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Emergency 24 hr. READ-IN: Save Salinas Libraries Saturday, April 2nd 1:00 pm to Sunday April 3rd 1:00 pm
PRESS STORIES ON THE ACTION
The New York Times
April 4, 2005
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/04/national/04library.html
In Steinbeck's Birthplace, a Fight to Keep the Libraries Open
By CAROLYN MARSHALL
SALINAS, Calif., April 3 - The reputation of this farming community, known as the Salad Bowl of the World, has been burnished by giants of American history like the civil rights leader Cesar Chavez, who organized the area's farmworkers, and John Steinbeck, a native son who borrowed images from the landscape and Depression-era residents in writing "The Grapes of Wrath."
The pride, fear and hope Steinbeck described were in evidence this weekend as residents, celebrities and best-selling authors gathered for a 24-hour emergency read-in to try to avert an unwelcome footnote to Salinas's legacy: the impending closing of the city's three public libraries.
Unless the city can raise $500,000 by June 30, the John Steinbeck, Cesar Chavez and El Gabilan Libraries will be shuttered, victims of the city's $9 million budget shortfall. If the branches are closed, Salinas will become the nation's largest city without a public library.
The read-in, organized by groups including Code Pink and the Salinas Action League, began Saturday afternoon and included a pitched-tent sleepover on the lawn of the Chavez library and readings by authors including Anne Lamott and Maxine Hong Kingston.
The actor Hector Elizondo, known for his work in the television drama "Chicago Hope," told supporters on Saturday that public libraries had been instrumental to his personal development and safety as a boy growing up in Harlem. Mr. Elizondo said that closing a library was "like putting a tourniquet around your mind."
"There were three sanctuaries - first was the subway, second the church and third was the library," he said. "It was a place where you could be creatively subversive, and it changed my life because through books, I started to question."
Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez, author of "The Dirty Girls Social Club," said her Cuban father learned English at the public library in Albuquerque. "We didn't come from money," she said. "Words were our only capital."
Word of the library closings has spread in recent months. The American Library Association sent a delegation to Salinas in February to meet with local and state officials. The mayor helped to organize Rally Salinas, a fund-raising group, and residents formed Save Salinas Libraries to explore a ballot measure. Last week, residents drafted a petition to Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger requesting long-term help in saving the libraries, because the $500,000 would only ensure that each library stays open one day a week through 2005.
The poignancy of library closings occurring in Steinbeck's birthplace has elevated the Salinas problem. But according to the American Library Association, branches across the nation have been forced to reduce hours, eliminate staff and thin inventories. Library services have been cut in Lancaster, Pa.; Onondaga County, N.Y.; and Detroit. The library in Bedford, Tex., closed its doors last Wednesday and will remain closed for at least six months.
Maria Roddy, the manager at the Cesar Chavez Library, said the Salinas libraries have been in trouble for the past three years, a tough situation for a community where 16 percent of the population lives below the poverty line. As in many poorer communities, Ms. Roddy said, the library serves as a public commons for children whose parents work.
Sommer Brooke, 11, a sixth grader who spoke at the read-in, questioned how Salinas could close libraries in one breath and ask schools to raise reading test scores in the next.
"It is like feeding someone but giving them no food," she said, "teaching children to read but cutting off their access."
City officials said the closings were forced in part by the defeat of several tax measures on the ballot in November. But some conceded that two measures failed because they did not specifically discuss how the libraries would have been affected.
Sergio Sanchez, a city councilman who voted to keep the libraries open, said that even if the state decides to help Salinas, the community must remain involved.
"We as citizens have to step up," he said. "There is no one else to help us."
FIRST AP STORY: http://www.fresnobee.com/state_wire/story/10232326p-11044743c.html
Salinas 'read-in' to support Steinbeck Country libraries
By MATTHEW FORDAHL, Associated Press Writer
(Updated Friday, April 1, 2005, 2:20 PM)
SALINAS, Calif. (AP) - Trying to avert a literary dark age in John Steinbeck's hometown, dozens of authors, activists and celebrities will read for 24 hours straight in front of one of the city's public libraries set to close because of a budget shortfall.
The weekend "read-in" at the Cesar Chavez branch is designed to draw attention to the plight of the city's three libraries, which the City Council voted late last year to shutter in June.
Actor Hector Elizondo of "Chicago Hope" is scheduled to read, as is Mike Farrell of "M-A-S-H." Poets Gary Soto and Jose Montoya, United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta, as well as authors Maxine Hong Kingston, Alisa Valdes-Rodriguez and James Houston also will participate.
