I'm back

It's been a bit over three months since I made my last post to this blog. Many (a surprising number, actually) have asked why. Well, mostly because I needed to stop participating in this cynical soup and get on with my life (btw, no "anonymous" comments posted during my absence are mine - none). It was killing me. The city administration, the majority on the City Council, the political activists who would deny you the meaning of your vote (now we see the true meaning of their actions two years ago), it seems no one has clean hands. I suppose that's the nature of the political beast.

But of course that's only true if we allow it to be true. We often forget that those involved in making the arguments, pro and con, aren't the only ones directly involved. In fact, the largest group of people we forget about are those in the middle, the people who are too busy supporting themselves or their families to jump in and do much more than vote every year or two and pay their taxes. But I'm not forgetting them and I'm asking them, you, to remember, this is your city, this is your library, and take no pity on those who would risk them just to score political points.

And so I'm back, for now, to encourage you to act to save the library from both political extremes. We must vote YES on Proposal 1 and NO on the other proposals.

I think we've covered the City Council's and administration's failures pretty well in many previous posts. Some stunning actions while I was away from the blog took place, especially the tacit admission by both that Option 1 was never really a "plan." How else can we understand the Council's approval of the City Manager's request to hire a consultant for $200,000 to give the plan a...plan? I do believe I told you this very thing in several posts. I hate to say I told you so, but... And you can't fully understand this issue without understanding the implications of Option 1. Option 1 is why we're here. But again, we've made our argument here and here in the past (the numbers work - we'd be happy if anyone would refute them, but no one has) but it seems most of us realize that we have more pressing, more immediate concerns right now: saving the library.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the issue we have the Troy Citizens United. According to what I've heard and witnessed directly from some of the Council members, those on the majority side, they see them as monolithic and malignant. This is not the path to dialogue and solutions. And yet I sort of get it. Having now watched a small group of people with sincere beliefs (small government/low taxes) with whom I am typically sympathetic, spew absurdities, bend the truth if not outright lie about facts, manipulate people's frustrations and fear, relish in their ignorance of factual realities, all designed to deny the voters their voice, their right to decide, I wonder if I've gone down the rabbit hole (we have that book at the library - get it while we still have a library).

And really, does anyone doubt that a simple yes or no vote on just the library wouldn't pass by a wide margin? Of course it would. And that's why the very people who brought us the argument that all such choices should be made by the voters (I'm okay with that) now work tirelessly to deny you that very choice (I'm not okay with that) by bringing those additional bogus proposals for funding the library forward (anyone willing to deny this???) designed to confuse and manipulate voters. They even now claim you should vote them all down as if it's the city or the library that brought them forth out of some kind of overzealous demand for more money. Is this not the essence of deception, lies? I'd like to tell them this, probably in a nicer and more appealing way, simply lay on the facts and appeal to their better angels, but they are evidently blocking me from posting on their Facebook page since I posted last spring. I heard tonight that I'm not alone. How can one engage them in dialogue when they clearly do not seek dialogue? Shame on them.

Don't get me wrong. I'm really not trying to demonize either side. They both have arguments. And they're both wrong. We just seem to be caught in an ideological war, even a war of egos, that no one seems willing to rise above. I don't believe anyone really wants the library to close. But make no mistake, both of these sides, the city administration/Council majority and the Troy Citizens United/Tea Party are willing to see it close just to make their political point. Is there anything more cynical than that?

It's a game of political chicken and the library loses either way unless the rest of us act. It's time. The tired middle, the exhausted, reasonable and moderate polity, the electorate who understands both of these sides is poisonous, toxic, cancerous to our community, can no longer sit idly by and watch both sides jockey for position and opportunity without any real regard to what we truly desire. Yes times are hard. But that's why we need the library now more than ever.

Proposal 1 is reasonable, measured and appropriate. It was crafted in the light of day with full citizen participation in open public forums. It will raise less money annually as property values decline and unlike most library proposals it is not in perpetuity or even 20 years, but has a term of just ten years. But it will save the library, allow previous service levels to be recovered, to a certain extent, allow the possibility of rehiring our librarians (When did it become a sin to seek a professional career in actual public service?), provide accountability directly to the public and put the library above and beyond the political fray. It is not an extreme proposal. In fact, it is the antidote to extremism.

If Proposal 1 fails, the library will close next year in late June, if not sooner. Once gone it will probably never come back. This isn't fear mongering. This is merely recognizing that those who won't support it now surely won't support it once they learn how much it will cost just to reopen. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. This is throwing away the millions invested over the past 47 years, not to mention the heart and soul of so many that worked so hard to get us the library we have today. This is fiscal and moral insanity. And they will close it. The City Council and City Manager have been unequivocal in their insistence on this point. Whether this offends you is not the point. The reckoning for that pose is next November. But the reckoning for the Troy Public Library is this November, on the 2nd, not even three weeks hence.

No other proposal will save the library. The so-called Citizens to Save the Troy Public Library With No New Taxes are proposing an unfunded mandate. How liberal of them. But what's worse, the city can fulfill this ill-conceived nonsense (sorry, Ed, I know you mean well) by using a room in the Community Center and keeping the library director and a couple of part time circulation aides on to fulfill the state requirements. No story time for the kids. No computers for job seekers. No new purchases of current material/data. No databases for research. No assistance. Nada. No real library at all. Only a shell to expose the absurdity of this "solution." Just as bad, it perpetuates the political polarization, allowing the city to make the next political move by setting up said "library shell", thus setting up TCU's next petition/move and the game continues, on and on. This must stop. Now is the time to stop it and we are the people to do it.

The library isn't an expense. It's an investment; in our community, our children and their children. It's an investment in ourselves.

Holbrook Jackson once said, "Your library is your portrait." And so it is. What will Troy's portrait look like next July?

If you allow this library to die, Troy will begin to die as well. "The beginning of the end of civilization is when they start closing libraries." This quote came from a head-shaking patron in Warren when he heard I work at TPL. I couldn't agree more. This is truly scaring people all over because they understand if you can close a library in Troy, a library as excellent as Troy's, then you can close one anywhere. This entire region gets it.

Do we?