3/1/2010 10:28:00 PM Letter: Blair, Hanna must leave library alone
Matt Hinshaw/The Daily Courier
EDITOR:
Recently I read that Councilmen Steve Blair and John Hanna suggested the city charge admission to our Prescott Public Library.
Hanna finds libraries a luxury. And is unaware that a portion of our property taxes support our fine library. It was no surprise that it was these two councilmen introduced this disastrous and unpalatable idea. Both all too often pontificate without careful thought.
Publicly supported libraries have existed in the United States since the early 18th century. Libraries promote learning, the love of reading, and are essential to having a literate and educated population. They are a powerful, indispensable instrument of civilization. They contribute to economic competitiveness and neighborhood cohesiveness.
Charging our residents to use our library would deny access to the adults and children who most benefit from it. Our library helps people deal with the current economic crisis. Leave our library alone.
First of all, it's "they", not "he". Secondly, they have made reccomendations as to how the library can stay operational and ALSO how we can keep adequate police on the streets. Your inability to comprehend the process of problem solving and making tough decisions is not anyone's fault but your own. Hanna and Blair have made clear reference to their ideas on how to keep BOTH the library open and cops at sufficient numbers. You make me laugh and if I could, I'd laugh right in your face. Telling me to "keep up", you sound like the typical, overly-emotional liberal who can't argue a point on the basis of any fact or substance.
Posted: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Article comment by:
Dear George
Blowhard Blair has been spewing this library nonsense on his radio program for weeks now. It’s not a brainstorm, it’s a fundamental belief by Blair that the library should be taxed twice to pay for other services. He has also been advocating the taxation of non-profits (listen to his recorded shows). Blair is dangerous and Hanna is easily influenced by dumb ideas.
Posted: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Article comment by:
Sam Spade
So are these the choices we've come to a library or law enforcement? Have we given away so much to the developers that we can no longer have both a free library and a free citizenry? If we must make a choice between more police officers and a free library then I say arm the librarians and let those on the street fend for themselves. After all the Supreme Court is about to neutralize most if not all the gun laws in the land. Now everyone can protect themselves so we can let go some of the police personnel. When we do this we must also increase the contributions to the "Snitch Fund" as it seems this is where all the crimes are solved. If we cut loose half the cops and put their salaries into the Snitch Fund then more people will come forward and solve more crimes for the larger rewards. Problem solved.
Posted: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Article comment by:
Andy Carnegie
George,there are certain prerequisites for brainstorming.
Posted: Wednesday, March 03, 2010
Article comment by:
George Sheats
I'm defending John and Steve on this one. The ground rules at this planning session were to brainstorm as many ideas as possible which could help balance the City budgets. Under brainstorming rules individual ideas are not debated at that time and the intent is that creative and potenially beneficial ideas evolve off of each other. Besides the brainstorming rules it was recommended that all expenses and potential revenue sources be placed on the table for review. I don't take their statements during the brainstorming session as either what they would recommend or have studied in detail. I suppose if I recommended sales of inflatable dolls on the square, I would be criticized, though my intent was just to determine what products overall should be sold on the square. They put it out there by following the rules. The feedback has now been provided. It is not correct to assume they really favored a specific approach.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
carguy xx
As a homeowner and property taxpayer and a library user it is amazing to me that these two councilmen do not realize the tremendous asset to education of children and adults of Prescott. Yes it is a pleasure to come in and read and perhaps a cup of coffee and relax with a newspaper. I know the funding for the library is allocated each year, what happened to the money??Did council allocate it else ware??
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Enough Enough
Blair & Hanna apparently don't have too much intellect or they wouldn't even propose something so ridiculous. They should be embarrassed they even brought it up. Shows me they are totally unaware of educated people. I am not aware that the parking garage downtown charges for parking. Do they or don't they? If they don't why not? MOST parking garages in various cities charge for parking and make a great deal of money for the city doing so! If Prescott doesn't charge, why? Are they intimidated by the tourists? Tourist season is upon us very soon, If Prescott doesn't charge WHY? If they do, how much per day? OR how about cutting some of the huge salaries paid by the City for City Manager, Architectural designs, Antelope Hills restaurant and golf course (which the City shouldn't even own) etc.and all of the other categories the council unnecessarily goes into spending OUR money. There are surely other ways to collect more money for the City other than continually harrrassing the residents to come up with more money. My gosh, enough is enough. I cannot imagine a City without a library and being fair with their charges. The library is full of patrons every day and they are there to learn or read. Maybe Mr. Blair & Mr. Hanna should try it, they might learn something! Leave us alone!!
