Finding the Wright answer

Alternatives to the closure of the Wright Library on the Ventura College campus were presented to the City Council last night. The City Council had asked the city's Library Advisory Commission to come up with ideas and their report sparked a new round of speakers opposing the original recommendation of County Library Director Jackie Griffin that Wright and the downtown Foster Library be consolidated as part of closing the County library budget gap.

Public participation was better informed and less emotional than the outpouring of shock and anger that first greeted the threatened loss of Wright. Almost everyone now has a better understanding of the complex "confederacy" that holds together a system that serves most of the cities and all the unincorporated area of Ventura County -- and the inadequate funding for libraries in today's economic situation. There were, of course, many passionate and sentimenal arguments for why libraries are good for kids, communities and civilization, but many speakers acknowledged much more realistic assessment of the very difficult challenges to keep Ventura's three libraries open in the face of deep cuts in State aid to local libraries.

There were some silly ideas, like the library patron who suggested the County Library system save money by having the County Library Director work out of a home office (was she really serious?) Some speakers demanded the City simply "reorder its priorities" in order find money to restore the loss in State aid and property tax revenue to the County system. But those who know the City has just been through a very painful "reordering of priorities" to slash spending by $11 million next year took a different tack. Perhaps the most compelling speaker was young Esther Gonzalez, a senior at Foothill High who will attend Wellesley next fall. Suggesting corporate sponsorship be explored for the libraries, she concluded: "I am an idealist at heart, but you have to come up with real solutions. I realize that the City Council is in a tough spot because I'm sure you all love libraries, but economically how are you going to solve this issue?"

Currently, the only stable source of funding is a share of property taxes from both the City and its surrounding unincorporated County areas. Without additional State aid, Ventura can't afford to keep its two major libraries open (the third library, a small branch on Ventura Avenue, is almost entirely funded from Federal grants allocated to low-income neighborhoods.) Library Commission chair Marianne Coffey put the issue succinctly: "We need a community dialogue. With the evaporation of State aid, Ventura libraries need a permanent source of adequate funding."

One option advocated by Friends of the Library president Will Thompson is a share of the proposed half cent sales tax recommended for the November ballot by the Blue Ribbon Citizens Budget Committee. There are, however, three obstacles in the way: the Council has not decided whether to place such a measure on the ballot; any tax increase in this economic climate faces an uphill battle to win voter approval; and by law the Council cannot guarantee a portion of the funding would always go to the libraries without raising the requirement for approval from majority vote to two-thirds approval.

So in the meantime, Wright remains endangered. The Library Advisory Commission's best alternative to closing Wright was to alternate days of service between Wright and Foster, an awkward and inefficient stopgap measure at best. The Friends of the Library have done a heroic job of rallying public support and raising $70,000 for their "Save Wright Library" effort. Last night, the Council voted unanimously to use reserves for a loan to the Friends to keep both Wright and Foster open until March 15 of next year. Whether the Friends can raise the remaining $130,000 to meet that goal is uncertain -- so if they fall more than two months behind in reaching that goal, the issue will come back to the Council.

So the future of Wright and the future of libraries in Ventura remains clouded. But the fundraising by the Friends has bought time to continue the "community dialogue." Now is the time to seize that time and find "real solutions" that will ensure that young people like Esther Gonzalez have libraries to help them reach their dreams.