“Sacking Chevy Chase”

Every other week since she was two, my daughter Suzanne has been going to the neighborhood Chevy Chase Library to check out a sack full of books.  Now at age eight she is a voracious reader, she’s working on her third pass at the ENTIRE Harry Potter series along with the four or five other books a week she devours.  I credit this love of reading to a library experience throughout her formative years that was routine and close to home.  But now this local library is set for closure so the city can save $26,000.  This at a time when the Glendale City Council has approved tens of millions in pay increases for those on the city payrolls, approved millions more for downtown commercial development, public pools, roadside beautification projects, and all manor of civic “betterment projects”.  Since the building of the Great Library of Alexandria in Egypt and before, libraries stand as one of the great and profound demarcations of a civilized society.  Sacking just one, even if most of its patrons are very young children and the elderly, is a costly step backwards.  My daughter Suzanne pleads with City Council on behalf of herself and her classmates at Glenoaks Elementary School, please, can’t the Chevy Chase library be open just one day a week?

Graeme Whifler
Glendale



On June 24th, the City Council will be conducting the last hearing on the budget which is required to be adopted by the end of June. This will be our last opportunity to express our feelings on the closure of the library and we must do just that.

Come to the City Council meeting on June 24th. Plan to speak or to just be there to show support for those who will, and/or E-Mail the council members as follows:

Mayor John Drayman jdrayman@ci.glendale.ca.us

CM Ara Najarian anajarian@ci.glendale.ca.us

CM Frank Quintero   fquintero@ci.glendale.ca.us

CM Dave Weaver      dweaver@ci.glendale.ca.us

CM Bob Yousefian byousefian@ci.glendale.ca.us