A call to arms

Waiving arms, that is. Waiving toward reach other, not at each other, across this ideological divide within our community. It threatens to permanently damage us so now is the time to move beyond it, to embrace the common wishes which bind us a community.

The whole point of this blog was to bring people from differing points of view together for a community solution to our fiscal problems. To a certain extent we've failed - so far. Too many people in positions of authority are more concerned about their positions than they are about the truth. I wish it wasn't so, but since no one in authority has ever attempted to prove us wrong, for obvious reasons, we consider our case proven. And since none of them have stepped forward to say, "Okay, I'll cut my salary to $80,00 or $90,000 per year during this crisis" then it's clear these are not people with the community's best interests in mind.

But as the old saying goes, "You're right - so what's your point?"

Well, at the moment the point is this: One institution in this community, one keystone of civilization - our library - stands athwart the madness of political maneuvering and agendas from all manner of sources (politicians, administration personnel, unions), and yet is threatened with its very existence. But it is also the single source of convergence, the one thing we can all agree is valued, valuable, and worth coming together to fight for. So let's put aside our differences, even the large ones, and get behind this effort.

I know the people behind this effort and they are not doing the bidding of the City Manager or City Council. They are, as we all are, genuinely concerned about the kind of community we'll end up with if we let the 40 years and millions of dollars invested into building one of the finest community libraries in the country go to waste. And that would be wasted money.

Saturday morning, at the library, come and lend your voice to the process. Stand up and say you resent the city manipulating of the process if you must, but remember, this is our library and this effort is all about taking it back. Let's put the public back in the Troy Public Library.