Why I’m voting Yes on S
Dear editor,
Visit the Boulder Creek Library during its “Toddler Time” program, hear San Lorenzo Valley residents talk of their excitement about a new Felton branch, or step into the bustling Scotts Valley Library almost anytime. Santa Cruz County libraries are more popular than ever — changing indeed to accommodate e-books and online access but still serving an essential role in community life, a role captured in the word “education.”
Public libraries support our school-children and youth with homework space and information evenings, weekends and in summertime. For our working adults and seniors, our libraries provide lifelong learning through classes, programs and access to materials. And for those without internet access of their own, library computers are an “information safety net” that guarantees all residents access to the information they need, medical or legal, for business or for pleasure.
While fortunate to have secure support for annual operations, our library system needs additional funding to bring needed repairs and upgrades to its ten facilities. Those who remember the system’s fiscal problems of just a few years ago should take note of the difficult assessment and painful decisions that led to an improved operation — one that keeps all branches open, incorporates self-checkout machines and other new efficiencies, decreases personnel, increases funding for materials and programs and adopts an improved governance structure.
I have confidence that Measure S funds will be well-spent — it is carefully worded so that funds must be used for the projects stipulated, among them necessary repairs and improvements to Boulder Creek and Scotts Valley, and a new branch for Felton. Measure S offers us a chance to make an important commitment to our children, our youth, and our adults for many decades to come.
Paul Machlis, retired librarian, Felton
• Editor’s note: Most Santa Cruz County voters on June 7 will vote on Measure S, which authorizes $67 million in public bonds to improve and expand library branches to provide additional space for community programs, repair and upgrade existing libraries and build two new libraries, in Felton and Capitola. The tax would require property owners to pay $49.50 per parcel every year for 30 years.
Vote “yes” on Measure S
Dear editor,
Our local public libraries are a critical community resource, serving over 500 county residents an hour from all ages, positions and backgrounds. Libraries form the soul of our civilization.
But our local libraries are getting old, and are in desperate need of repair, modernization, and even rebuilding. For less than 15 cents a day per typical family, we can bring about major improvements to all ten branches in the Santa Cruz Public Libraries System.
Please help our community in its effort to strengthen our public libraries by voting yes on Measure ‘S’, the Community Facilities District library bond measure, whether you vote by mail or at the polls. To borrow a quote from British author Toby Forward, “Civilized nations build libraries; lands that have lost their soul close them down.”
Geroge Wylie, Brookdale
Libraries still relevant
Dear editor,
As a young whipper snapper growing up in Felton, I used to walk to the library with stacks of books, only to return with a higher stack. Now, as an all-grown up whipper snapper, I now use the library system in a very different but equally productive manner. Now, I will pop into a library all over the county to use my laptop in between visiting client. While some folks choose to settle down at a coffee shop, I prefer to tuck into our counties libraries with their hushed tones, nice librarians, and free services in those quiet moments between doing business. I’ve visited most branches at this point, and hope to hit them all up by 2017. I love that while I grow, my needs for the libraries will grow, and someday I can bring my future children to the same libraries, and watch them flourish like I did.
Paige Rexrode, Felton
What’s going on in Scotts Valley?
Dear editor,
I’ve been waiting to see if the SV Banner would be giving us some feedback on current construction projects going on around town. The current hotel project on Scotts Valley Drive on one side of the carwash and whatever it is being constructed on the other side at El Pueblo and Scotts Valley Drive. Last I heard it was supposed to be a Boys and Girls Club but looks more like a heavy equipment storage yard. Also, what’s the latest on the Town Square and when do the old propane business buildings finally get razed? I don’t mean to lament about this but does everything which requires building take this long elsewhere? Charge us competitive rents and mortgages and at least provide the amenities that go with it. No more Sushi joints and Martial arts studios either. That is all.
Rickey Popplewell, Scotts Valley
