Posted on 04/03/2005 9:34:08 PM PDT by Heartofsong83
Libraries in Steinbeck Hometown Endangered
Sun Apr 3, 5:01 PM ET Entertainment - AP
SALINAS, Calif. - More than a hundred supporters turned out Sunday for the end of a 24-hour "read-in" to help save the libraries in John Steinbeck's hometown.
People gathered to hear writers, actors, musicians and activists read passages from their favorites works outside Cesar Chavez library, one of the Salinas libraries facing closure.
Facing record deficits, the City Council voted in December to shut all three libraries in the city memorialized in Steinbeck's 1952 novel "East of Eden."
If they close, the blue-collar town of 150,000 could become the most populous U.S. city without a public library.
Salinas is the 1902 birthplace of the Nobel Prize-winning author of "Cannery Row" and "Of Mice and Men."
The read-in began Saturday and concluded Sunday with a march and music festival.
Actor Hector Elizondo, of the TV hospital drama "Chicago Hope," attended the event. "The last thing we need is to have libraries closed," he said.
Mary Mecartney, a spokeswoman for the UFW, said thousands of people signed petitions asking state legislators to reconsider the budget cuts.
The city needs to re-prioritize their spending.
I was stranded in Salinas for four hours getting a catalytic converter replaced. I ran into about 40 people, only one of whom spoke English. As a second language.
...or some pol will have the guts to raise taxes.
Sounds like the old liberal "we'll cut libraries first" before any of our sacred cow social welfare programs or support to save the endangered whatever bug. Thus we have to have higher taxes or more money from the state.
Yes they probably do, after all that is an essential service they are cutting...
I spent about an hour looking through their city council site....
They are being overwhelmed by CalPers payments and workmens compensation insurance....they have already cut 10 police officers and paramedic services (guess they contracted that out?)
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