Letters to the Editor - Libraries not stadiums - Libraries - not stadiums

    In 2003 I spoke at a community meeting and told a story about my neighbor, a single mom with three children. At that time we had calculated that it would cost $1/person/month to keep all the libraries open, about $5/family/month. I told this to my neighbor and her comment was, “I could afford that! I’ll never be able to afford to take my children to one of these stadiums, but I could afford $5 a month to keep the libraries open.”

    My neighbor is now hearing again that her local library could be closed and she is furious, especially when she hears that the mayor is unwilling to make a property tax increase which would amount to about $2/month on her $120,000 home and which she is willing to pay. In her words, “I’ll never be able to take my kids to the governor’s new stadium, but we love to go to the library. When they close libraries they take them away from struggling families and kids.”

    I know many families like my neighbor’s. They work two jobs to stay afloat and barely make it from month to month. They don’t support stadiums, they do support libraries. I plan to get as many as I can to call all their public officials and tell them this.

Anne Peiffer