may have
received your mailer today from the “Friends” of the Middleport Library. Funny how we never heard anything from
the Library or it’s “Friends” last year when they secretly had that election in
June to get into our pockets. It
appears now the people in charge of that private corporation library have
proven to us what is truly in their hearts. Instead of putting their money into an Educational Campaign,
which NYS Education Library Development instructs, they immediately ran to
their lawyers to try to get a “stay” and yet again, attempt to disenfranchise
you and me from our vote. So, I’m
not surprised, just disappointed.
My very first
experience with this library was when I walked in and spoke to the Director of
the Library after I received my bill in September. I explained to her, if the library had simply ran the
educational campaign they were supposed to run, got the word out to the ENTIRE
community about the vote…and the vote passed, then I wouldn’t even be there to
inquire what the heck happened back in June 2011. At that point, she agreed with me, stating, “you’re right,
we didn’t do it right”.
And now, less
than a year later…here we are again.
They have hired their lawyers to try to get a “stay” on the
proposition. To keep you and me
from our votes once again.
The Library
claims they did everything “legally” for last year’s vote. We have yet to actually hear from
anyone how they figure that. The
School District Policy 1630 calls for voting machines to be used, the only
exception is for an emergency. And
IF paper ballots are used, then a voter log must also be used. The vote in June was by paper ballot,
at the library. ..no voter log…no machine. District Policy 1650 specifies that anyone submitting a
proposition for a ballot must submit it with a petition signed by 25 district
voters or 5% the number who voted in the last annual election (whichever is greater). The Library submitted NO petition signatures.
When the
community approached the Library Board at their meeting in September, we were
told, there would be no debate, no question and answer, you may have 10 minutes
to speak. They used a watch to
time us, and would not answer any questions, but simply sat there smiling at
us. This is what we can expect
from the people who have not even ASKED your permission to take your hard
earned money, but instead held a secret vote to take it from you.
We would be
better served by people who understood that our Republic is only as strong as
it is because of the laws we have in place; and that those laws are there for a
reason, it’s the spirit of the law that should be followed….not simply the
“letter”.
A few people in
the community, probably egged on by the “friends”, wrote heart-felt letters to
the editor exclaiming their pride and joy at being able to use all the “free”
resources of the library. Someone
needs to explain to these people that just because THEY didn’t pay for it does
not make it FREE. Someone paid,
and continues to pay, someone like me and you.
As for the
Library closing if they don’t get the money, I don’t believe it. The Library, which is chartered for the
Village of Middleport, could use a municipal vote (Chapter 414) to obtain
funding from the chartered area.
The threat of closing is nothing more than that, a threat.
We are not
anti-library. On the contrary, I
use my library card all the time….through electronic book downloads. The only time I was in the library was
to obtain the card. That was a
nice sunny, chilly Saturday afternoon.
I would like to say I was surprised to find the library empty…but I
wasn’t. As has been
discussed previously, all the local libraries are underutilized.
So we have to
wonder why we are asked to pay for more library buildings, and the employees
they require to run them. It might
interest you to learn that there is a bill in the NY Senate to give NY State retirement benefits to Association
Library workers. The Middleport
Library is an Association Library, which means it is a private
corporation. This bill would
provide tax-payer funded retirement benefits to employees of a private
corporation. Although I have been
assured by various State officials that the bill is still in committee….it
won’t go anywhere, etc…I know that bills can become law quickly, without much
fanfare, much like the library vote last year. So you can understand how I could barely believe my eyes as
I read the bill (A574-2011).
When the NY
Tolls went in, they claimed that it was only until the road was paid for. The
first section of the Thruway opened in 1954, and we are still paying…but not
the original 10 cents or whatever it was, the tolls have increased to pay for
personnel and materials, to what they are now and with no end in sight.
With the
Middleport Library attempting to become a “district” library, do you really
think they can maintain that title with the tiny little building they currently
reside in, on a side street with no parking? They are positioning themselves to become a district
library and obtain “sustainable funding” by taking it out of the pocket of the
taxpayer. They will then claim the
need to “grow their building and their personnel to accommodate the District”.
The school
district taxpayers are already more than accommodated by all the other
libraries in the area, thanks anyway.
If you have ever been frustrated over the fact that you have no control
over your taxes, you should know that you now have control. To use it, vote YES to REPEAL the
Library tax, not because you don’t care about libraries, but because there are
five more within 12 miles; and enough is enough.
P.S. Anyone with a computer and internet
connection can find this information regarding the Thruway and the pending
legislation (A574-2011) without ever stepping foot in the library.
- Mary Cedeno,
Lockport NY