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Asa Servidor
Dear "Oh Brother",
He wants the money for the police, not the library.
Once again, money FROM the library TO the POLICE, not to the LIBRARY.
Try to keep up, thanks.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Oh Brother
Did I read that correctly? They should "leave (the) library alone"? Does that mean they should let it close down because it runs out of sufficient money to continue operations? Is that the type of "leave it alone" we're talking about here? Every clear thinking American supports the notion of having public libraries in communities so people can read, meet, use computers, check stuff out etc. That's WHY now we should consider doing what's necessarry to keep our's open. And while it's great for it to be totally free, perhaps just a nominal fee could be used that would keep the place OPEN. Do you get it? Are you hearing this transmission from the planet Earth? The guys you think are evil, book-burning sloths are actually the people trying to figure out a way to keep the library running. p.s. Those of you who enjoy assailing Blair and Hanna's intellects etc. aught to really consider what you've accomplished in your adult lives compared to what they have.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
dianne Kuzminski
Dear Ricky/Bobby, You think a 5 year old picking up Garfield isn't an education. Excuse me but isn't that called READING? That was a part of the curriculum when I taught.
Maybe you should catch up on the tot that was advancing their brain--hurry up or they'll pass you by.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Ricky Bobby / to Rational Lady
I completely agree with Rational Lady! But I would take it a step further many of the BOOKS in the library are NOT EDUCATIONAL and could easily be turned in to a "pay for play" arrangement. All too often I see a 5 year old sitting and reading, say Garfield, and I know that he is not LEARNING, Garfield is not an "essential part of life" and those little freeloaders could easily be made to pay! Rational Lady is right, MySpace , Facebook and e-mail (EMAIL! When has that ever been useful???) are squandering our precious resources with no discernable return! I think we should hire a CZAR of some sort to walk the library floors, maybe rational lady herself, and they can judge if someone is doing something useful or USELESS! If the child or adult is being UNESSTENTAL then rational lady can produce some sort of jar, say an old peanut butter one, and demand a instant tax, say we call it the BLANNA TAX, the money can then be turned around to help pay for gas for idling Police SUVs or doughnuts or whatever it is the boys on the council think is best for the police department.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Where are the true leaders?
This whole library fiasco brought on by Blair and Hanna is shameful. Don’t we have better things to focus on? These two counsel members are a disgrace to Prescott. Where are the real leaders who will solve real problems? The voters who put these two in office should be ashamed.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
see the big picture please
What it really comes down to is this, would you rather pay a small fee to use the library,or have it shut down? The Prescott Public Library is a valuable asset to Yavapai County, but so are the Prescott Police and fire Deparments, as well as the city roads and parks deparment. It would seem that some of you would not pay for the library and have them close down some of our beautiful parks or lay of the police officers. Yes we all pay taxes and some of that money goes to fund the library, but its not enough. I am a student and use the library quite often and i have no problem in paying for that use as long as it is there and open.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
School Student
To None so Deaf - You say you check out thousands of dollars worth of books from library every year. Do you read any of them? No one is standing in the way of you or anyone else making a donation to the library of your choice. Why have'nt you done so before now? You are a hypocrite. You are exactly the person that Hanna and his imbecilic comments had in mind.
Posted: Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Article comment by:
Andy Carnegie
The fundamental problem here is with the two gentlemen who proposed this idea. Neither of these gentlemen present an image of being the sharpest knife in the drawer and seem be proud of this image. The term "common sense" is often used to cover up a lack of intellectual acumen. I actually don't have a problem with some kind of fee structure, an annual fee for the card and charging a fee for DVD and CD usage but neither of these would provide huge sums of money and certainly not enough to buy police cars.
