Observer "In My Opinion" columnist Dannye Romine Powell says it's "Time to step up and help local libraries".
Excerpt: Libraries Director Charles Brown told me Monday that if the worst happens, "it will take years, if not decades, to rebuild on what is widely considered to be one of the most successful urban libraries in the nation."
Stop the worst from happening.
The City Council's final budget vote is June 7. The county adopts its budget June 15.
Start e-mailing our City Council members and commissioners today.
Tell them what it means to you to use your neighborhood library's computer for job and college applications, to borrow books you can't afford to buy, to sit in its air-conditioned comfort to feast on magazines.
Tell them how, thanks to the library, your children now read with flashlights under the covers, how one book has led them to another, until the habit of intellectual adventure has taken firm root. Tell them that libraries teach kids to strong-arm boredom.
Tell them that some things on the budget, and in life, are negotiable.
But that the pursuit of knowledge - free, accessible and open to the public - never is.
Related articles:
Bailout proposal not gaining traction. (5/23/2010)
Library trustees vote to close 4 branches. (5/20/2010)
Mecklenburg County tightens its belt. (5/20/2010)
County manager cuts $14.7 million from library budget. (5/18/2010)
2010-11 Mecklenburg County budget to be unveiled today. (5/18/2010)
North Carolina woman plans on "going straight to the top" to keep Charlotte libraries open. (5/16/2010)
Charlotte Mecklenburg officials ask local municipalities for $3 million contribution. (4/30/2010)
Library Board chair speaks out. (4/25/2010)
County commissioners seek ways to ease library cuts. (4/23/2010)
Mecklenburg County needs to reduce $85-90 million deficit. (4/16/2010)
County manager takes library board to task. (4/10/2010)
Libraries now open fewer hours. (4/6/2010)
"Save Our Libraries Sunday". (3/29/2010)
Charlotte Mecklenburg users owe average of 55 cents in fines. (3/27/2010)
Library announces new hours for branches. (3/26/2010)
Library Board applies a Band-Aid to its bleeding system. (3/25/2010)
Follow-up on Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board vote. (3/25/2010)
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board votes to keep all branches open. (3/24/2010)
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library Board presented with 2 budget-cutting alternatives. (3/24/2010)
More and bigger cuts looming on horizon. (3/23/2010)
Charlotte Mecklenburg Library System Rethinks Closings. (3/22/2010)
A New Day is Dawning in Charlotte/Mecklenburg County. (3/21/2010)
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