Anonymous Patron writes “A Slightly Up-Beat story from Salinas California where they say Donations are starting to trickle in to help keep Salinas libraries open as part of the Rally Salinas! campaign.
Less than four days after Mayor Anna Caballero challenged residents to make charitable contributions, the first batch of donations are beginning to arrive, including individual checks worth as much as $5,000, according to city officials.”
Libraries not Charities
While I sympathize with people who want to give to the library, the public library is a public utility and is not a charity. If the library can creep along on donations from people outside the county, why pay taxes for it at all? And if the public officials can get people to contribute personally for the library to stay open, they don’t have to admit that their leadership has seriously hampered the quality of life in their town. Now, the city mayor can claim that if not enough people give to keep the library open, then not enough people wanted it open in the first place. In either case, it is no longer the mayor’s decision, but the decision of the people who did or did not give. Meanwhile, the mayor is off the hook.
The money being donated to the library would be better spent, I think, in electing responsible politicians, instead of those idiots who think cutting public taxes does not mean cutting public services. If the citizens of the county didn’t vote, which is most likely, or they voted for people who promised to cut taxes, then they shouldn’t bitch. They get the kind of government they deserve. At that point, public libraries only become charities.
I shudder to think . . . .
I shudder to think what working there would be like if the money *does* come through via donations.
We have enough problems with people getting in our face about “MY TAXES PAY YOUR SALARY!!!!!”.
Can you imagine what it would be like if those same people could show you the canceled check?