Op Ed: First-time voter to case June ballot for library improvements

“Excitement flourishes in moments like these. Moments when you have waited and worked eighteen years to see. This day is voting day with full rights to have a say, in the way we aspire to structure the lives we live.”
This is from a poem I wrote. My story begins with a phone call nine years ago. I was 11 years old when young advocate, April Martin Hansen, invited me to a closed evening meeting before the Santa Cruz Library Joint Powers Board. Luckily, 4-H taught me skills and helped me feel comfortable presenting my point of view in front of adults. I brought my projects that had been displayed in libraries and pointed out the libraries were a safe after school meeting place for youth.
The next day I spoke in front of 200 people, before the Library Joint Powers Board and media, in open forum at Santa Cruz City Hall. My speech “Please keep our libraries open” lit my passion for helping libraries. Since then I have grown up a part of the Felton Library Friends Committee and together we have created a vision for a new eco-friendly Felton Branch.
I am turning 18 today! I am excited to cast my first vote this June 7th for a project that has woven threads of hope and positivity into my life. It takes remarkable teamwork for a community to come together to save something important to us. It is vital to stand up for something, to be heard and to have a voice.
A huge thank you to wonderful mentors Joni Martin Hansen, Nancy Gerdt, Michele and Jim Mosher, Robin Musitelli, Aaron Brandt, Mark Stone, and Bruce McPherson for being inspirations and supporters of a dream we all share; saving libraries and helping youth grow.
“A YES vote on June 7 will mean all ten branches in our system will receive much needed improvements and that our goal of building a new Felton branch library will become a reality.”
Felton Library Friends. For more information on Measure S visit www.ourlibrariesourfuture.org.