Library Services in Glendale: Investments in a Better Future


Library budgets and services are threatened in California and across the nation. What should our state tax dollars be spent on, beyond infrastructure and safety, if not a better future?

Libraries provide free resources for young and old, rich and poor, employed and unemployed, insured and insured, Democrat and Republican – all of whom can use their learning to benefit themselves, develop skills and find jobs, create businesses, and contribute to civic life.

Why are we spending so much money on prison doctors who aren’t even working? News like this appears day after day (thanks, by the way, to the LA Times for making such revelations a priority). Why do state legislators insist the state needs to raise taxes, and why did they propose cutting state library funding almost to nothing, when there is so much inefficiency in the system?

While turmoil and short-term thinking continues at the state level, shouldn’t municipalities do everything they can to preserve libraries, which provide clear benefits to all segments of society?

Yesterday, at the end of a long day of civic meetings, Friends of the Glendale Library President John Steele, and Community Events Chair Leon Mayer both addressed Glendale City Council and asked them to reconsider surveying city residents to see if they would support a parcel tax for local library services (the city council voted 3-2 against a survey two weeks prior).

Steele said, “I think the electorate can be trusted to make a good decision in this matter…I recommend the council reconsider and approve a survey.” Mayer spoke later, urging, “Support the request by the Library Director to spend privately-donated money to conduct a survey to see if there is support for a parcel tax.”

Library Director Cindy Cleary submitted a Library Tax Assessment Survey Proposal to city council two weeks ago. The report shows that Glendale’s budget for its libraries is already lower than those of neighboring cities.