The Shutesbury Library
Democracy in action? On the town/community level? It's a good thing, but it can get ugly...
While I'm nestled in on the hillside in Scotland, lots of things have been going on in my hometown back in Massachusetts. The latest one is a very big, community-dividing debate about whether or not to approve funding for a new library.
We're a small town amidst other small towns, population under 3,000. Not big, and we have a tiny library to serve us. Thing is, the library gets used a lot by the community. It's packed full of books and cds and dvds, making use of every bit of space. It's an old building, with no running water, and no place to sit inside. They made the improvement of a composting toilet a few years back, but that hardly makes the building a comfortable space to hang out in.
So there's been a lot of support for building a new library. The town applied for - and got - a grant worth something like 2.1 million. The folks in the town need to come up with another 1.4 million, that would be paid for through... taxes. Oh my. For that, we'd get a much bigger, modern facility that would include all sorts of space inside for events, meetings, classes, as well as just tables to actually sit at and read! It would be great. I'd be in there everyday.
It had seemed like things were going forward smoothly, but in a late round of voting (there have been a number of votes throughout the grant process) a majority of NO voters emerged. They mobilized at the last minute, and caught the YES voters off guard. The YES folks argued that there should be a revote because the NO folks had campaigned with a lot of misinformation - and there hadn't been time to respond to that before the last vote. After a very fractious meeting, the council that decides such things voted to allow the revote. Since then, both sides have been on a full-out campaign to win the Jan 10th vote.
Here's an article about it.
It's been tense. I'm an ocean away, but I feel the tension. I'm also, of course, a huge supporter. I want this library, and believe it will be a great addition to our community - a progressive one that looks to the future and creates prosperity for us. Many people have rallied with donations to the new library fund and by making pledges of donations over the long term. But the vote is going to be close.
If you have any interest in donating a few dollars to this effort at community library building you could do so here. Every dollar helps. You could consider it an investment in helping me write my future books - since the new library will be a big part of writing them!
I recently wrote a letter of support that's posted on the YES for Library! website. Here's what I wrote:
While I'm nestled in on the hillside in Scotland, lots of things have been going on in my hometown back in Massachusetts. The latest one is a very big, community-dividing debate about whether or not to approve funding for a new library.
We're a small town amidst other small towns, population under 3,000. Not big, and we have a tiny library to serve us. Thing is, the library gets used a lot by the community. It's packed full of books and cds and dvds, making use of every bit of space. It's an old building, with no running water, and no place to sit inside. They made the improvement of a composting toilet a few years back, but that hardly makes the building a comfortable space to hang out in.So there's been a lot of support for building a new library. The town applied for - and got - a grant worth something like 2.1 million. The folks in the town need to come up with another 1.4 million, that would be paid for through... taxes. Oh my. For that, we'd get a much bigger, modern facility that would include all sorts of space inside for events, meetings, classes, as well as just tables to actually sit at and read! It would be great. I'd be in there everyday.
It had seemed like things were going forward smoothly, but in a late round of voting (there have been a number of votes throughout the grant process) a majority of NO voters emerged. They mobilized at the last minute, and caught the YES voters off guard. The YES folks argued that there should be a revote because the NO folks had campaigned with a lot of misinformation - and there hadn't been time to respond to that before the last vote. After a very fractious meeting, the council that decides such things voted to allow the revote. Since then, both sides have been on a full-out campaign to win the Jan 10th vote.
Here's an article about it.
It's been tense. I'm an ocean away, but I feel the tension. I'm also, of course, a huge supporter. I want this library, and believe it will be a great addition to our community - a progressive one that looks to the future and creates prosperity for us. Many people have rallied with donations to the new library fund and by making pledges of donations over the long term. But the vote is going to be close.
If you have any interest in donating a few dollars to this effort at community library building you could do so here. Every dollar helps. You could consider it an investment in helping me write my future books - since the new library will be a big part of writing them!
I recently wrote a letter of support that's posted on the YES for Library! website. Here's what I wrote:
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