"At first we thought, 'How are we going to fill 24 hours?' said Medea Benjamin, co-founder of event co-sponsor CodePink. "Now our problem is we have too many readers - but of course, you never have too many readers."
Although the read-in isn't a fund raiser, it's expected to help increase contributions to an effort that would keep the libraries open on a part-time basis through December. That drive is now less than $100,000 shy of its $500,000 goal. Library supporters also are working on a tax measure that would keep the libraries open beyond this year. If its libraries close, Salinas would become the most populous U.S. city without a public library.
City officials said they had no other choice but to close the libraries because of a drop in sales tax revenue and the transfer of local property tax money to the state. In fiscal 2004-2005, $4.5 million will go to Sacramento, and the library budget is about $3 million.
"One could conclude if we weren't transferring money to the state, we'd have our libraries open," City Manager Dave Mora said.
In November, voters rejected a half-cent increase in the sales tax to preserve city services.
Like in Steinbeck's time, Salinas is surrounded by agriculture land and, unlike other cities of its size, doesn't have the option of saving money by contracting with outside agencies for services such as police and fire protection, Mora added.
But organizers of the read-in, which begins at 1 p.m. Saturday, point to state and federal money being spent elsewhere while cities such as Salinas struggle to provide basic services and cope with gang violence.
"We're dumping money into prisons instead of finding ways to challenge the hopelessness that leads children into gangs," said Peter Kwiek of the Salinas Action League, another read-in co-sponsor. "Places like Salinas should have a library in every neighborhood."
In fact, Steinbeck himself often visited the library while he was growing up, said Susan Shillinglaw, director of the Center for Steinbeck Studies at San Jose State University.
Steinbeck, who died in 1968, was born in Salinas in 1902 and lived there for 17 years until he started attending Stanford University. One of his masterpieces, "East of Eden," was set in and around Salinas, about 60 miles south of San Jose.
The Nobel laureate hasn't always been embraced by his hometown. In 1939, a group of residents burned "The Grapes of Wrath" near the library that is now named after the author.
Today, Salinas has more than 150,000 residents and is home to the National Steinbeck Center, which is not affected by the city's library crisis.
SECOND AP STORY: http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/11305777.htm
Crowd rallies for libraries in Salinas
READ-IN, MARCH HELD TO PROTEST CLOSINGS IN STEINBECK'S HOMETOWN
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/11305777.htm
Associated Press
SALINAS - More than 100 people watched the sun rise Sunday as supporters who turned out for a 24-hour read-in to help save the libraries in John Steinbeck's hometown prepared for a culmination march.
"Quite a few people spent the night. There were tents set up, and people just kept reading all night long," Mary Mecartney, a national spokeswoman for the United Farm Workers, said Sunday morning. "The energy is still high here."
Mecartney said supporters came throughout the night to read from their favorite books outside Cesar Chavez library, one of the three libraries scheduled to close because of Salinas budget cuts.
"This is a very grass-roots event," she said.
After noon, 2,000 UFW members joined the remaining group at the library to march through downtown Salinas to a food and music festival to mark the end of the 24-hour marathon reading event. Marchers chanted: "Libros, s'! Bombas, no!" -- Spanish for "books, yes, bombs, no."
Mecartney said thousands of people signed petitions asking their state legislators to reconsider budget cuts that are set to force the closure of the libraries.
If the branches are closed, Salinas would become the largest U.S. city without a public library.
"People had a great time but it was also an excellent way to launch a base for more action to try to stop the Salinas libraries from closing," Mecartney said.
On Saturday night, hundreds gathered outside the library as writers, actors, musicians and activists read passages from their favorites works.
"The last thing we need is to have libraries closed," said actor Hector Elizondo of the TV hospital drama "Chicago Hope."
Alicia Valdez-Rodriguez, author of "The Dirty Girls Social Club," said her Cuban father learned English at the public library in Albuquerque, N.M. "We didn't come from money," she said. "Words were our only capital."
UFW co-founder Dolores Huerta said the library has become a "sacred spot because this is where the gathering happens when we're fighting for justice."
She called on agriculture companies in the area do more to save the libraries.
Poet and renowned Chicano artist Jose Montoya said shutting the libraries would be a serious step backward for the community.
"It's hard to comprehend why, of all things, you would want to close libraries," he said.
East Salinas reggae outfit Dubwize also took the stage to perform. Most of the band members live down the street from the library.
"It's going to empty a lot of resources for the kids," said lead singer Moni Lujan.
The New York Times contributed to this report.
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