YES for SEATTLE LIBRARIES!

Seattle’s neighborhood and downtown libraries are a treasured resource for all of us.  We must keep them, open, accessible and maintain our world class collection of materials—from archives to e-books, children’s collections to computers.

The recession, compounded by caps on revenue following Eyman tax cut initiatives, have resulted in real cuts to library hours and services.  With more cuts on the horizon, we have the opportunity to step up and make an investment in our libraries with a YES vote on Seattle Proposition 1.  

LET’S KEEP LIBRARIES OPEN AND ACCESSIBLE— TO ALL

All of us should have access to what the Library can offer.  The Seattle Public Library system is the one public institution that is open to all people regardless of age, economic status, or social class. We can’t allow branches to close or hours to be cut.  Staffing levels, maintenance, collections or technology upgrades should not fall behind more than they already have.

Without this Levy, the ability of our libraries to serve every neighborhood is in jeopardy. Another year of budget cuts could mean cuts equal to closing five branch libraries—at a time when more and more people are using our libraries.

Our libraries are an increasingly important destination for kids.  With statewide education cuts and tighter funding at Seattle Schools, our libraries are needed as a safe, nurturing place to study, do school related research, or receive extra tutoring after school. Without this levy, cuts in hours and technology threaten access and services Seattle kids deserve.

NEIGHBORHOOD INVESTMENTS WORTH PROTECTING

We must maintain the whole system.  In 1998, voters overwhelmingly passed a measure that funded construction of the new Downtown Main Library, four new branches, and renovated all existing Library branches.  These levy funds will protect and maintain one of the finest library systems in the country. 

With your vote, these funds will be put to immediate, positive use.  The current policy of shutting down the entire system for one week each summer will end; hours would be added to branch libraries; and, all 26 branches and the main Library downtown will be open on Sundays.

Neighborhood libraries are a critical part of our quality of life, providing study space, meeting facilities, materials for personal and professional growth, and educational programs that build great communities.

Please join leaders and organizations throughout Seattle in support of our Libraries!

Stop City officials from playing games with our libraries, which need regular funding, not this temporary, unaccountable levy

A core public service that we all treasure, Seattle’s libraries are being starved by the Mayor and City Council.  Revenues are increasing, but they manufactured a crisis to scare voters into approving this $122.6 million ($17 million+/year) property tax increase. 

Ballot measures should be used for infrequent capital projects or for unavoidable emergencies, not for ongoing operations.  Operations should be funded from the regular budget, our City’s statement of its true priorities.  This levy is temporary and moves our Library away from the stable funding it had for a century.

And it’s the least accountable levy proposed to voters in years.  The levy ordinance (it’s in this pamphlet) governs.  Officials refused to include any commitment to maintain libraries’ regular funding (now $51 million/year); increase hours, services, and technology (didn’t even promise not to cut them); or empower an oversight committee to protect branch funding from diversion to the downtown library.

When the libraries needed reconstruction, voters rejected a similarly lax measure, forcing the Mayor and City Council to craft “Libraries for All” with accountability which this levy sorely lacks, and voters passed it in 1998.  But the lesson was forgotten. 

Only if we say “no” to this levy will officials produce a package that empowers the Library, not themselves.  Passage encourages their cutting of its regular funds, to be diverted to purposes they’re afraid to put before the voters, like bailing out the mismanaged City pension fund’s $1 billion deficit. 

People are struggling in a tough economy, and property taxes are already high, with more billions coming to the ballot for the Youth Justice Center; Medic One; Seawall; Schools; and renewal of the parks, transportation, and housing levies.  Can you afford it? 

To save the Library, join us in insisting on real financial security, not holding it hostage for a tax increase.  Stop the Mayor and City Council from playing games with this cherished institution, and from cutting its regular funding.  Reject this temporary levy, and let’s work together to ensure full Library funding in the regular budget. 

Rick Barrett (campaigner for the Libraries for All bond issue; library cardholder since 1938)

Suzie Burke (business owner and resident; 10 library cards in the family)

Chris Leman (Treasurer, Seattle Community Council Federation)

The cuts suffered by our libraries are real-- and only getting worse.

From staffing levels to collections; routine and long term maintenance; technology upgrades and branch library hours -- we can't afford to fall behind anymore than we already have. 

Libraries are an essential service, but as the City budget shrinks, every department has sacrificed-- our libraries are not exempt from revenue loss.

The impacts of these cuts are felt in every neighborhood, by kids, seniors, and families. With a Yes vote, all 26 branches and downtown will benefit: longer hours, more materials, needed safety and maintenance upgrades.

All of us should have access to our Seattle Public Libraries, an essential part of our quality of life. Please Vote Yes!

For more information: www.YesSeattleLibraries.com
PO Box 21681, Seattle, WA 98111 • Info@yesseattlelibraries.com

No to this tax increase.   Yes to higher priority from regular funds.

To force another tax increase, the Mayor and City Council are cutting Library funding.  We must reject the scare tactics and insist that the Library get more in the regular budget.   The City collects almost $1 billion/year in regular revenue.   It can afford to fully fund the Library, one of its smallest departments.  

The Library needs full, regular funding, not this levy which moves it away from financial stability.  The levy ordinance is temporary and lacks accountability.   It doesn’t require increased hours, or even exclude reduced hours or closed branches.  It frees the Mayor and Council to divert the Library’s regular funds to other uses.

Stop the game-playing.  Let’s get started on a real solution to this manufactured crisis.   Our Library is too important not to fund it fully from the regular budget.     

For more information: http://SavetheLibrary.wordpress.com