Yes on Measure U

Brawley residents are being asked to vote one more time on Nov. 9 whether to continue the user utility tax. This election will be the last time this tax can be voted upon. The Friends of the Brawley Library are urging the Brawley voters to vote YES.

Losing the revenue from this tax will force the city to make serious cuts in services: a projected cut in fire and police, a reduction in programs from parks and recreation, and a closure of the public library.

Some voters are thinking, “Enough with taxes. The city has plenty of money. They won’t close the library!” Well sadly, the city doesn’t have plenty of money, and, yes, they could close the library.

What will be lost if the library closes?

Access to books will be lost is the obvious answer, but our library provides much more than that. It offers literacy programs for those wanting to learn to read in English. Story times for youngsters and their parents. Toys that can be checked out by preschool children. Materials for young people on the spectrum. Curbside pickup for those not wanting to come into a public building. The LAMBS mobile that visits early childhood centers in the county for underserved kids. And our branch, Brawley is the only community in the Imperial Valley with a branch of its main library.

Ray Bradbury’s book “Fahrenheit 451” tells of a horrible time in the future when books are burned and libraries are closed. We don’t think books will be burned if this tax doesn’t pass, but they will sit and gather dust if the library closes, and our town will have one more empty building on Main Street. Don’t let that happen. Vote to keep the utility tax.

As Walter Cronkite once said, “Whatever the cost of our libraries, the price is cheap compared to that of an ignorant nation.”

—The Friends of the Brawley Library: Dixie Smith, Diana Lohr, Judy Grant and Elizabeth Lorenzen.